Mmm, desultory

[daasgrrl]

Lots of things I'd theoretically like to do, but when it comes to actually doing them, not so much.

I have decided that I am definitely enamoured of BBC!Mycroft, though. My inner canon purist spent two full seasons complaining 'but he's not faaaat' and 'vanity casting, much?' (I understand that that apparently wasn't the case, but that's what I was thinking) and managing to overlook that fact that he's exactly my usual type - tall, unconventionally handsome power-wielding men who look good in suits. Yes, that IS a type. With a side order of 'government employee', usually.

I was also thinking about XF, which is where I started online so long ago (and still know people from - hi! *g*). Because while I do adore Sherlock the character, he simultaneously manages to annoy me in almost exactly the same way Mulder used to. John is a Scully character variant, complete with medical qualifications, Moriarty is the charismatically crazy Krycek, Lestrade is the I'm-too-sensible-for-this-show Doggett, and of course that would make Mycroft Skinner - protective, caring, frequently exasperated.Which would make my 'natural' (only so very not) pairing Mycroft/Sherlock, which is what I've finally ended up realising when it should have been blatantly obvious from the beginning *g*

I'm holding BC responsible for single-handedly destroying my incest!squick. He just has way too much ridiculous chemistry with his screen 'brothers'. He's an only child, right? Because there's a difference between, you know, brotherly love, and brotherly love XD

Now that I've spent some time on AO3, I love it (I know you can read as a 'guest', I just... never did?). Thanks again bironic for the invite! Fic I've enjoyed recently (all explicit):

Through Which I Run by dogpoet (Amazing Grace, William Pitt the Younger/William Wilberforce). Because you just KNOW there had to be post-running-across-the-fields slash. And this is so beautifully written. Cathedrals, indeed.

Back Under by berry (Frankenstein RPS, Benedict Cumberbatch/Jonny Lee Miller). Sometimes when you think Frankenstein fanfic might be an interesting idea, you end up reading RPS instead. I used to have an RPS squick too, but Robert Sean Leonard already took care of that one.

Bunting by bobross (Sherlock BBC, Mycroft/Sherlock). So much wrong. So much hot.

Comments

[shadowfireflame.livejournal.com]

Ooh, fic recs! Ooooooh, a Frankenstein RPS fic rec! (Did not know this one existed.) I really love reading on AO3. Thank you!

I think Benedict has a...half-sister, maybe? (Well, according to this article from the Sun, her name is Tracy Peacock, and they share mums but not fathers.)

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

Yay, hope you enjoy, there were others as well, but I thought that one covered all the bases and I didn't feel the need to read them. Same with the AG fic XD

...sister! Thank you, LOL. Now that you mention it, you're of course right and I really did know that. Mostly.

I'm still working through Ends. JJ really doesn't do anything but smile, does he? Even in the most trying of circumstances. BC suffers and JJ smiles. It's a rule.

[shadowfireflame.livejournal.com]

But Benedict looks so gorgeous while suffering. <3 And I do think that JJ is smiling outwardly while inwardly his character is suffering terribly, so there's that. :D

I am still trying to get over the fact that I used to mistake JJ Feilds and Tom Hiddleston and still think they're both devastatingly handsome, whereas Benedict is gorgeous but not traditionally handsome to me (except in certain lights and poses), and yet he's the one I'm obsessed with. Go figure. I think Benedict looks best in action, really. And preferably with curls.

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

Hee, you shall get no argument from me! Although I do find JJ and TH very distinct in their appeals. TH is all-around talented and attractive and what-have-you (and while he's lovely, I'm not at fangirl levels), but JJ is baby-seal adorable. When he smiles I'm just all 'awwww'. No further qualities of any description are necessary. I'm sure it's related to his attractiveness, but it's a very specific thing XD

BC is like 50 different people in one. By the time you stop flailing over one of him, another incarnation comes along. By the time you've worked through admiring all the variations, you've forgotten how gorgeous the first ones were and have to start again *g*. I know intellectually that he's not conventionally handsome, but that generally doesn't appeal to me anyway, so I'm not all that surprised! Mmmm, curls.

[joe-pike-junior.livejournal.com]

AO3 is totally awesome. It's fantastically easy to import your fic over.

That's what I like about Frycroft -- at least he's fat. I do love Sherlock-Mycroft, thought, for his drawl and for the way he interacts with Sherlock. As you have pointed out.

Sherlock annoys me sometimes, too. Or maybe his characterisation? He's fantastic, but has more consistently irritating characteristics than previous Holmes iterations. I can't quite put my finger on it.

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

LOL, Frycroft. I like. And yes, he was much more like what I'd imagine... although perhaps not so much with the naked exhibitionism XD

I think BBC!Sherlock is younger and significantly more...frenetic...than most Holmes versions I've seen. Which is very canon, but I think requires an enormous amount of energy, probably. Possibly more emotional as well - I don't think Holmes generally yells at people quite so much.

[joe-pike-junior.livejournal.com]

I wonder if the weird naked scene counts as a Big Lipped Alligator Moment. Almost. Certainly a non sequitur. And talk about anti-fanservice! At least it was for me.

Ritchie!Holmes is similarly frenetic, but in a more oddball way. He's more of a mutterer. And although Sherlock's yelling, his outbursts, his lack of tact, might technically run against the grain of the canon, I guess the modern AU aspects of the show have given us an insight into Holmes.* I mean, the canon is almost completely bereft of any insight into Holmes' inner world, yet he seems so cold and arseholish sometimes. Although he's annoying, of course a modern iteration would be a yeller, in a time where he's not so restricted by the notions of his time.

Wow. I got very meta here for a second. I love Sherlock, for its devotion to canon and for its general awesomeness, the slickness, the way everything meshes together, for Sherlock's mind. But I have a completely democratic view when it comes to adaptation: come one, come all, and if that's your view of the character then that's fine. I think Ritchie!Holmes reflects a different facet of Holmes than the Granada verse, and it's a facet I was so interested to see.

*Just thinking, and there are a lot of moments in the canon where Holmes seems to have strange outbursts, actually -- bursting into sudden gales of laughter, etc.

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

Hmm, yes, not sure where you're at, exactly, but I was responding to your possibly rhetorical question about why BBC!Holmes was possibly more irritating than others, not commenting on whether or not it was a justifiable interpretation, which I think it is. Canon!Holmes certainly does have strange outbursts, and he is mean to Watson as well, but I think traditional interpretations tend to lionise Holmes and tone these aspects down a lot more. In some ways BBC!Sherlock is truer to canon than most.

I'm not sure whether I said this to you or someone else, but my main problem with RDJ is that he's short and scruffy and seems to wallow in it. The short he can't help, granted, but he gets so very dishevelled. At the other extreme I found Granada bloodless and overly respectful; I liked and respected it, but didn't love it. I tend towards the sillier adaptations like Young Sherlock Holmes and The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, because the chracters are more alive. In that sense I should like Ritchie's Holmes, and I certainly enjoyed the first movie, but the second just went way ott, and was more about effects than characters.

[joe-pike-junior.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes well. See, I was wondering if you were having some sort of existential doubt about your liking for the show! Haha, sorry.

I think traditional interpretations tend to lionise Holmes and tone these aspects down a lot more
Oh yeah, totally. I think it's a shame, since I'd rather have a Holmes who's a complex character, and this complex dynamic between he and Watson. But traditional iterations also often paint Watson to be a buffoon.

Have you read the Laurie H. King books? They stray very much into this territory. They're also strangely addictive. I admit with a vague sense of shame that I've read them all.

I love that RDJ's short, but then again I am also. I think Granada is closest by far to my idea of what Holmes is like physically, but you're right, bloodless is the perfect word. I like that they took that scruffy, drinksodden, bordeline Keith Richards Holmes idea and ran with it, in the Ritchie movies. In many ways it's more Black Books than Holmes.

Without A Clue I loved. I'd like to see The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, if anything because some stuffy old Baker Street Irregulars boycotted it. The weirdest Holmes film I've seen, I think, is the Freudian mid-70s one, The Seven-Percent Solution. Completely bizarre, and it ends iirc with a sword fight atop a train. Robert Duvall plays Watson, and if that isn't an unusual casting choice I don't know what is.

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

Oh, and lol to the alligator moment. TV tropes = dangerous...

[drinkingcocoa.livejournal.com]

Vanity casting? Fie! No one in the world could do a more brilliant job of this role! And I think Mycroft is by far the best character, as an invention, in this series. I think this character, in concept and execution, is actually perfect. I remember gawking the moment I realized the unaired pilot had no Mycroft in it at all. Mycroft makes "A Study in Pink." Without Mycroft, the pilot is simply good, not addictively brilliant.

Nothing's gotten past my incest squick yet, but I think the Mycroft-Sherlock chemistry is part of what makes me ponder the crush on his muse that I think poor Mark Gatiss must suffer.

And yes, it is totally a type. :-)

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

Ha, that's the problem though, I'm not sure how familiar you are with canon, but this Mycroft IS virtually an invention - he's certainly nothing like canon!Mycroft. They can make all the weight jokes they like, but he's very far from being 'massive' and having an 'unwieldy frame' (hence my eye-rolling at the casting) and he dashes around London dizzingly instead of being a semi-recluse at the Diogenes club like he's supposed to be. And if anything he's MORE practical than Sherlock. And while I'm quite flexible on some thngs, it's all too much, and my inner ten-year-old still stubbornly refuses to buy it. At all.

It only works if I split him off as a separate AU character. Who is admittedly far more gorgeous than canon!Mycroft and who I do rather adore, so. And I do agree that he really adds to the series as he is. But it took me this long to accept XD

I think the Mycroft-Sherlock chemistry is part of what makes me ponder the crush on his muse that I think poor Mark Gatiss must suffer.

I think you may well be right! It certainly makes things interesting :)

[drinkingcocoa.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know he's an invention. The weight stuff doesn't bother me, but this Mycroft is the very opposite of "lazy" and "unambitious." But if I (and all BBC Sherlock fandom) can accept the invented Molly with open hearts, and if we can prefer having Lestrade as a constant instead of the original plan of a changing roster of detectives, it's not that big of a stretch to accept invented!Mycroft. :-) Especially since it's tremendously useful to have someone who is smarter than Sherlock. *beam*

I don't know how I'd feel if I'd grown up on ACD canon like you and some of my other friends.

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

I'm fine with Molly because she IS a pure invention, and we have seen other detectives (like the one Sherlock works with during Blind Banker) with Lestrade being most often present, so they're much, much less of a stretch for me. I don't find those situations comparable at all, I'm afraid! I mean, Mycroft even comes to Sherlock for help rather than the other way around, so I'm not entirely sure he's even meant to be smarter (more practical, certainly) although I absolutely love the 'he IS the British government' aspect, which they've really played up.

But as I said, it's okay. This Mycroft is very interesting and adds to the universe in many lovely ways. But I still snicker every time they try and push the weight thing :)

[xanthe.livejournal.com]

LOL! I love your reasoning as to who Mycroft is (Skinner!). I adore Gatiss in Sherlock - he pretty much STEALS ASiB for me. I'm rather intrigued by Sherlock/Mycroft - I don't really have much of an incest squick and they ARE a mighty dysfunctional family. Of course, for me, it'd be all about the spanking *g*. Why are we SO NOT SURPRISED?!

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

LOL, I was just commenting on your post, so that was freaky.

And yes, I've been totally brought around to this whole concept of Mycroft, especially now I realise who he reminds me of. Given you're into spanking, who better to administer a proper spanking to Sherlock? *g* The fic I recced above is straight smut, but very nice, if you're interested - Mycroft literally never has a hair out of place during it, and it's rather fun.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

...I may have read that through the first time as Moriarty instead of Mycroft, and feeling terribly disappointed that you thought the character was good!

Um. So if you do enjoy Moriarty, please don't tell me. :)

Also, glad that you are enjoying the AO3!

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

Hee. I quite enjoy Moriarty now, mainly because I thought the last ep was stunning all around, but mostly because I keep hearing people talk about how lovely Andrew Scott is as a person. I don't care for the character and can't ever see myself wanting to fic him, though XD

AO3 is awesome. I particularly like the kudos function, both as a recipient and as a 'this was a great fic but I can't muster up a thoughtful comment right now' gesture of appreciation *g*

[teflon-woman.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, I never realized Scully was a Watson. Of course!

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

Hee, it could be drawing rather a long bow, but it did all fall right into place, at least on the pairing front XD

[karaokegal.livejournal.com]

I'm still mentally grappling with the fact that while Stephen Fry was physically (and theoretically) a perfect Mycroft, he didn't work at ALL for me in the movie. I basically blame Guy Ritchie for this, right down to the WTF? nudity. Conversely, Gatiss, despite all the reasons he shouldn't be is night unto perfect, for which I credit him and Moff. Every nuance is just right and there is amazing chemistry with all the other characters and hell yeah to the Sherlock/Mycroft-cest vibe with those two.

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

Hee, yep I love Gatiss's Mycroft so very much now I stop 'expecting' him to be something else. And you know I am not at all surprised you can get behind the M/S (assuming no incest squick) because you know that there can never, EVER be a happy ending curtain-buying for those two XD