Pessimistic and realistic Sherlolly readings on the ILY scene
diane-w:
Molly didn’t ask him if he loved her. She already knew he did. She just wanted him to say it first.
eugeniebatch:
(I’m writing this as the pessimistic and realistic Sherlolly shipper I try to be) Indeed. She didn’t ask him: “Do you love me? Because if you do, I’ll say those words to you”. No. She knows he doesn’t love her. She always knew (or at least, she thought it). That’s why she asks him: “Say it like you mean it [because I know you don’t, but if you want to play with me, then I’ll play with you]”. HOWEVER, he didn’t need to say it TWICE! He said it twice just because he wanted to. And that’s a fact.
bassfanimation:
I can see this logic being absolutely real, but I still slightly disagree. I’m not entirely pessimistic, though I am still somewhat rooted in reality. I think my view is my brain trying desperately to see at least some sunshine in this world.
I think Molly said “Say it like you mean it”, because she knew he would just try and play it off like he didn’t mean it. That’s how closed off he is to the mere idea of love. He even stated it in The Lying Detective, right at the end, that whole “While romantic entanglements might be fulfilling for other people” bit. I still feel that was his whole rehearsed “bullshit” he’s fed himself, and everyone else, for years. That’s what Molly was prepared for…his act, his game.
If Molly Hooper is the one who ‘sees through his bullshit’, then she probably has (and has had for a while, remembering The Empty Hearse) a sense that Sherlock does feel for her, but that he’d never, ever say it. It would always be something he wasn’t comfortable actually admitting or getting ‘entangled’ in. Her saying, “Say it like you mean it”, to me, was her saying to him, “We have had this thing together for so long, but you refuse to make it real, so I’m not playing with you anymore…you have this chance to make it real. Will you, or won’t you?”
I do think maybe Molly thought he might not say it and mean it. I think this was a gamble she took. He could have simply repeated it that one time and that would have been it, she’d have hung up, and they’d be damaged beyond repair. But…I do agree with your last line there, he not only said it once, but TWICE, when he didn’t really need to? Not unless he needed to say it again for himself. That last ILY was, as most people have noted, almost like a realization to himself rather than to Molly. Molly, I still think, already may have known Sherlock loved her. Her frustration with him though, of him never acting on it, that was really tearing them apart. To me, that was the actual ticking bomb…the one between Molly and Sherlock.
Truth is, we’ll never know. Both of these could be true, or hell, he may not have meant it at all. Unless Moffat gives us a real, concrete answer, we’ll always be left wondering, and Moffat never gives real, concrete answers to anything.
diane-w:
Since she sees through his BS, I do think she suspects he loves her, too, but he won’t admit it or accept it. I also get the impression (I know she was having a bad day but still) from her demeanor that even though he’ll always have her heart she is just about done with him. She was glaring at the phone before picking up. I think Eurus unintentionally did them both a favor.
justaminion:
It’s really fascinating because she does see through his BS but the exception is when it involves Molly herself (e.g I don’t count). I think she asked him to say it as a practical demonstration, because he didn’t understand why she couldn’t ‘just say it anyway.’ Which means she also must believe that he cares for her enough to feel uncomfortable saying it. But I don’t think she believes he loves her romantically, or even understands romantic love in the slightest.
bassfanimation:
Oh that’s a wonderful observation and it perfectly explains the whole back and forth with Sherlock asking why she can’t say it, and how he doesn’t even understand why she can’t. Also, just telling her to “say it anyway, if it’s true”…is the most Sherlocky thing in the world… He’s still thinking with logic to a degree, as if Molly saying that to him is just her stating a fact…but it isn’t. It’s so much more powerful than that. That is why the second time he says it, he seems to be surprised by his feelings, and why Eurus lost count of all of his ‘complicated’ emotions. That is why he freaked out and obliterated the coffin. That is why he slide down the wall, sitting looking as if he was just emotionally exhausted. He now suddenly understands the feeling Molly Hooper has had for 7 years because he is now feeling it himself. The pure, raw, complicated chemistry of love.
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