John is sort of in between the Holmeses, loyal but still independent. He's a military man, he's taken the King's shilling, he's pretty horrified by the suggestions of what's in Irene's photos--that moment when he can't put down his teacup!--but he doesn't try to convince Sherlock to take the case. When Sherlock says he's never had a client with a navy, John laughs a little and stands by him. People keep asking him to lie to Sherlock in this episode, and his response in each case is to do what he thinks is best for Sherlock, though you're right, Mycroft is making a TERRIBLE LIFE DECISION asking John to lie, it will never work, he has to know that. But maybe Sherlock so habitually distrusts Mycroft that Mycroft will at least take a chance on Sherlock trusting John? I don't know, none of that makes a lot of sense.
ANYWAY. I feel like the way I'm reading Irene's supposed assassination is inflected by my being an American, in a time when there's furious debate going on about the American government's right to kill US citizens overseas without due process. I don't particularly expect that there's an intentional link there, but I'm not terribly interested in intentionality when thinking about this show. I don't think Mycroft would need to outsource, but he might find it expedient, you know, for public relations purposes. It's possible I'm also taking this interpretation because it makes the racial politics of the show more nuanced than "the Middle East is where war happens and people get killed there." And though it's a slight thing, if Mycroft planned the assassination, that provides the hint of an explanation for how Sherlock knew about it and was there--he doesn't have Moriarty bugged, and Irene is highly unlikely to have contacted him herself at that point.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-01-08 11:49 pm (UTC)ANYWAY. I feel like the way I'm reading Irene's supposed assassination is inflected by my being an American, in a time when there's furious debate going on about the American government's right to kill US citizens overseas without due process. I don't particularly expect that there's an intentional link there, but I'm not terribly interested in intentionality when thinking about this show. I don't think Mycroft would need to outsource, but he might find it expedient, you know, for public relations purposes. It's possible I'm also taking this interpretation because it makes the racial politics of the show more nuanced than "the Middle East is where war happens and people get killed there." And though it's a slight thing, if Mycroft planned the assassination, that provides the hint of an explanation for how Sherlock knew about it and was there--he doesn't have Moriarty bugged, and Irene is highly unlikely to have contacted him herself at that point.