A happy ending Canon?

 Okay, so it's Valentine's Day, and after an early supper, an early screening of Marlowe, and some fresh strawberries and ice cream, it was early enough to kill some time with something fairly light from the streaming world.  So Rosaline from Disney Plus? A romantic comedy take on two characters in the background of the classic Romeo and Juliet, which one approaches going "They can't die in the end of this one, can they?"

Well, spoiler, of course not. The tidy 90 minute movie stays true to Shakespeare but still manages to pull a happy ending and living lovers at the end. Maybe not in a fashion for those who tolerate no nonsense in their movies, but why would any no-nonsense person watch this whole movie? It does bring up a very big Sherlockian question, though, the Canon being our classic, just as classic as Shakespeare's works are to theater, and that question is this:

What if we just wrote happy addendums to all of the sixty stories?

Oh, no! John Openshaw fell in the river and drowned! Because he had an envelope in his pocket that said "John Openshaw" on it, according to Constable Cook of H Division! No way is that not conclusive proof that Openshaw died, and surely someone identified the body other than just reading the envelope. I mean, Sherlock Holmes had to at least . . . spend the whole next day going through Lloyd's registers and files of old papers. Hmmm.

It might take a stronger contrivance in some of the cases, and how far we want to go in bringing happiness to the tale. I mean, if we manage to somehow work out a way that both Stoner sisters live to a ripe old age, do we want to spare Grimesby Roylott, too?

Do we want Professor Moriarty to be talked into reforming and starting a new life under a new name by Sherlock Holmes at Reichenbach Falls?

The possibilities are endless, and would make another tidy collection in this age of seemingly endless collections. It would have to be all sixt . . oh. Dammit, I just thought of another sixty part collection that I still haven't finished. Somebody take this idea away from me, please, or tell me someone has done it already. Too many other things to do in this Sherlockian life, I tells you.

But back to my original inspiration, the random romantic comedy, which the Hallmark channel has turned into an industry . . . did you ever think about how many Sherlock Holmes stories are practically romantic comedies? "Noble Bachelor" to be sure. "A Scandal in Bohemia" could be worked into one easily enough. "A Case of Identity?" Give that girl a young gasfitter from the ball who was just waiting for Hosmer Angel to be out of the picture! But the romantic comedy Canon is an entirely different collection.

Wait, genre Canons? Oh, that's . . . that's . . . time to end the blog post. Good night!