Sherlock Series Three: A Study in Relationships
(Sherlock meta by strawberrypatty)
This series of Sherlock is different than previous ones in that is it not mystery focused. Yes, mysteries do happen… But they are backdrop to the characters and their relationships. Please note, when I say “relationships”, I mean in the broadest sense of the word. I mean platonically, fraternally and romantically.
There are four relationships (well, three and half) that are really the core of this series. They are the ones that evolve and develop over the three episodes. While there are other relationships present, there is not much change from what we’ve seen before.
SHERLOCK AND JOHN (AND MARY)
As with every series of Sherlock, this relationship is the most significant. As it should be. Holmes and Watson are timeless companions. Without them, there is no show.
The first episode of the series is about Sherlock reintroducing himself to John and regaining his trust. John has spent two years thinking Sherlock is dead. It is implied in the dialogue that it’s only been in the last six months that John has been able to truly move on. While no doubt he had recovered somewhat before he met Mary, during John’s aborted proposal, he says that Mary is the best thing that could’ve happened to him and that the last few years had not been easy for him. He was deeply affected by the loss. He has cut himself off from people he knew along with Sherlock like Mrs Hudson and has only recently become comfortable reacquainting himself.
Going through all of this, John has difficulty letting Sherlock back into his life. Naturally, he feels betrayed. It is not just that Sherlock lied to him. He is angry that other people knew. He lashes out at Sherlock when he discovers that Mycroft, Molly and members of the Homeless Network knew. For everything they went through, Sherlock didn’t trust him to keep the secret. Sherlock says this outright. He thought that John might say something indiscreet.
The first episode makes clear that while these two men mean a lot to each other, they are not each other’s entire worlds. John is happy working as a General Practitioner. Sherlock is taking cases. However, they are on each other’s minds. I really think what is preying on them is the fact they’re trying to ignore the other. They haven’t been able to get to the point where they can go off and have an adventure together and then go their separate ways. This is what they need to get to. They get to it in episode two and are quite happy. However, the danger of the Magnussen case– and the upcoming baby Watson– means Sherlock is shutting John out. This is to the detriment of both of them. They are stronger together.
But that doesn’t mean they have to be with each other every moment of every day. John loves Mary and he does love the life they’ve made. But he still has to have that connection the danger of being with Sherlock Holmes. Meanwhile, Sherlock does like doing cases with Molly. But he’s stuck on the fact that John is angry with him at the time and he doesn’t think John will ever forgive him.
The plot of this relationship is what exactly they mean to each other. The first episode centres around what Sherlock means to John and John’s forgiveness of him. Things are not okay between them until John admits that Sherlock is the best man he knows and a deeply important part of his life. But even this is treated with humour. Sherlock tricks John into revealing this and laughs when John becomes affronted at having revealed it. They are friends. They are true bros who will make fun of the other for revealing something so deeply personal.
The second episode is about Sherlock’s feelings for John. Sherlock worries about the wedding not going perfectly, because he knows what it means to John and Mary. He knows John wants to have a perfect, domestic life and he’s trying to pull himself away, while John is trying to prove to Sherlock that nothing will change even though he is getting married. But everything changes. When Sherlock discovers that Mary is pregnant, he knows that John can’t come out with him any longer. That the days of them running headlong into danger at a moment’s notice is truly gone. But he vows he will always be there for John and his family.
The third episode is the culmination of the previous two. We find out just why John is so attached to his life with Sherlock. It is an addiction for him. He has married a woman who is very much like Sherlock. He needs to have the danger in his life.
While Sherlock thinks Magnussen is the worst villain he has ever gone against, once he finds out about Mary his focus completely shifts. Sherlock is willing to go to great lengths in order to keep the vow he made. While there is of course the obvious, not enough attention is spent on the intermezzo. Sherlock breaks out of hospital and bleeds internally in order to discover the truth about Mary. We know he likes Mary, but his priority is making sure John is safe. He discovers the truth about her and plays marriage counsellor to the Watsons. If Sherlock were truly as selfish as many act like he is, he wouldn’t have done this. He would be happy if John lived with him again and they went back to solving crimes all the time. But Sherlock has grown. He knows those days are over. John has chosen Mary and moved on with his life. John wants to be with Mary, even if he is angry at her for her deception. That is why he becomes so angry at her. Because even after all the lies, he still loves her. And in the end, Sherlock is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for their happiness. He makes himself a murderer and it is only by sheer luck that he is able to get out of a suicide mission.
Sherlock and John are never going to be the same after Reichenbach. They are never again going to be living together, inseparably. Their relationship has settled into something new, which is good. All relationships must grow and change. They have admitted they love each other dearly and are desperately important to one another. But Mary is the most important person in John’s life now. And Sherlock is all right with that, willing to do just as much to protect her as he would John.
They have truly gotten to the point of being each other’s best friends.
JOHN AND MARY (AND SHERLOCK)
We come into this relationship already in progress. We’ve seen John with other women before. We know he’s a bit of a hound. Even he had trouble keeping his girlfriends straight. But with Mary, we’re introduced to the relationship about to take the big step of engagement.
As stated above, John’s proposal to Mary suggests that she saved him. That he was still in the midst of mourning Sherlock when he met her. But Mary was able to get him out of it. She is the best thing that happened to him and John has no hesitance in asking her to marry him.
Their relationship is fun and supportive. They have no trouble teasing one another. They feel real in a way that a lot of television couples don’t. While this probably does have a lot to do with the fact Martin and Amanda are partners, it is definitely in the writing as well. Of course, the part of Mary was specifically written for Amanda. It feels easy.
Mary is never presented as a threat to the Sherlock and John dynamic. Jeanette was treated as an interloper. Sherlock can’t remember her name and she’s very cruel– even throwing on a rather homophobic comment– when John is just trying to keep Sherlock off drugs. Even Sarah is presented as something of an obstacle. Sherlock is very wary of her and displeased with her presence. Mary and Sherlock immediately have a rapport. They understand each other. Sherlock reads her and overlooks something because she makes John happy. Of course, it might have been better if he’d talked about it with her, but if wishes were horses… The only deduction he makes out loud regarding them is to Mary’s benefit, as she doesn’t like John’s moustache (of course, it suits Sherlock as well).
I know what you’re thinking… Why are you talking about Mary and Sherlock’s relationship so much when this is supposed to be about John and Mary? I could probably write a whole section about Mary and Sherlock’s relationship, but it is so tied up in John and Sherlock’s relationship that there would be too much overlap.
If Sherlock had not returned, I think John and Mary would have been very happy together. We already see they were moving towards commitment. But with Sherlock’s return, Sherlock’s approval of Mary becomes very important. Understanding Sherlock is part and parcel with understanding John. Mary is accepting of the friendship, even encouraging it.
I’ve seen lots of anti-Mary meta suggesting she’s selfish and just out for her own interests. If this were the case, she would not have encouraged John to continue his friendship with Sherlock. She would not have gotten John to take Sherlock out on cases, knowing it’s what both men want. Sherlock Holmes is one of the few men in the world who could figure out who she is. Yet she not only encourages John’s friendship with him, she forms her own. She likes him and she knows that John needs Sherlock. If she were truly selfish, she would have encouraged John to stay away, as he wanted to in The Empty Hearse.
As revealed in the third episode, Mary has lied to John about her past– including her name. She is a CIA assassin. But this in no way invalidates her relationship with John. She does not have a relationship with John to hide that. She had already been living as Mary Morstan for four years before she met him. If anything, John is the last person she should be with to hide herself. He worked as a detective’s assistant (a detective who shows up during their relationship). But she honestly fell in love with him, and he with her. While Mary has lied about her name and her past, she is not lying about who she is now. Both of them recognize things in each other– that they were people who liked danger and adrenaline rushes but were suppressing it.
John has every right to be angry with Mary after what he finds out. And it does take him months to come to terms with it. This is very truthful. And the fact he is able to put it behind him shows the strength of their love. It doesn’t matter what Mary did in the past, because she is the sum of her experiences and it made her the person John has fallen in love with. Who A.G.R.A was doesn’t matter, as she’s now Mary Watson, the woman John loves.
I truly believe that these two are going to be solid. After what they went through in His Last Vow, an atom bomb couldn’t shake their relationship. I also don’t think Moffat and Gatiss are so heartless that they will kill Watson’s very pregnant wife or kill both her and the baby (or leave the baby around, which frankly doesn’t make sense from a storytelling standpoint as it would be too inconvenient for storytelling). Remember: Moffat is the one who wrote “Everybody lives. Just today, everybody lives.”. He actually is far less cruel when it comes to killing off characters as fandom likes to pretend. Mary is the long-haul. This is John Watson’s future.
SHERLOCK AND MYCROFT
We’ve had tantalizing hints as to the relationship between Sherlock and Mycroft in the first two series. But the third one really gets into detail as to what their past was like and what the truth of their current relationship is.
Previously, they’ve mostly just been antagonistic towards each other. While they still are, it becomes very clear just how much they mean to each other. For years, they were the only ones who understood each other. While Sherlock has moved on and found other companions, Mycroft still shies away from it. Sherlock worries about his loneliness, hiding it behind a veneer of mocking.
Much is spent on Mycroft as the big brother, looking after Sherlock. While everything is hidden by sniping, he’s always looking out for Sherlock. Mycroft goes undercover in order to save Sherlock from torture. Mycroft comes to see Sherlock when John has rebuked him. Mycroft and Sherlock talk on the phone at John’s wedding and Mycroft worries about Sherlock now that his friend is getting married. Mycroft comes immediately when Sherlock has relapsed. Mycroft is forced to deal with the fall out of Sherlock’s murder of Magnussen.
Sherlock knows how his brother sees him and he uses it in his own mind palace. Mind Palace Mycroft is trying to help him out, trying to get him to survive, but he does it by berating him. It is the way Mycroft shows his concern for Sherlock, by being the harsh older brother.
Mycroft is always concerned with Sherlock. When we are first introduced to him he says “I worry about him. Constantly.”. Series three truly shows this. We find out why he worries. It’s not because he thinks Sherlock will embarrass him. It is because he thinks Sherlock is going to get himself killed or worse, and that loss would break his heart. We’re given a tantalizing hint that they had another brother who met a bad end. Mycroft worries the same will happen to Sherlock.
For all of his worries and interventions, he can’t save Sherlock from himself. When Sherlock finally kills Magnussen, the ice man melts. He sees his brother as he always has– a little boy he’s tried to protect. Only he can’t protect him any longer. He has gone too far.
Sherlock has always seen Mycroft as an annoying tether. But we know Mycroft is smarter than Sherlock. He knew what Sherlock was capable of, what Sherlock’s life would lead him to. He was desperately trying to avert that in order to protect himself. In a world of goldfish, his brother is the one person he can talk to. He loves him deeply and he feels he needs to use the power of the entire British government in order to save him from himself.
In the end, Sherlock is sent off. But Moriarty returns. Could someone else combat against Moriarty? Hell yes. The man who calls Sherlock back could match wits with Moriarty and probably come out on top. But it is a convenient excuse.
Because, as Sherlock said, Mycroft can’t deal with a broken heart.
SHERLOCK AND MOLLY
This is the relationship I’d originally started writing about, but I felt the need to write about all of the relationship developments. The fact that is was my original intention is why it’s so much longer than the others. Of course– cards up front– I’m entirely biased. But I think even if I hadn’t liked the idea of Sherlock and Molly, I’d be intrigued by their relationship as presented in series three.
If this series were called anything other than Sherlock and Sherlock Holmes had a different name, I think there would be a lot more people saying they were setting up a romance between these two. Just to be clear, while I liked the idea of these two, it was never something I sought out in canon. When I was on Three Patch Podcast, I actually said that. I didn’t want Molly to get savaged by the fandom for being in a relationship with Sherlock, so I hoped it didn’t happen.
That changed with Series Three. The writers have made me root for it to happen canonically.
Molly’s feelings for Sherlock have been clear since the beginning of the show. She had a crush on him. This was played for laughs in the first series. But by the second, it had changed. It had become serious. I think this was because Molly’s feelings had changed.
Molly no longer had a crush on Sherlock. Molly knew who Sherlock was and she was in love with him. Sherlock doesn’t realize this until A Scandal in Belgravia. Because of this love, Molly was willing to put her job, reputation and even her life on the line in order to help Sherlock with the Fall.
We pick up in Series Three with their relationship drastically changed. After John, Molly is the first person Sherlock goes to see. The scene is wordless, just sharing small smiles with each other.
Sherlock then asks Molly out. This scene is set up as nothing but a date. It has romantic music and Sherlock shuffling towards her. Molly thinks he’s going to ask her out to dinner, but he asks her to solve crimes. He assures her she’s not there to “be John” but to “be herself”. He wants her there, because he wants her there. They share flirtatious looks with one another. He asks her to go get something to eat when they’re done. He tells her how she mattered the most. If one actually looks at what happened during the Fall, Molly’s part is actually very minor. It’s Mycroft’s show. Molly is the one who mattered the most to Sherlock personally.
What confirms that the scene had romantic connotations is Sherlock’s comment about Molly “not being able to do this again” because of her engagement. If the situation had been meant to be platonic, of course they could’ve gone out and solved crimes together. What’s to stop a modern woman who happens to be a pathologist from solving crimes on the side, regardless of martial status. It is not just two friends going out together.
Sherlock congratulates her on her engagement, but there is a distinct sadness to everything he’s saying. He doesn’t say he’s happy for her. He says he hopes she’s happy. He smiles, but it doesn’t quite reach the eyes. Molly tells him about her fiancé, but she never says she loves him. It’s random information. The warmest she gets is “he’s nice”. Sherlock assures her that not every man she falls for can he a sociopath. He says it with melancholy.
But he leaves before he hears her say “Maybe it’s just my type.”
Had they not done this, the scene could have played as a good-bye scene. Saying good-bye to Molly’s former feelings. But they left it significantly open (more on that later).
When we finally meet Tom, we see he looks a lot like Sherlock. Molly has not moved on, despite her claim to Lestrade (also, if you have to SAY it, you haven’t). Sherlock doesn’t know how to process it and leaves very quickly.
In The Sign of Three, there’s very little Sherlock and Molly interaction. But Molly worries about how he will handle being a best man. She’s the only one who is. Molly, knowing Sherlock well, is the one who is right. He’s panicked about it.
Their only scene together is Molly helping with the stag night. It’s awkward. Oh God, is it awkward. Sherlock asks after Tom and Molly assures him they’re having quite a lot of sex, which he doesn’t know what to make of. It is again, “look how much I’ve moved on”.
Sherlock’s interactions with Molly in The Empty Hearse and The Sign of Three can be connected to the scene he has with Mary’s ex-boyfriend. Sherlock strongly wards David off, knowing he still has feelings for Mary. He’s protective of Mary and John’s relationship. He doesn’t think it’s appropriate for someone with feelings for an engaged woman to be around her. So in The Empty Hearse he tells Molly he can’t solve cases with her anymore than that one time and the only other time they converse, he makes her to bring up Tom.
Molly tries hard with Tom, kissing him at the wedding (with Sherlock watching in the background). She’s trying very hard to move on. But she’s clearly embarrassed by him and protective of Sherlock. She is still the only one who “sees” Sherlock, sadly leaving the wedding. But she doesn’t pursue him.
Molly isn’t allowed to go after him, because this is an homage to “The Green Death” episode of Doctor Who. However, the homage isn’t perfect. If it were, John (who is the Jo Grant in this situation) would have been the one to see Sherlock. But despite moving on, Molly still sees Sherlock in a way no one else does.
By His Last Vow, Molly’s engagement is over. But that doesn’t mean things are clear for her and Sherlock. She does a drugs test on him and finds out he’s been using heroin.
We’ve seen Molly call Sherlock out before, but this was a stunning moment. She has so much love and concern for him, she’s just going to slap the crap out of him for what he’s done. You can see on Sherlock’s face how stunned and ashamed he is. But he lashes out at her, pointing out how her engagement has ended. But Molly won’t put up with it, demanding he stop it.
We get a brief scene of Molly, tantalizingly dropping a hint of Sherlock staying not only at her flat, but in her bed, at some point. Most likely, this was after his supposed death. It can be taken as Sherlock kicking her out of her room… But it can be taken as them sharing a bed too. It’s very grey.
Of course, it would be remiss not to mention Molly’s place in Sherlock’s mind palace. I’ve heard people say Molly was the obvious choice. No, actually… She wasn’t. Molly is a pathologist. She deals with dead bodies. John was not only a doctor, but an army doctor. He has dealt with live gunshot victims. Not only that, he’s been a live gunshot victim. He would’ve been the obvious choice. But Sherlock’s mind chose Molly. Mycroft and Anderson are also in the mind palace. But Anderson is cold fact and Mycroft is berating him. Molly is getting him to focus, encouraging. Molly is making him fight.
What is most intriguing about the relationship between Sherlock and Molly in series three is the lack of resolution. When we leave them, Molly is absolutely furious at Sherlock out of worry. We never get any assurance they have made up.
If Moffat and Gatiss had wanted to shut the door on Sherlock and Molly, they had an easy out. It had been two years and they set up that Molly HAS moved on. They could’ve had Molly be engaged and that was the end of it. She could’ve just been a friend and a confidant, but they have her with feelings for Sherlock and her relationship floundering. Tom was a road block. Everything between them set up Sherlock’s changed feelings and the changes in their relationship. But it was left very open for series four (and possibly five).
THE SHERLOCK-MARY AND JOHN-MOLLY PARALLELS
With Sherlock and John as the cornerstone of the series, it’s interesting to look at the women in both of their lives and see the comparisons that can be drawn.
It is said outright in His Last Vow that Mary and Sherlock are very much alike. John makes a joke about how they should’ve gotten married. John is attracted to dangerous people. That is why he is best friends with Sherlock. He then falls in love with a woman who is just as dangerous. Mary is clever and dangerous and gets along with Sherlock because of their similarities.
I’ve written before about the similarities between John and Molly. They are both medical professionals who assist Sherlock. They are the ones who will call him out on being an asshole. This series draws even more comparisons between the two, with their choice of companions. While John needs the fact he is attracted to dangerous people pointed out to him, Molly knows it already. Sherlock, feeling he’s not good enough for Molly, tells her not every man she falls for can be a sociopath. But she knows she’s still in love with him and says maybe she has a type. She’s admitted what John comes to terms with by the end of the series. While Molly has admitted it, only the next series will tell if it will lead to anything.
