Lord Smallwood suicide. Shamed peer takes own life. 63-year-old dies following letters scandal.
You know, so much of the fandom focus on HLV has been about the Sherlock/John/Mary drama (and rightly so because it was written this way)
And I wonder if this moment isn’t underrated. For all his intense, conflicted feelings about Mary and John, I think Sherlock is above all a man who takes pride in his work. And Lady Smallwood is the one who hired him for the Magnussen case—to what end, if not to prevent exactly this? He failed her. Badly. His professional pride took a massive hit in this moment.
I might be in the minority on this, but I think that was maybe almost as much a motive for killing Magnussen as his feelings for John and/or Mary. His deductive skills are at an all-time low, he’s become painfully aware of it, and Magnussen has to go. He’s willing to sacrifice his own life or freedom because he’s mad at himself for being blind enough to fail to help Lady Smallwood. He barely knows her, but she was his client, dammit!
(I just want him to be SMART again in s4.)
I definitely think this is a factor, but the reason it resonates so deeply in him is because of his personal experience with the wreckage created by a suicide; with the devastating grief of those left in suicide’s wake. So he’s failed her professionally, yes — but it’s made worse because he understands what the cost of that failure will be.
I dunno. I have a different take. I agree this moment is underrated, though. And that I want him to be smart again is S4.
We’re talking about a guy who blithely committed suicide in front of his best friend and played dead for two years. He never got it— never demonstrated an understanding of what he did to John. I can’t imagine he’s terribly moved by Lord Smallwood’s gesture. I don’t think it’s Lord or Lady that eat at him— I really think it’s Magnussen, the profiteer. Sherlock knows everybody’s secrets, too. He has the same powers. Most of the time he finds other people’s “intrigues” tedious. But Magnussen gets off on lording his knowledge over people— not just the guilty— it’s the screwing around with the (mostly) “innocent” that sickens Sherlock. Well that’s part of what bugs him…
It’s Mycroft’s weakness in the face of Magnussen that appalls Sherlock. Magnussen has made his omniscient, omnipotent brother kneel down. I think that’s hella more ammo for Sherlock than any passing allegiance he felt for Lady Smallwood. First his brother, then John. CAM had to go.
As for the Smallwood case— the girl, Helen Catherine Driscoll, was 15 years old and Lord Smallwood was 63. Lady Smallwood claims her husband was not aware of the girl’s age and stopped the correspondence when he learned she was actually just 15. I’m sorry what? She’s married to a guy who thinks it’s ok to screw around with somebody who could be his granddaughter but he marries a woman closer to his own age. And that woman thinks his sexual liaisons with a young girl (16 is the age of consent in the UK by the way) are forgivable because a) the girl “looked older” and b) it was before she knew him and c) he stopped when he found out what he was doing was illegal? I’m still chapped by the Lolita story line here. My version of Sherlock wouldn’t feel sympathy for either Smallwood.
Oooh I feel a lengthy meta coming on. Thanks for the great conversation!
Somebody pointed out to me that Lord Smallwood was much younger— that it happened years ago. I forgot about the dates. Still the Lolita storyline irks me. I feel the same…