Some more notes on The Great Game

 (Sherlock meta by justanotherfangirls)

So Moffat says, sentimentalise him [Sherlock] at your own peril, and we say, bring it on, peril and all. Because this version of Sherlock is a complicated roller coaster of emotions that they could not entirely blame on the fans. They knew what they’re doing; they have direct control of the direction of the show. And this teasing and trolling is both masterful and sadistic, but undoubtedly impressive.

Jim: If you don’t stop prying, I’ll burn you. I’ll burn the heart out of you.
Sherlock: I have been reliably informed that I don’t have one.
Jim: But we both know that’s not quite true.

Before I venture through A Scandal in Belgravia again, which would be hard - I have strong and conflicting feelings with that, I have some more thoughts about this episode.

Firstly, so I have been comparing Sherlock’s deduction of Mr. Chatterjee, way ahead, in The Hounds of Baskerville, with that of Jim. Coincidentally, Mark Gatiss wrote both of these episodes. In both times he was deducing a romantic interest of someone he cares about, someone he would want to protect. Jim was gay, Mr. Chatterjee has a wife nobody knows about. But there are significant differences. Firstly, Sherlock did not tell Mrs. Hudson his deductions the moment he saw Mr. Chatterjee; it was when he desperately needed to deduce and was irritated that John and Mrs. Hudson hid his cigarette stash. But Sherlock told Molly to break it off the first time he met Jim. Secondly, it was so obvious that he hated Jim and was very distracted with him around (Sherlock was rarely distracted especially when he had such an interesting case). He displayed no such hate with Mr. Chatterjee and hardly spared him any more thought. Thirdly, he insults Molly, almost as if he’s mad at her too. He did not do anything like that with Mrs. Hudson. Lastly, at the end of the scene when Molly walks out, his eyes seem to be telling her to come back, he was really expecting her to be grateful to him. And he seemed almost apologetic. But when Mrs. Hudson walked out, he moved on. John even shouted at him to apologize and he only commented on the pettiness of it.

This is not to say Molly is more important to him - Mrs. Hudson is his mother figure, and we all saw how angry he was when people tried to hurt her. I think he did not think it important to tell Mrs. Hudson at once, romantic entanglements are petty and he was otherwise harmless. And Mrs. Hudson would get over it and be back to making them tea in no time. But Jim was harmless too, his deductions only told him 'gay'. And he was insulting Molly about her weight; it was not an innocent comment - he insults Mycroft for exactly the same reason. So he was mad at Molly, unnecessarily annoyed at Jim, deemed it important to tell her that Jim is gay at once in the middle of a case - romance is important if Molly’s involved, and was in the end guilty of his actions because perhaps he knew he was out of line and took the situation too personally (unlike with Mrs. Hudson where he saw no need to apologize). Okay I am now convinced he was indeed jealous.

That tiny moment [at the pool scene] when his emotions betrayed his face, I could imagine Sherlock thinking about how Jim would burn the heart out of him. He was afraid. How easily Jim had gotten to John and strapped bombs into him, how loyal his friend is to be willing to die to save him and kill this dangerous criminal, how close his friend was to death at that moment because of him and his pride, arrogance, and boredom. I do think he also thought of Molly, how easily Jim had inserted himself into her life, how Jim was able to smile at her, to touch her, and how she smiled at him so innocently, trustingly. I think he had deduced that in Jim’s eyes Molly did not count to him, otherwise she would be the one with bombs strapped to her body. And I believe that in this moment he decided that the only way to keep her safe, to protect her, is to never let her get too close to him.

We can only speculate what happens after this confrontation. I think despite himself they grew closer anyway. He would obviously interrogate Molly to the tiniest detail regarding his arch nemesis. He probably became very critical of Molly’s subsequent dates and he uses the Jim card every time. (He knew that Jim wasn’t actually her boyfriend, they went out three times and she ended it. But who knows maybe he just likes hearing it again.) And there’s also this case titled The Ghost of St. Bartholomew’s in Sherlock’s blog which I assumed would involve Molly and it was after the pool confrontation because she never blogged about it.