Explaining Irenes text in TLD

 (Sherlock meta by strawberrypatty)

I also don’t feel like we’ve learned anything from this scene that we didn’t already have an inkling of? Like… He texts Irene. John was able to deduce it was Sherlock’s birthday because it was done on a random day. Meaning he figured they only texted each other on “events”, but since it was a random day, John guessed it was Sherlock’s birthday.

Sherlock also talks about the texts as not a big deal as a way to make John feel better. It’s all right that John texted E, because he texts the Woman some times and it’s just texts (I don’t AGREE with Sherlock, but whatever… This was how he was interpreting things).

Is the scene important? Yes it is. It does possibly set up a future for Sherlock and Irene, but that’s not primarily what it’s about. It’s about John and Mary. John is talking about how she’s alive and how Sherlock is wasting time. But it’s that John is grieving the fact that he lost time with the woman he loved. He’s actually got no clue what sort of relationship Sherlock and Irene want. Maybe they HAVE the relationship they want. Sherlock and Irene are certainly not people who fit into traditional relationship roles.

I just really don’t feel like we should be rending garments and saying that everything is over. We already knew Irene was important to Sherlock and we had a hint they were still in contact when we were told that Irene sent a rose to Sherlock. Sherlock also wanks off over Irene sometimes because she hangs out in his Mind Palace all naked.

So, you know… Calm down. This is all stuff we knew. Don’t try to make things about another ship. That’s not cool. But there are ways to look at things without twisting the scene into something it’s not. A ship got some wind in its sails. But that’s all.