Why does Sherlock never reply to Irene's texts?

 (Sherlock meta by thecutteralicia)

Anonymous asked:

Hey if you have time for more metas I have two questions about ASiB that still bother me: 1. Why does Sherlock never reply to Irene's texts? Just because he doesn't want to tell her he's not interested? (But then again Sherlock never had a problem with that!) Or because he knows she's playing a game? 2. How does Sherlock recognize the "dead body" of Irene when it's actually not her? She says she faked the paperwork but he did look at the body. Soo.. plothole or emotionally compromised deduction?

thecutteralicia:

1. I think Sherlock didn’t reply to Irene’s texts because she was blatantly flirting with him, and that’s one area where he’s intimidated because he’s inexperienced. We do see people flirting with him on the show, but I don’t think he knew what to do when confronted by flirting from someone he considered a worthy opponent. I think he was confused and to some extent fearful of his feelings for her.

2. I think you nailed it with “emotionally compromised deduction.” When Irene first appeared naked, it knocked him off his game. Sherlock’s inexperienced sexually and there’s a prudish/formal side to him, so being confronted with blatant nudity and Irene’s open attitudes about sex and sexuality rattled him. We can probably presume that while Sherlock is used to seeing naked people in a clinical/scientific setting, meeting Irene was one of (if not the only) times he’s interacted with a real live naked woman. If the corpse matched her measurements, body type and distinguishing marks (or lack thereof) I could see it fooling him easily.

I’m actually working on a meta about Sherlock and sex right now, so this is all food for thought.

longsnowsmoon:

I’m out of my depth here, but I prefer to think that Sherlock, although initially flustered and definitely in uncomfortable territory, still applies logic to the situation. Irene’s texts- at some point, Sherlock is watching them, like a chemistry experiment. Then- ah. She escalates, puts her life(phone) in his hands. (Why?) The conclusion we must draw is that her death imminent and voila, an unidentifiable corpse appears. (Part 1 of 2) Sherlock must know at this point that a significant game is being played. It makes sense to me that he would identify the corpse as Irene even if he suspected it wasn’t. The experiment, the game must continue. Composing sad music? Sherlock is thinking, and waiting for Irene’s next move. Happy New Year? Sherlock’s gauntlet, it’s show time. (Part 2 of 2, thanks for listening!)

thecutteralicia:

[...] I really love your interpretation about the texts, better than mine! (And out of your depth? Pshaw!) I have to disagree with the second point, though. I think   Sherlock genuinely believed Irene was dead. My basis for that is that we saw his stunned and troubled reaction after seeing her alive at Battersea, as he walked back to 221B. There was no one around for him to put on a show for. I also think the concern Mycroft, John and Mrs. Hudson had for him was genuine, and those would be hard people for Sherlock to fool when it comes to his emotional state.

There’s also my personal preference in that I don’t want to make Sherlock a superman. I like that he showed vulnerability and I think the moments when he makes mistakes (like believing Irene was dead) are important to the character. If he’s right all the time and playing a game all the time, well that’s no fun. (Thus why I won’t be upset if it turns out that Sherlock and Mycroft weren’t playing a long con on Moriarty. I could go either way on that). And if he had a leg-up on Irene at every point, I also don’t think he would find her very intriguing.

I do like your take on the Happy New Year text being him laying down the gauntlet. I think he definitely felt differently about Irene after she faked her death. He was much colder and less sympathetic to her. It’s interesting to wonder if - had she not done that - they would have continued on a different path and maybe, eventually, he would have been open to romance. Who knows?