On John leaving his cane

 (Sherlock meta by doctornerdington, workfornow and unreconstructedfangirl)

doctornerdington:

Does anyone have a reading of this that is not just… deliberate cruelty? Because we’ve not seen John being premeditatedly cruel before, and I find this more chilling than the beating, honestly.

workfornow:

Once he goes in to “say good-bye” (and I am not going to try to parse that, there are several readings I’d accept), it’s all just enormously sad at the very best. But I read it [leaving the cane] as a reminder of better days, even as a thank-you, an acknowledgement of how their friendship pulled John back from an edge, once.

(It makes no sense to have a recording device in it unless Sherlock thought he might bring it with him though. And I thought it would make perfect sense if John knew it had such a device, but we were told later that he did not know.)

doctornerdington:

It is desperately sad. But a reminder of better days is – a positive way to read it, at least, and I hadn’t even thought of it. I hope it is that. I read it more as, “hey, remember when I needed a cane and you healed me? Well fuck you, now you need the cane, and I’m not sticking around to heal you.” Fucking OUCH. And possibly Sherlock anticipated this (although, haha, this doesn’t really make sense, does it?)?? Jesus.

unreconstructedfangirl:

I read this as a rueful “thank you” and as a kind of apology for the fact that he is checking out. It’s horribly sad, I agree, but I didn’t see it as 100% cruel. What gets me is the idea that Sherlock predicted, I guess, that John would do this, and that means that even if John is a guy who would leave him alone in the condition he’s in, in Culverton Smith’s murder hospital with his cane, Sherlock loves him and wants him back. That idea hurts me.