A random thought 

(about the 'I love you')

 (Sherlock meta by gettingovergreta)

A random thought Sherlock’s “I love you” reminded me of a moment that I’ve seen in patients in therapy who struggle with alexithymia (inability to identify/describe their emotions). To put it briefly, this work focuses on developing an emotional vocabulary (beyond feeling good or bad) and connecting emotion words with the physical sensations of emotion, and moving towards distinguishing emotions and behavior from thoughts in order to recognize the connections between them.

In the moment where Sherlock says “I love you,” he is forming an association between the word “love” and how he feels and behaves towards Molly. He’s just spitting out the words the first time, putting on his acting shoes, but when he speaks the second time, it appears that the word fits properly in some way, and he’s taken aback. Fans have been analyzing that “I love you” since the trailer first appeared, and many people wondered if it was a passcode or solution of some sort since Sherlock appeared to be having a revelation. A choice was made to have that as his response - he could have closed his eyes and looked down, ashamed at lying to her, for example. We also know how he looks when he simply feels guilty for hurting Molly - we saw a couple of variations on this in TGG and ASIB, and that’s not what we see either.

Moreover, Sherlock is familiar with love. He is well aware that he loves John – he says so in the best man speech, and it seems quite plain that he loved Mary as well. Why would he look surprised or stunned that he loves Molly, who he has trusted wholly and cared about for years?

Because it is different. He does not feel the same way towards Molly that he does towards other people that he loves, and yet something clicks for Sherlock in that instant when the way he feels around her and the way he thinks about her is connected with the word love.