Okay okay. I get to do this again. This is my Why Irene Adler Is Not Holmes's Love Interest Rant. https://twitter.com/snarkbat/status/1298712492026155008

So there are two cases in the canon Holmes stories where Holmes requests either a reminder (from Watson, in the case of the Yellow Face) or an object, that being Irene's photo at the end of the Scandal in Bohemia.

The standard take is that Holmes is in love with Irene.

And most modern takes have her be some kind of rival. the Downy JR movies had her be this great con artist (Who gets beaten by Holmes a lot) BBC Sherlock has her be a dominatrix (Who gets bested by Holmes) and IIRC Elementary straight up made her Moriarty.

But all of that does a pretty severe disservice to both Irene and A Scandal in Bohemia.

To explain this, we have to take a look at The Yellow Face story.

TLDR: Holmes is hired by a man to investigate his wife. The man and Holmes both believe his wife is hiding her American husband, who she claimed died of smallpox. A strange figure is seen in a separate house the wife has been paying for.

Holmes and the man break in and find a little Black girl in a yellow mask. The wife then explains that this is her child, her (very much dead) American husband was Black, and she's trying to protect both her daughter and her husband.

This was a BIG deal in the era when the Holmes stories were written. Women had very little support, and interracial marriage would have been unheard of. The client would have every right to divorce his wife over this and humiliate her. Instead, he accepts the child and kisses her

The husband and wife work on reconciliation and it's all rosy warm feelins, and Holmes asks Watson something interesting. He says, basically "if you ever think I'm not paying enough attention to a case, Watson, please remind me of this one."

This isn't because he wants to remember the happy ending. Holmes made a mistake. He made assumptions about the nature of this case, and he created a scenario where a woman and child could have been left homeless and vulnerable because he made the wrong call.

He's asking Watson to remind him of the potential consequences in not considering all possible variables.

So then we get to A Scandal in Bohemia. The basic story is the King of Bohemia misbehaved with opera singer Irene Adler.

Something happens between them and Irene leaves, taking some embarrassing pictures with her as insurance. Insurance of what? She wants the king to leave her alone. She doesn't want money, she doesn't want jewels. She wants him gone.

The king is getting married, so he hires Holmes to go get those photos so he doesn't have to worry about Irene (he says). He basically gives Holmes a blank check, and Holmes jumps on the case like white on racism.

Irene turns out to be his level smart, Reverse Uno's him on a stake out (notably saying "Good Night, Mr. Holmes" once she's confirmed his identity) and then Irene gets married, takes her photo insurance and books it the fuck for America before Holmes and the King know she's gone.

She leaves a taunting photo for the King to remember her by, he reveals that he's very much Not Over It, and then Holmes, in a move that everyone assumes is romantic, asks for the photograph in lieu of payment.

It's not romantic. This is the Yellow Face all over again. Only it's much, much worse. The one thing that Holmes always did was protect the vulnerable, and this case had "Bad Idea" written all over it. Not the least of which is that Irene only wanted to be left alone.

Why bother taking photos from someone who just wants you to go away if the answer is anything honest? But Holmes allowed himself to be blinded by a paycheck. He didn't allow himself to see that he was violating his own principles.

Even worse was what would have happened if Irene had been anything less than who and what she was. If she had been less quick on the uptake, or even a little less quick on her feet, she would have been left facing a KING without any protection at all.

The only thing that saved Irene from Holmes's mistake was Irene. And he knew it. He knew the moment they opened the safe that he was on the wrong side, and that Irene had saved herself from him as much as from the King of Bohemia.

It wasn't romantic. It was evidence that Holmes had a conscience, and that he was aware of how catastrophic things could be if he wound up on the wrong side of justice.

I really wish somebody would do THAT take in one of these adaptations.