Rewatching Sherlolly: The Great Game

 (Sherlock meta by justanotherfangirls)

The Great Game gave us mystery and action that kept us at the edge of our seats, an introduction to our resident villain that is even better at hiding in plain sight than Sherlock himself, a good perspective on how much Sherlock doesn’t care, and how much he actually does.

As season finale, this episode ties up nicely the conflict introduced at the first episode: Sherlock’s true addiction. He would do anything to stop being bored. He would bet his life to prove he’s clever. He was very turned on by this game with Moriarty. But he realizes that he has limits. He realizes he has a heart. In a moment of pure brilliance, Benedict Cumberbatch has shown the exact moment Sherlock realized that, with a blink of his eyes and tightening of his jaw. But we have seen it earlier on his face: the anger when he heard the explosion that killed the old woman, the heartbreak when he thought John betrayed him, and what looks like regret and hurt when Molly walked out on him. In his conversations with John, it seemed that this was not a man who didn’t care, rather, one who cared too much but believes with all his being that caring is not an advantage.

Looking into Sherlock’s scene with Molly, there was already an air of friendliness between them, an improvement from the earlier episodes. Perhaps a product of frequent interaction, as Molly was most probably the one from Bart’s morgue who got him that head, and if she did, there were probably other parts too; after all Sherlock is easily bored. At the lab, Sherlock was so eager to share his excitement in finding a bacteria match with her like the science nerds that they are. But then Jim enters, and the atmosphere changes in a flash.

Sherlock looks at Jim, at Molly, then back at Jim, and sees everything. He sees his eyes, eyelashes, and underwear; he sees the way Molly looked and smiled at Jim; he even sees the three pounds she gained. And looking at Sherlock, you could see clearly that he hated Jim. It is not mild irritation like he had with Sarah when she, at his point of view, was wasting John’s time when he should be assisting him, and was making sub par deductions. It does not appear to be jealousy because Sherlock knew Jim was gay and would leave Molly eventually. I see it as more than anything else, sheer protectiveness. When Jim left his number under the petri dish, he became even more annoyed. He looked appalled by the nerve of this guy who was fooling Molly, leading her on, and trying to cheat on her! With him! He said so himself, he wants her to break it off and save herself the pain. A twisted way to show care and concern, but it is care and concern nevertheless. In Sherlock talk, he means he does not want her hurt.

What is perhaps more surprising than an emotional Sherlock (anger is an emotion after all), is him trying to suppress a show of his cleverness to bring down someone he does not like. You see him trying to distract himself with his microscope, but not really looking at the slide; he started to say gay but took it back; he is trying really hard to hold himself back. Knowing him, this could not have been easy. He even tried to deflect Molly’s question on his deduction skills, by teasing her with her weight. It is a mark of John’s influence, further confirmed by him checking if what he did was kinder. Well it was not, he did it all wrong, and in the end he did show off his cleverness, but that right there is the proof that he cares enough to not want to humiliate Molly at least not in front of this creep.

As for Molly, she seems to be trying to move on because she has figured out that she had no chance with Sherlock. The side parting of her hair says she’s failing. A selfish part of her might have wanted Sherlock jealous, but it does not seem deliberate or planned. She seemed to like Jim genuinely. Perhaps she saw some sparks of brilliance that reminded her of Sherlock. So when Sherlock spoils the illusion, she becomes angry, at him for being this insensitive unattainable guy she was still in love with, at Jim for lying to her, and at herself for foolishly believing Jim and being stubbornly in love with Sherlock. She apparently did not forgive Sherlock easily, in his succeeding scenes at the hospital Molly does not help him. Maybe he remembered this when he told John later: "you’re angry with me so you won’t help me".

What Molly says, or rather, does not say to Sherlock is curious. Why do you have to spoil -? Spoil what? Everything? Why did she stop herself? I don’t think this is the first time Sherlock spoiled her plans with a relationship, and as we will see it is not the last. Now I didn’t see this Jim fiasco as a show of his jealousy, but there may have been other times that would not always have a reasonable, purely logical basis.

I have always wondered why Jim did not think to include Molly as a target. Maybe because she did not consider herself to count to Sherlock, and had given that impression so effectively that she convinced Jim Moriarty. And Jim would never think of her love as anything other than a weakness. So it seems Sherlock fails spectacularly time and again to show her he cares, Molly reads it as further proof that he does not, and Sherlock just gets confused and perhaps hurt by that. (And his face, if Jim has seen this, he might have hired a fourth assassin.)

Some more notes on The Great Game

 (Sherlock meta by justanotherfangirls)

So Moffat says, sentimentalise him [Sherlock] at your own peril, and we say, bring it on, peril and all. Because this version of Sherlock is a complicated roller coaster of emotions that they could not entirely blame on the fans. They knew what they’re doing; they have direct control of the direction of the show. And this teasing and trolling is both masterful and sadistic, but undoubtedly impressive.

Jim: If you don’t stop prying, I’ll burn you. I’ll burn the heart out of you.
Sherlock: I have been reliably informed that I don’t have one.
Jim: But we both know that’s not quite true.

Before I venture through A Scandal in Belgravia again, which would be hard - I have strong and conflicting feelings with that, I have some more thoughts about this episode.

Firstly, so I have been comparing Sherlock’s deduction of Mr. Chatterjee, way ahead, in The Hounds of Baskerville, with that of Jim. Coincidentally, Mark Gatiss wrote both of these episodes. In both times he was deducing a romantic interest of someone he cares about, someone he would want to protect. Jim was gay, Mr. Chatterjee has a wife nobody knows about. But there are significant differences. Firstly, Sherlock did not tell Mrs. Hudson his deductions the moment he saw Mr. Chatterjee; it was when he desperately needed to deduce and was irritated that John and Mrs. Hudson hid his cigarette stash. But Sherlock told Molly to break it off the first time he met Jim. Secondly, it was so obvious that he hated Jim and was very distracted with him around (Sherlock was rarely distracted especially when he had such an interesting case). He displayed no such hate with Mr. Chatterjee and hardly spared him any more thought. Thirdly, he insults Molly, almost as if he’s mad at her too. He did not do anything like that with Mrs. Hudson. Lastly, at the end of the scene when Molly walks out, his eyes seem to be telling her to come back, he was really expecting her to be grateful to him. And he seemed almost apologetic. But when Mrs. Hudson walked out, he moved on. John even shouted at him to apologize and he only commented on the pettiness of it.

This is not to say Molly is more important to him - Mrs. Hudson is his mother figure, and we all saw how angry he was when people tried to hurt her. I think he did not think it important to tell Mrs. Hudson at once, romantic entanglements are petty and he was otherwise harmless. And Mrs. Hudson would get over it and be back to making them tea in no time. But Jim was harmless too, his deductions only told him 'gay'. And he was insulting Molly about her weight; it was not an innocent comment - he insults Mycroft for exactly the same reason. So he was mad at Molly, unnecessarily annoyed at Jim, deemed it important to tell her that Jim is gay at once in the middle of a case - romance is important if Molly’s involved, and was in the end guilty of his actions because perhaps he knew he was out of line and took the situation too personally (unlike with Mrs. Hudson where he saw no need to apologize). Okay I am now convinced he was indeed jealous.

That tiny moment [at the pool scene] when his emotions betrayed his face, I could imagine Sherlock thinking about how Jim would burn the heart out of him. He was afraid. How easily Jim had gotten to John and strapped bombs into him, how loyal his friend is to be willing to die to save him and kill this dangerous criminal, how close his friend was to death at that moment because of him and his pride, arrogance, and boredom. I do think he also thought of Molly, how easily Jim had inserted himself into her life, how Jim was able to smile at her, to touch her, and how she smiled at him so innocently, trustingly. I think he had deduced that in Jim’s eyes Molly did not count to him, otherwise she would be the one with bombs strapped to her body. And I believe that in this moment he decided that the only way to keep her safe, to protect her, is to never let her get too close to him.

We can only speculate what happens after this confrontation. I think despite himself they grew closer anyway. He would obviously interrogate Molly to the tiniest detail regarding his arch nemesis. He probably became very critical of Molly’s subsequent dates and he uses the Jim card every time. (He knew that Jim wasn’t actually her boyfriend, they went out three times and she ended it. But who knows maybe he just likes hearing it again.) And there’s also this case titled The Ghost of St. Bartholomew’s in Sherlock’s blog which I assumed would involve Molly and it was after the pool confrontation because she never blogged about it.

Rewatching Sherlolly: A Scandal in Belgravia

 (Sherlock meta by justanotherfangirls)

I would be lying if I said I did not compare the scenes with Irene with that of Molly’s, but it was really hard not to. Because, and this may be biased, Sherlock was never more sincere, honest, or caring, as he was with Molly. It’s almost as if her vulnerability, kindness, and awkwardness bring out the exact same traits in him.

At the Christmas party, Sherlock was in a good mood, even playing the violin for Mrs. Hudson. He does not look uncomfortable when Lestrade, John, Jeannette and Mrs. Hudson were there. When Molly arrived, he suddenly became irritable; honestly, his oh, dear Lord, was an overreaction. No stopping them apparently – was that Sherlock trying to look cool, or at least too cool for Christmas drinkies? He even distracts himself with the computer, typing and then checking John’s blog and his picture there. Which I do not think he normally does. He seems unnerved by Molly’s presence yet does not leave his flat. I think he does want to be in that party but does not know how to socialize so he pretends to be busy. Molly made him self-conscious.

He does pretend to be busy, but he listens to Molly’s every comment and comments on that. The attention just had to be back to him. Interesting, this part. I read somewhere that Sherlock invited Molly rather than John. That is also what I believe. Molly said there was a note on the door saying to “just come up”, which was probably Sherlock rather than John, he’s more of the notes type (Crime in progress, please disturb) and John would have just texted or told her so. He was more involved in this party than I initially thought. And he was thoughtful of his two guests (3 if you count Jeanette, but John would have advised her) who would need that note. Molly also knew stuff about the guests which I think she got from Sherlock just because she did not seem to be in the gossiping stage with John – notice that the only interaction she had with John was when he took her coat, and that they had not been talking about where he would be at Christmas before this, which would have been brought up if he was the one who told her about Lestrade, or if he was the one who invited her.

There were moments that suggested a familiarity and closeness between Sherlock and Molly, almost as if they had their own language. Quite inevitable as they worked closely often. Him advising her social cues – 'Don’t make jokes, Molly'. She probably makes jokes with him and he was used to it. There may even be times that she successfully made him laugh. And he just knows that those jokes would only work on him and not on other people. There was also his quick glance at her when she revealed he has been complaining to her about John, which she had correctly translated as, I have NOT been complaining, and that was supposed to be our secret! That she had immediately changed, no he was not complaining – he was saying.

Finally Sherlock decided that it was Molly’s turn to be deduced. He is clearly not pleased that Molly has a boyfriend, she’s serious about him, and that this boyfriend’s present is prettily wrapped while his was slap dash at best. He is also not pleased that Molly had prettily wrapped herself for said boyfriend and adds that her long term hopes are probably forlorn. He is socially inept, but I think he is also jealous which would explain the out of proportion meanness even for Sherlock. (He is often mean, but almost always for a reason. Drugs John as an experiment, harasses an old lady for accurate information.)

Sherlock maintained his defenses, an armor of brilliant, but cold, calculating, and cruel deductions; that same armor breaking down as he read the words that Molly had filled with her hopes and love, complete with the words Dearest and Love and the 3 x’s to seal the deal. (Not that I was comparing, but Irene herself only gave him 2 x’s.) Leaving him fully exposed and unsure of what to do next. He wanted to run away from them, from her, but decides that she does not deserve this and that he would do anything, even something as taxing as to apologize, something as sentimental as to kiss her, just to show her that he cares enough for her to compromise himself. He did not look exactly pleased when his phone interrupted them, knowing fully well that it would hurt Molly’s feelings if she assumed that he had a girlfriend. I think he even hid in his room so people would not see Irene’s gift and make these assumptions. Sadly she assumes anyway.

The scene at the morgue was for me the most emotional scene of the episode. Still reeling from the realization that Molly was seriously in love with him all this time, and that he had hurt her feelings by being himself, he now had to be in the same room as her and identify the body of a woman whom Molly probably would be jealous of. It is very touching that he tries to be as gentle and considerate as possible to her. For a man who in ordinary situations is already rude and inconsiderate of other people, he had shown a superhuman ability to actually be nice, in a situation where a woman, who canonically is important to him, could be dead. It is also interesting that Mycroft refers to Bart’s as his home away from home, and as Molly is a consistent part of his life there, she is, in part, his home. Sherlock however does not appear to hear any of this, all of his attention is on Molly. He tells her she didn’t have to come in. Probably because he just now realized how he was always inconsiderate of Molly’s time when he makes her help him. I think he also doesn’t want Molly to see how, and when, he identifies the body because it would break her heart. The way his face becomes gentle, caring, and sympathetic when Molly says she had nothing better to do at Christmas, unlike everyone else, is perhaps the most emotional, honest, and human Sherlock had looked in this whole episode.

It has always been my headcanon that Sherlock had chosen Molly to be in his life, not only because she is smart and competent enough to help him, as I’m sure many others were. We don’t see him try to be nice to these other competent people, it was only ever Molly. What made her special I think was that he sees himself in her, that lonely, socially awkward, weird person who cares too much, that he constantly hides under his cold, brilliant exterior. He understand her in a level that most other people can’t. And so he feels he needed to protect her, even and especially from himself.

It is worth noting that Molly was the one who made the move to reveal the body, as Sherlock was still surprised, and concerned, and gazing at Molly intently, his curiosity over the identity of the body momentarily forgotten. Only then did he break away from looking at her. There was one moment of hesitation on his part when he asked her to show him the rest of the corpse’s body, knowing that she would assume they were together and it would break her heart. I noticed that he had avoided looking at Molly during and after he identified the body, only glancing at her for a millisecond and quickly looking away as if he cannot bear to see both the pain and the sympathy in her eyes, as if it physically hurt him.

We next see Molly in the lab. They are apparently back to normal, working together and talking comfortably again. Molly seems to be pretending she’s okay with him around, even with him having a girlfriend, to make him comfortable around her. I do think Molly somehow led him to believe that she isn’t that serious about him so that they would return to their status quo and that horrible party would be forgotten (deleted). So he becomes as oblivious as ever. That, or he was a bit disappointed and then proceeded to flaunt that he does have a woman acquaintance, who loves to play games, and neglected to say that he in fact doesn’t do girl- or boyfriends. And then goes on to distract himself with the puzzle and the game to avoid this girl who had made him feel, making himself believe that she means nothing to him. But then it’s not that surprising. We all do silly things, after all.

Rewatching Sherlolly: The Reichenbach Fall (part 1)

 (Sherlock meta by justanotherfangirls)

(Note: I split this into two parts because the whole Sherlolly in this episode just overwhelmed me. In a good way.)

This is the episode that changed everything for me. I was pretty much comfortable with Sherlock and Molly’s setup in the past five episodes. It’s cute, sweet, and Not Happening, and I was okay with that. Until they made Molly much, much more than a fangirl with a crush. Here we come full circle from episode one of season 2, when he had believed that caring is not an advantage, love is a dangerous disadvantage, and sentiment is a chemical defect found on the losing side. Molly became the key that made him realize just how wrong he is. She had saved him, not only from Moriarty’s intricate, diabolical plan, but perhaps more importantly, from himself. With the caring, sentiment, and love that he had loathed so much.

Let’s first take a look at the scene with Kitty Riley, which had some Molly references. Sherlock classifies his fans into two types: Catch me before I kill again, and Your bedroom’s just a taxi ride away. Molly had always been labeled as a representation of the fans, but Sherlock himself doesn’t see her as a fan at all, as we would later see.

Kitty tries to seduce him into agreeing to an interview, and Sherlock then decides to beat her at her own game. He becomes so mouthwateringly seductive and dangerously sexy, taunting her just to say at the end, to her face, that she is never getting an interview - or him. He is being deliberately cruel. He never does try that trick with Molly, their flirting was always so gentle and innocent. Never cruel or dangerous. We also see Sherlock judge Kitty as someone who tries hard to be noticed, keeping up appearances with the posh skirt and polished nails, and a hunger for something, attention or money or fame. He emphasized two traits he found her severely lacking: being smart and being trustworthy, with the latter stressed more. It could be coincidence, but it’s as if in his mind, he was comparing Kitty to Molly. Molly who is content to stay in the background while he focuses on his work, who dresses with cherry blouses and baggy pants, and who never, ever asks or demands for anything. Who is awfully smart he elicits her help in cases. Who he had always trusted. He even treats them opposite. It looked a lot like Molly was his gold standard and he may not even realize it. The complete opposite of what repels him. (And I don’t know about Sherlock, but don’t people usually compare the person coming on to them to that one person they set apart from the rest?)

The first actual scene with Molly was when she was on her way to a lunch date. She is apparently trying to move on from Sherlock, who never does notice her. Only Sherlock then barges in, Molly says she has a lunch date, and he says easily, cancel it, you’re having lunch with me. He even spins her around and it seems familiar he might have done it several times in the past. He had technically offered that she have a lunch date with him. He didn’t say us even if John was there. And remember, his idea of a date is two people who like each other would go out and have fun, by solving a case. And he brought crisps, he doesn’t eat, and he wouldn’t carry John’s food in his pocket. He had planned this. And he was oh so very sure, he knows that Molly would always choose him, would rather be with him even if she would just have crisps in the lab, than a real meal in a restaurant with anyone else. He knows what she was trying to do - get over him, and he consciously prevents it. He wouldn’t do that if he also intends for her to do so. He would have some other clever way to make or trick her into helping him.

Sherlock knows how Molly feels about him, and he doesn’t know what to do with it. He doesn’t outright reject her, in his words to save her time. He also seems to make her feel that he doesn’t notice her. I remember his line in THoB, when he said that he had always divorced himself from feelings, therefore acknowledging that he had them. I wonder if this would be one of the cases he does that, where he pretends there’s absolutely nothing between them, only for the truth to resurface at the mention of a lunch date.

Molly’s confused what? made Sherlock show more of his cards. One of her old boyfriends, he says with such spite. Interesting that he uses the plural form. Oh he is jealous. And he even knows that Jim wasn’t her boyfriend, they went out three times, and she ended it. She looks at John when she says that last bit. Because Sherlock knows all of that already. As I said before, he just maybe liked her to correct him and to say it all again. And then he becomes unbelievable. He actually blames Jim’s crimes on her dumping him, implying that the consulting criminal psychopath was too heartbroken that he decides to terrorize London. He never believed that, Molly would never believe that. But he uses this as reason for her to avoid all future attempts at a relationship, “for the sake of law and order”. Sherlock is nothing if not logical, and even with his insults, manipulation, and lies he always manages to make sense. Except here. He wanted her to avoid relationships - all of them. But he uses a silly argument for that. And the only logical reason for that is something he cannot say aloud. Of course, although she looks so very confused at his mixed signals, Molly could not say no. But it still makes me happy watching him try to win her.

Rewatching Sherlolly: The Reichenbach Fall (part 2)

 (Sherlock meta by justanotherfangirls)

I loved this episode so much, but I could never find the words to fully explain myself. The Sherlolly during these next parts have evolved from more than just cute and sweet and something the story could probably survive without, to something so strong it had penetrated the core of Sherlock’s heart, and quite a few viewers’ as well.

Let’s talk about the lab scene. Sherlock is a man claiming to be married to his work, and that is why the lab is his home away from home. It is thus interesting that he regularly keeps Molly there, is perfectly comfortable with and often even requires her presence. He calls her John and was unfazed when she corrects him, because he was as comfortable to her as to John, and John is his bestfriend, roommate, who probably knows his quirks, his toilet habits, how he looks without the suits or the coat or the hat.

Molly proceeds to try speaking to him, but as he is busy with his microscope tries to shut her down. He doesn’t however, drive her away even if he was at the midst of a case. He tells her not to feel the need to make conversation as it’s not really her area. He actually found better words to say to her than to stop disturbing his work. His tone is even kind and gentle and so unlike him. A real effort, remember he is on a case. Molly pushes on, and he gives a gentle warning, saying her name. No rolling of eyes and rapid fire deductions. But Molly has something really important to tell him, something he needed to hear even more than solving the case in front of him.

Molly deducing Sherlock is definitely a direct reference to Sherlock’s initial challenge to Kitty. She surprises him so much he actually gets distracted. He stares at her like he was seeing her for the first time. And he could very well be given that he always pushes any and all emotions aside. This time he couldn’t, he was forced to really look at her, and I could just feel all these emotions come pouring in into him despite himself. His guard was definitely at its lowest with Molly, letting her hear his mental notes and uncertainty, and see him when he’s sad. He had to look strong and in control in front of everyone, even in front of his bestfriend. Molly thinks this is because she doesn’t count, but I think it’s because Sherlock is not as immune as he likes to believe, he is subconsciously aware of her unconditional love and unwavering faith, and based on his succeeding actions had accepted them. He is only now being aware of that. Explains his reaction when Molly tells him she doesn’t count, his surprise when he thanks her and he realizes how much he actually meant it, and his effort to be kind to her to accept her offer of food even with the risk of digestion slowing him down. Long after Molly was gone, he still was processing everything until John had snapped him out of his thoughts and he finally returned to the case.

I loved that Molly’s point was not to ask him why he’s sad, or how she was able to see that, or how she thinks she doesn’t count. She even pushes all these unimportant details out of their conversation. Her point was that she will always be there for him and help him with anything he needed. He can, in every sense of the word, have her. It doesn’t even matter if she or Sherlock could not figure out how she could, because she had laid out everything she had to offer for the man she loved. And Sherlock, bless him, finally sees that.

In his encounter with Kitty, Sherlock realizes something. Moriarty has been sowing doubt in people’s minds, and there’s only one thing he needs to do to complete the game. Somehow his mind goes straight to Molly. And in this moment he decides to consciously accept her help and love and caring, to tell her how much she actually meant to him, which means he had to listen to his emotions for once. It is just so beautiful and moving and the most that we have seen of Sherlock’s heart. Even the most skeptical of viewers can’t not see that he is sincere, when he gave her an out. He isn’t forcing her, blackmailing, or lying to her. He probably figured if she would not help him, at least she knew that she counted and always had. Which makes this my favorite line, if I wasn’t everything you think I am, everything that I think I am, would you still want to help me? He most probably gave her the choice whether he would win or lose, live or die. He who had lived his entire life proving he’s clever and brilliant and had equated it to his worth, and he wanted her to base her choice on whether she’d still love him, willingly help him, even if he thinks he’s now not worth anything. He put her first before himself. And if that’s not love, I don’t know what is.

The Sherlock/Molly crime solving scenes in TEH

 (Sherlock meta by the-angelsong)

I just watched the Molly Sherlock scenes in The Empty Hearse again. [...]

Okay, collecting my thoughts. I’m going to break it down as I see it. Note* this is just my opinion/interpretation of those scenes… I do not pretend to have any clue as to the motivations of the writers or actors during these scenes.

1. Sherlocks welcome back: Sherlock goes to Molly right after he sees John. Why is this significant? Well, Molly knows that he is alive, so she shouldn’t be a high priority on his back from the dead tour, but he goes to her straight after John. (I’m even toying with the idea that he sees her first… see bottom of post for more on this.) We have all seen the gif (I don’t know how to make it or find it or I would add it lol) when they first see each other at Barts in the locker room. The focus is on Molly but you can still see him smile in the reflection of the mirror.

2. When he is waiting for her to come over to ask her to go crime fighting: he is nervous. You can see him mouthing words to himself. (Figuring out how to ask her?) note* at this point I think he already knows about her engagement, I think he knew that from their first meeting.

3. That whole scene when he asks her: like omg! When have you ever seen him be so diplomatic? It reads so much like him attempting to ask her out I’m not surprised she thought he was. And when she finishes his sentence for him, the look he gives her! His eyes! (Okay at this point my nose was literally an inch away from the screen as I watched on slow motion) he looks at her like: well, yes. Obviously.

4. The cheating husband case: “Your not being John your being yourself.” [...] She is sitting next to him! John always sits opposite him, and the clients sit on the desk chair and get judged. This time the client sits in John’s chair with her husband standing next to her. Sherlock is deliberately creating changes to his routine so not to make Molly feel like she is a substitute.

5. The catfish case. Again, Sherlock seats the clients in another part of the room. Look at his history people! Every case, he always sits them in the same spot. Except for when he is with Molly… not only that but look at his face as he holds the client’s hand. [...] Could you get more out of character? This case is a 2 at best, but he looks so much like he cares. Why would he do that? Why would he waste time talking to the client, she is obviously upset and irrational. Traits that Sherlock detests, and yet there he is. “And you really thought he was the one didn’t you…. the love of your life.” *looks straight over to Molly* Even as he explains the truth to Molly he does it quietly, with caring in his voice. Rather then his usual MO of just blurting it out… (also notice that all these cases are around lovers, cheating or not being what they say they are. Like maybe he wants her to think about her relationship…) And then he serves up the clients dad. Which again is out of character, he wouldn’t care.

6. The case with Lestrade: he is totally showing off for her! Okay head cannon, John talking to him? That’s his own self doubt sneaking in. Eg. [Molly]: “Your on to something aren’t you?” [Sherlock]: “Maybe.” John’s voice: Show off… He is actually showing off. Then Lestrade asks him about Molly and he says he is giving it a go. He says that because it’s not his choice if this continues, it’s hers. When Lestrade asked him about John he answers diplomatically and walks over to stand near Molly. *Note: The ongoing proximity thing, he continues to stay by her side the whole day. So then she goes over to the body and he heads straight over next to her again, she notices he proximity and steps back apologising. He reassures her and John tells him he is jealous. Jealous of what I ask you? How does that work any other way? He is jealous because she steps away, because she is with someone else. That’s why he’s jealous. When he picks up the manifesto he blows the dust off away from Molly, just another little thing I noticed that shows he cares. He also shows it to her first before Lestrade. When she tells him it’s impossible, he leans in and says “welcome to my world”. The intensity in his eyes is just fantastic! Then John calls him a smart arse. This is because Sherlock is trying to get Molly excited by the work, like he did with John. Because having her around solving case with him is the closest thing he can get to being with her. Then John tells him he forgot to put his collar up, he forgot to look cool so she would want him. Then he accidentally calls her John, well he’s done that before. Plus he has John in his head at the time. (I don’t really have anything for this if anyone else wants to add in their own head cannon I would love to hear it)

7. The train case: so much flirting! [...]  He spends the whole time paying more attention to Molly than he does the case, eg. the girlfriend joke. Someone posted on here once that they were surprised that Sherlock didn’t pick up on the missing car straight away. This is because he’s not looking at the footage, he’s looking at her. I watched like 6 times. (I know I’m totally obsessed!) but he really does, you can actually see him looking at her not the tape.

8. When he comes out of his mind palace: he talks about maps, but as he goes past Molly he changes the subject and asks her out. Yes he was asking her out, it’s Sherlock. He is the master of subtly….. This is the moment where he sees if he has managed to sway her. This whole day, the cases he chose, the showing off. All of it was to show her that he was better than the man who gave her that ring. So he makes his final play and asks her out. But it doesn’t go well does it. She calls him out on the day. Molly Hooper is not an idiot. She knows what he is doing and she asks him point blank about it. He knows he lost the game so he does one more very unsherlock type thing: He tells the truth. “The one person he thought didn’t matter at all to me, was the one person who mattered the most.” He never breaks eye contact here. And then, he lets her go. His face when she starts to talk about Tom, that wistful smile. [...] He tells her he is happy for her, that he wants her to be happy. He didn’t even do that for John with Mary! But lets just take a look at that for a second shall we. It’s established that Sherlock hates change. He has always found fault with every relationship around him, John’s girlfriends, Molly’s boyfriends. Even mrs Hudson’s relationships are not off limits. When he met Mary he deduced her and found her acceptable. But he has never met Tom. He would never let his friend date someone without judging them first. But he lets her, because he doesn’t think he deserves her. And then [...] the kiss, right up until his lips hit her cheek you cannot be sure he isn’t going to kiss her properly. His face is completely open and without manipulation, he never breaks eye contact. How could anyone see that moment and not realise he loves her? How?

Okay back to my head cannon that he goes to Molly before John. First of all, his nose is fine, if he went straight after John it would have at least been red, but it wasn’t, and then there’s the cut on his lip, the obvious cut on his lip. Also missing. and then there’s the lighting. We know that it was late at night when he saw John but it was bright at the hospital. You can see the light coming in from the windows hitting the lockers. But when he goes to see Lestrade it’s dark again. Therefore he goes to see Molly first.

Ok so that is my head cannon break down of Molly and Sherlock in TEH let me know what you think! Do you agree, disagree? Have anything to add? Did I get anything wrong?

Molly Hooper and Continuity vs Development 

 (Sherlock meta by mild-lunacy)

It’s not really a point of emotional investment to me, but it struck me that for all the fan criticism about Molly’s apparent lack of resolution in TFP, the fact is that the show never really showed her moving on. Note, I’m only interested in this from the perspective of characterization continuity; I have no personal interests at play with Molly or her infatuation. If pressed, I’d say I relate to the pining but don’t actually feel that she’s had enough character development for me to be invested. As Ivy wrote recently, there’s only so much you can expect from minor characters in a show focused on the main protagonist and his… significant other, and Molly’s definitely a minor character who did not have an arc. Then again, even John didn’t have an arc, as I’ve said. However, regardless of your *opinion* of Molly still not being over Sherlock, there was actually little enough reason to think she was. That is an example of reading into things and ‘confirmation bias’, much like the divergent interpretations of Mary after HLV, like I referred to earlier.

Basically, I think there’s a fundamental difference between character *continuity* and character *development*. Molly (and every other minor character) has had continuity without development, except (arguably) for Mary, who seems to have some development in TST without the benefit of retaining full character continuity. John and Sherlock are the only two characters on the show who *definitely* show both continuity and development. A lot of people mistake one for the other or assume they always go together. They do not. In fact, there’s also a third level of growth and that’s a development *arc*, which only Sherlock himself has had on the show.

To sum up, we had this set of ‘new and different’ responses from Molly in Series 3:

• Molly was quite willing to be Sherlock’s 'John substitute’ in TEH, and even dressed and tried to take notes like him for Sherlock, but it didn’t really work out. When she realized it wasn’t working and Sherlock kept calling her John, she begged off from dinner and mentioned having a fiance. 
• She’s still willing to help Sherlock no matter what, even when it comes to weirder and/or less romantic things than helping on cases, like helping with Sherlock’s Stag Night preparations for his best friend. This is a bit of a subjective thing, 'cause I suppose helping Sherlock with John could be used as proof of a lack of jealousy. She made a face when she saw the Vitruvian Man page of Sherlock’s little John binder, so maybe she also realized he’s gay (but this doesn’t mean she’d now have to get over him, 'cause that’s just a different reason for him to be unavailable as always). Still, Molly had never previously implied Sherlock was gay or into John romantically. Sure, she said he looks 'sad’ when John can’t see him, but that’s not necessarily romantic. Anyway, no reason to think she helped Sherlock with any small task for any different reasons than the ones established in ASiP, when she got him coffee. 
• Then we meet her fiance in TSoT, and he’s a Sherlock clone to the point of copying his coat and scarf. Still, he showed himself to be a bit of an idiot, and Molly stabbed him with a fork when he embarrassed her. In other words, she was apparently looking for a smart bloke who looked and dressed like Sherlock. 
• When we see Molly in HLV, she’s acting tough on Sherlock’s drug relapse and seems angry and disappointed enough to slap him. She definitely feels close to him in a way that’s not shown to be going both ways (that is, Sherlock cares but doesn’t interfere or offer opinions on her life). Molly’s shown taking Sherlock’s behavior personally and including herself and John as the 'people who care about you’, though this approach clearly doesn’t work on Sherlock, who makes a sarcastic remark. Anyway, she’s certainly more feisty, but not thinking rationally about Sherlock or able to see him as he is, unlike the flash of insight she showed in TRF. If anything, you could say she’s as attached as ever but a bit more bitter or conflicted about it and/or about Sherlock in general, whom she’d clearly idealized. The implication is that she’s angry he’s not living up to her ideals. 
• Finally, we see Molly in TST, and she’s taking care of Rosie and clearly feeling awkward about delivering such bad news about John, and feeling sorry for Sherlock. She’s not really acting like a close friend, in the sense of trying to *help* Sherlock with his grief and pain somehow, but she’s clearly still emotionally invested and as awkward about it as ever. Then of course we have proof she’s not over her infatuation in TFP. 

I realize there a lot of opinions and responses that people have to this, whether it’s happiness or disappointment, but my point is that the one thing it’s *not* is surprising. I also realize that people *were* surprised, but this is mostly due to projection or 'real life behavior’ assumptions, which rarely apply (particularly on BBC Sherlock, which typically picks the more dramatic over the more realistic response). You may or may not think Molly 'should have’ been over it by now, or maybe you think it’s great that she isn’t. Either way, I mostly don’t have an issue, although I probably disagree regardless. Essentially, there’s really no reason for characters to do the 'healthy thing’ when people so often don’t, but on the other hand, there’s nothing cool or special or even romantic to me about endless pining for a person you’re idealizing and can never have *or* grow much closer to unless you stop pining. Regardless, it is what it is, and furthermore it is what it’s been since we were introduced to these characters, more or less.

OK, so that was my understanding of the text as it stands, but I just wanted to add that I understand @jedilock’s critique and comparison to Doctor Who (at least in broad strokes, 'cause I don’t watch Doctor Who). The feel-good ideal is certainly 'very affirming’, as Sherlock would say. The woman who’d been pining– for the sake of that woman– should grow as a person and realize her own worth, and (essentially) move on with her life. That would be best. Fixating on someone who cannot give you what you want isn’t romantic, admirable or satisfying to watch (except for either people who project onto the character and insert their own happy ending, or people who just… like angst). However, I can excuse and/or dismiss the argument if it’s made on those grounds *alone*. I’m not particularly interested in fiction portraying the healthy and/or best case scenario, nor do I have a problem with all minor characters being fodder for Sherlock’s growth, as Ivy described. Except those aren’t the only grounds for critique by far.

One, there’s the issue that while it’s fine that Molly’s not really that important to the narrative and doesn’t need an arc, her continued fixation is simply… hard for many viewers to swallow because it doesn’t ring true. Even if a character doesn’t get an arc, their responses *do* have to change and develop with time to some degree, and we *have* seen some movement in Series 3 (even if my original post clearly shows that it’s easy to overstate the nature and the degree of Molly’s development). As I said, her motivations didn’t *change* in any fundamental way. However, she was not completely divorced from the effects of time, either. So it’s easy to feel that a real person (who is not a minor character created for a certain purpose) would not feel as Molly feels, not to the degree and *intensity* we see in TFP, most of which was there purely for the drama. That sort of forced drama is definitely a concern in terms of writing.

Two, there’s the use of a woman to further a man’s emotional growth and give him cathartic suffering, to the detriment of that female herself, which is definitely problematic. This has been a theme with Molly, Irene and even Mary in BBC Sherlock, as @delurkingdetective has discussed. That is probably excusable with Molly or even the category of 'minor characters’ in general, but definitely worth critiquing when it’s actually an example of a trend with the treatment of women specifically in Moffat’s writing.

The larger issue is primarily a certain laziness, a reliance on tropes and reusing old, comfortable characterizations. This isn’t to say that tropes are *bad*, really… but used carelessly, they may confuse the audience and mess up the characterization of the protagonist (which is presumably not what anyone wants). One example is obviously all the extensive usage of romantic tropes in Sherlock, which certainly helped give some of us the impression the show’s structure meant to follow through on those signals. Perhaps even *more* problematically, the writing reuses some of Sherlock’s *own* mistakes and blind spots for plot convenience in ways that don’t entirely make sense in context. It’s not just *Molly* who keeps making her old mistake, over and over again, in ways that aren’t fully believable. The bigger issue is something like Sherlock’s behavior with Norbury in TST, as @delurkingdetective described. To have Sherlock trust that Norbury won’t or couldn’t kill him after being in a similar situation with Mary, *and* going on to be super-predictive detective again in TLD might explain why *John* lost faith in him, but it could easily justify the *viewer* losing faith in the show, as well. He wasn’t emotionally compromised with Norbury the way he was with Mary, so there’s no real excuse for his arrogance overriding his ability to predict and understand murder and murderers except pure plot necessity.

In essence: Mary had to die. Molly had to be in love. Sherlock had to suffer. And that is simply not good enough writing.

Thoughts on John and the cheating after TST

 (Sherlock meta by weeesi, bandersnatchmycummerbund, asortofbookevent, 

unreconstructedfangirl and notagarroter)

weeesi:

So my sense is: most people HATE the insinuation that John wants to or is cheating … Is that right? I ask because …. I think I don’t actually hate it? I think it’s 1) within the realm of John’s character and 2) a device to show he’s not happy/with the right person at this point in his life and 3) still an insinuation or suggestion at this point.

bandersnatchmycummerbund:

I don’t hate it! Honestly I love it– I think it’s in character and a super interesting storyline. Or rather that it would be. I don’t personally think that’s actually what’s happening here, but I’m super hopeful that John at least thinks that’s what’s happening because I’d love to explore John and his (bad) choices and struggles in that way.

I also like it, actually. On my read, John has always been someone who wants very much to be seen as a decent, stand-up guy, but doesn’t really want to do the work to be that guy (or maybe can’t, actually – because I’m pretty sure John’s idea of Myself, A Good Guy, is not full of barely-suppressed rage.)

In a way, hanging out with Sherlock has always been a great solution for that tension: he gets to be the normal one, and the clear-eyed moral compass, while being neither particularly normal nor particularly grounded in the moral mainstream – all while enjoying the pleasure of living in Sherlock’s London battlefield.

We saw him get anxious in the beginning of HLV, and I think this is similar. In a way, his attachment to Mary is beside the point; he actually chafes against the normal middle-class life he tells himself he wants… and that feeling makes him angrier still, because his fiction about himself has become harder to sustain.

So yeah, it seemed in character to me. Regardless of whether or not he loved his wife (and I think he did, in a complicated way, it YMMV, this is an point on which I think BBC canon is terminally ambiguous) I think John Watson would self-destruct just for the sake of a spark.

I love the character of John Watson, even on the days when I don’t like him very much as a human being. We all carry around fictions of ourselves – it’s part of being human – and it’s wonderful to see that realized so compellingly on screen. To me, the infidelity is a sharp but fitting piece of that puzzle.

asortofbookevent:

I would be surprised if we don’t see John’s “flirtations” explained by plot reveals in the later episode. But I do hope they don’t totally sweep away the element of infidelity, for the sake of the beautiful characterization you’ve described!

unreconstructedfangirl:

I don’t hate it, and I love @tiltedsyllogism‘s characterisation.

I feel like John is a guy that is pretty well in need of certain kinds of validation. Think about his attempt to make a move on Anthea, and more importantly, the woman he thinks is the new Anthea in ASIB, but who is really Irene’s agent. “Nothing I couldn’t heartlessly abandon…” Add that to his string of girlfriends?

The departure, really, from John’s prior characterisation is that in the past, John has always been loyal when he is emotionally engaged… but there’s always a first lapse if there’s going to be one, isn’t there, and I do think he is under pressure, so… it could happen.

That said, I don’t think he actually cheated, I think he just seriously considered cheating, and it’s enough to make him feel very guilty, which in the end gives me ample reason to forgive. He’s not a perfect man.

notagarroter:

To be perfectly honest… If anything, I like John *more* now than I did before.

Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t like this behavior in a partner or father of my child. Not in real life. But for a fictional character? Bring it on.

The fact is, “John Watson the Moral Compass” is a bit of a pill. He was always telling Sherlock how to behave and scolding him when he was "a bit not good.” Dull. He may have been the best and bravest man Sherlock ever knew, but he was also kind of bland and conventional, or at least he presented himself that way.

(And I totally agree with @tiltedsyllogism that John was never as decent or moral as he wanted to believe – it was a fiction both he and Sherlock created together, because it served their purposes.)

Now that the fiction is starting to fall apart, I find him suddenly fascinating and I’m desperate to know what comes next, what consequences there may be.

My hope is that he’ll develop a more subtle and empathetic understanding of the world around him, because he’s aware of his own weaknesses. It’s too bad Mary had to die, because I wonder if this new, weaker, more morally compromised John might have understood her better than sanctimonious S3 John did.

"Don’t be alarmed, it’s to do with sex"

 (Sherlock meta by mae-jones and o0katiekins0o)

[Mycroft: Don't be alarmed, it's to do with sex.
Sherlock: Sex doesn't alarm me.
Mycroft: How would you know?]

mae-jones:

Some took this to mean Sherlock was a virgin, especially with Sherlock being referred to as “the virgin” later. However, one could extrapolate many things from these exchanges.

Mycroft’s “how would you know?” could be a dig at how Sherlock has utilized sex to get what he wants. Sherlock is the ultimate control freak at this point in time. He has never been in love with a potential partner. He very well could have had sex a million times but I imagine he would have done so for perfunctory reasons. So, of course sex wouldn’t alarm Sherlock if it was always on his terms and he was in complete control of his emotions.

Mycroft’s ‘how would you know?” could very well be, “how would you know what it’s like to be so desperate for someone that you lose your mind with them and get turned inside out by your physical desires?”

As per “the virgin” comment, it could be the same vein of thought. Without being into someone, with having the emotional connection to them, sex would be functional for someone like Sherlock. Sherlock, for all intents and purposes, is a virgin when it comes to romantic love and I think that is the ultimate message they were trying to instill in us as viewers.

In series 3, this comes full circle when Mycroft says, “I’m not lonely!” Sherlock uses his brother’s words against him. Again, it’s a parallel in emotions, not physicality. Sherlock is stepping out of the “virgin” emotional role. It shows how his feelings are developing, how he’s come to recognize the absence of romantic love in other people’s lives.

Sherlock’s physical virginity is ultimately irrelevant (as it really is irl). The sex part of the equation is unimportant, it always has been. ie/ Emotional context.

PS - From a Sherlolly standpoint, it’s kinda cool to think that the creators may have ALWAYS intended for Sherlock to fall in love romantically. These little hints are insights into where they were going with the show, not just opening Sherlock up, but a complete transformation. That’s what the virginity trope has always been about, not the fetishism of the physical, but how love can change us.

o0katiekins0o:

And it was brought up again in The Final Problem when Mycroft said he’d asked Eurus if she felt pain and she said “Which one’s [pain]?”

How would you know if sex alarms you if you have never been able to make the connection between sexual expression and romantic love?

How would you know that you’re lonely if you fail to connect your isolation with your unhappiness?

How do you know what pain is when you feel so intensely that you can’t suss out one emotional state from another?

I have said for a long time that the Holmes weren’t born with the empathic connection of emotional state and cognition.

Sherlock actually tries to make the connection on a very basic level aided by John: X means happy, Y means sad, Z means angry. We watch him learn to form these connections through the progression of the series.

The only emotional-physical state Sherlock seems to inherently understand and respect is fear. In The Hounds of Baskerville he gives his “body betrays me” speech and in The Abominable Bride when he told Lestrade “Fear is Wisdom in the face of danger”.

If you subscribe to the notion that all emotions exist on a spectrum between fear and love, then it starts to look as though the entire show is Sherlock starting at fear and working his way through the entire spectrum leaving “The Final Problem” aka Love.

Regarding Sherlock's pause before "If it's true just say it anyway"

 (Sherlock meta by anonymous @mizjoely)

Regarding Sherlock’s pause before “If it’s true just say it anyway”. I agree with Anon, that was such an amazing moment and it was a turning point for me as well.

His energy changes palpably when he hears her say “it’s always been true”. It’s like time stops and everything else disappears for a moment. It was somehow such an intimate moment. To me it was as if he is (and we are) taken from the dimension of a task to be performed while time is running out to a completely different plane where it is just the two of them and where performing a task successfully, even if it is saving her life, is not what it’s actually about. Something just gives way in him, like he can’t play the game any more.

Her amazing sincerity in that moment, her refusal to continue playing games and the way she embraces vulnerability – these are her quintessential qualities, this is actually her strength, and it is what I think he is drawn to in her, even if he doesn’t know it. When she says it, he can’t go on as before, he is changing right before our eyes. He seems, for a moment, helpless against her sincerity. And that is their relationship right there. In that moment, something just stops, but then after a moment it’s also as if he is thinking: Oh God, Molly, not now, please, please just continue playing so I don’t lose you. 

I cannot believe this whole scene. I could write a book about it.

Sherlock and Molly’s relationship has been the most developed on the show

 (Sherlock meta by kathleenkellly)

Moffat and Gatiss have said that Sherlock is as much about relationships as it is a detective show. While with John the friendship is instantaneous, Sherlock and Molly’s relationship has been the most developed.

They start out at opposite ends of the spectrum. Molly has a crush on Sherlock and at first perhaps causes her a bit to turn a blind eye to some of his faults. But gradually it becomes impossible to ignore his comments and she finally calls him out on it at the Christmas party. She still loves him, but she doesn’t put him on a pedestal anymore. He’s flawed but she knows he’s capable of being a better person.

On the other hand, Sherlock barely acknowledges her in the beginning. He knows she’s smart and that they work well together but doesn’t see her as more than a working partner. He takes advantage of her willingness to help with his cases. When he gets called out at Christmas, I think that’s when he really first sees Molly as a person. He’s hurt her and it doesn’t feel good. His eyes are opened even further during the Reichenbach lab scene when she reads him exactly. He’s completely underestimated her.

In S3, Molly tries to move on with someone else and Sherlock is genuinely happy for her. But when Molly sees that Sherlock has changed, he’s kinder and tells her what she means to him, she knows it’s not going to work with Tom. She’s been trying to substitute him for the man she really loves. Meanwhile Sherlock gets shot and it is revealed that Molly has a prominent place in his mind palace. She keeps him calm and focused.

Now in the special we see Molly again in Sherlock’s mind palace. Confident, intelligent, determined. He acknowledges that he’s wronged her.

So with S4 it seems like they are meeting somewhere in the middle for the first time. There’s likely going to be repercussions for Sherlock for getting high again, but they seem to be heading towards a relationship that’s on more equal footing built on a foundation of mutual respect and understanding.

“Hooper.” “Holmes.” seemed like, at least in Sherlock’s mind, they’ve reached that point. It’s like he’s saying ‘you’ve seen me and now I see you’.

"You’ll find another."

 (Sherlock meta by Ivy Blossom)

["Nothng more than a distraction, a little scrap of ordinariness for you to impress, to dazzle with your cleverness. You'll find another."]

This lie, identified specifically as a lie, is the greatest statement about what John is to Sherlock. Not a distraction, but the person who finally allows Sherlock to find purpose and focus. While John may appear to be ordinary, we know that he is not; he is entirely singular, the only person who could fit perfectly into the hole in Sherlock’s heart and life and let him heal.

Believing that impressing and dazzling John with his cleverness is enough was Sherlock’s single greatest mistake. He misread his role in John’s life as merely entertainment, something that could vanish and miraculously, dazzlingly reappear without consequence. But John isn’t dazzled by Sherlock. John admires him, respects him, trusts him, and would gladly sacrifice himself to keep Sherlock in the world, because he believes without question that Sherlock deserves all of the faith John has placed in him. John believes that Sherlock has the ability to make the world a better place, and that the most important thing he can do is to sure that he does. John is far beyond dazzled by Sherlock; John loves him and believes in him with his whole heart.

Sherlock will never find another John. There is only one.

John and Molly: no cinnamon rolls

 (Sherlock meta by 

darlingbenny, missdaviswrites, fuckyeahfightlock and notagarroter)

darlingbenny:

I've never loved John more than when he punched the police dude in the face for calling Sherlock weird he’s my most favourite John. I LOVE HIM.

missdaviswrites:

Notice though: this is not self-dense or saving Sherlock’s life. This is assaulting a police officer. It’s a small step from here to attacking Sherlock when he returns and then just another step to hitting and kicking him in The Lying Detective. So maybe everyone shouldn’t be so quick to say s3 and s4 John is out of character?

fuckyeahfightlock:

I love John Watson and all his flaws but of the two leads in Sherlock, it’s clear which one is more likely to be a diagnosable sociopath we’re all lucky is on the side of the angels.

missdaviswrites:

I think Sherlock is just as abusive toward John (if not more so over the course of all the episodes) it’s just that his abuse isn’t physical. All the violence doesn’t bother me since the show is clearly not dealing with how real people should/can act in real life (or everyone on it would be dead or in jail). Including Mrs. Hudson, apparently. But not Molly–she’s more like a real person to me, which is the reason I can’t ship her with Sherlock–I want to tell her to run away, there’s no way he could be good for you!

notagarroter:

Molly Hooper:

– is aroused by someone whipping a corpse
– invites a buddy to come play with the body of her dead colleague
– bends the morgue rules for her crush
– gives her buddy thumbs and severed heads to play with (we don’t for sure know these came from Molly in canon, but it seems likely.)
– breaks idek how many laws and regulations helping Sherlock fake his death
– makes it pretty clear she doesn’t care if he’s a good guy or a bad guy, she’ll help him no matter what
– admits that sociopaths are “just her type”
– chats on the phone with friends while carving up dead bodies
– uses an actual human brain as a comedy prop
– considers physical violence an appropriate response to someone struggling with drug addiction

Look, I love Molly Hooper to bits. But she’s no cinnamon roll – she’s as fucked up as everyone else in this show.

An addition to the “blind spot” theory

 (Sherlock meta by bassfanimation)

Also may I just add to the “blind spot” theory… What was it that Sherlock failed to see right in front of him…the glass. He was so focused on ‘the case’ at hand, the game, he didn’t even notice the glass was missing and Eurus was right in front of him. Who is the person that has been there the whole time but that everyone, including Sherlock, has failed to notice was just right there… Molly Hooper.

Also, a blind spot can sometimes be even more painful than a pressure point. Pressure points are things we acknowledge in our lives as being important. They are things we’re afraid of losing, but they’re also safe enough that we acknowledge as real, tangible. It’s the blind spots that we refuse to look at that are truly terrifying. Anyone who’s been in therapy can understand this. It’s not the things right out in the open that scare us…it’s the things we can’t even see because it’s too frightening to even acknowledge their existence, the very truth of them.

I truly feel that OP [sherlocklock] is right on target. Molly is Sherlock’s blind spot, because that, much like Redbeard, scares the hell out of him and it’s almost like he’s so afraid of it, of his feelings, that he’d rather blind himself to them. Eurus forced him to see it. She forced him to see the glass that wasn’t there. That hand touch they had…that was the bridge, the breaking of the membrane, to allow him to see his wrongdoings, to see the love he has for his brother, to understand his protectiveness of John, and to finally see his love for Molly.

DAMMIT this show though, the brilliance blows my face off. I’m over a month in from S4 and I still just sit in the dark and think, “Son of a BITCH.”

Hooper

 (Sherlock meta by odamakilock)

Ok, Talk to me for a minute about Molly here, because I re-watched the speech last night and I am about 99% certain I heard Lestrade say (and I’m paraphrasing from memory) “Dr. Hooper, I invited him here. Co-operate; that’s an order”

Let me repeat that.

“Doctor Hooper, I invited him here”

Doctor. Hooper.

Doctor. 

So, First of all: YAAASSSSSSSSS HELL YES MY GIRL IS A DOCTOR THANK YOU.

Secondly: Let that sink in. Victorian Molly Hooper is such a bad ass. At some point she realised she was clever, she had a vocation for medicine and her whole world said ‘shut up, female, you will get married and produce babies and be nothing’ and she replied with a resounding ‘NO’. As far as the realities of her story define, as a young woman she decided to up sticks and fake it till she made it, and she made it. 

She didn’t walk into that morgue on the heels of the Ricoletti conspirators, she must have been already THERE. For her to be there must have taken YEARS of work. She got herself through the end of school perhaps as a boy. She got herself through university as a man. She got a job, not a big glamorous practice, but she got a job where SHE was in charge and people had to call her by a title she could only ever have earned and never could have married to obtain. She’s angry and strong and a fighter and a murderer because she lives in a world where she decided she had to be.

Modern Molly is softer and kinder but modern Molly didn’t get a ‘no’, she got an ‘Go ahead if you must’. To which she gave a firm ‘I must’, and then did it.

NEXT: I think we should tally Molly up with more credit for the Ricoletti murders. She was at the house; she was the bride slipping out of the window, it’s not improbable to assume she was the one who stabbed Sir Eustace. She’s a doctor, she knows how to stab people.

She may also have been the gun holder who made the martyr of Emilia Ricoletti. Ricoletti needed a doctor; she was dying of TB. She also needed someone she could safely confide in; why not Molly? Molly had to be there to assist in swapping the bodies and painting ‘YOU’ in blood on the mortuary wall. Molly had to find the corpse looking like Ricoletti too- this was planned; they could only proceed once Molly was able to pop up from Barts and say ‘I’ve got one!’. Molly would probably have known how to do the makeup- she’s got her own moustache, wig and sideburns. She’s got some kind of theatrical cosmetics experience.

AND: Ok, OK so it’s all in Sherlock’s head but nonetheless, it still gives us a big spotlight on Molly Hooper as a character and her relation to the main characters. John Watson is a good doctor; in Sherlock’s head at least a bit of him thinks that Molly Hooper is absolutely John’s professional equal. He knows John is capable of being a soldier and killing. He thinks Molly Hooper given the right conditions, could be just as capable. He assigns her a lot of credit in this.

Molly Hooper is a bad ass.

LAST: (and this is just my personal rambling non-concrete musing so feel free to skip this)

To drag out the meta a bit further, here’s something I wondered about: There’s this flip flop of gender. Molly’s dressed as a man but she’s clearly not one nor does she perceive herself as one. John knows, which means Sherlock knows, though he plays ignorant. She appears at the end and we can see she’s very much a woman fighting for women and she hasn’t even cut her hair to make ‘Dr Hooper’ easier for her. Her man persona is temporary; just an inconvenient costume to help get what she wants, like the ghostly bride is just a costume. She’s not The Woman, she’s not the Highly Intelligent Lady with Rare Perception but I think that’s almost the point of Molly Hooper. She’s exceptional by being her, not a symbol of irregularity from her gender.

Sherlock’s behaved badly to her, and assumed things about her, and now he’s reached the point where (perhaps for the first time) he actually knows a person who happens to be female. Molly’s not really there to be sexy (even though she fancied him and flirted). She’s not trying to get between him and John (She wants to be Molly Hooper to him, not John 2.0). She’s not a client. She’s not his opponent. She’s there to get her job done, and if he’ll get his head out of his arse, be his friend at the very least. They’ve moved past the ‘silly girl with a crush’ stage long ago. She raised her standards and started making him scrabble to meet them at the bare minimum.

John is very much in Sherlock’s brain narrative trying to make him a man. An adult with standards and a grasp on how to be a functioning human with feelings and impulses, even if they’re different to other people’s. John’s there ultimately to make him a ‘good’ man despite himself. Yet… John in every incarnation is shit with women. To the point where even Mycroft is better. 

Maybe Molly is there, in his head, as a hand in the murder of powerful, patriarchal misogynists, as a sign of Sherlock wondering about what type of ‘good’ man he should be.

Sherlock and Molly in S3 

(Sherlock meta by kathleenkellly, sherlollymouse and doctor-molly-hooper-holmes)

kathleenkellly:

Interesting you would say this, Sherlock, because you have just spent the day:

• hinting that Mycroft is lonely right before Molly is set to arrive 
• asking Molly to join you solving crimes, the thing you love the most 
• telling Molly not to be John, but to be herself 
• being extra harsh to a man that posed as the love of his step-daughter’s life in front of Molly 
• smiling at Molly and giving her flirty looks 
• asking Molly out to dinner 
• telling Molly she was “the one person that mattered the most”, that she “made it all possible”, and that the whole day was about thanking her for everything she did 
• congratulating Molly on her engagement and telling her she deserves to be happy 
• giving Molly a genuine smile with a hint of sadness
• kissing Molly tenderly on the cheek 

Not all the men Molly falls for turn out to be sociopaths, because Sherlock is NOT a sociopath.

[...] So Sherlock has just spend the day showing Molly how he is not a sociopath (whether intentionally or not) and thanking her for “everything” that she did for him (which I think indicates that Molly did a lot more for him than we’ll probably ever know, but that’s another story).

Then he brings up her engagement and says “but you can’t do this again can you”. It shows that Sherlock considers this a date. He seemed nervous when he was originally asking her and now he’s treating it as something more than just a day spent solving crimes. If he doesn’t consider it a date, then why do they have to end it? They would simply be two friends spending the day working on a case. There’s nothing inappropriate with that. Why is he suddenly feeling guilty about spending the day with an engaged woman? Because he has feelings for her. Feelings that are potentially growing stronger as they spend more time together. Feelings that scare him and that he can’t share with her now she’s with someone.

Molly then describes Tom making him seem the opposite of Sherlock: “he’s nice, he’s got a dog, we go to the pub on weekends”. Tom is “normal”. Sherlock makes the sociopaths comment. He mistakenly thinks that this is what Molly wants: a normal man with a normal life. The funny thing is during the rest of S3 we are shown that Sherlock shares some of these characteristics, just in his own unique way. He had a dog he once loved. He goes to the pub with John. He has loving parents and a group of friends.

Sherlock doesn’t hear Molly’s comment at the end “maybe it’s just my type.” He doesn’t know that she considers Sherlock to be her type. Molly just spent an enjoyable day with Sherlock and sees what life with him would be like. She now realizes that life with Tom pales in comparison. She doesn’t want normal. It may have seemed okay when Sherlock was gone, but he’s back now and so are her feelings.

Moffat said after S3 that Molly is “fascinated by (Sherlock), but she knows that’s not who she actually wants to end up with.” If this is really the case, then why does S3 end with Molly breaking her engagement? They had Molly get engaged to someone only to realize that Tom is not what she wants, Sherlock is what she wants. They showed how important Molly is to Sherlock as she appears in his mind palace. They showed us how developed their relationship has become when she slaps him for using drugs. And then S3 ends with a subtle “oh yeah by the way he’s slept in her bedroom” revelation. Moffat even said in that same interview that Sherlock loves Molly. Why spend so much time on their relationship if it’s not going anywhere?

sherlollymouse:

Precisely, it’s nice to see him nervous around her, too. He makes that excuse to see her in TSoT and she calls him out on it, even pokes fun and teases him. I’m convinced she was FLIRTING with him and it was adorable. I would like to know, though, how Moffat wants to explain S3 if Molly doesn’t want Sherlock anymore.

doctor-molly-hooper-holmes:

In response to Moffat’s comment about Molly: I always took that to mean that she doesn’t idealize him anymore. For a while, it seemed like she had a crush on her fantasy version of Sherlock, not the actual man. I believe that all changed during the Christmas party in ASiB, when Sherlock finally turned his cruel deductions on her (it’s my head canon that this was the first and last time he did so). She was forced to see all of Sherlock, flaws included. I think this is when she first really began to fall in love with him.

It’s been seen many times on the show that Sherlock is awful at hiding his emotions around Molly (TRF, TEH, etc.). The lab scene in TRF revealed that she sees through him anyway, so why put forth the effort to hide them? In my opinion, Moffat was just stating that Molly doesn’t want to end up with her idealized version of Sherlock, because she now knows and loves the real Sherlock.

If I wasn’t everything that you think I am – everything that I think I am – would you still want to help me?

 (Sherlock meta by akajustmerry)

This scene kills me because he thinks he needs to explain himself and justify himself, because he has to do that with everyone else. He thinks he’ll have to manipulate her, or beg her because, even though it’s all a lie, Moriarty did make sure that he cut everyone who would believe in him off.

But not her. Not Molly.

Molly offers help before he even asks, “What do you need?” and he even tries to tempt her out of it, “if I wasn’t everything…” and she still just asks, “what do you need?”

People always applaud Sherlock for being so self aware but he’s so aware of everyone else too. He knows Molly would do anything for him and here he almost wishes she wouldn’t because he’s going to ask her to be a part of this big lie that’s going to hurt the people he cares about most (including her and him) and he knows she’ll say yes.

Don’t let anyone tell you that Sherlock Holmes isn’t aware of how much Molly loves him. Don’t tell me the fall was easy for him, Don’t tell me that when he said he thought he was going to die, that he didn’t believe that at least some of him would.

Eurus wanted him to snap 

 (sherlock meta by jennifer-lily through fuckyeahsherlolly)

If Eurus wanted Sherlock to snap why didn’t she use Irene Adler? I love both women, but giving John speech about Irene’s texts in TLD I thought his true weakness was her - The Woman.

I don’t buy at all the “his outburst was because of the stressed situation/because he hurt a friend” explanations ‘cause he remained impassive when people actually died, but lost control because of words, his and Molly’s feelings. Words.

Giving his rational mind, words and love confessions should be nothing compared to actual death. He’d prefer to break her heart than to having her killed. If he didn’t feel anything of the sort, he’d have simply found a tricky way to make her say it. But no, he suddenly went emotional, tricked himself and almost fucked up.

They could have used his deep friendship with John (which they did, but not in this way, not to cause him this level of frustration, hurt and anger), but they chose Molly. Why?

“Look what you did to her. Look what you did to yourself, all those complicated little emotions. I lost count. Emotional context, Sherlock. It destroys you every time.” 

In fact, it did.

It’s the first time I take Molly's and Sherlock's relationship seriously - in a level that contemplates possible romantic feelings. This scene was so powerful that it’s hard not to see all the nuances. I truly never thought Molly as such a weakness for him.

Three ILY's from Sherlock with three different meanings, in which is clear that the last one is some kind of revelation he has never really thought about before. His feelings actually came out through words.

This is a confession about something not exactly clear in his mind yet. It’s completely new, he still doesn’t know what to do with this particular emotion.

Somehow, Sherlolly doesn’t seem such a strange ship, not even for himself.