If there weren’t any feelings of a romantic nature from Sherlock’s side, Molly would not have asked him to say it first

 (Sherlock meta by rebeltimedork)

I have to take something off my chest, it’s real quick.

For me if there weren’t any feelings of a romantic nature from Sherlock’s side no way Molly would have asked him to say IT first. No fucking way, either she would have sensed he was in danger and would bring herself to say it reluctantly. That would have probably been the end of their friendship as it were or she would have hung up, feed up of their history and bye boy bye.

I know that during S1 the writers wanted to frame her as having a crush and I know unrequited love exists and is valid. But Molly is a character that sees something, honestly we have no idea how perceptive she is, i.e. to what extent and how she works it out. And let’s not get started with all the scenes that play out off screen. And the ongoing ambiguities. The Unknown suggests there are reasons, sensible reasons, for Molly to see that Sherlock has something for her but she never ever pushed him, she might expect it from him -xmas gift/dinner?solve crimes?/is that your gf’s phone?- because she likes/loves Sherlock therefore he’s likable/lovable and she sees *something*, but there are boundaries and that phone-call erased the hell out of that line.

*For me* she asked him because:

1. “oh if it’s so fucking easy, go on you do it first and let’s see how effortless and simple it is to say those words” and 
2. “well now that we’re here, let me hear you say it, you go first, don’t suggest, say the words. I want to know if i’m wrong or not” and 
3. “you are not going to be smooth and all if you knew that these words mean to you”. 

That was the 11th hour, *for me* the moment of Truth, pure and simple, and she’s going to get it from him. The first time he says ILY she’s not shocked “you moron so this is how you were going to say it” because yeah *for me* she kinda knew how he felt for her and he had, although barely, passed her test. But that’s not enough. For the second time, the ILY is not only meant it’s revealed. The first one was real but the second one was different. He didn’t just love her now, he has always longed for her, longed for it, and I’m pretty sure several flashbacks went into her head, that she pondered like fanvideos. As in, all this time, after all these years, she was right?

There is this quote, that for the life of me cannot get out of my head and I don’t really know why, I can’t work it out so I might need your help. It’s from ACD The Devil’s Foot, in which btw SH let’s a murderer loose because of personal ethics.

“I have never loved. But if I did, and if the woman I had loved had met with such an end, I might act even as our lawless lion-hunter has done.”

It’s under read more because it’s in the back of my head whenever I think about the coffin scene and I can’t make a proper connection; ugh.

Let us never forget a very simple, very textual fact

 (Sherlock meta by theleftpill)

Anonymous: Let us never forget a very simple, very textual fact. After remaining composed upon learning he had a psychotic sister, after watching 5 people die a senseless death, after 4 seasons of mostly managing to remain composed and focused in the face of death, danger and betrayal, our haughty, superior hero needed to be calmed down by others FOUR times within the span of a just few minutes because of Molly. All three people witnessing his call to Molly had to intervene to calm him down at some point.  

theleftpill: What was the word he used to describe the experience? Oh yes - “vivisection.” Being flayed alive. He didn’t say that when he was forced to shoot John or shoot Mycroft; it wasn’t vivisection when forced to choose between murdering his friend or his brother. It was vivisection when forced to reveal his feeling for Molly. 

And keep in mind the basic storytelling element of escalation: the conflict gets bigger the further you go. The ultimate horror would be Sherlock killing himself. The next worst horror would be Sherlock murdering his friend, then his brother. Where does Molly fall in the arc? Right near the top. It’s not the first test, it’s not even in the middle. It’s the second most horrific test Sherlock could be made to face, and it’s the one that breaks him. 

Tell me again how “I love you” was all just a lie.

 About that… (happy ending)

 (Sherlock meta by carefreegirlat221b, bassfanimation, whclocked and penelope1730)

carefreegirlat221b:

Okay at the end of TFP we get a fleeting view of Molly entering the boys’ apartment with a huge smile on her face. I’ve come across many posts which theorised that perhaps Molly and Sherlock are together now. But I don’t really think Sherlock loves Molly. If he did he wouldn’t have felt so guilty after telling her that he loves her (when forced to by Eurus) - we can see that by the way he tears the coffin apart in frustration. And what I feel is that Sherlock hasn’t been able to tell Molly the truth. He finds it difficult to confront her and tell her that he really doesn’t love her in that manner. So you see, this is what kills me (as am a sherlolly shipper too). Molly still believes that the man she’s in love with loves her back.

bassfanimation:

This is a perfectly valid reading, and one that may very well be true. My husband also theorized that this might be the case, but he wasnt sutre because of the ending scene here, where she looks like she is heading right for Sherlock with that happy look on her face. But yeah, this is something Ive also thought about quite a lot, and I wonder if the writers are that cruel. We will never know unless they decide to explain it all. If this was the case though, my god, what a waste of amazing parallels and storytelling.

whclocked:

Funnily enough, I don’t think Molly believed Sherlock when she said those words back at him. It is a perfectly valid reasoning on your end, but I feel like Molly knew Sherlock said those words to convince her more than anything. She could hear it, in his voice, more than ever yet she loves him nonetheless. She said it back not because she knew he meant it or because she is hopeful. It just felt like a resignation. It’s like; “Okay, we’ll play this game, Sherlock. You and me, like we always do.”

For me, Molly knew. She knew Sherlock better than he ever thought she would. She loves him anyway even if he doesn’t love her back. That’s okay for her, she’s fine with it. But, whatever it was, she also knew she couldn’t let Sherlock down. She might not have all the facts, but she trusted Sherlock. Through his bull and theatrics, she could always tell there was something. Saying those words hurt her, but it probably also what freed her. Perhaps the epilogue was her moving on, walking in to greet him as equals, as friends.

bassfanimation:

These are all valid opinions, but, I want to add some more to this post that makes these readings a little bit like seeing the cloud in the silver lining. I think while you can read things this way, I don’t think this is how the writers intended it at all.

So my husband saw me frantically typing my response to this post and asked what was up. When I explained OP’s view, he shook his head and said “Why do you girls always look for reasons to convince yourselves that you didn’t get a good thing?” He says this because he saw how upset I was the next day, after TFP, because he actually had admitted that this same reading could be true. When I reminded him of this, he said he HAD imagined that could be true, but after seeing it again two more times he doesn’t feel the same. He actually feels the 'I love you' was real, and that Molly coming into 221B like she did, he totally thinks they got together. He also thinks the writers meant for us to read it as real, because he feels they wanted us all to be happy.

I agree with my dude here. Moffat and Gatiss, I believe, tried to literally give everyone a happy ending. Even Martin Freeman, in an interview, said he hoped to God everyone got what they wanted in the ending. I think the writers did leave it ambiguous, BUT they also clearly intended it to be ambiguously happy, above all else. What did Molly Hooper want most in the world, since we met her? Sherlock.

While talking to my hub some more, he had an interesting view to what Sherlock was feeling when he broke down the coffin. OP thinks this is Sherlock feeling guilt over saying 'I love you' and not meaning it, hurting his friend. My husband said, as a man, men don’t act like that over guilt. If he’d simply felt guilty, he’d probably have sulked for a moment and then hurriedly want to just leave the room and move onto the next test, figuring he could just explain it all to Molly later and she’d forgive him as she always does. But no, he instead had a massive fit of rage and then slid down to his backside and sat, looking like he’d been ravaged from the inside out. He even says it: “This is vivisection.” That is far more than just guilt. I don’t know anyone who’d have such a reaction to just pure guilt. A reaction like that has to have more meaning behind it.

Another thing my hub pointed out is that it doesn’t make sense from a literary standpoint to simply show Sherlock feeling guilty over Molly. Because, and this is important, we’ve already SEEN Sherlock feeling guilt. Guilt over the most massive thing that he could have done wrong in his life: he broke his vow to John, Rosie, and Mary. His actions are partly to blame for what killed his best friend’s wife, mother of his goddaughter, and his very own close friend. S4 was about Sherlock being opened up, forcibly, by everything around him. The Lying Detective, so cleverly named, was about Sherlock and guilt. We feel guilt when we lie of course, but TLD was all about that, that was a major theme there. So, why just present more of the same in The Final Problem? It would feel repetitive.

I (and my hub) really think the writers WANTED us all to have the happy ending we all wanted. They showed us scenes that, while not being too specific, could lead everyone to believe their ships sailed. Hence we got that Sherlock-POV camera spin around Baker St, where from Sherlock’s view, we see everyone he loves as happy as can be, the last one being Molly Hooper as she comes beaming toward him, literally right to him, watch frame by frame, it’s so cool.

Now, y’all, please listen, because I want everyone to be happy and not be so pessimistic about this. The writers, had they chosen, could have been crystal clear as to what happened if they’d wanted us to think things went a certain way. Molly could have walked into 221B with her bags, looking like this was the same type of friendly stop-by we’ve seen before. She could have still looked somewhat shy, smiled and gone right over to John and Rosie, remaining in the position she was in at the beginning: a good friend and included in Sherlock’s world, but not too close to him because ‘he doesn’t love her that way’. She could have walked in with Tom, maybe they’d patched things up as she was finally free to love someone else other than Sherlock. She could have also come in with some new dude altogether to show us she’d been freed. Finally, if they had wanted Sherlock to experience romantic love, but not with Molly, Irene could have been the last one to come in to 221B, looking beamingly at Sherlock, finally coming to fulfill hers and Sherlock’s love story. But the writers chose to do it the way they did so that we could read in what our hearts really desired. They essentially gave Sherlock to us, the viewers, and said “Here he is, he’s yours now, imagine with him what would make you happiest.” You know, similar to how Conan Doyle said he didn’t care what other writers did with Sherlock Holmes. Heh, perfect. Moffat and Gatiss really ARE fans of how ACD worked.

In the end, Moffat and Gatiss chose to let us have our Sherlock happy ending without committing to anything, because honestly I think they wanted us all to be happy. The Sherlollians. The Johnlockers. The Adlockers. Hell they even gave us a bit of Mystrade. Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss did give us all a happy ending, under the condition that we make it ourselves, because they’ve done their part already. They don’t want you to see the cloud in the silver lining. They want you to see the sun, and that’s what they gave us. Please, bask in it. Don’t do like I did right after TFP and try to talk yourself out of your happy ending. That was not the point of the show at all, and definitely not what the writers wanted. I truly believe that.

Sherlock is ours now. His end, his story from here on out, is ours to create, and it’s all as real as we want it to be.

swjmart:

[...] I tink the writers have made it clear that Molly sees through Sherlock, so I don’t think it’s likely she thinks he loves her (romantically) if he really doesn’t. The possibilities for the big smile in the end to me are:

1. She realizes that he has a platonic love for her and she has made peace with that 
2. He is working on sorting through his feelings towards her /he is uncertain OR he knows he has romantic feelings towards her but he isn’t sure what he wants to do … either way she understands that and they are in a good place 
3. They are in a romantic relationship 

I personally think it’s either 2 or 3 since I am being optimistic . If the show is really finished - I feel like Sherlolly ended in a good place.

As far as Irene being mentioned in TLD - I don’t think this negates 2 or 3, because if he does have romantic feelings for Molly - I don’t think he realized it until the ILY scene…the ILY scene was about awareness imo - “all those complicated little emotions” - he wasn’t in touch with his feelings towards Molly yet in TLD, if that makes sense…

penelope1730:

Agree. I think the thing about Irene (TLD) is that John has always informed Sherlock that connection with others is important. From the very beginning. But, at the same time, no one really knows Sherlock’s heart - so they have to guess, make deductions - which may or may not be true.

At the end of the episode (TLD), John learns Irene is alive…Sherlock saved her, which leads John to make two erroneous deductions:

1) That it’s Sherlock’s birthday, which it’s not. The timeline narrative from TST to the end of TLD doesn’t add up. Sherlock’s birthday is January 6th, which is one week after his exile ended. A whole lot of time has passed since then, but not a full year. Maybe four to six months at the most. Nevertheless, Sherlock allows John to believe this.

2) John also believes there’s something going on between Sherlock and Irene, even though Sherlock adamantly tells him there isn’t. But, John is grieving, heart-broken, and wants Sherlock to understand that relationships, especially romance and love aren’t entanglements to be easily dismissed. They can actually make him a better person; a better man - and complete him as a human being. That’s what Sherlock needed to hear. It wasn’t about Irene, per se, but that she was the catalyst for that insight to be given.

Everything John described to Sherlock wasn’t about Irene - it was about Molly, which is a given. She sees who Sherlock really is and the man he can become - and that’s the person she always speaks to. It’s why she becomes infuriated with him when he refuses to recognize this, or place himself in unnecessary risk, and also why she’s been pulling away since HLV.

The aftermath of the coffin scene is telling from John’s perspective, too. First of all, Sherlock and Molly have been laid bare before Mycroft and John. They don’t have the details, but they do learn the ‘friendship’ between Molly ans Sherlock is far more complex than what they previously believed, or suspected. It was an eye-opener, at least for John.

John, with this new information, sees Sherlock as tortured, not because he doesn’t understand what vivisection is, but because he knows what emotional torture looks and feels like. He’s going through it himself. It kinda echoes back to what Molly told Sherlock in TRF: “I know what it means to look sad when you think no one can see you.” Both perspectives are valid, btw - Sherlock is mind, and John is heart, but John’s viewpoint actually carries more weight given what was said in the previous episode. That chance for exploration was 2 seconds away from being ‘gone before he knew it.’

Sherlock’s devastation wasn’t from guilt alone, although it probably played a part. From the thoughtless things he’s done and said - to all those things he can’t quite bring himself to understand or say.

The Purpose of Minor Characters 

(Sherlock meta by Ivy Blossom and blameitontheillustrator) 

Ivy Blossom:

There are two things any minor/supporting character has to do: they either through some means cause regression or growth in the protagonist, or they are or create or clear away an obstacle that advances the plot. Often they do both of these things.

This is the case for any minor character. If they don’t do these things, the story does not require them, and they should be axed.

There is a lot of criticism in media about the lot of female characters. There aren’t enough female protagonists, which is a problem and that is something we should keep complaining about. Since most protagonists are men, that leaves most of the women in fiction as minor or supporting characters, which means they are always either a catalyst for main (male) character development, or they are present to advance the plot, or both.

There is nothing inherently wrong with useful minor characters. The part that’s wrong is institutional, that women are so often only minor characters, and therefore usually supporting a man’s story. But that’s not a fault in any particular story, that’s the fault of the story-making industry. We need more female protagonists, and we need them now. 

What we should demand for all supporting women in fiction is that they have their own, human and coherent motives for the things they do to advance the plot. They must have their own character and their own lives that intersect with the protagonists, and they must do things for reasons that make sense for them in light of their character and context.

Minor female characters can, in no particular order: suffer, sacrifice themselves, die, live, cause murder and mayhem, make dinner, throw dinner at the progtagonist, etc. There is no wrong action they can take, or no wrong action taken against them, as long as what they do, and what happens to them, is clearly part of a larger coherent arc of their own. Their stories have to make sense.

That said, there’s no reason why minor female characters shouldn’t be as complicated any another. Female characters can be contradictory, confused, sometimes wrong, sometimes awkward, as long as they are still living a coherent and explicable life of their own. They can love the wrong people, forgive the wrong people, try to become something they aren’t. They can be strong, they can be weak, they can be too tired to notice what’s going on around them. They can make bad decisions that benefit the protagonist, as long as someone thought through why she would do something like that and restricts her actions to things that are in keeping with her character and her circumstances. It doesn’t have to be a good reason, but someone has to think about what the reason is.

Asking for minor female characters that neither help transform the protagonist nor influence the plot is asking for female characters who will get cut from the script at the first opportunity. If the only good woman in fiction isn’t there at all, we have a whole other problem.

blameitontheillustrator:

I agree wholeheartedly, but if this is regarding Sherlock, then I think it misses the point. The criticism that I’ve seen the most is precisely regarding the lack of internal coherence regarding the female characters, especially Mary. Mary is unequivocally portrayed as a villain in His Last Vow. Not only does she shoot the protagonist, but she threatens him again as soon as he wakes up. She claims that she has done things that would make her John Watson fall out of love with her. But in TST, all that is gone. It’s left unexplored. Apparently, the worst thing on Mary’s resume is her failure to rescue British hostages. This story does not make sense. Not in light of the character, not in light of the context.

Of course Mary’s role was always to further the plot and the protagonists’ development. But they made her a villain, and then chickened out.

Ivy Blossom:

You say Mary is unequivocally portrayed as a villain in His Last Vow. “Unequivocally” suggests that there is no point in the story where that perspective is questioned or debated, and yet there is a lengthy and important scene in His Last Vow where Sherlock tells John, and us, that she can be trusted, and explains his reasoning. He is unsurprisingly right in his assessment of a criminal, and we become, like Donovan or Anderson, his incredulous audience. And it turns out that John feels the same way we do, that Sherlock must be wrong, that his explanation is unconvincing and cannot be true, that a person like Mary cannot have shot Sherlock and be worthy of our trust at the same time. Doing bad things while trying to be a good person is John’s struggle in this series as well, and Mary is a dramatic example of it.

I liked that a lot about Mary’s arc. I expected her to be a villain as well, but they turned the tables on us in a way I find very pleasing. She is a villain by trade, she absolutely is, but she wants to be different, she wants to be a different person, the person John thought she was. She tries but often fails.

I’m very surprised that you feel that Mary’s past is left unexplored in TST. Mary’s past is the subject of TST. Not her entire past, only a snippet of it. But we don’t get any character’s complete past history, let alone a supporting character’s. Why do you think what we see in TST is the worst thing Mary’s done? They never suggest that. It’s fairly easy to imagine that there was much more in her past that brought her to the point of having the skills she has and the clients she had. I don’t get the sense that it’s the worst thing she’s done; It’s just the one that comes back to bite her in the end. A secretary. Not the worst thing, the most overlooked and mundane thing, really.

Another thing that is not “all gone” in TST: Mary was right. Knowing about Mary’s past does cause John’s heart to waver. He used to like Mary. She predicts that her real self would break John and make him not love her anymore, and she is proven pretty much right in TST. I wouldn’t say that he stops loving her completely, but he’s certainly heading down a pretty dark path in that regard. Do you think that marriage would have survived?

Mary does indeed shoot the protagonist in HLV; and she threatens him afterwards, twice. She doesn’t stop doing that sort of thing in TST. When she feels threatened, she lashes out and does terrible things. She knocks Sherlock out to get the usb drive and to keep him from following her, which is at least a step up from shooting him, but still. That shows us a lot about the side of herself that she’s trying to bury. Mary has some very bad instincts that she’s not great at controlling.

I don’t think it’s chickening out to not make her villain. I think her story mirrors John’s and Sherlock’s in an interesting way. They are all constructions of their past experiences and decisions, they all do things they aren’t proud of, but their better selves can shine through all of these failures and foibles, and it’s worth it to keep trying.

This story makes sense to me, though I can see it does not to you. Obviously these things are subjective. I have my own criticisms of this series (conveniently finding DVDs not just once, but twice, for instance), but Mary’s story arc is not one of them.

Is there a “seeming desperation to sanctify Mary” in this story?

 (Sherlock meta by Ivy Blossom as a resopnse to this post by archipelagoarchaea)

Is there a “seeming desperation to sanctify Mary” in this story? Mary is very explicitly no saint. She repeatedly does things that we and John find unforgivable. She does it in S3, and she does it a few more times in S4. If they’d wanted her sanctified, I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t have written her chloroforming Sherlock and running off on John and Rosie.

You say that Mary’s flaws are “treated like cute little quirks”. Mary’s flaws result in you disliking and distrusting her, and also result in John disliking and distrusting her. John feels what you feel. That’s a consequence, and it’s not a small one. It doesn’t look unintentional to me.

Do you think Mary emotionally manipulates John into wanting to be a hero? John wants to be a hero from the moment we meet him. Mary didn’t invent that version of John, John did. Mary is the mother of John’s child and has just died thinking better of him than she should have, and given that he’d been quietly cheating on her, I’m not sure what you expect John to think. “She thought I was better than I am” seems about on point.

It’s true Mary’s sacrificial death isn’t a redemption, and that’s a really good point. One selfless act doesn’t fix all the things she did or turn her into someone else, but it does complicate who John thought she was capable of being. Mary is always trying to be “out of character”. Her instincts tend to be bad, but she’s committed to trying to make good choices. Mary is not entirely one or the other, and she leaves the story partway through her own redemption, leaving John with a lot of guilt and questions that will never be answered.

You say “If Mary were so important, so great at showing John and Sherlock how to understand each other, their relationship would have been better after she was introduced, not worse. That’s basic logic.” Story complications (which is what every non-protagonist character in a story is) should not resolve the main story line. Mary is not there to improve the relationship between John and Sherlock. She’s there to threaten it in some way, create a situation that modifies the status quo, and then push them to another level. That is every minor character’s job, and specifically Mary’s.

Mary is the catalyst that pushes John back to Sherlock in the first place, and then the force that nearly separates them forever. The experience of life-changing loss and grief forces John to display the full range of who he is, and to see that Sherlock is capable of understanding all of him and accepting him. Mary’s death, more so than necessarily Mary herself, brings them back into alignment, and closer and more honest than they had ever been.

I don’t know why you want Mary to be the “truly caring [and] insightful” one. It sounds to me like you’re wishing that Mary was the one who deserved John’s love and devotion, not Sherlock. As you say, Mary was wrong about what John was capable of; John gives up and abandons Sherlock when he was in danger, though Mary thought he would never give up. Mary is wrong about how heroic John can be, but Sherlock predicts where John is likely to give up and counts on it. Sherlock does not judge John for that failure. What does that tell you? Who’s the truly caring and insightful one by the end of this story? Who’s the one who actually knows who John is and loves him for it? Who’s the sanctified hero?

You say: the story needs to show, not tell. So what does all this show?

Mary Ruined BBC Sherlock For Me

 (Sherlock meta by archipelagoarchaea)

The seeming desperation to sanctify Mary as the patroness of BBC's Sherlock was monstrously unfair to Sherlock and John, the actual heart of the show.

Sherlock’s flaws are treated like flaws, and largely dealt with over the course of his arc. Mary’s flaws are treated like cute little quirks. Such a spunky woman! Sherlock writes a long, sweet love letter to John that was explicitly tailored to his genuine strengths and weaknesses as a human being. John finds this uninspiring and promptly forgets about it despite crying over it. Mary spits out a bunch of emotionally manipulative tripe under duress, and this apparently makes John want to be “what she saw in him.” Sherlock makes blatant, loving sacrifices for John, and these are brushed under the rug like plot devices while Mary is lionized for her textbook abusive possessiveness. Sherlock goes through a long, intense, and sometimes cruel redemption arc for a horrific mistake he made with good intentions, while Mary is redeemed for literal attempted murder and never-ending lies through crying, and whines about minor consequences. Her out-of-character sacrificial death isn’t treated as the redemption (which would have a neutral result and would have come before John taking her back), but as currency to buy John and Sherlock’s unending worship. John’s devotion and need and love are swept to the side as reasons for Sherlock to live, never explicitly addressed, but Mary’s sacrifice is placed on a pedestal. There’s an entire episode (two, really) about Sherlock’s world and heart revolving around John, and his willingness to go to hell for him, but we’re still told Mary’s the hero of it.

If Mary were so important, so great at showing John and Sherlock how to understand each other, their relationship would have been better after she was introduced, not worse. That’s basic logic. There wouldn’t have been a month of separation in which she complained about how much John missed Sherlock. There wouldn’t have been Sherlock’s uncertainty about his place in their lives. John would have recognized that Sherlock was being stupid and self-sacrificing, and that he didn’t have to settle for a lying assassin and Sherlock would have seen that John wasn’t happy with a lying assassin (or even a passive-aggressive nurse) and offered him an open home. In fact, post-Mary they seem to know less about each other, at least until John and Sherlock finally hit rock bottom in The Lying Detective and have to remake each other.

A truly caring, insightful Mary should have told John that she was responsible for her own actions, that Sherlock had done far too much for her already. Instead she left a note telling Sherlock to emotionally regress and go torture himself so John could play hero—and it didn’t even work. Her “love letter” canonically contributes to John’s breakdown by connecting his self-worth to an unrealistic standard of behavior (that is, unconditional loyalty and forgiveness—exactly what Mary acted bitterly entitled to). You could even read John’s horrific treatment of Sherlock as projection: he punishes Sherlock for not living up to an impossible standard of perfection because he thinks he needs to be punished for the same thing. It’s Sherlock who has the insight to heal John by telling him he’s allowed to be human, and that he wasn’t a bad person for wanting to cheat (though they gloss over why his need to cheat was sympathetic, i.e. the fact that Mary was a terrible and abusive wife). Yet instead of following this theme to it’s natural conclusion and rejecting Mary as an influence over their emotional lives, she’s treated as the hero of the storyline and elevated to narrator and posthumous counselor.

In the principle of “show, don’t tell,” Mary’s supposed goodness for our protagonists utterly, utterly fails to deliver.

And for the show to privilege Mary so blatantly when, objectively speaking, John and Sherlock’s relationship was so much more loving and more transformative, is heteronormative. For them to give Mary explicit, textual ownership over John and Sherlock’s relationship—a relationship that predates her introduction by years—is grossly heteronormative and arguably sexist. To need her approval for their implicit romance… I’m not sure I can begin to describe how much that disgusts me. Making John and Sherlock’s romantic feelings explicit would deal with the queer-baiting issue, but not with this.

The only way I can take any pleasure in this treatment of Mary, at all, is to treat it as a metaphor. With Mary as the avatar of heteronormativity and heterosexual privilege, the show’s worship of any sign of basic decency and sanctification of Mary for a non-existent redemption arc after nothing but “mental cruelty” become an apt metaphor for the way queer people are expected to behave when thrown crumbs of human rights. It’s only as caricature that her arc has any value. But I’m no longer sure that’s intentional.

If they’d written this series under duress with explicit orders to make Mary/John more important than Sherlock/John, to put Mary on a pedestal, and to avoid explicit Johnlock, then this result is exactly what I’d expect. Subtextually, Mary is still a villain with all the villainous parallels (e.g. Lady Carmichael and her abusive husband). Subtextually, John and Sherlock are still in love. Narratively, John and Sherlock are given all the real effort and development even while Mary hovers over their shoulders and intrudes on their love like a voyeur. Yet somehow, the explicit textual story is completely contrary to the subtext.

This was the moment they should have turned subtext into text, the moment the proverbial iron was hot, yet they failed to follow through. They teed up canon Johnlock and delivered Saint Mary the Undeveloped instead. Why? It baffles me. I can’t imagine they were censored, for surely they’d be loudly complaining about that. Did Moffat and Gatiss really grow up daydreaming about Mary the martyred matchmaker and Eurus the grand… whatever? Are they really so blind they can’t see the striking resemblance between their Mary and half their villains? Are women so unreal to them, they don’t require actual consequences or meaningful motivations? Are they so deluded, they can’t see the vast superiority of John and Sherlock’s romance to any other in the show? It’s the strangest thing, and the series suffered badly for it.

They could have made something great, something memorable, something historic, something that would be talked about in a truly positive way. Even if they hadn’t originally planned it, the opportunity was golden. And instead they did… this. It’s so utterly foolish. I am honestly baffled. It’s still possible they’ll do something explicit with John and Sherlock in S5, but their failure to capitalize on the perfect setup in S4 makes that look far more doubtful than before.

And what gets me is that there was so much good about this season. I actually enjoy a lot of the camp and ridiculousness many people dislike. I enjoy convoluted plot lines and don’t mind the occasional plot hole, easily plugged with a head canon. I enjoy high romance and heightened emotions. Set aside the appalling relationship dynamics and The Lying Detective is a very clever, fun episode with a beautiful ending. But I can’t watch S4, and possibly S3, because Mary is so very very horrible, and I’m still told I’m supposed to love her.

It’s like someone made your very favorite dessert, but you’re not allowed to taste it unless you sit next to your abusive ex and listen to them talk about how much you owe them. Sure, it might be the best dessert in the world, carefully and lovingly crafted by a master chef, but it’s still not worth it.

I don’t think anyone is crazy for holding out hope that there’s something more clever going on here. If they do make more Sherlock, and they actually fix this and the queer-baiting issue, then I’ll watch it. Maybe even love it. But I’m not holding my breath, anymore.

Regarding Sherlock's look after leaving the ambulance 

scene in TLD

 (Sherlock meta by mychakk)

Q: Regarding the look Sherlock gave to Molly after leaving the ambulance scene, was he looking at her or John? I hope it's her, but I rewatched the scene and I'm not sure. I hope they release this season's scripts soon.

A: [...] I think that the editing of that scene actually supports Sherlock looking at Molly. When someone looks backwards and you want to show what they look at, you simply make a shot of say thong/person. And what we see rights after Sherlock gives that hit, piercing, meaningful look behind him? Molly. And where is John in all that? He’s the background. He’s blurry, unfocused, fading. The camera shots and focus clearly makes this scene between Sherlock and Molly. She even reacts to his look - she seems to take a step forward but stops herself, she even looks like she wants to say something but stops herself right after.

There are three parallels in the show to this scene. First that came to my mind was The Empty Hearse and the looks Sherlolly exchange as he leaves post the (in)famous majestic kiss. It doesn’t matter if it’s happening in Anderson’s (not so) crazy theory. The editing stays the same, we get a shot of Sherlock backwards leaving Molly post-kiss, a shot of Molly staring back at him [...] , then of Sherlock as he still looks backwards. Camera shots shows the look is between those two.

Ok, but there is no one else, so there is no other option for them, right?

Right, so let’s move to The Sign of Three, when Sherlock leaves the wedding reception. We get camera shot of Molly clearly seeing him. But this time he doesn’t look back, once more he’s unaware she can see him. The editing supports this interpretation by showing Sherlock when he’s already outside. There is no exchange of gazes between them.

The final scene of similar editing is once again in The Empty Hearse, after the hallway dialogue in the train guy house. Although they don’t look backwards to exchange any look or just to gaze at each other, the camera gives us a shot of Sherlock’s face as he leaves and a shot if Molly’s face as she leaves. They go separate ways without a glance at each other, yet the editing clearly makes it a scene between them.

So to sum up, in The Lying Detective Sherlock looks backwards and it’s unclear to whom his gaze is directed, but the next camera shot clears it up. He exchanges a look with Molly. And John with the rest of the world fades away, blurs out of focus ‘cause this look is only between the two of them.

On a side note, because if Molly’s reaction to Sherlock’s look, I’m positive she has been on Sherlock’s plan if not all along, then definitely post the ambulance.

So, that’s what came up this time. [...]
.

Molly has always seen Sherlock

 (Sherlock meta by mae-jones)

I just thought about the opening scene with Molly in the very first episode of Sherlock. We hold this up as evidence Molly is different and Sherlock is her kink, but I think looking back now, that scene said a lot more about Molly than it ever intended.

It showed Molly was attracted to Sherlock but not in the way everyone panned.

Molly wasn’t attracted to the posh boy in the fancy clothes; the cool facade he presented to the world. She was never attracted to the shallow surface reading everyone would like to foist upon her. She wasn’t a stuttering fool because he was unattainable and worldy.

Molly was attracted to the disheveled, sweaty mess taking out his internal struggles on a corpse. Molly was attracted to the man and his emotions bubbling beneath the surface. She saw him, the real him, long before anyone had an inkling of anything more. She saw his passion and wanted a piece of it.

Molly has never gotten enough credit. She was perfectly calm whenever she interacted with the ‘real’ Sherlock but was only ever insecure when he was repressing himself or acting the dick.

Remember how confused she seemed when she said, “You always say such terrible things.” Looking back at it now, she seems as if she doesn’t get it. Why does he do that? Why does he do it when it’s not really him? These appear to be the questions in her eyes.

That was the reason she could love him after all this time with all the changes he went through and all the drug use, because she always loved the authentic Sherlock Holmes exactly as he needed to be loved. That’s why he trusted her. That’s why she mattered most. That’s why he realized he loved her in return.

Sherlock and Molly's relationship in s3

 (Sherlock meta by fuckyeahsherlolly)

Q: [...] Is there meta in which every line of [the TEH Sherlock/Molly hallway] scene is dissected? I'd forgotten about "you can't do this anymore." What does her engagement change, on HIS end? I get it from hers. Does he understand her that well by now? On another note, how "I don't count" affected him. Those three words got a far more significant reaction than three slaps to the face. That scene is in my top three because of his reaction to that and to "I know you don't." He's like, "tha fuck just happened?"

A: There probably is a meta out there, but I’m frightfully lazy when it comes to scrolling through the tag, though I hope someone will point out their own fleshed out version of it (hint, hint, I’m a lazy bugger).

A part of me, despite myself, because I am just easily one who submerses in pain – thinks that Sherlock knows that Molly is still in possession of feelings for him at this point.

Waiting for the very last minute to breach the topic of her engagement, and then she goes ahead explaining her and Tom’s relationship, like a reminder to herself – that that’s what she wants, except nobody who is truly happy needs to remind themselves in such a way really.

Possibly the ‘you can’t do this anymore’, if one puts emphasize on the fact that he says ‘you’, and the fact that he’s talking about chips right before means that he’s alright with the arrangement, but…the way she pauses, asks what the whole day is about – means that she can’t do this without old feelings resurrecting.

Perhaps Sherlock understands this, it seems he does, since he understands that she has feelings – look at how he reacts when she suggests dinner, and when he catches her looking at him, phasing out from the moment entirely.

He knows and he does her a favour by stepping back, even avoiding later on to point out Tom’s – appearance – shutting up for once.

A great leap for him really, wonderful even, and the interaction between the pair of them in The Sign of Three is certainly different. The thing is I’m not saying that Sherlock doesn’t feel something for Molly, since he does, but not in the way that we perhaps want – right now. But the man does indeed care for her – “you do count, you’ve always counted and I’ve always trusted you.” She is a friend, and he has few friends, but she is one, and he can count on her and trust her.

He dares be honest with her, showing his emotions, as he knows that she won’t judge, she just cares.

When she said, “I don’t count,” he’s shocked, because he thought she knew, that she knew they were friends, but it’s apparent she doesn’t. And he corrects her, he lets her see his heart on his sleeve, like he constantly by now sees hers. Since from A Scandal of Belgravia he knows about her feelings, properly the extent of them, and then he tells her of his feelings. It doesn’t need to be romantic, for him it probably isn’t anything but the plain truth.

She is important and she does matter.

He couldn’t have done anything without her so he thanks her in his special way.

But it’s from the easy conversation in The Sign of Three where she’s more or less leading, joking with him, and making him certainly uneasy by the way she talks (with all intention of doing so) – to the complete – and utter tension that is filled in the last episode of series three. It’s such a curious development, because we saw her jealousy in the second episode, staring at him and Janine, and then her being the only one who notices that he left.

But she didn’t follow.

That in my eyes is fantastic. I know you’re probably going but “whyyy? how can this be good?” For her development it is stunning and I’m so happy about her being absolutely angry with him in the last episode, telling him off. He is anxious going to see her, because he knows she’ll be disappointed, and she is obviously one he doesn’t want to disappoint. John will swallow up “it’s for a case,” but not her, she won’t believe that. And then he comes back with the “sorry for your engagement ending” (paraphrasing like hell), which there is no proper point for him to come with in fact, except to obviously make her upset, which he hasn’t been trying to do of late. But she’s still angry, vaguely interested when he mentions the case, but still won’t be deflected to her own self for once.

He doesn’t see her after this point, since we don’t exactly see her popping up again with him, until UNTIL she does in his head. There she is, telling him to focus, slapping him to his senses in his own head, which was obviously something he needed.

Now – that – is huge. Who does he go to first in his head? Her. 

Mycroft interrupts so does Anderson, but it’s mainly her running the show, telling him to focus.

[...]

The importance of Molly's absence in THoB

 (Sherlock meta by kathleenkellly)

There is not much written about THOB that is Sherlolly related, which makes sense since Molly does not appear. I think, however, that Molly’s absence from the episode actually reveals a lot about Sherlock and Molly’s relationship that carries over into TRF.

During the scene in the Baskerville lab, Sherlock is analyzing the sugar looking for the presence of a drug. He gets extremely frustrated. Dr. Stapleton and John are talking to each other and are of no help to Sherlock. He’s all on his own looking for the answer and ends up throwing the slide at the wall in frustration, something I don’t see him doing in Molly’s presence.

Sherlock is missing Molly at this point. He needs his lab partner. Like John, Molly is someone Sherlock needs to test his theories on, someone knowledgable enough to provide feedback. While John is helpful in other areas, chemistry and lab work are not his strengths.

In TRF when he needs to analyze the footprint of the kidnapper, Sherlock immediately goes to Molly. “I’ve got a lunch date.” “Cancel it. You’re having lunch with me.” He simply won’t do the analysis without her. When they start working, they’re a team. Molly keeps him calm and focused.

Sherlock calls her 'John', but John is important to his work. The fact that he confuses her says a lot. In the lab, Molly is his John, his crime-solving partner. Right after this, Molly blows Sherlock’s mind by correctly deducing him, something John has never been able to. Sherlock suddenly looks at Molly in a whole new light. This woman sees right through Sherlock and knows exactly what’s going on. He doesn’t fool her. She asks him what he means when he mumbles “I owe you”. He tries to blow it off, but Molly won’t let him. She proceeds to let him know that she is aware that something is going on and that he should tell her because she can help him. From this point on Sherlock knows that Molly is the one person that matters the most to him, the person he can turn to in his darkest hour.

Why John doesn't think Molly is important to Sherlock

 (Sherlock meta by justanotherfangirls)

Q: [...] I just had this thought I wanted to share with someone. Don't you find it odd that John doesn't think Molly is important to Sherlock even after The Reichenbach Fall?

A: [...] There may be a lot of reasons why he always underestimates her. For one, I don’t think he had witnessed the development of their relationship. I don’t think he was with Sherlock and Molly most of the time in the lab, and that probably composes the bulk of their interactions. He didnt see how Sherlock had asked for Molly’s help. He was not around for a long time after trf, but I’m betting Molly had been a few times at least; she was Sherlock’s only connection to his old life. And I think their established closeness in this particular time, that we were not privy to, is the reason why that scene in TEH was very loaded. He doesn’t know about Molly’s bedroom being Sherlock’s bolthole.

But I think the most important reason is John’s bias. It has been mentioned in TAB, the episode from Sherlock’s perspective, how John portrays this idealized version of Sherlock, a gentleman hero, a hero that would easily, obviously pick an idealized version of a woman as well. And Molly is not this idealized woman, she is cute but awkward, she wears her heart on her sleeve you don’t even have to deduce her, she is always available for Sherlock, it can be easy to discount her. But Sherlock did not - these traits actually endeared her to him, and not the opposite as John might have expected.

And that’s why John, yet again, saw, but did not observe.

Molly Hooper and the Reichenbach Fall

 (Sherlock meta by penfairy)

There is something they’re not telling us about Molly Hooper.

In all the theories they showed us of how Sherlock survived The Fall, none of them quite seemed to fit, and the chink in the armour is always Molly.

When Sherlock went to Molly in TRF to ask her for help, he was in a tremendously vulnerable state. His facade had completely crumbled and he was showing her a side of himself not even John had seen. There were tears in his eyes when he said “I’m not okay” and the answer to the question “What do you need?” was “You.” Sherlock needed Molly: he said it. For the conclusion of that highly emotional scene to be Molly faking some paperwork or finding a Sherlock look-alike is absurd.

Just look at how Sherlock treats her when he comes back to London, the way he’s a little nervous around her, the way he actively seeks her company and tries to impress her and make her laugh, the way he thanks her with sincerity and the way he smiles before he kisses her cheek and wishes her happiness. This man adores her. He treats her with an uncharacteristic fondness that is completely at odds with his attitude towards her in S1 and S2. He made a real point of thanking her properly and refused to let her brush it aside. All of this indicates that whatever she did was far more important than they’re letting on.

And then there’s the fact that Sherlock immediately thought of Molly when he was shot. It’s as though “How Not To Die” is now filed under “Molly Hooper.” She’s a safety net for him, ready to catch him the instant he’s about to fall apart. She’s a constant source of comfort and security for him and he quite literally trusts her with his life.

So what exactly did she do to earn this incredible trust?

To bring about such a profound attitude change in Sherlock Holmes, she must have done something truly extraordinary on the day of The Fall. [...] Molly did a lot more than fake some paperwork. The day of The Fall, his life must have been completely in her hands.

This is the moment that Sherlolly became canon

 (Sherlock meta by mscurious88)

IMO, this is the moment that Sherlolly became canon. Benedict Cumberbatch changed the story with his acting choice here. Before his reaction here, Molly existed as the girl who has a hopeless crush on Sherlock. She was a disposable character. She was someone who could never appear again and it would make no difference to the storyline because the character is not that significant to the protagonist. By Sherlock reacting as if he CARES that Molly is upset, suddenly Molly got a promotion to someone significant to Sherlock and therefore the storyline.

And this moment isn’t just a pivotal moment for Sherlolly, but for the entire interpretation of Sherlock in BBC’s Sherlock. This was the moment Benedict Cumberbatch decided Sherlock is not a high functioning sociopath. I’m sure when Benedict Cumberbatch prepared for the role, he studied what sociopaths are like to help him bring Sherlock to life especially since Moffat & Gatiss bring up how Sherlock is similar to a sociopath. And having done that prep, Benedict Cumberbatch would have known that sociopaths do not apologize and do not feel guilt or remorse.

Benedict C. made an important choice here to not play Sherlock as emotionally unmoved by Molly’s rushed, emotional departure from the room. He *could* have played it as detatched confusion. “Why did the woman leave like that when I helped save her time by pointing out her boyfriend is gay?” “That is illogical!" Or he could have played it as annoyed "like how dare she get all emotional with me when I simply told her the truth."

Instead Benedict Cumberbatch played it as wounded and sad and remorseful and this scene sets up the apology to Molly scene in A Scandal in Belgravia. And as the actors and producers have all pointed out, the first time the audience sees Sherlock apologize to anyone for anything is to Molly.

This is the scene that convinced me that Benedict Cumberbatch ships Sherlolly hard. I know he has never said anything majorly pro Sherlolly, but his acting basically created the ship, because no matter how much Louise Brealey acted in love with Sherlock or how adorable she was, Molly would have been the girl with the hopeless crush, had Benedict Cumberbatch not acted like Sherlock reciprocated Molly’s affection. Which this makes me very  Sherlolly will become canon because the most powerful person on BBC’s Sherlock is Benedict Cumberbatch as he is the only person who is irreplaceable. [...]

Some thoughts on The Empty Hearse

 (Sherlock meta by justanotherfangirls)

 I wanted to do rewatching Sherlolly posts for season 3, but to do that I have to watch the episodes several more times and spend days on end contemplating about them. Regretfully I cannot do that anytime soon. I however rewatched TEH, specifically the Sherlolly working together scenes a couple more times and I can’t deal with all these feelings.

I will never get over the fact that Sherlock had planned this whole day for Molly, to “thank her” for her help. Yes, he absolutely did. It was terribly sentimental and he never does that for just anyone. In fact, I believe he never does that for anyone else. But consider this. He properly thanks her after two years had passed since her helping him. He had too much time alone, to reflect on his previous life and realize how valuable the people around him are. How much he is grateful (and sorry) to all of them. And he decides to do something about Molly. It was a perfect plan that took perhaps two years in the making. That is why he is all nervous and waiting for her to arrive when the whole plan was finally in motion. And what does he give her? A date. Yes, it was a date, Sherlock style. It was not a proper crime investigation, because as people pointed out, the cases involves romance and drama, perhaps what he thinks Molly would be interested in because after all she is a girl. They never involved danger or running away, unlike his cases with John which were full of adrenaline, action and death defying acts. John can handle himself, but he needed to protect Molly because she doesn’t have the training or experience for these. He chose all their cases, all the while thinking that he’s doing this with Molly. His main purpose was not to solve crimes, because he could have chosen more interesting, less emotional ones. But he liked crimes, and Molly would like these. It is a compromise for things they both liked so that they would do things that they would both enjoy. A date. He even tells her at one point, Welcome to my world. He lets her in, tries to impress her, wants her to be part of it. Wants her to stay.

More supporting evidence for this was, I think I already read somewhere, the scene before. When Sherlock was talking to Mycroft about why anyone would mind that hat person being different? Here he is acknowledging himself as someone able to have functional relationships with other people. Something that sadly does not seem to ring true in HLV anymore.

There were much, too much subtext, subtle glances, exchanges, and flirting all throughout these scenes. Yes this is most definitely a date, and a romantic one at that. Even an offer to dinner from Sherlock himself to cap it off. And a sincere confession with zero ulterior motives. You are the one person that mattered the most. And then he selflessly lets her go for her happiness, right after he tells her she is the one that mattered the most to him. Because she deserves to be happy, and he thinks he can never give her that, he is not good enough. He had prepared so well and given so much of himself away, but it was not good enough. He was too late. And it’s so sad and heartbreaking and I cannot unsee all these things now. I just knew they were setting us up for angst because they had generously given us a very sexy albeit fantasy kiss; but I do believe that plus the miles closer to canon sherlolly is (even if it’s uncertain it would reach that) would still be well worth the heartbreak.

What is the relevance of Rosie in series 4?

 (Sherlock meta by mae-jones)

Q: [...] What do you think is the relevance of Rosie in series 4? Rosie is seen for just a few minutes. Hope I could get an answer. Thanks!

A: [...] Why did they bring a baby into this show? Well, I honestly think Mary becoming pregnant was an effort by the writers to remove all doubt that John and Mary were legitimately in love. It was almost necessary given how skeptical they knew some fans would be. They were setting Mary up to be morally compromised which meant people would eschew her motivations and whether she really loved John. So, if you look at the timing, the writers were very deliberate in these steps 1) John falling in love and making the decision to propose all on his own 2) John and Mary marrying with Sherlock’s full endorsement 3) Sherlock deducing Mary was pregnant at the end of the wedding to head off the idea John felt pressured to get married 4) The revelation that Mary was an ex-assassin after these bonds were all established.

Rosie, imho, was a literary device meant to “prove” John and Mary’s love for one another (in several ways, I could go on). The writers tried to make their falling in love unquestionable. It was actually painfully obvious from a writing perspective how hard they tried to shut down every argument people might have against this couple getting together. Yes, a similar story could have happened if Mary miscarried or something but it wouldn’t have been as definitive and considering they intended to kill Mary off, that would have just been tragedy heaped upon tragedy. As it was, Sherlock became pretty dour in Series 4.

Why Sherlock broke the coffin in anger

 (Sherlock meta by mae-jones)

Q: Why do you think Sherlock broke the coffin in anger TFP? [...]

A. [...] Sherlock and the coffin smashing - well, why does anyone break anything? It’s a release. He had reached a breaking point and needed to inflict his rage on something.

If he were enraged at Eurus, he would probably have smashed the focus of his rage, ie/ the television screen or the cameras. No, this was anger and frustration directed at himself and in that moment, the coffin represented everything he had failed at. He had failed to anticipate getting himself into this conundrum, to deduce Eurus’ true intentions of the game, to protect Molly (even if she wasn’t ever in real danger), and most of all, he had failed to protect his heart. Thus, smashing the coffin was an attempt to make it all ‘go away’.

What he realized shortly thereafter as he slunk to the floor with shaking hands, is that out of sight does not mean out of mind and an idea once it takes hold, it cannot be destroyed. The vivisection he referred to, was the extraction of something he had thought didn’t exist - his capacity for romantic love.

Eurus proved to him it did.

When Sherlock said Molly mattered the most

 (Sherlock meta by bassfanimation, strawberrypatty and justanotherfangirls)

bassfanimation: I always thought when Sherlock said Molly mattered the most, he was talking about the plan (Moriarty's failing/Sherlock's succeeding). This is with shipper goggles off, though. I'd love to read it as something more, but I didn't want to read as much into it for fear of my tiny heart crackling to bits. Was it clarified at all in any interviews?

strawberrypatty: A lot of people take that meaning. But I don’t see it making sense. Molly’s part in the plan was actually very minimal. With everything Mycroft and Sherlock did— closing off an entire, busy street in London, bribing assassins— they could have easily found the body and faked the lab results without Molly’s help. But Sherlock got Molly’s help because he wanted her help. He needed to have Molly believe in him.

justanotherfangirls: When he told Molly that she’s the one he needed, I didn’t take it to mean anything else other than he had needed all of Molly, what she had offered earlier, “you can have me”. I don’t think it was ever about the body or the faked documents. He needed her to be on his side when everyone else had lost faith in him, including himself. And maybe he couldn’t believe someone would love him that much without demanding for anything in return, and that is why he was so very grateful he decided to give her her very own special date crime solving day with him, something sweet and thoughtful and sentimental, something he never did to anyone else without any ulterior motives.

Mary and Molly

 (Sherlock meta sherlocklock)

 In my head, I see a link between the scene in which John beats up Sherlock and the scene in which Sherlock beats up the coffin. Both have been trying to keep it together, but their love just overflows and comes out in violence.

There is a link between John and Mary’s relationship and Sherlock and Molly’s, I think. Both Mary and Molly push their respective partners to be the best versions of themselves. Both really see their partners for what they are. Both never fail to call their partners on their shit.

My friend once asked, “Well, is Molly good enough for Sherlock?” And people say, “Molly is too quiet, she’s just a plot device to be a love interest.” But I love Molly Hooper. Because she is quiet. She is soft spoken. And with a single glance or a small phrase she can make an intellectual asshole (I love you Sherlock but you are or at least used to be an asshole) apologize. She’s made him apologize…twice. And Mary does the same with John…remember the graveyard scene in The Abominable Bride with Mary?

“I’m taking Mary home.”

“?”

“Mary’s taking me home.”

“Better.”

(those quotes aren’t verbatim, but that’s the general idea)

THAT is why I ship Sherlolly. Because she is one of the few that can make Sherlock attempt to be a better guy, like Mary does with John. As much as I ADORE Irene, I think that was more based on sex than on actual emotion (though honestly, if this had ended with Irene walking through the door, I would have been happy too).

But you know what? Molly is unique. She is good enough. And now, the whole world can see it. Thank you Motfiss. Thank you so much.

A mission that meant certain death 

 (Sherlock meta by foxestacado)

Sherlock was prepared to die. He probably planned to overdose on the plane. So when he received an unexpected reprieve from death, he dove straight into cases–working on so many at a time that John tried to rein him in (“you can’t go on spinning plates like this”).

Understandable, really, because Sherlock sacrificed his life for John by murdering Magnussen, entered solitary confinement and accepted a suicide mission. Sherlock thought he would never have this again. 

He worked as if on borrowed time, throwing himself eagerly into situations where he faces death. 

• He tells John he’s “having fun, while I can." 
• When he encounters what he thought was Moriarty’s puzzle, he not only says it’s designed to "tease” and “beguile” him, it’s a “noose” for him to willingly put his neck in. 
• He faces Ajay without back-up, knowing this man has already killed in his pursuit of the Thatcher statues. 
• When snipers attack the house in Morocco, Sherlock leaps into the center of the room to cover John while Mary dove for cover. 
• Perhaps most telling of all, when Mrs. Norbury shoots, he appears to be accepting his fate.

Sherlock thought he was the Merchant of Samarra; he didn’t expect to survive, and anticipated dying throughout The Six Thatchers. He thought these cases were his last.

In defense of Sherlolly

 (Sherlock meta by chemically-defected, ppcit and luneaire)

I noticed something. I was thinking about the series 4 trailer, and how a large portion of fans (especially TJLCers) thought the “I love you” was meant for John.

Then I thought about the series 3 trailer, and how, again, when Sherlock says “The one person he thought didn’t matter at all to me was the one person who mattered the most ”, anyone would assume he meant John, given the way the clips are put together.

No.

In both cases, those words are directed at Molly.

I am not against any ships (besides incestuous ones), but the relationship between Sherlock and Molly would be one-sided, manipulative, and abusive, as are the majority of interactions between them. I am not saying Sherlock does not appreciate her help, but besides her contributions, I don’t see why he would maintain a (relatively) close relationship with her. He knows she loves him, he doesn’t, so why lead her on? It seems out of character, even if he did fancy someone he hurt and used time and time again. Also, why has Molly taken such a huge role in the show? She was not in the books, and it wasn’t planned for her to be in the show after the first episode. What are they trying to create? What are they implying?

I don’t know yet why they have done this. I am sure they were aware of TJLC by the time series 3 was being made, and the proof of canon Johnlock was everywhere before and during series 4. I’d say either queerbaiting, or they love to see their audience fight over ships, whilst in the end they simply said it was “open for interpretation”. That’s still not what both parties want and will continue to fight until a fifth series, if there even is one. Maybe not entirely up to interpretation after Moffat’s response as to what Molly did after her call with Sherlock. Pathetic of him.

ppcit: 

“Sherlolly is abusive.” “Sherlock doesn’t have any feelings toward Molly and always use her for his personal gain.” Did I miss something like another Sherlock show that you’re watching instead of BBC's Sherlock?

luneaire: 

So that people wouldn’t know who the “I love you” was for. But in essence, when the ILY dropped, the people who followed this growth felt validated. It felt like this is the logical conclusion, you know. It validates the observation “Sherlock and Molly have this weird thing going on. It isn’t platonic because they’re never really shown as platonic. It’s always been romantic framing, but never blatant. So they have this ambiguous thing. Molly will never say it out loud. Sherlock won't either. Sherlock won’t say it because he’s a literal manchild and no experience with romance. And fuck if Molly is going to ask to address this weird thing. I mean, that’s too much. Sherlock should do that. Curiously, Sherlock saying it under threat of death is so fitting for his character. Anyway those are my thoughts if you are honestly looking for them. Otherwise, you’re just trolling.

It would make sense if you watch the show without the TJLC or the JohnLock lens, and see that they have been building up the Molly-Sherlock dynamic for a while. S1 clearly establishes Molly’s crush on him and that Sherlock is aware of it, maybe even uses it and basks in it, like how he basks in John’s awe of him. S2 deepens their relationship. It’s not a simple crush but two friends who will do everything for each other. S3 drops romance hints everywhere. The kiss. The fiance, Molly looking jealous when Sherlock is taking a pic with Janine, Molly and Sherlock solving a case together, Molly and Janine in the same frame when Sherlock threw that flower, the bolthole comment where we found out that Sherlock sleeps in Molly’s room. It’s never blatant, and they are all subtext, but it’s undeniably romantic and not platonic. S4 didn’t show much Molly-Sherlock, but I get the feeling they did that to prepare for the finale.

You say Molly-Sherlock is one-sided and yet, after s2, Molly is shown to control every interaction. Even in the ILY scene, she wasn’t bullied. She threatened to put the phone down if Sherlock was going to be a doofus, even throws him off balance by challenging him to say ILY first. I don’t see anything one-sided with that. You honestly just see Molly as a pathetic character so that’s your read. Sherlolly sees Molly as Sherlock’s equal, if not more.

Mary & John 

 (Sherlock meta by thelonelybrilliance)

There was something quite tragic and yet beautiful that Mary died without knowing that John slipped.

This isn’t to say that I’m happy John slipped, or that I think it was a small deal. I do think he was remorseful. I do think he is human.

John has more trust issues with his spouse than most people, and he’s done a really remarkable job of swallowing it down. He loves (loved! GAH MY HEART) Mary VERY MUCH. But new fatherhood is tough, and feeling on the outs from two of the most important people in his life from an intellectual/plotting standpoint–that can be difficult. All of this made it not OOC for me that John would get a little close to a dangerous line.

But. He pulled back. He pulled back and he was sorry and remembered that he loved his crazy little family and his adorable, dangerous, inscrutable wife with her little lace-up sneakers and her assassin’s past. And he wanted to tell her–he wanted to apologize. He wasn’t going to sweep it under the rug.

And then she died. I can only imagine that on top of everything else–all of John’s other insurmountable grief, he feels guilt. But Mary was a very different person than John was. In a way, I think (with the exception that surely she was sad to leave behind John and Rosie) Mary was content when she was dying. She had her shot, her crystalline perfect moment with a man she loved more than anything, even if she couldn’t stay because her past would always catch up with her.

So Mary knew she was always going to die. And Mary got to die looking at her perfect husband–a good man, a faithful man, who, yes, isn’t perfect, and yes, toyed with a possibility of indiscretion, but that doesn’t change who John Watson is and it didn’t distract her in that last moment from seeing who he was.

Mycroft ft is insecure 

 (Sherlock meta by asherlockstudy)

A beautiful but sad moment in TEH is when Mrs Hudson interrupts the silly conversation of the Holmes brothers and says:

“He’s secretly pleased to see you, underneath all that.”

I think that in this scene Mrs Hudson outwits both brothers again and again. And after that last spot-on observation, Sherlock looks at her lowkey impressed and remains silent.

This means that Sherlock sees the (double) truth in her words and doesn’t deny it.

On the other hand, Mycroft asks her with a sudden mood shift for the better : “Sorry, which of us?” to which Mrs Hudson replies: “Both of you.”

This is fanastic physical acting by Gatiss here. Mycroft tries to look indifferent and above all that, but he actually feels contentment and great curiosity.

The fact that he, Mycroft Holmes, fails to instantly understand which one of the two Mrs Hudson meant and can’t keep himself from asking an almost childish question tells us that his insecurity about Sherlock’s feelings clouds his judgement.

The sad thing is that, unlike Sherlock, Mycroft doesn’t know whether his young brother actually cares about him like he does. Despite all the hostility, Sherlock knows deep inside that Mycroft loves and looks after him.

When Mrs Hudson responds “Both of you”, Sherlock turns to look at Mycroft playfully, but it is loving and affectionate. He looks at him straight in the eye, which means that he’s finally eager to become more open with his older brother and he would like it if Mycroft did this too. He’s like “See, the goldfish reads us better than we can read each other, brother mine”.

Mycroft may be able to see through Sherlock very easily, but he can’t do it when he’s personally involved. He is afraid that Sherlock truly loathes him. He fears that this is not just a childish sibling rivalry or that Sherlock never forgave him for some deed of the past. He’s very insecure and yearns for some sort of brotherly affection, so he literally clings to whatever information Mrs Hudson might give him. Does Sherlock care about him? Is the “seemingly insignificant” landlady right? Is he loved?!

Mycroft needs Sherlock just as Sherlock needs him, if not more.

I require a hug.

Why did Eurus flirt with John?

 (Sherlock meta by theleftpill and anarfea)

Q: Hi! Why do you think Eurus flirted with John? I mean... if she wanted to know more about him or his relationship with Sherlock she just needed to read John's blog, right?

theleftpill:

I don’t know, really. I haven’t let myself delve too much into Eurus’ storyline, because I’m not really resolved to embrace it yet. (I’m not really a fan of the retconning required.) But to explore it a bit -

Reading the blog gets you only so far in knowing John. It’s clear that there’s a lot that John is leaving out: whether out of privacy or laziness or forgetfulness, the blog entries are not the whole picture. And when you’re writing for an audience, you write with a “persona”, you present a picture of yourself to the world which may not be entirely genuine. You don’t see interactions, body language, emotion, etc. So reading the blog wouldn’t necessarily give Eurus a complete picture of John, or his relationship with Sherlock.

A big question about why she flirted with John is WHY? Was she trying to understand him, and for his own sake or Sherlock’s? Was she looking for material for her game? Did she just want to know her brother’s best friend? Was she testing his loyalty in his marriage? I think this is one of the major elements that suffered in (my imagined) compression of the stories into S4. As it stands now, for me, the flirting has no reason, doesn’t really go anywhere (except to make John guilty), and just serves no purpose. At least to my mind.

I’d like to hear others’ opinions on this - I know a lot of you have been exploring Eurus’ storyline and motivations a lot more than I have. Thoughts?

anarfea:

@drinkingcocoa-tpp had an excellent answer to this question on the most recent episode of 3 Patch Podcast during the S4 reaction roundtable. In a nutshell, Eurus understands that Sherlock’s friendship with John is the thing that separates him from her and Mycroft (and also Moriarty). John is what grounds Sherlock (not saying I agree, but I think that’s the point the creators are trying to make) and Eurus is alone in the sky with nowhere to land.

So I think on some level she’s trying to figure out what’s so special about John, and if it will work for her, too. Like, if she seduces him, if she can be close to him, can she get something like what Sherlock has with John? And the answer is no, because Eurus isn’t actually capable of connecting with people because she sees them all as unconscious bags of meat.

But it’s Sherlock’s ability to connect with John that convinces her of his ability to help her. Sherlock functions as a bridge between Eurus (the sky) and ordinary people (the ground). John is what makes Eurus think that Sherlock will be able to talk her down. And I think this is why she shows up as “Faith” with the cane and the gun in her handbag and is basically re-creating the circumstances under which Sherlock met John, in a way. And Sherlock is nice to her. Like, he reaches out with such genuine kindness, and I do think that she genuinely does like him. She got what she was looking for–the goal of her game wasn’t actually for Sherlock to kill Mycroft (that was a test that she hoped he would pass and that Jim thought he would fail). She wants him to find her room. She wants him to talk her down. And John is what convinces her that’s possible.