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NWI | May 2014
Amid all the furor wrought by the inclusion of Mary Morstan on BBC Sherlock, I can only say this: It really is canon. Pure canon. Consider:
- We first meet Mary Morstan in Doyle’s “Sign of Four,” when she asks Holmes and Watson to escort her to a mysterious rendezvous. The three ultimately are taken to the home of Bartholomew Sholto and learn that both his father MAJOR SHOLTO and Morstan’s father, had stolen the AGRA treasure from India. After years of searching, this treasure has been found and – according to questionable late 19th Century ethics – Mary Morstan deserves a piece of it. In BBC-verse, both Sholto and AGRA figure as important plot points.
- In FOUR, Holmes praises Mary Morstan, calling her “a model client.” When he learns at the end that Watson has proposed he groans. Watson is hurt by this reaction and asks if Holmes has a reason to be dissatisfied with his choice, to which Holmes replies, “Not at all. I think she is one of the most charming young ladies I ever met, and might have been most useful in such work as we have been doing. She had a decided genius that way; witness the way in which she preserved that Agra plan from all the other papers of her father. But love is an emotional thing, and whatever is emotional is opposed to that true, cold reason which I place above all things. I should never marry myself, lest I bias my judgment.”
As we have seen, all these plot elements are used in S3. Sherlock does continue to like Mary Morstan (even after she shoots him!) Mary does aid them (albeit in a small way) to save Sholto’s life. And Sherlock repeats the quote “…love is an emotional thing, and whatever is emotional is opposed to that true, cold reason which I place above all things” pretty much verbatim during his speech at John’s wedding.
It also serves to note Watson’s last comment in FOUR: “”You have done all the work in this business. I get a wife out of it, Jones gets the credit; pray what remains for you?”
"For me," said Sherlock Holmes, "there still remains the cocaine-bottle.”
And the very next time we see Sherlock, he is lying in a crackhouse supposedly doing drugs.
3. After Watson and Morstan marry, Canon Watson goes back to doctoring and doesn’t see Holmes for some time. Doyle, meanwhile, begins writing the first collection of short stories known the world over as “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” for the Strand magazine. When he had married Watson off at the end of FOUR, Doyle had no idea he’d ever write another Holmes story. FOUR was a one-off for Lippencott’s Magazine and The Strand didn’t even exist yet. Be that as it may, apparently for the sake of continuity (although Doyle was far from caring about that), when he started writing the adventures, Watson is married and away from 221B. The first Strand story was “A Scandal in Bohemia,” where Watson decides to pay his old friend a visit. Looking up at his window he writes: “He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head sunk upon his chest, and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his drug-created dreams, and was hot upon the scent of some new problem.”
And where is he at the conclusion of tSoT and the beginning of HLV? In a crackhouse on a case. Canon again.
4. Watson climbs the familiar 17 steps to 221B, where Holmes remarks, “Wedlock suits you. I think, Watson. You have put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you.”
"Seven," I answered.
"Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, I fancy, Watson.”
And of course this bit was pulled right out of the book for HLV, except for the addition of “Mary and I think…”
Now, as a pre-BBC Sherlockian, I admit that I regretted the existence of Mary Morstan. I wanted Watson back with Holmes where he belonged. And I know I’m not alone. Even Vincent Starrett commented that Mary was “more than a little bit in the way.”
Be that as it may, Canon Mary did try to stay out of Holmes’ and Watson’s business. She cheerfully acquiesced whenever Watson wanted to join Holmes on a case. Either that, or she was conveniently away visiting friends or a sick relative, allowing Watson to sneak back to Baker Street for a while. BBC Mary is the same way, encouraging Sherlock and John to continue their adventuring together. What is non-canonical about all of this?
The way the two versions differ is that, while Canon Mary was very much a passive Mary Sue, BBC Mary is very much a player. She is almost being portrayed as a mythic Loki character who has brought chaos in her wake and could use her skills either for good or evil and personally I find that really interesting.
There also is no question in my mind that Mary eventually is going to be dispensed with, just as Doyle dispensed with her, and that John and Sherlock will eventually be back together in Baker Street.
I just really don’t understand the furor that Mary has wrought among a facet of fandom whose only interest seems to be about who should be f***ing who on the show. I think the writers are doing a fairly good job of updating Doyle’s text - in regard to Mary, at least.
