Moriarty vs. Adler

[resonant]

I'm re-reading book-canon Sherlock Holmes (the William S. Baring-Gould annotation, which I do not recommend, but that's another post), and I just read "The Final Problem" for the first time since high school.

I haven't finished all the post-return stories yet, but unless there's something very unexpected there, I have observed something about book canon vs. BBC canon:

Book-canon Moriarty really has very little interest in Sherlock Holmes.

Holmes is interested in him, and expends considerable effort (and lines up quite an army of allies) in his efforts to bring him and his lieutenants to justice. Holmes makes Moriarty dance, though not for entertainment.

But Moriarty has a criminal empire to run, and he takes note of Holmes only as Holmes begins to impinge upon that empire. Once they meet, it's clear that he has some grudging admiration for Holmes, but he doesn't play games with Holmes.

You know who plays a few games with book-canon Sherlock Holmes? Who engages him on purpose, beyond what's necessary to get the job done? Irene Adler does.

She's a rival rather than a true adversary; she's self-interested, but not evil; and it seems to me that their interaction is fun for both of them.

Comments

[saraht]

But...but...she's a GIRL!!!

(I have read with some amusement people bitching about how Irene is a thief, etc., in the RDJ movie and how it's not really faithful to canon. I'm like...she's a singer who managed to get hold of a compromising photo of herself with a crowned head of Europe! They had a name for that back then: adventuress! Making her a con artist is just a way of making her role recognizable to the modern mind!)

[resonant]

I liked her in the movie, and I liked their approach to the romance, such as it was. Felt true to both characters.

Some article I read about BBC plans referred to her as a "love interest," which makes me nervous.

[pir8fancier]

Carole Nelson Douglas did a mystery series based on her. I've read the first two. Good stuff. She writes Irene as a worthy equal.

[bonspiel]

It's been a long time, but I remember this series being quite good as well.

[resonant]

Huh. Worth checking out.

[marina]

I think this is something that the Ritchie adaptation got very right and the BBC adaptation failed at like a faily thing.

[resonant]

I suppose BBC Moriarty is reasonably interesting as a villain. I worry about how they're going to handle Irene, though, because their track record on female characters is not terrific.

[copperbadge]

This is mainly irrelevant to your post, but Baring-Gould is ADORABLY CRAZY. He wrote a manifesto about how Nero Wolfe is Sherlock Holmes's son by Irene Adler. He's the original OTT fanboy. :D

[resonant]

Much is explained, then. While failing to footnote many things that deserve explanation (what the hell is a "tantalus"?), the footnotes are full of efforts to pin a story down to a particular date of a particular year by matching weather reports, moon phases, and so on.

about how Nero Wolfe is Sherlock Holmes's son

Somebody ought to write a story where Sherlock feels that it's his duty to impregnate as many women as possible. He doesn't even especially enjoy it, but he feels he must spread his genes even on nights when he'd rather stay in and watch television.

[copperbadge]

He seems like a nice bloke but yeah he's a bit off the rails when it comes to Sherlock Holmes. :D Mind you, it's an interesting idea, but he really wrenches the canon around to make it fit.

That Sherlock story would be hysterical. Imagine John's reaction. "A load of hyperintelligent little malajusts infecting London! Have you any idea what this is going to do to the school system in a couple of years?" "A world of good, I should imagine."

(I'm not sure if that's rhetorical, but Tantalus was the Greek king imprisoned in Hades who could never quite reach the fruit on the trees or the water at his feet, as punishment for cooking and serving his son to the gods at a banquet. Here endeth my involuntary classics outburst.)

[resonant]

Sure, but if you say "There's liquor in the tantalus," it doesn't clarify much. Dr. Google fills in the blank: A Tantalus, by an obvious analogy, is also the term for a type of drinks decanter stand in which the bottle stoppers are firmly clamped down by a locked metal bar, as a means of preventing servants from stealing the master's liquor.

Oh, god, I didn't even think of them all hitting school age at the same time! What a terrifying thought!

"None in September of 2009. Why's that?" "I spent Christmas in Greece."

[copperbadge]

Ah durh, yes, that kind of tantalus. Possibly the term was still in use when Baring-Gould wrote?

Thinking about it, Sherlock wouldn't risk that much unprotected sex. He probably has a network of highly-intelligent independent women who enjoy not having the father over-interfering in their lives.

"Though I imagine if any of them turn out all right I shall take one or two on as a apprentices eventually." "Oh good. Someone to fetch the milk."

[resonant]

He probably has a network of highly-intelligent independent women who enjoy not having the father over-interfering in their lives.

Possibly even a literal network -- like, if you do something brilliant in your master's thesis on engineering (or British equivalent), and you have a certain sort of dating profile, then as you're on your way out of the university, a woman you don't know hands you a card with an address on it ...

Meanwhile, John eventually makes a pass at Sherlock, and Sherlock, with genuine regret, says, "It would be lovely, John, really, but I can't justify wasting my sperm in such a way when it could be used to increase the intelligence of the next generation."

[copperbadge]

That was my thought! "Congratulations on leaving Oxford with a first in biochemistry. Call this man, he'll show you a good time." :D

[resonant]

With the occasional surprise:

"A performance artist, Sherlock?"
"Yes, all right, but the bit with the red flags and the golden syrup -- in context it indicated an absolutely brilliant -- you'll just have to take my word for it."

[copperbadge]

John wanders off grumbling about how he's a doctor AND has never smeared himself with any form of sugary treat...

[resonant]

"Nor, unless I've made a very great mistake, can you be impregnated, John. I believe I've made my goals very clear."

Once John knows his secret, Sherlock stops even trying to be discreet, and no sooner does the door shut on Yasmin (a completely incomprehensible physicist) than there comes a text from Emma (a jazz drummer):

THE BLOODY NUISANCE IS HERE :(

and Sherlock, without even mocking the emoticon, texts back

PITY. SEE YOU IN TWO WEEKS THEN? SH

"They never bring the babies round," John says.

Sherlock grimaces. "No. That's one of the rules."

"There are rules? What are the others?"

Sherlock counts them out on his fingers. "Applicants considered only by referral, and accepted only after examination. They can see Mycroft for a one-time payment to defray the cost of ... nappies or ... socks or whatever it is that babies need. And I do not babysit."

[copperbadge]

On the other hand, I bet John could launch a charm offensive and distract at least half of the women who show up for Sherlock.

"Well, he might not be a genius, but he smiles more than you do."

[resonant]

Well, you'd think a woman would think twice about choosing a man who calls himself a sociopath.

"And are you any good?" John says. Sherlock looks at him. "You've got -- repeat customers," John clarifies, waving at the text from Emma. "You must not make it too unpleasant for them."

"There are some studies," Sherlock says stiffly, "not definitive but interesting, which suggest that a woman is more likely to conceive if she has an orgasm. So I see to it."

"You see to it."

"It's not that difficult, John."

[copperbadge]

All I could think of when I read this was Ianto's "It's the button on the top." :D

[filomena]

I wish to subscribe to this newsletter.

Especially the installments about John going after Sherlock's sloppy seconds.

[azurelunatic]

And the bits where one of the women thinks a threesome with John might be just the thing.

[mermaid]

I adore this entire thread!

[supermouse]

A tantalus is a lockable drinks cabinet, with the decanters on display. The reason for the name is fairly obvious.

[phoenix64]

I toddled over here for the commentfic but after seeing this I feel the need to mention that such an idea is small potatoes compared to Tarzan Alive. My mom was reading it when I was a kid and I got a look at the family tree, GOOD GRIEF.

[oracne]

THE MENS, they cannot accept that.

Even some of the WIMMINS - in the Laurie King mystery series with Mary Russell and (old) Sherlock Holmes, Adler was the mother of Holmes' son. There's brief acknowledgement of how cool she was, but only brief.

[resonant]

Hard, actually, to imagine her as a mother.

[krait]

That bothered me a bit about the BBC's Sherlock, as well. (Along with the whole "sociopath" thing; it's been a while since I was in canon, but I just can't see Holmes as a sociopath. He takes too much interest in people, even if he disdains their predictability; and he seems to have a grasp of justice and friendship, too.)

[resonant]

I don't buy that Sherlock is a sociopath (I think if he were, he'd be better at getting people to agree with him), but I buy that he enjoys the way the word throws people off balance.

non sequitur

[elemgi]

Not entirely sure where this belongs, but- I won a podbook of your DS fic A Modest Proposal, which I dearly love, at help_japan on the LJ side. I know you've got a blanket permission out there, but I thought I would also let you know (perhaps a little tardily). LJ is experiencing some DDoS attacks, so the links are not accessible at the moment, but the offer from skitz_phenom is here and my proposal of the fic is here. Yay!

Re: non sequitur

[resonant]

How cool! Thanks for letting me know!

(Poor LJ Resonant must wish that one of us had chosen a different name!)

Re: non sequitur

[elemgi]

Yes, I'm sure he does. :->

[ecaterin]

*squeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!* A Sam + Res fic!!! It's like a Christmas puppy chocolate cake pony!