I really ought to use this blog.
Feb. 21st, 2019 10:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mazz0626We worked it out
Why Mary didn’t shoot Magnusson.
He needed to still be alive later so that Sherlock could shoot him.
That’s it. That’s the reason. There is no in-universe explanation, there is no character motivation for why someone who broke into a man’s office and was pointing a gun at him when found did not shoot him, when he knew who she was and she knew he couldn’t be intimidated, but she did murder a different man in cold blood and for no reason(okay, it didn’t stick, but she deliberately shot him and he did die). I’ve been puzzling over this one for ages, trying to think of a plausible explanation for her actions - why she didn’t shoot them both and put the gun in Sherlock’s hand, or something like that, which would fulfil her original purpose in being there.
But when thrashing this out on Discord, I realised I’ve been looking at it all wrong. I’ve been thinking of Mary Morstan as a character, with internal motivations and goals, whose actions are a result of what’s going on in her personal journey. That was never going to prouce a result, because she is not a character. She was not written as a character. She was a loose collection of plot devices in an overcoat, looking like a character from a distance but not standing up to any kind of scrutiny if you got within ten feet. All the details that made her look like an intriguing, conflicted person with a whopper of a backstory to come, and maybe a decent redemption arc, were accidental.
It’s the answer to all of her mysteries. Why did she choose John? No reason, she didn’t. She does not have the capacity to choose. She was plopped into place because that was where she was needed. Why did she shoot Sherlock? So that he could forgive her for it, no other reason necessary. There is no deeper meaning to anything she does, because the writers did not consider her to need it. She was just there to do what they needed someone to do, to be something for the actual characters to react to.
Magnusson had to survive his encounter with her, so that Sherlock could shoot him later. Therefore, Mary could not kill him. This was not justified within the text because they didn’t see why anyone would ever think it should be.
Why Mary didn’t shoot Magnusson.
He needed to still be alive later so that Sherlock could shoot him.
That’s it. That’s the reason. There is no in-universe explanation, there is no character motivation for why someone who broke into a man’s office and was pointing a gun at him when found did not shoot him, when he knew who she was and she knew he couldn’t be intimidated, but she did murder a different man in cold blood and for no reason(okay, it didn’t stick, but she deliberately shot him and he did die). I’ve been puzzling over this one for ages, trying to think of a plausible explanation for her actions - why she didn’t shoot them both and put the gun in Sherlock’s hand, or something like that, which would fulfil her original purpose in being there.
But when thrashing this out on Discord, I realised I’ve been looking at it all wrong. I’ve been thinking of Mary Morstan as a character, with internal motivations and goals, whose actions are a result of what’s going on in her personal journey. That was never going to prouce a result, because she is not a character. She was not written as a character. She was a loose collection of plot devices in an overcoat, looking like a character from a distance but not standing up to any kind of scrutiny if you got within ten feet. All the details that made her look like an intriguing, conflicted person with a whopper of a backstory to come, and maybe a decent redemption arc, were accidental.
It’s the answer to all of her mysteries. Why did she choose John? No reason, she didn’t. She does not have the capacity to choose. She was plopped into place because that was where she was needed. Why did she shoot Sherlock? So that he could forgive her for it, no other reason necessary. There is no deeper meaning to anything she does, because the writers did not consider her to need it. She was just there to do what they needed someone to do, to be something for the actual characters to react to.
Magnusson had to survive his encounter with her, so that Sherlock could shoot him later. Therefore, Mary could not kill him. This was not justified within the text because they didn’t see why anyone would ever think it should be.
