The Mastermind Theory: This meta theory says there’s been an eminence grise working behind the scenes all along, manipulating seemingly random coincidences that led to great consequences (like the interruption of John and Sherlock’s stag night right when they were so close—and who could possibly know? Someone who we already know is watching them…like the sudden arrival of Irene, perhaps…many moments of coincidence in a show where these are quite rare, and indeed the only true accident has been that John Watson ever met Sherlock Holmes…)
Was the Mastermind (whomever it may be)’s Plan A to detect whether Sherlock just wanted to get off with a hot guy?
Reading “Jim from IT” as a double decoy: Who would know exactly what clues to create?
Who would even guess at this point these are gay culture things Sherlock would recognize? Only someone who watched him for a long time, when he was alone, and knew him very well.
WHO could possibly see the world so much like Sherlock he knew exactly
how to kit Jim up with the only clues that have ever so badly sent Sherlock so astray in a deduction, EVER? Who is smarter than Sherlock and know exactly how he thinks?
Moriarty? Really?
Moriarty is smarter than Mycroft is what that means. Now honestly. You know that isn’t true.
And who would know what type of man to send? Nobody turns down a “Jim from IT” if they are looking to slamp, so he’s mostly chosen as generic–but for one thing.
if anyone can work out any part of what Sherlock’s type might be, it’d have to be someone (the ONLY one including his idiot best friend) able to deduce at all what that type might be. And that theoretical Mastermind clearly has no idea, except in one crucial way.
He can’t work it out, this Mastermind, because he’s someone who only understands human sexuality from afar. So he sends in a guy who is right out of the Standard Hot Verse Gay Dude box. A man who is undeniably attractive with a certain universal appeal, who signals he’s down for whatever, and who clearly idolizes Sherlock.
Who knows best that this is the one deduction in trying to set a thirst trap for Sherlock Holmes which happens to be even partly on target?
ALSO: because we are quickly told to understand, through Sherlock’s deductions, that Jim is gay, we have no problem recognizing that his expressions, body language and behavior are full-on flirting.
Yet because there’s been no explicit acknowledgement (OR DENIAL, which is pretty key after so long) we still sometimes encounter doubt of our hetcentric-trained eyes when Johnlock and others throw Looks. No, Jim’s first appearance serves as a way to educate us and point us in the right direction: here’s what it looks like when one guy is really hot for another guy and the other guy isn’t into it.
You think he’d react to John that way? Not hardly. He didn’t, in fact, not at all. He didn’t just say “Bisexual” like he flatly said “Gay”. He realizes it
quite clearly, and adjusts his approach and even says he is flattered, something he never says to any of the other men and women who throw themselves at him.
So the first meeting with Moriarty in TGG is telling us: here’s the language of all this gay hookup stuff, including stuff like randomly pretending to knock something over and ice cold just leaving him your number.
If you just let queerness be as normal is it is in this Sherlock world – where it’s the same as any celebrity gossip and many may speculate but no one ever ever seems phased at all (except John. Because as a bisexual, in Gay World, there is discrimination, you see? And he also Has Issues, like any queer man might, not out of shame of his queerness but how it has manifested in him being total trash) – Johnlock is just as clear as Moriarty signaling Sherlock he is DFW.
Anyhow, Jim is so over the top into Sherlock, he’s not just seeing if “he” (and the Mastermind) can fool the consulting detective. That’s a thirst trap yo. That. Is. A. THIRST trap. Set by Jim? Why? What the fuck does he care if Sherlock Holmes is falling in love with John Watson?
Who would care? You know who. He’s told you many times…
Jim is bait. “Is Sherlock just wanting to learn about sex at last? Does he just need to get laid?” Now, who would even begin to care about that so much? Moriarty? Again, not hardly.
When Jim says “Thought you might call” he’s not kidding. Finding out if Sherlock would was part of the plan. Because that would mean John was not a big danger after all.
And Sherlock’s answer isn’t just “no”, it’s “could not be less interested”. And “I know an awful lot about gay clubbers sweating me, just like I do about fans”.
This must be very bad, since our Mastermind then pushes to a much deadlier Plan B. This is dangerous. Why? Because Sherlock Holmes must never be a goldfish.
He must not get involved. He must not get married.
Because if he does, the Mastermind would be at last completely and utterly alone. Without Sherlock, the Mastermind is someone who has no one in the world. So much so that if Sherlock isn’t around to be his friend, no one else will do. Too boring. Sherlock even seems to realize this, without seeing what’s in front of him, because there is only one person who is smarter than he is, all along. And it’s not Moriarty.
The Mastermind who first tests, then tries to contain, and finally to destroy John and Sherlock’s love, would lose his most precious treasure, his charge, his ward, the only one who understands him at all, and his finest work, his masterpiece, his only friend.
whimsysmayhem 