On Mycroft

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"[Mycroft’s] less mad than Sherlock. He hasn’t got the heart of a poet, which is what Sherlock has, really.
     
I think the most revealing exchange about Mycroft and Sherlock is at the end of ‘A Scandal in Belgravia’, when he says, ‘Sherlock has the brain of a philosopher or a scientist, but he likes to be a detective. What might we deduce about his heart?’
     
There’s tremendous _romance_ in Sherlock Holmes. He _needs_ to be fighting crime and fighting bad guys.
      
He doesn’t admit that to himself, but there are plenty of opportunities for him to go and think elsewhere … but this is what he chooses to do.
     
So [Mycroft] doesn’t have that drive for color or glamour. Mycroft just wants to be alone and precise and do all his thinking.
     
No, he hasn’t allowed anyone to get close to him at all … except he’s quite close to his brother, from the very start — that’s not something that’s changed — from the very, very beginning of ‘A Study in Pink’.
     
[Mycroft’s] trying to look out for him. He’s worried about him. He’s worried about what his junkie little brother might do next, as you would be in real life.
      
If your little brother or something wanted to be a detective—not a junkie anymore, now a detective, because crime is really fascinating—you’d be worried.
      
He’s worried, that’s all."

—

Steven Moffat, when asked about Mycroft’s ability (or lack thereof) to connect with other people. 

(IGN interview, February 2014 [x])

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(via skulls-and-tea)

Mycroft just seems so dismissive of Sherlock’s choice to be a detective. Like, you could be ruling the world, but instead you’re running around playing pirate. And, as someone who reacts very badly to being told she’s not living up to her potential, I totally understand why it pushes Sherlock’s buttons.

Though, I understand that Mycroft has a very limited vocabulary for expressing his emotions, and so maybe disapproval is as close as he gets to affection.

Comments

[prettyarbitrary]

There are different angles you can look at this from, and I've always wondered which applied.

Is it that Mycroft's never quite gotten around to seeing Sherlock as no longer a little boy? Does he see this as a kid's game of pretend, and he's worried Sherlock might get himself hurt because of that?

Is he indeed aware Sherlock IS a big boy now, but worried, in the way of the fussing, fretting heart, that Sherlock's too caught up in the romance of it?

Is he quite rationally aware that Sherlock doesn't have it together as well as he pretends, and is thus worried?

Is this the reaction of a natural curmudgeon to a beloved relative who's decided to be a world-trotting free spirit? Oh beware, Sherlock, there are scary things out there. Things like change and frivolity. Who knows what they could do to you (but probably it will involve drugs).

These are all so close to being the same thing, and yet they have such different potential consequences. But in any case, of course Sherlock resents it. Who likes being judged for taking their own path to happiness and success?

Edit: Hm, I've just noted the date on this post. I'm not sure why it's showing up on my feed, sandwiched between two posts from 2018, but what the heck. I've written it now, so I may as well leave it. Pardon me!