More thoughts on 'The Diabolical Kind'

[grimorie]

Couple of thoughts on the The Diabolical Kind episode of Elementary:

First, apparently I was wrong and the name of Moriarty's daughter is actually Kayden and not Kate.

I'm actually quite fascinated at Moriarty gaining a daughter and in Kayden herself. She has a taste for cutthroat games, and she can be calm in the face of danger.

In everything that Moriarty's done I don't know if her protectiveness over Kayden is love or if her actions were all because of love. It seems more like a possessive kind of anger, and as musesfool mentions:

"whether she's property or some sort of eventual leverage, there's definitely possessiveness there, as there is with Sherlock."

This just adds another interesting layer to Moriarty, and doesn't mean she's turned a new leaf, I'm not trusting that sparing Agent Matu was because of Sherlock's influence.

Moriarty made a point to say that she would become a free woman, and not a fugitive, killing Matu when she plans to return will just make her life in incarceration inconvenient. She just needs to bide her time, be patient and lean on the right people and as promised, in a year's time she would be free.

(Also, it seems like her true identity wasn't released to the public so going back to anonymity wouldn't be difficult.)

--

In a whole other topic: In the same post,rembrandtswife made a comment about Moriarty's purple blouse being similar to Sherlock, and you know what? I just watched the scene with Moriarty and Joan going through the Fuller house, Moriarty has an eerie resemblance to BBC Sherlock, from the coat, to the jacket and the hair.

Visually, its the closest thing to the gender bent BBC Sherlock fics I've seen: In a way in that moment Moriarty and Joan were visually genderbent!BBCSherlock and Joan.

I'm not really sure where I'm going with this but it just struck me how visually similar Moriarty is to BBC Sherlock.

Comments

[monanotlisa]

In everything that Moriarty's done I don't know if her protectiveness over Kayden is love or if her actions were all because of love. It seems more like a possessive kind of anger, and as muses fool mentions:

The show -- certainly the police and Joan -- consider Moriarty a sociopath; as such she wouldn't be capable of normal love: Her love would be very much about herself, possessive, cruel to anybody but the object of her affection.

So the surprise is not her saving her daughter, and brutally so (Kayden is hers, to have and to hurt down the road, maybe); it really is sparing Matu. For in the past, Moriarty would hardly have hesitated…and let's face it, while killing him would have pained Sherlock greatly, I doubt it would have kept him from her. But as you say, there was a definite upside in being "gentle", so to speak; if the only way would have been to kill Matu she would have without a smidgen of regret.

[monanotlisa]

Love the Sherlock BBC comparison! Not watching that show (I dislike it muchly, as you know), but this is intriguing.

[grimorie]

I only glance at the show every now and then and mostly leave to tumblr watching but I can't help but acknowledge how very similar Elementary!Moriarty is to BBC!Sherlock in that scene!

[grimorie]

I think Moriarty is very pragmatic in that sense, she doesn't want to be a fugitive so she knows she will return. Because I don't really think she's capable of caring the way we care about people, she's too focused on herself to be anything but.

[rthstewart]

I finally watched the show and eagerly devoured your meta. Any thoughts on what Joan is thinking of all this? She's very quiet about herself. Do you think Moriarty got to her in the conversation in the Fuller house? I like to think that Joan's emotional and interpersonal intelligence is strong enough that when she saw that giant picture of herself, she KNEW that Moriarty was way more focused on her, than Joan was on Moriarty and that anything Moriarty said was for the purpose of trying to get a hook into Joan's psyche. But then I really like Joan.

Also, I wondered at the end with Moriarty talking with Sherlock about her decision to spare Matu (former ST alum and Warehouse 13 alum, am I right?) how you think more about consequences and whether it was his influence... I'm assuming that was all blatant manipulation. Which makes it interesting to compare her to the Marchioness where Sherlock is unambiguous in his distrust.

Errr, I seem to have hijacked your meta. Sorry!

[grimorie]

I really love talking about this show so don't worry about it!

(Also wooo Warehouse 13 fans!)

I'm with you about Joan because she seemed so very clear eyed about Moriarty and her intentions, I don't think she's fooled for one second but I think something of what Moriarty said will be on her mind, not because she believes Moriarty but something to keep in mind and watch out for.

I'm assuming that was all blatant manipulation. Which makes it interesting to compare her to the Marchioness where Sherlock is unambiguous in his distrust.


Ooh! I haven't thought about the Marchioness but now that you mentioned it this season is beginning to look interesting from the lens of this episode (and I feel like a subtle laying of an arc is happening here). Moriarty is much more an expert in manipulation than the Marchioness could ever dream of, she knows the right amount of emotion to play with Sherlock, and she very well knows the pull she has on him, and its interesting to see how Sherlock kind of play into Moriarty's hand.

I also have to give Natalie Dormer credit because even as I suspect with every fiber of my being that Moriarty is being manipulative, she plays it with enough ambigousness that I can't help but wonder if that's really the case!