Molly Hooper is the opposite of a reductive or weak character

 (Sherlock meta by preachersdaughtersthief)

[...] Molly continuously gets the upper hand in her most relevant interactions with Sherlock. She gets him, again and again, to say sincerely the things he has trouble saying. “I’m sorry”. “Thank you”. “You do count”. “I need you”. “I hope you’ll be very happy, you deserve it.” And now “I love you”.

To paint her as lovelorn, mousy and weak [as some people have been doing] is wrong and ignores every bit of development the character has had from the very first episode. Even in the “I love you” scene, no matter how heartbreaking it was for her, she still turns the [...] tables on him and says she is not going to do it unless he does it first.

Has Sherlock used Molly before? Of course, he has (unfortunately) used everyone in his life that has the least bit of affection for him, but she is also the one that, time and time again, ends up surprising him the most, and she did it again this time. Molly Hooper isn’t a reductive character nor a weak one, Molly Hooper can metaphorically grab Sherlock by the balls every damn time. And if you’re missing on that then I have no idea what show you have been watching.