Rewatching Sherlolly: A Scandal in Belgravia

 (Sherlock meta by justanotherfangirls)

I would be lying if I said I did not compare the scenes with Irene with that of Molly’s, but it was really hard not to. Because, and this may be biased, Sherlock was never more sincere, honest, or caring, as he was with Molly. It’s almost as if her vulnerability, kindness, and awkwardness bring out the exact same traits in him.

At the Christmas party, Sherlock was in a good mood, even playing the violin for Mrs. Hudson. He does not look uncomfortable when Lestrade, John, Jeannette and Mrs. Hudson were there. When Molly arrived, he suddenly became irritable; honestly, his oh, dear Lord, was an overreaction. No stopping them apparently – was that Sherlock trying to look cool, or at least too cool for Christmas drinkies? He even distracts himself with the computer, typing and then checking John’s blog and his picture there. Which I do not think he normally does. He seems unnerved by Molly’s presence yet does not leave his flat. I think he does want to be in that party but does not know how to socialize so he pretends to be busy. Molly made him self-conscious.

He does pretend to be busy, but he listens to Molly’s every comment and comments on that. The attention just had to be back to him. Interesting, this part. I read somewhere that Sherlock invited Molly rather than John. That is also what I believe. Molly said there was a note on the door saying to “just come up”, which was probably Sherlock rather than John, he’s more of the notes type (Crime in progress, please disturb) and John would have just texted or told her so. He was more involved in this party than I initially thought. And he was thoughtful of his two guests (3 if you count Jeanette, but John would have advised her) who would need that note. Molly also knew stuff about the guests which I think she got from Sherlock just because she did not seem to be in the gossiping stage with John – notice that the only interaction she had with John was when he took her coat, and that they had not been talking about where he would be at Christmas before this, which would have been brought up if he was the one who told her about Lestrade, or if he was the one who invited her.

There were moments that suggested a familiarity and closeness between Sherlock and Molly, almost as if they had their own language. Quite inevitable as they worked closely often. Him advising her social cues – 'Don’t make jokes, Molly'. She probably makes jokes with him and he was used to it. There may even be times that she successfully made him laugh. And he just knows that those jokes would only work on him and not on other people. There was also his quick glance at her when she revealed he has been complaining to her about John, which she had correctly translated as, I have NOT been complaining, and that was supposed to be our secret! That she had immediately changed, no he was not complaining – he was saying.

Finally Sherlock decided that it was Molly’s turn to be deduced. He is clearly not pleased that Molly has a boyfriend, she’s serious about him, and that this boyfriend’s present is prettily wrapped while his was slap dash at best. He is also not pleased that Molly had prettily wrapped herself for said boyfriend and adds that her long term hopes are probably forlorn. He is socially inept, but I think he is also jealous which would explain the out of proportion meanness even for Sherlock. (He is often mean, but almost always for a reason. Drugs John as an experiment, harasses an old lady for accurate information.)

Sherlock maintained his defenses, an armor of brilliant, but cold, calculating, and cruel deductions; that same armor breaking down as he read the words that Molly had filled with her hopes and love, complete with the words Dearest and Love and the 3 x’s to seal the deal. (Not that I was comparing, but Irene herself only gave him 2 x’s.) Leaving him fully exposed and unsure of what to do next. He wanted to run away from them, from her, but decides that she does not deserve this and that he would do anything, even something as taxing as to apologize, something as sentimental as to kiss her, just to show her that he cares enough for her to compromise himself. He did not look exactly pleased when his phone interrupted them, knowing fully well that it would hurt Molly’s feelings if she assumed that he had a girlfriend. I think he even hid in his room so people would not see Irene’s gift and make these assumptions. Sadly she assumes anyway.

The scene at the morgue was for me the most emotional scene of the episode. Still reeling from the realization that Molly was seriously in love with him all this time, and that he had hurt her feelings by being himself, he now had to be in the same room as her and identify the body of a woman whom Molly probably would be jealous of. It is very touching that he tries to be as gentle and considerate as possible to her. For a man who in ordinary situations is already rude and inconsiderate of other people, he had shown a superhuman ability to actually be nice, in a situation where a woman, who canonically is important to him, could be dead. It is also interesting that Mycroft refers to Bart’s as his home away from home, and as Molly is a consistent part of his life there, she is, in part, his home. Sherlock however does not appear to hear any of this, all of his attention is on Molly. He tells her she didn’t have to come in. Probably because he just now realized how he was always inconsiderate of Molly’s time when he makes her help him. I think he also doesn’t want Molly to see how, and when, he identifies the body because it would break her heart. The way his face becomes gentle, caring, and sympathetic when Molly says she had nothing better to do at Christmas, unlike everyone else, is perhaps the most emotional, honest, and human Sherlock had looked in this whole episode.

It has always been my headcanon that Sherlock had chosen Molly to be in his life, not only because she is smart and competent enough to help him, as I’m sure many others were. We don’t see him try to be nice to these other competent people, it was only ever Molly. What made her special I think was that he sees himself in her, that lonely, socially awkward, weird person who cares too much, that he constantly hides under his cold, brilliant exterior. He understand her in a level that most other people can’t. And so he feels he needed to protect her, even and especially from himself.

It is worth noting that Molly was the one who made the move to reveal the body, as Sherlock was still surprised, and concerned, and gazing at Molly intently, his curiosity over the identity of the body momentarily forgotten. Only then did he break away from looking at her. There was one moment of hesitation on his part when he asked her to show him the rest of the corpse’s body, knowing that she would assume they were together and it would break her heart. I noticed that he had avoided looking at Molly during and after he identified the body, only glancing at her for a millisecond and quickly looking away as if he cannot bear to see both the pain and the sympathy in her eyes, as if it physically hurt him.

We next see Molly in the lab. They are apparently back to normal, working together and talking comfortably again. Molly seems to be pretending she’s okay with him around, even with him having a girlfriend, to make him comfortable around her. I do think Molly somehow led him to believe that she isn’t that serious about him so that they would return to their status quo and that horrible party would be forgotten (deleted). So he becomes as oblivious as ever. That, or he was a bit disappointed and then proceeded to flaunt that he does have a woman acquaintance, who loves to play games, and neglected to say that he in fact doesn’t do girl- or boyfriends. And then goes on to distract himself with the puzzle and the game to avoid this girl who had made him feel, making himself believe that she means nothing to him. But then it’s not that surprising. We all do silly things, after all.