Well now aren’t these two are a pair. No, really, I’ve been thinking a lot about identification and desire in this third series, and Magnussen’s like a slightly grotesque reflection of Sherlock. He’s in a strange opposition to Moriarty, almost like superego and id. (I’m not fond of Freud’s id/ego/superego theory, too schematic for me, but it does interesting work here. To review: id is base animal instinct, driven by the pleasure principle without restraint; ego is primary self, operating through the reality principle to make sense of the self-in-the-world; superego is civilization, the strictures of morals and manners.) In appearance Magnussen could hardly be farther from Moriarty:
In psychological function, too, they’re starkly differentiated: Moriarty raving in that padded oubliette is pure id, real bloody bottom-of-the-brain stuff, unfiltered by reason. (“Padded oubliette” is sublim8’s term, and it’s perfect for this grimy cell of the unconscious.) He’s fixed on the primal forces—fear, pain, death; mother, father, sex (the Woman)…and John. Love. The force that opposes Moriarty at the core of Sherlock’s being. When Jim tells him that heartbreak, loss, and death are “all good,” John in reality touches his face and calls to him. Reaching in through the purest animal need to live, John will always call Sherlock back to his life and his best self.
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