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Discussion Post: Thor Bridge
Jun. 16th, 2012 11:05 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
spacemutineer.livejournal.comWelcome back, friends! It's discussion time again, so let's get to it. How did you all find The Problem of Thor Bridge? As always, I've written up a few of my random thoughts and questions about the story to get you started. Please add your own!
- "A problem without a solution may interest the student, but can hardly fail to annoy the casual reader." Oh, Watson could not be more wrong. A problem without a solution can be fascinating, and I'd love to watch Holmes struggle against a puzzle he can't unravel until eventually he has to concede defeat. We only ever see him succeed but characters shine through adversity. Plus, several of the named "unfinished tales" sound compelling. I very much want to know more about the strange disappearances of James Phillimore and the cutter Alicia. And a "remarkable worm said to be unknown to science"? That's just the right level of ridiculous. Sign me up for that one too.
- There's a certain perfection in Holmes' use of fixed charges for his services. It allows him to focus on the things that matter: the quality of the puzzle and the quality of the client's character, not their pocketbook.
- Sherlock Holmes gives a bravura performance in THOR, from his perfect handling of the overprivileged and domineering Neil Gibson to the dramatic display with the gun on the bridge. He is at his snide, clever, self-deprecating and self-aggrandizing best. And he certainly is appreciated by his biographer for his efforts. Watson calls him "the man whom above all others I revere" here -- high praise to the point of absolute adoration. And there is an entire dispatch-box at Charing Cross filled with superlativelove letters case write-ups just like this one.
- It's a bold business, killing yourself to frame someone you hate. How much could Maria have loved her husband if she was so easily willing to part with him? Why did she remain so attached to a man who treated her terribly, by all accounts? Surely her "tropical" nature can't be the only explanation.
- "A problem without a solution may interest the student, but can hardly fail to annoy the casual reader." Oh, Watson could not be more wrong. A problem without a solution can be fascinating, and I'd love to watch Holmes struggle against a puzzle he can't unravel until eventually he has to concede defeat. We only ever see him succeed but characters shine through adversity. Plus, several of the named "unfinished tales" sound compelling. I very much want to know more about the strange disappearances of James Phillimore and the cutter Alicia. And a "remarkable worm said to be unknown to science"? That's just the right level of ridiculous. Sign me up for that one too.
- There's a certain perfection in Holmes' use of fixed charges for his services. It allows him to focus on the things that matter: the quality of the puzzle and the quality of the client's character, not their pocketbook.
- Sherlock Holmes gives a bravura performance in THOR, from his perfect handling of the overprivileged and domineering Neil Gibson to the dramatic display with the gun on the bridge. He is at his snide, clever, self-deprecating and self-aggrandizing best. And he certainly is appreciated by his biographer for his efforts. Watson calls him "the man whom above all others I revere" here -- high praise to the point of absolute adoration. And there is an entire dispatch-box at Charing Cross filled with superlative
- It's a bold business, killing yourself to frame someone you hate. How much could Maria have loved her husband if she was so easily willing to part with him? Why did she remain so attached to a man who treated her terribly, by all accounts? Surely her "tropical" nature can't be the only explanation.
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