cimorene

when i first read this story, The Slashiest Scene in Sherlockian Canon jumped up and bit me on the nose and i had to go record it in

cimness.

'Oh, you will see it out, will you? I thought I knew my Watson.'

...

I tried to scream and was vaguely aware of some hoarse croak which was my own voice, but distant and detached from myself. At the same moment, in some effort of escape, I broke through that cloud of despair and had a glimpse of Holmes's face, white, rigid and drawn with horror--the very look which I had seen upon the features of the dea. It was that vision which gave me an instant of sanity and of strength. I sashed from my chair, threw my arms round Holmes, and together we lurched through the door, and an instant afterwards had thrown ourselves down upon the grass plot and were lying side by side, conscious only of the glorious sunshine which was bursting its way through the hellish cloud of terror which had girt us in. Slowly it rose from our souls like the mists from a landscape until peace and reason had returned, and we were sitting upon the grass, wiping our clammy foreheads, and looking with apprehension at each other to mark the last traces of that terrific experience which we had undergone.

'Upon my word, Watson!' said Holmes at last with an unsteady voice, 'I owe you both my thanks and an apology. It was an unjustifiable experiment even for one's self, and doubly so for a friend. I am really very sorry.'

'You know,' I answered with some emotion, for I had never seen so much of Holmes's heart before, 'that it is my greatest joy and privilege to help you.'

...

'...Come into the arbour here and let us discuss it together.'

in the granada version of the story, watson saves the day. when holmes awakens from his drugged stupor, he's so out of control that he calls his friend and companion by his christian name, something that never actually occurred in the canon. jeremy brett defended the controversial moment to scarlet street interviewer david stuart davies:

'well, holmes is semiconscious at the time, right? it really was the one time that he could call him john. i think in extremis he might have said 'john.' it gives another little slant to it. i slipped in 'john' just to show that, underneath it all, there was just something more than what they say, that holmes is all mind and no heart.'

the story in written canon is less remarkable than the filmed version, however. the emotional tension/conflict between holmes and watson has been heightened for the film version. there's watson, so anxious and eager and earnest, wanting holmes to convalesce: holmes says he should have come alone and watson says bracingly, 'nonsense! it's a holiday!' then we see them arrived, settling into a beach cottage; watson's filled with joy at the world, striding around in the grass--and holmes is giving himself a seven percent injection. he looks morose. he flexes his fingers. he hears watson coming and leaps to hide it--not in time. watson's eyes fall on it and the light goes out of his eyes. he doesn't say anything but 'i'll see to the luggage.'

we see that holmes isn't mentally gone when they meet the over-earnest vicar. holmes never feels too poorly to skewer someone with quiet irony--his victims never note it, either. and then there's his lively joke: he pretends to have deduced the man's profession, name, and hobbies at a glance, and then reveals that he's read the parish magazine. watson and the vicar burst out laughing, the vicar's a little nervous. holmes rubs his hands together, throws his head back, in glee.

we see holmes in a pensive mood, but then we see him pour out the last of the cocaine and bury his syringe in the sand.

and then we're confronted with the first murder of the case. watson is displeased at holmes working on vacation but can do nothing to stop him, and indeed follows along. holmes interrogates the housekeeper and the unscathed brother and thinks, as always, on his feet. his manner when he enters the scene of the crime alone in advance of his companions is wonderfully brisk and concentrated.

there's also watson's slight displeasure, at first, with holmes's fateful idea to burn the remnant of the powder he's found in the lamp. he already is pretty certian that powder is the killer. the fire is clearly the common element in two murders and in the second, the lamp was lit in broad daylight. watson says the idea is mad. holmes says, 'of course i cannot ask you to stay.' watson stares at him like a pinned butterfly, says helplessly, 'of course i'll stay!' holmes smiles, all unconscious of the break that has occurred in watson: 'i thought i knew my watson.' they discuss the poison together. watson peers over holmes's shoulder and finally they light the lamp, with much drama and ceremony. and they begin to hallucinate.

allow me to just note here that 1.) the hallucinations seem to be holmes POV, because watson is the one who retains his head to shake holmes out of it--but the stories are watson POV, are they not? and 2.) the effects used to make the hallucination were VERY dodgy. i mean, REAL dodginess here. a sort of big mama dodgy.

watson grips holmes's arms, lying over him on the ground. holmes starts up, stiffening, head thrown back, hand forming a claw, and yells, 'john!' then he throws his other arm up and grabs the back of watson's neck. 'it was an unjustifiable experiment even for oneself, doubly so for a friend,' he murmurs.

can i just say that rar? if you read the excerpt above, the dialogue is intact; watson's heroism is intact; but the movie shows the leaning, the gripping, the lying-on-top-of, the shouting, the desperate look in holmes's eyes. it's all much more dramatic. and. yes. yes. ::hums::

so then you have the confrontation with the lion-hunter from africa and the lover of the murdered woman, and his flashback/explanation of the whole thing. the solution of this case was a real surprise to me in the written version, and i thought it definitely cool. it was cool here too, though maybe less so--the flashbacks got a bit long-winded i thought. but the lion dude has a very commanding prescence on film, and the eye-locking contests, and his glowers and holmes's little smiles, are really great.

and then you have the end: watson scolding holmes for taking the law into his own hands. that's something i really like which i never read into the written versions, but which comes across clearly on-screen--watson's feelings about holmes doing that are sort of frowny, really rebuking, almost like those of a parent towards a child--there's fond exasperation in there too, but that's at what he sees as a sort of blind spot in holmes's character which causes him to place himself above the law. but holmes says he has never been in love, 'but if i did, and the woman i loved had met such an end, i might act even as our lawless lion-hunter has done.' his face--looking distant, over watson's shoulder, and solemn, the movements of the lips almost automatic. but then he glances rapidly at watson, then looks down for an instant, and his face creases a little in a pensive-angsty frown. watson says, 'but that's not the point!' in a way that shows he's already given up; and holmes smiles and they banter a bit and run off to have their vacation at last. holmes actually skips which was so adorable i shouted with laughter.

high points: snark at the chief of police, making fun of the vicar. and of course, the dramatic rescue by watson of both of them from the poisonous fumes.
low points: flashbacks. blah, blah. also the shots of the insane people's faces get old.

further comments/quotes follow in the captions for the 37 captures i took. yes, i know, but as i said, it's an extra-slashy one. and i'm strongly considering making it into a story.

holmes and watson are on their way to the country because a colleague of w.'s has said it's imperative that holmes take this break unless he wants to have a breakdown. note that h. is wrapped up in carriage rugs from head to foot--there's no way he can move. but he's got a stack of books in his lap. 'what does your friend know about me?' he scoffs. and later, 'i should have travelled alone,' more quietly.

they've just arrived and watson is surveying the area from an outcrop, still in his coat and hat--about to walk in on holmes and his seven percent solution... .

holmes's sleeve was rolled up an instant ago, with a band tied around his bicep for the injection. he's studiedly nonchalant because he's just shoved his arm back under the blanket--and watson is about to see the open case on the table with the syringe half-full in it. he won't say anything, though, except...:

'i'll see to the luggage.' he stops in the doorway to the bedroom to say this, turns over his shoulder. his little face!

having their little game with the vicar. 'deduce, watson!' holmes has said, and watson has. now he's turned his head with an air of real surprise to say, 'you're really getting very good at this!'

it was the parish magazine and not deduction! holmes claps his hands in his amusement.

pensive, walking on the moor. 'i suppose death is always with us,' watson says. 'yes,' says holmes and lowers his eyes.

watching holmes walk away.

pouring out the seven percent solution.

frowning at the syringe before he buries it in the sand.

h. returns to find the vicar and his lodger waiting.

flashback: the sister, dead in her chair, face supposedly a mask of terror.

mr. tregennis is giving his testimony and has just said he saw a shadowy figure retreat across the lawn through the window. watson says over h.'s shoulder, 'didn't you investigate?' and holmes pauses in spite of himself and gives that little smile. only for watson does he make this face.

still questioning the witness.

at the tregennis estate and in the room where the death occurred. he walks in alone and immediately, just inside the door, starts to disrobe.

he skins out of his overcoat, hat and scarf and drops them all in a heap on the floor.

then he tosses his single cut-off glove onto the pile.

after the examination of the estate, h. and w. take a walk. 'it just won't do!' h. has said. and just now he asks w.: 'when did it occur?'

the lion-hunting dude sneaks up to ask how they're coming along, without really introducing himself. this is the face holmes makes at him, unconvinced by his story.

watson, starting to walk away, is stayed by a grunt of pain. he whirls and finds holmes hunched like this, and has to reach out, bend over, offer a hand. but holmes holds up a hand in that 'stop' gesture to show that he's fine--the same hand he's just used to clutch at his own shoulder .

but even when he gains his feet, watson can't not hover. he reaches for holmes's sleeve.

so holmes gathers himself and smiles reassuringly, and says how hard it is for the brain to be working furiously at a problem without the evidence it needs--something about the gears grinding.

they've been called to the vicarage for the second death--that of the surviving mr. tregennis, their primary suspect in the first murder!

holmes has proposed the experiment and watson has said, 'of course i'll stay.' holmes: 'i thought i knew my watson.' (<3.)

discussing the flame-delivery method of poison.

'ready?'

holmes's hallucination, fading between images.

holmes clutching his head in the hallucination.

holmes's face running with blood in the hallucination.

watson has shaken holmes back to himself. holmes: 'JOHN!'

holmes clutches watson with both hands.

disgusted with himself after the apology, holmes staggers to a handy cliff and throws the lamp into the sea.

lion-guy appears on cue. holmes has invited him for the denoument. 'about the killing of mr. mortimer tregennis,' says holmes.

the first sign holmes bears no ill will is that he has called the guy and not the police.

the guy lunges for him when he mentions the killing, but holmes holds up the ring he took from the murdered woman's body and says, 'the ring you gave to brenda tregennis.'