From a Joke to the End Game - 

The Evolution of Molly Hooper: 

 Molly the Tool: A Study in Pink 

 (Sherlock meta by mychakk)

Hello Everyone!

Thanks so much to all who had read the introduction to this meta posted a week ago. Today, I’d like to start on Season One and the first episode of it: A Study in Pink. I’ve already addressed the importance of Molly being introduced alongside Sherlock in the previous part of this huge meta, so today I’ll focus only on the scenes in ASiP themselves.

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Please remember that I write this with the view, that the aired episodes we’ve been given are a sum of Moftiss’ initial ideas, their screenplay, the director’s interpretation, the actors’ portrayal, music composers’ creations AND the editing crew’s choices. All of that created the show as we know. And it got Moftiss’ final approval to be aired as something they want to share with us.

Season 1: Molly Hooper the (writing) Tool: A Study in Pink. 

Being a writing tool is Molly’s initial role in s1. That’s her purpose and the reason behind her reappearances in the following episodes. In A Study in Pink Molly’s role was to introduce Sherlock, in The Blind Banker she’s used to show more of his characteristics and tactics, while in The Great Game she serves as a means to introduce Jim Moriarty. That’s her initial reason for existence: The Tool. And yet, each scene she’s in is enriched by the actors’ interpretation and portrayal, which in turn creates so much more nuances regarding her character and her relationship with the protagonist, Sherlock Holmes.

Let’s have a look at the scenes in the first episode and see what we can learn about her:

In the first camera shot of Molly and Sherlock we see Sherlock peering at the corpse in the body bag. He and Molly share a short dialogue:

S: How fresh?
M (cheerful): Just in. Sixty-seven, natural causes. He used to work here. I knew him. He was nice.
S (smiling): Fine. We’ll start with the riding crop. 

In that short exchange we already can learn a lot about Molly and her relationship with Sherlock. First of all, we learn about Molly herself. She’s nice. And cheery. And she’s totally unaffected by death, corpses and all things morbid. We can also see she’s pleasant during her dealings with Sherlock.

The way the two of them are with each other in this scene clearly suggests this is not a new situation for them both. She’s not nervous at all about him needing a body, she doesn’t ask him what he plans on doing with it, why he demanded this from her. She pleasantly answers his questions providing additional information. She’s used to this.

And Sherlock?

He just accepts her finding (the corpse) and tells her how the experiment will start. And he smiles at her. I think this smile is more on the giddy-at-doing-an-experiment side than on it being a fake; and he aims this smile at Molly, sharing said giddiness with her. They are both clearly comfortable with the, quite frankly unusual, situation of flagging down a corpse. They are comfortable with each other in the working/experimenting environment of st. Bart’s.

Notice also the use of “we” in Sherlock’s final comment:

“We’ll start with the riding crop.“ (emphasis mine) 

The pronoun clearly indicates Sherlock includes Molly in the making of his experiment, they are both going to work on it. Does it mean the experimenting is actually from the beginning theirs instead of being just his? Did he plan from the beginning to do it with her? We do not know explicitly but the possibility is there.

The next camera shot shows us Molly observing Sherlock while he beats the corpse with the riding crop.

 Is she there out of her own decision or does she need to supervise him? We do not know that either. What we do know is that Molly is both slightly disturbed and yet turned on by the sight. Kudos to Loo for portraying it as such (but who can blame her, really? XD Ben beating a corpse with a riding crop? Hot! Period. :P). Sherlock is unaffected by her presence, and definitely doesn’t mind it. (I bet he was proud as a cock for having her admire him while he did it.) 

After the beating is done Molly comes down to Sherlock.

She makes a joke as an opening to start a talk with him, but Sherlock just instructs her:

“I need to know what bruises form in the next twenty minutes. A man’s alibi depends on it. Text me.” 

This innocent sentence gives us tons of information partaking to Molly and Sherlock’s relationship (whatever it is exactly at the time). He trusts her to continue his experiment and providing him later with accurate notes, maybe as good or even better than his own would have been? This indicates he trusts her as a scientist, trusts her working ethics and precision in conducting lab work. Sherlock values Molly as a reliable working lab partner to the point of leaving her with completing his experiment on her own. If we tie up this trust in Molly the Scientist with Sherlock’s first instruction:

"We'll start with the riding crop.” (emphasis mine) 

It may actually mean that this experiment was supposed to be theirs from the very beginning. He had factored her help while devising it. This would also explain why was Molly observing him while he conducted the beating.

Finally, there is also that little titbit at the end of Sherlock’s instruction:

“[…] Text me.” 

This clearly means that they have each other’s phone numbers and that texting each other is not something new to them, but a regular occurrence. Even being Sherlock Holmes you won’t say “text me” to a new acquaintance you’ve just convinced to let you beat a corpse. You’ll at least explain what you’d like her to text you exactly. Here, this instruction is short and to the point. “text me”. Molly already knows what he would like to receive in her text and how he prefers she write it. As I wrote above, they have to have known each other for a while and are quite accustomed to each other quirks in the working environment that is st. Bart’s. This is their usual interaction. And they clearly have fun together. (Molly is enjoying herself for sure, but Sherlock is also giddy at the beginning of the whole sequence and quite enthusiastic in his greetings her later on in the lab when she brings him coffee. Clearly he enjoys working with her, too).

Now, we come to the most interesting part of their interaction in this episode:

M: Listen, I was wondering: maybe later, when you’re finished-
S (a double take): Are you wearing lipstick? You weren’t wearing lipstick before.
M: I, er, I refreshed it a bit.
S (oblivious): Sorry, you were saying?
M (intent): I was wondering if you’d like to have coffee. 

Notice Loo’s facial expressions as she walks up to Ben and start this exchange.

 She portrays Molly as still being affected by Sherlock, her Molly’s still slightly turned on, and yet there is this determination on her face. This focus as he gazes at him heading toward him. It’s clear Molly’s already decided she’s going to ask Sherlock out. And she isn’t discouraged at all by his initial instruction to complete the experiment. She’s determined, and confident, she’s not stuttering when she starts her first question. She isn’t even that much thrown off by his lipstick comment.

 She’s quite quick with her reply, and she’s positively intense in her determination when she finally asks him out:

M (intent): I was wondering if you’d like to have coffee.

It’s all there in Loo’s body language. As a viewer you don’t think much about it, but subconsciously you pick it all up. And since the show is aired (and available to be viewed over and over again), you can consciously pick on it, notice all the details, and like me - analyse. :)

In that very first scene, when we were supposed to learn about Sherlock’s obliviousness to social indications, we learn so much more about Molly, the Tool, who is actually already being fleshed out as a real and quite strong character. In this exchange with Sherlock, when she asks him out, Molly is shown as a confident, independent, and determined woman. She is completely undeterred in her pursue of what she wants. And here it’s asking Sherlock Holmes out.

Molly’s aplomb attitude fades only after Sherlock’s reply of:

“Black, two sugars, please. I’ll be upstairs.” 

 And I don’t blame her, because it takes you aback when someone can be this oblivious. And Sherlock is oblivious, but I’ll address his character in the later part of this meta. Let’s stay with Molly for now.

We don’t see what Molly does after Sherlock leaves her in the morgue, stumped and kind of stupefied. We see her later on while she’s bringing the said coffee to Sherlock in the upstairs lab. Notice, that Sherlock didn’t explain where exactly upstairs he’ll be, just that he’ll be “upstairs”. This also points to a familiarity with the place and with each other and each other’s usual habits. Sherlock doesn’t need to add more for her to know what he means, and where he intends to be. She’ll just know from that small titbit of information he gave her.

In the final scene with Molly, she enters the lab with a smile as she brings Sherlock the coffee.

This itself is quite interesting. If she were embarrassed by Sherlock’s initial rebuttal and dismissal of her asking him out, she’d probably stay away and definitely not carter to his coffee needs. But she brings it to him as if nothing happened. She even smiles. This tells me, she’s not that much affected by his rebuttal. She finds him attractive so she has decided to give it a go but it didn’t work out. Oh, well, will find someone else then. Molly is quite chilled out about this whole situation. (I can see her going to the loo, looking at the mirror, wiping off the lipstick, then shrugging her shoulders, and leaving to make Sherlock the coffee.) She might be attracted to him and even having a slight crush on him, but she isn’t defined by it. Even in this very first scene we see her, she’s already so much more.

What a marvellous and strong character Molly is! She’s already shrugged her shoulders, whipped the lipstick off and decided to move on. That’s why I think she’s a little taken aback when Sherlock again brings the lack of said lipstick up.

 I think that she assumed – like some, (most?) viewers – that the question about the lipstick earlier in the morgue was supposed to distract her from asking him out in the first place. As it didn’t work out, Sherlock had found a different tactic to indirectly let her down (Black, two sugars). If that was the case, why would he bring it up again, right? But he does and it throws Molly for the loop, yet once again she takes all Sherlock-ness in stride and gives a sardonic kind of self-depreciating comment of:

 “It wasn’t working for me.” 

This quip is also aimed at his expense, at his obliviousness, but like before Sherlock doesn’t catch her meaning. Also, there is the coffee. Why is Sherlock grimacing? Maybe she’s a little vindictive and didn’t doctored it to his liking? Alas, the answer of the latest questions is of course to be found only in our imagination. Nevertheless, Molly is passively sassy during this exchange. She matches his inquires and shots comebacks without any trouble. That doesn’t scream to me: here is a dejected little wisp of a woman to be broken at a moments’ notice. Here is a woman who - if given the chance - will be come your match, your equal.

Molly’s screen time in A Study in Pink last for about 1 minute and 20 seconds. In this short time we’ve learned that she’s acquainted with Sherlock enough to feel comfortable with his experimenting; she finds him attractive; she’s determined and intense in her pursuit of something she wants; she’s not easily deterred when she’s on her way to her goal; she’s confident, self-assured, sassy in a passive way; and she doesn’t let minor failings affect her. Of course, she’s also cheery, happy, pleasant and nice.That’s quite a list for a one-time character indeed.

In those 80 seconds of her screen time we have learned Molly is AWESOME. Duh :)

Now let’s take a look at what we have learned about Sherlock thanks to Molly’s interactions with him.

Sherlock the One Who Observes But Doesn’t See 

First of all, thanks to the scenes with Molly we’ve learned that Sherlock is oblivious in the social cues. And that he has completely no clue what Molly was about in the morgue. He totally missed the point of Molly’s actions and her questions. Let’s take a look at him and we’ll see why this is the most probable if not the only interpretation of his actions here in this scene.

In the morgue Sherlock is immersed in the experiment, he has just finished applying the beating and starts taking his notes.

 Then comes in Molly bantering as she usually does in her pleasant manner. He doesn’t really tunes her out, but he’s not really focused on her either. Then she says, “listen” which finally catches his attention enough to give her a look.

And he does a double take.

Why? Because this is the reason for this whole scene in the first place: to show the audience that he notices all the details, even such as an applied lipstick, and yet he’s completely missing the social cue.

So Sherlock sees the lipstick and so he just need to ask Molly about it and he does it in his self-absorbed manner. Or maybe it was a distraction that needed to be addressed immediately? [Why had she changed her looks? I must know right away or it won’t stop bugging me! And wow, but doesn’t her lips looks nicer now! Silly boy]. He asks, and she provides an answer, which isn’t exactly what he excepted but it’s enough to satisfy his immediate curiosity for him to return to his original task: notes taking while listening to Molly:

“Right. You were saying."

He’s just finishing them when Molly talks about coffee. Coffee sounds good – so bring it to me at the lab where I’m about to be off to. Bye!

Now, we can argue that Sherlock’s done it this way on purpose, to avoid openly turning down Molly’s invitation. Let’s examine this scene with 3 different scenarios:

1) Sherlock immediately realizes why Molly has put the lipstick on. In this case, he calls her on it in order to throw her off, to deter her from her plan: asking him out. This is actually quite a cruel way to do as it purposefully brings the attention to her efforts and consequently purposefully embarrasses Molly. And if there is one thing we can say about Sherlock is that he’s not intentionally cruel (without any good reasons). Also we’ve already established he enjoy his time with Molly, why would he jeopardize it and his time at st. Bart’s? If it’s not this: him asking with full knowledge of the reason behind the lipstick, than he must have asked her about it because he’s got no clue why she put it on. Scenario no. 1 - busted.

2) Sherlock has no clue and is puzzled by the lipstick appearance so he asks Molly about it. When she replies, he catches on on the purpose of it (as in her preparing herself to ask him out) and allows her to continue while quickly coming up with a way to gently and indirectly let her down. This is actually quite a sound possibility if we had had got only the morgue scene between Sherlock and Molly. But we’ve got another short exchange between them in the lab. And this is the defining factor here. Scenario no. 2 - plausible without the lab follow-up.

3) Sherlock is oblivious to the lipstick’s purpose and doesn’t catch up at all during the morgue exchange. In this case, when Molly brings him his coffee upstairs in the lab, Sherlock once again – puzzled – asks her about the lipstick. If he had realized what Molly had been trying to do earlier in the morgue (as in asking him out) and as a result had successfully let her down in an indirect way, then bringing the lipstick up again in the lab is not only counter productive, but once again a cruel (in its embarrassment to Molly) thing to do. I’ll point out once more: why bringing it up if he’s just masterfully avoided the issue in the first place? Therefore, in the lab he is genuinely puzzled by the another change in her looks in such a short period of time, which of course means he still has no clue of the lipstick’s purpose.

Sherlock doesn’t even catch on Molly’s sardonic reply:

“It wasn’t working for me.”. 

He’s totally oblivious here. He had accepted her poor explanation and quickly justified in his mind why she had put it on: refreshing it a bit, ‘cause it makes her look better. It makes sense in his mind, because he likes the lipstick on her lips. Why? Because of the backhanded compliment:

"Really? It thought it was a big improvement." 

He’s of course totally clumsy in his verbal diarrhoea, just saying what comes to his mind without any thought how he phrases it. But that actually means he’s genuine in the thought behind his poorly worded comment. The lipstick makes her look better. (Nicer.)

Then of course he tries to find the reason why it’s feels off with the lipstick being gone. Look how he tries to puzzle it out. Why does it feels off?

 "Your mouth is- too small now." 

Notice also the small pause in his comment. He’s searching for the way to verbalise his unease. And of course the clueless boy does it in a poorly fashion. Still so much to learn for that genius. XD

Sherlock notices the lipstick on Molly’s lips and cannot resists commenting on it. He notices the lack of it and once more cannot resists throwing his two cents. It bothers him. It bothers him much. Molly’s lipstick in general is quite the focal point of his focus. He even does it again in A Scandal in Belgravia during the Christmas scene. This is the very first scene in many to come when he pays attention to Molly’s look. And this is one of the clear indications of his attraction to her on a physical level. Why else would he pay so much attention to the changes in her look if he wasn’t looking in the first place (even if its on a subconscious way at this point in time)? She’s one who matters the most, indeed. Form the very beginning in fact.

Of course, Sherlock did embarrass Molly and probably hurt her a bit with the poorly worded and casually spoken comment in that very scene, but we have to keep in mind everything points out of it being not intentional on his part. He doesn’t want to hurt her. He comments things as he sees them and doesn’t care how he says what he thinks. At the same time I think he’s doesn’t realize Molly’s interested in him.

We don’t know the origin of Molly and Sherlock relationship (however it’s defined at the beginning of A Study in Pink) but I think her crush on him might have grown slowly and quite more subtly for Sherlock to notice. That’s why he hasn’t got a clue about Molly’s feelings for him at that point in time. He always misses something.

Here, also, lies the difference between Sherlock’s reactions to John openly asking him about girlfriends/boyfriends, Irene openly hitting on him and yet never really directly letting Molly down when she’s asking him out. Both John and Irene are new acquaintances of his. And they ask him/hit on him without beating around the bush. While I just don’t see Molly doing it like that at the beginning of their acquaintance. By the time Molly asks him out in A Study in Pink Sherlock, hm, categorized Molly as an acquaintance/friend. What’s more I think that Molly’s a part of the net of his safe places: Mrs H at Baker Street, Lestrade at Scotland Yard, and Molly at Bart’s. Those are people he trusts. His close ones. His friends. I think Molly is kind of unintentionally friendzoned at this time of their interactions. He just doesn’t see her as anything potentially more than a friend, because, at this time in his life, it is something that just doesn’t enter his brilliant mind, that someone who knows him for who he is, who deals with him on daily basis, might actually find him worth being interested in. (I think it’s tied up with his deeply rooted low self-esteem and lack of belief in being lovable, but that’s a topic for a different meta.) In this case it’s actually a compliment to her, as Sherlock doesn’t look for love, he actually quickly and efficiently shots down any openly romantic overtures toward himself (John and Irene), and he’s reluctant in his friendships, yet she is an integral part of his daily comforts.

Sherlock just doesn’t think about Molly in a romantic sense toward himself at at this point in time and that’s why he’s oblivious to her advances.

But he does see her as a friend. And an important one as that. He’s happy to see her. Look at Ben’s portrayal of Sherlock when Molly enters the lab. John speaks out, but Sherlock totally shifts his focus onto Molly the moment she enters the lab.

 “Ah, Molly, coffee. Thank you.” 

“Thank you”? When has Sherlock thanked anyone? Apparently Molly in one of his very first dealings with her in the show. She’s something else and it’s obvious from the very beginning ;)

But let’s focus on Ben’s portrayal: Sherlock is quite happy to see Molly. But then again, it could have just been the coffee ;) His tone of voice is pleasant. He thanks for the coffee, he even makes an inquiry about her looks – by which I mean is him asking about the lipsticks. ;) He shares his opinion with her, backwardly complimenting her that she looks better with the lipstick. (And let’s stop here for a moment: if Molly’s mouth looks smaller without the lipstick, it must have looked bigger with it. Didn’t I mention that said lipstick might have been a distraction for our silly boy and that’s why he noticed it in the first place in the morgue? – he liked what he saw but instead of telling her he likes it, he just asked her why she put it on. Si-lly Boy, I tell ya. Now, she’s without it and he’s actually not happy with it. XD) 

And there is the grimacing after taking a sip of the coffee.

Why doesn’t he say anything? Sherlock is quite opinionated and he doesn’t sugar coat anything. Especially this early in the series. And yet here he’s silent. Hadn’t he earlier told her how he takes his coffee? So something must be wrong with it if he’s grimacing. Yet no comment from him. I wonder if it’s because Molly has brought it to him. And like we’ve already established, he doesn’t want to intentionally hurt her, so he keeps quiet even though he clearly dislikes what he tastes.

To sum up, Sherlock’s interactions with Molly showed us that he’s oblivious to people (who had known him for a while) having a crush on him, that he’s unable to see himself as someone worth having crush on. It also showed us Sherlock trusts Molly as his lab partner, he considers her a person able to continue his experiments, and one he likes working with. We learned he probably subconsciously finds her physically attractive, and that he definitely doesn’t want to hurt her intentionally. Even in this very first scene you can see the trust between them. “I have always trusted you”, indeed.

Molly the writing Tool served its purpose in A Study in Pink: she helped introducing Sherlock Holmes. In the process she became her own character, interesting enough to be explored in the upcoming episodes. We’ll see how exactly, in the following part of this meta partaking to The Blind Banker. I should publish it within a week time.

Thank you for reading and see you next week!