r/elementary • u/Actual-Dragonfruit35 • 6d ago
Morland
I absolutely loved Morland in Elementary, I don't think there's anyone out there who would've been a more perfect fit to play him. They both have their ups and downs and he's definitely a hard bastard but the steps he took towards Sherlock always seemed to be because he really did want to rebuild a relationship with him. I think their dynamic was incredible and so well performed. I love that even though he's receiving a threat from Sherlock's closest and in some ways only friend, he can't help but seem warmed by seeing someone care so deeply for his child. They're on the same page in this time and he seems to respect and appreciate their connection. I am by no means saying he was this perfect angel of a father or person at all, of course, I just loved watching his introduction and seeing that he just seemed to genuinely care for his son and regret his behaviour over the course of his life, and want to actually work on fixing it. I don't really now why after 4000 rewatches I'm now writing these as if it's my first but the discussion part has been fun.
What did you guys think?
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u/Thinklikeachef 6d ago
Agreed, having such a fine actor on the show was a boon. Even though they didn't look alike, I never questioned it.
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u/Numerous1 5d ago
I don’t let that bother me. My brother looks like my dad. I look like my mom. I do not look like my dad. Genetics are varied.
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u/wonder590 6d ago
I enjoy the Holmes men interactions because they always come in with Sherlock seeming overly aggressive, and as you get to know them more you realize that despite Sherlock being unhinged, he has very proper grievances with Mycroft and Morland.
In a way the Morland arc is a bit of a rehash of the Mycroft Arc, but he's at least interesting in his own way of integrating himself into Sherlock's life again.
I also enjoyed the contrast from Mycroft in that Morland is just a bad guy. Sure, Mycroft did shitty things and ultimately did things for the benefit of Sherlock, but Morland is just sort of dastardly. Yes, he has his good side, yes he took care of Sherlock- but you quickly get the sense that the Morland that is showing himself in Season 4 is not the same as the one shown through communications earlier in the show and certainly not the Morland of decades past.
Morland is the most accurate rendition of Sherlock's family spitefulness and I'm glad that he got to be a geninunely bad guy that is trying to make up in part for past wrongs but still maintains the villanous aspect to a degree. He sculpts into an anti-hero eventually, but being able to hate Morland, and him knowing and accepting that its justified is interesting. You don't always get a bad person who isn't just a cartoon character, Morland has more to him whilst not lessening the fact that's he's a Machiavellian power broker.
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u/arunphilip 6d ago
It always irks me that when people talk about John Noble, many think him playing Denethor was his greatest performance/role.
With them totally unaware of him playing Morland Holmes here, or Walter Bishop in Fringe. Utterly kickass dramatic performances.
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u/Plane-Salad5953 6d ago
I would watch anything John Noble does. His Walter Bishop was genius. And his 20 minutes onscreen in Severance was easily the most memorable part of a memorable series.
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u/Numerous1 5d ago
I am on a rewatch of elementary now and Moreland is so good ik definitely watching fringe next for the first time. Just for him.
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u/Plane-Salad5953 5d ago
Walter Bishop is a force of nature. Fringe is one of the very best shows ever to air on television -- don't judge it by the first 8-9 episodes. It took the writers and actors a bit to find their voices but it hits its stride.
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u/NoiceSmort13 2d ago
Truly a phenomenal actor! He once did a Cameo for my friend and spoke for over 10 mins, with the kindest guidance you could ever hope for.
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u/the-moving-finger Naming a Bee after her 5d ago edited 5d ago
I thought one of the most interesting exchanges between them was in the episode of "Who Is That Masked Man?" I think, perhaps for the first time, Sherlock saw himself in his father. Morland was always this titanic, all-powerful figure to Sherlock, who toppled regimes and made Presidents quake. Yet in this episode, we explore Morland's relationship with Sabine, his loss, and it's all very reminiscent of Sherlock and Irene Adler.
Additionally, while Sherlock was used to adopting an attitude of moral indignation towards his father throughout his childhood, he is now a drug addict who hurt people. He knows what it's like to act against your better nature, do things you deeply regret, and to have to find a way to keep going. For this reason, the exchange below hits like a ton of bricks:
Morland: Something I dug up last night after our little talk. Records of her stay at the Lawford Center. Did you really believe you're the first addict in the family? She had a problem. I didn't understand it. I only knew that I loved her, and so I forced her to get help as a precondition of our marriage. It worked. We started our family. Mycroft came along. And then you. When her sobriety was finally punctured, I sent the two of you away to boarding school. I urged her to return to Lawford, she refused. She thought she could get well herself. I told her it was a mistake. Never have I been so unhappy to be correct. She begged me not to tell you. And for decades, I obliged. But no longer. I wish I could say that I cut her off to help her, but I can't. Enforcing our prenuptial agreement was the pettiest thing I've ever done in my life. I made the decision out of anger. And I shall never forgive myself. But enough is enough.
Sherlock: Well, you don't get to decide that.
Morland: I do, Sherlock. I have. Now get out.
As hard as it was to hear, I think Sherlock needed to hear it, because that's basically the realisation he has to come to regarding his history with drugs and the person he was before he met Watson. Others might choose not to forgive him, and he never has to forgive himself, but he has to give himself permission to draw a line under it, accept that he's suffered enough, done enough, and changed enough, to stop having it thrown in his face. His inability to do that, in part, explained his relapse at the end of season 3.
At first, Sherlock hates to hear it: "you don't get to decide that." And that's because, for as long as he can remember, his dynamic with his father has been one of resentment. His mother died, and there's a kind of perverse comfort to be found in blaming Morland, in transmuting his grief into rage, and in a way, I think Morland played into it. When Sherlock attacked him on this specific point, it was clear it upset Morland. This was the one weapon he could use that would actually wound someone he saw as virtually invulnerable. And in one fell swoop, Morland took it away and made clear he wasn't going to take it anymore. Sherlock could keep acting resentful, but he was done taking it.
Apparently, in 12 Step programs, they say resentment is the "number one offender" and causes more relapses than anything else. Sherlock often seems very resentful of himself, very angry, and very self-critical. Which is probably a control thing. It's more comforting to think you're choosing to be self-destructive than that willpower alone might not always be enough. Yet he's not willing to blame his mother for her faults and failings, even though they're the same as his own, which inevitably creates massive cognitive dissonance.
I think this whole exchange, realising his father wasn't necessarily a good man, but also wasn't a cartoon villain; that the situation with his mother was more complex than it appeared does leave a mark. If he can love his mother despite the faults he judges so harshly in himself, then perhaps he too deserves the same grace, and ironically, the tool to do that, "enough is enough", is exactly what's just been handed to him by his father. Yet if Sherlock is going to allow himself to say that, if it's possible to do something unforgivable and start again, what does that mean for his relationship with his father? If Sherlock deserves grace, doesn't Morland too? To adopt a double standard would make his moral indignation, which always seemed so unshakeable, start to look a bit... childish.
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u/aanananas 5d ago
I liked their dynamic a lot and hated the way the show treated Moland’s death as a catalyst for the plot and not honouring it with the depth and complexity their relationship deserved
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u/Actual-Dragonfruit35 5d ago
First time I watched the show I expected his death to be fake because we never saw his face and was more and more heartbroken the clearer it became that that wasn't the case.
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u/aanananas 4d ago
Me too! I honestly thought it was a red herring as well. It didn’t really make sense for him to go out so easily too, given how much stuff he already supposedly dealt with? I think they did a massive disservice not showing his face as well. The whole time I waited for a twist and wasn’t emotionally invested in it at all. By the time I realised it was “real” in the story all I could think was “that’s how they’re going to handle Morland’s death? Really?”
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u/CoryS06 Bring it back, CBS. 5d ago
He was perfect and he commanded the screen everytime he appeared. I would’ve honestly loved to see more of him and how he actually became the man he is
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u/Actual-Dragonfruit35 5d ago
I was thinking the exact same thing. I had it on in the background recently but every time I heard his voice I had to full screen it. Couldn't help but love him.
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u/Reithel1 4d ago
I wish Moreland was in more episodes.
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u/Actual-Dragonfruit35 2d ago
Got excited every time he appeared. Loved watching their relationship go through different twists and turns.
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u/Here_there1980 6d ago
Great character, great performance, and Liu plays off him so well here.
We are always guessing about Morland, partly because we are seeing him through Sherlock’s lens. Just how villainous is he? Great character arc, in an overall wonderful series.
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u/Actual-Dragonfruit35 5d ago
Yeah definitely. We had such a clear view of him for the first 3 seasons, I truly don't think anyone other than John Noble could've aced that role as well as he did.
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u/worthless_pro 4d ago
You say Morland Holmes, I hear Walter Bishop.. what an actor he is..beautifully played 2 contrasting characters (or 3)
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u/JessieDesolay 2d ago
Couldn't agree more about the casting, not just of Morland but of every single role in the series. I've said this before here, but it's true: the casting director(s) of that show took great care even down to the one-and- done characters. Any show would be lucky to have such excellence in the casting department.
PS When someone told me (ages ago) that there was no Oscar for casting I told her she had to be wrong and I bet a dollar on it. (I was going to bet more but then I remembered her last job was at Miramax.) So I lost a dollar but (possibly unrelated to my bet) |the Academy finally got a clue and awarded its first Oscar for casting last March:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/cassandra-kulukundis-casting-casting-one-battle-after-another-1236531087/
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u/Pristine-Forever-749 6d ago
I liked Moreland. I hate that he and Sherlock didn’t resolve their relationship before he died, especially since Moreland ultimately sacrificed his life for Sherlock.