[ SECRET POST #4180 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4180 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.
[Murdoch Mysteries]



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02.
[Laurie R. King, Mary Russell mysteries]


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03.
[Stargate SG-1]


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04.
[The Banner Saga 2]



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05.


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06.


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07.


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08.












Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 08 secrets from Secret Submission Post #598.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I don't really recall if the books mention their active sex life, but it definitely doesn't go into detail and most of the time their relationship looks more like a platonic partnership than a marriage. It's basically the Holmes/Watson dynamic from canon, but with a younger woman.

It's not exactly Mary's competency and lurid backstory that sets off my Mary Sue alarm... it's that she's portrayed as some sort of super precocious teenage detective. A brief training period with Holmes and she's gone from being a bookish teenage girl to being this super protege and it just escalates from there. The self insert aspect of the character is also a dead giveaway - down to the long hair and interest in religious studies.

[(Anonymous)]

Shrug. I guess I'm just prepared to accept "precocious" in a story that already has Holmes in it. And a lot of the stories aren't... focussed on her? They're on the people she meets, the puzzles she encounters - it doesn't have that feel of constant in-narrative praise that has me reaching for the puke-bucket.

But hey, if we all liked the same thing, there wouldn't be enough to go around, etc. etc.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm just the opposite. Holmes is an exceptional talent in the field of detection. A universe that posits that a teenage girl is not only his protege but his equal (all achieved in an extremely short amount of time, mind you) is a major strain on the credibility for me. I agree there's not a constant narrative of praise but it's very much in between the lines - a teenage girl character who's suddenly the equal of the most famous amateur detective of all time can't not set off Mary Sue alarms, IMO.

Not sure I agree about the focus of the series, either. The stories are unequivocally about her, not Holmes. Holmes is very much a distant secondary character and the Mary Russell series is a great deal more driven by her character and personal life than ACD canon was driven by either Holmes or Watson's personal lives.

[(Anonymous)]

"(all achieved in an extremely short amount of time, mind you)"

Achieved after training for years. That first book has her training for years, and skims over most of the time in favour of showing a few highlights and adventures in detail.

It's like a talented young violinist getting dedicated daily lessons, for years, from the best fiddler in the world. Sure they might reach the limits of their skill early and never be more than "pretty good". But I would expect someone of talent, in those circumstances, to be as good as they can possibly be by the end of the apprenticeship.

[(Anonymous)]

... but still not the equal of the best fiddler in the world, right? Because that takes talent AND years of training, and even with a prodigy you're still lacking the years of experience to reach that level. This doesn't happen within the space of a few years, like it does in the series.