John didn't know he married Psychopath!Mary

 (Sherlock Meta by Ivy Blossom)

Anonymous asked:

I'm confused by the contradictions between the way Sherlock describes Mary and the reality of the way she is with John. On the one hand, she's supposed to be "what [John] likes" -- a killer with a psychopathic edge of danger, etc etc. But in reality, her marriage with John seems duller than suburban dirt. He was bored out of his wits within a month. Other than a few moments of random cleverness, she never displays any of that 'edge'. So which are we supposed to believe?

Ivy Blossom:

I agree. I feel badly for John being told that he chose Mary because of her secret psychopathy. No one saw her for what she was; Sherlock missed any signs completely, and utterly underestimated her right up until she shot him at point blank. Apparently Mycroft did too. (But who knows with him?)

If two of the most observant men in the world fail to see Mary’s secret dangerous side, and utterly fail to see what she is capable of, how can John be expected to sense anything unusual about her at all?

There were a few signs: recognizing a skip code, being able to tell when Sherlock is lying. Her perfect memory. But these things didn’t trip Sherlock’s spidey senses, so why should they have tripped John’s much less sensitive ones?

I love the crushing realization John has to have that he is what he is (a man usually attracted to dangerous people) and that fighting his tendencies gets him nowhere, because it’s also a very clear and not-in-any-way-subtextual acknowledgment of John’s attraction to Sherlock. It’s pretty fun to watch Sherlock tell John in no uncertain terms that he is attracted to both Mary and to him. Brilliant scene!

But I do think it’s unfair. John didn’t choose to marry a psychopath. He married someone capable of deep emotion, kindness, warmth, and generosity. He married an incredibly likeable person who supports her neighbours and accepts John’s strange and needy best friend with no jealousy (at first, anyway). He didn’t marry her because she can shoot 20p out of the air. He didn’t marry her because she can go cold as ice and kill anyone who gets in her way. He really didn’t sign up for that, and frankly I don’t think that’s something he finds attractive.

Interesting, though, isn’t it? Poor John. He does his best to get on with it. Trouble just loves him, that’s all.