Aless Nox

I noticed that there was some question about what my video, Eurus in Love, means. And since I did spend quite a lot of time making it, I thought that it might be interesting to write up some notes on what I was trying to express with the video.

I didn’t want it to be too obvious, because art requires interpretation to really be effective, and a writer of Haiku once told me that a good Haiku only tells 60% of the story and makes you figure out the rest. Now I like to do at least 70% of the story so that people aren’t too confused, and that’s where the title comes in.

Eurus in Love.

First, there are no scenes of Eurus doing nice things like kissing, so one may wonder who she is in love with. Certainly not her brothers who she hurts in this story, but yes, I did mean for this to be a Eurus Holmes / James Moriarty romance because let’s face it, the only intelligent person that she’s met who is not her brother is James Moriarty, and he certainly has the bad-boy attitude and the style to charm her at first sight.

I wanted to tell a story from Eurus’ point of view, because she was the person who I felt the most sorry for after I had watched and processed Season 4. What the heck gives anyone the right to imprison a child at the age of six? How could a child that young be a threat? How would she even view the world if she only saw it through the walls of a cage?

The first part talks about shadows in the place YOU left, and I wanted it to be ambiguous who “you” was. Sherlock is in the frame, so you might assume that she is talking about Sherlock, but later it is revealed that the person who stood on the other side of the glass was Moriarty.

When the song mentioned “our” minds being troubled, I show John and the Eurus. I wanted to show how Eurus is John’s therapist, and what they talk about is grief after a loss. Something they both have in common. And when they talk about lovers gone wrong, Eurus and John are one of the pairs of lovers gone wrong. All the other pairs shown didn’t last as well, and Lestrade is alone because his wife left him.

The sight of Sherlock coming off of the helicopter is the frame story. Sherlock is listening to Eurus and trying to find out what is wrong. That is the main arc of the video. He listens, looks at the flashbacks, and ultimately helps his sister by hugging her, and breaking the coffin to bits.

The chorus of the song happens three times. In the first it says that if you’re still breathing you’re the lucky one. The second uses the word “bleeding”. The third, “If you’re in love”, and each uses an illustration containing Sherlock.

In the first chorus, Sherlock is breathing heavily at the sight of Moriarty’s suicide. Eurus is saying that Sherlock is lucky because he is not the one dead, like Moriarty is.

In the second, we see Sherlock screaming in pain in The Lying Detective. (Which one is pain?) Eurus still sees Sherlock as lucky because he can feel emotions when she feels so dead after her experiences.

The last chorus, If you’re in Love, shows people who have loved. Note that they are all crying or under stress. We see these moments as painful, but Eurus sees them as showing how lucky these people are: Sherlock, John, and Molly. That they have felt love.

The song says “You caused it!” First to Mycroft, because not only did he introduce her to Moriarty, but afterwards, he tortured the man and started the revenge arc that led to his death.

The second set of “You caused it!” is addressed to Sherlock who was involved in Moriarty’s endgame starting with the pool. Eurus blames both of her brothers for taking away what she sees as her only chance at love.

The fact that Eurus is talking about Moriarty as her lover is implied by the shadow of Moriarty over the image of Victor Trevor in the well, (ones who died before they got there). and the words “I love you” on the coffin at the end. She tells Sherlock that she is heartbroken over Moriarty’s death, and Sherlock is the only one who understands her. He hugs her, and he destroys the casket that says I love you. All of this occurs on the island fortress of Sherrinford because Eurus is still and will ever be a prisoner there.

The story highlights in a, hopefully, emotional way, how some people are dismissed as monsters and their humanity and human motivations are simply discounted. Mycroft certainly doesn’t see Eurus’ side. He only sees the things that she has taken away from him like the peace of his home, Musgrove, where there was always honey for tea.

By showing that she loves Moriarty, Eurus shows us a bit of her humanity. She is a person, not a monster. This leads to the possibility that James Moriarty may also have been more than just a monster. It makes us think that the “Waking up” that Eurus was supposed to have gone through is a recognition that she need not always follow the rules. That she can embrace her inner monster like Moriarty has, and express her displeasure with her treatment and Moriarty’s treatment by her brothers.

One conceit is that “Miss me” was a message from Moriarty to Eurus. A message that she later gives to Sherlock and Mycroft. Do they miss her? Because her fear is being forgotten (a lifeless face that you'll soon forget). For she has been forgotten by Sherlock and for a person in a cage, to be forgotten is the same as death.

Both Eurus and Sherlock exhibit self destructive behaviours (setting fire to our insides for fun). They have pain that cannot be expressed except through destruction. In Eurus’ case, it is the destruction of others. In Sherlock’s case it is the destruction of himself.

Overall, I thought the video worked pretty well, although some of the timing was off due to errors that occurred before the render when I was matching images to the shortened music. I edited the song down for effect and time. One day I might go back and fix it, but for now, I am glad that it was done.

Was their anything else you saw in the video? Any questions? I would be happy to hear suggestions for my next video. Thanks for watching.

Saturday Girl 2012