This is the moment that Sherlolly became canon

 (Sherlock meta by mscurious88)

IMO, this is the moment that Sherlolly became canon. Benedict Cumberbatch changed the story with his acting choice here. Before his reaction here, Molly existed as the girl who has a hopeless crush on Sherlock. She was a disposable character. She was someone who could never appear again and it would make no difference to the storyline because the character is not that significant to the protagonist. By Sherlock reacting as if he CARES that Molly is upset, suddenly Molly got a promotion to someone significant to Sherlock and therefore the storyline.

And this moment isn’t just a pivotal moment for Sherlolly, but for the entire interpretation of Sherlock in BBC’s Sherlock. This was the moment Benedict Cumberbatch decided Sherlock is not a high functioning sociopath. I’m sure when Benedict Cumberbatch prepared for the role, he studied what sociopaths are like to help him bring Sherlock to life especially since Moffat & Gatiss bring up how Sherlock is similar to a sociopath. And having done that prep, Benedict Cumberbatch would have known that sociopaths do not apologize and do not feel guilt or remorse.

Benedict C. made an important choice here to not play Sherlock as emotionally unmoved by Molly’s rushed, emotional departure from the room. He *could* have played it as detatched confusion. “Why did the woman leave like that when I helped save her time by pointing out her boyfriend is gay?” “That is illogical!" Or he could have played it as annoyed "like how dare she get all emotional with me when I simply told her the truth."

Instead Benedict Cumberbatch played it as wounded and sad and remorseful and this scene sets up the apology to Molly scene in A Scandal in Belgravia. And as the actors and producers have all pointed out, the first time the audience sees Sherlock apologize to anyone for anything is to Molly.

This is the scene that convinced me that Benedict Cumberbatch ships Sherlolly hard. I know he has never said anything majorly pro Sherlolly, but his acting basically created the ship, because no matter how much Louise Brealey acted in love with Sherlock or how adorable she was, Molly would have been the girl with the hopeless crush, had Benedict Cumberbatch not acted like Sherlock reciprocated Molly’s affection. Which this makes me very  Sherlolly will become canon because the most powerful person on BBC’s Sherlock is Benedict Cumberbatch as he is the only person who is irreplaceable. [...]