On Frames and Deductions 

 (Sherlock meta by bassfanimation)

I don’t normally do stuff like this, but in light of recent hypocrisy regarding the "I Love You" scene that’s coming from The Other Side, I feel somewhat justified. And since the OP has me blocked I’m just going to recreate the post here in a condensed fashion. This isn’t about making fun of them, or their ship, but about showing how people viewed this scene prior to it’s airing.

The original meta, again posted before the episode’s airing, was from a JLer about how the scenes below are framed and what each scene was about. I’ve done some similar posts but not quite from this angle. I spoke mostly about facial expressions, but this is actually a much cleaner representation of why this scene was A) real and that B) Sherlock wasn’t lying. Honestly it’s all assumption until Moffat or Gatiss confirms or denies, but this is about as close as it gets to anti-shippers doing your work for you.

I’m going to keep it concise as I don’t know if copying and pasting their post in it’s entirety is too much of a Tumblr faux pas. Again, this post isn’t to belittle that person, their post, or their ship. The point in posting this is to show that even those guys saw then what we are seeing now, only now they’re deriding us and calling us losers for it.

First, the original thoughts, which are actually very good.

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TGG 

The Van Buren Supernova. The fourth pip. A kid’s life is at risk. People in the back, Sherlock looking at the painting(camera), yelling the puzzle’s answer to the phone.

ASIB 

Irene’s safe code/Vatican cameos. John’s life is at risk, people in the back, Sherlock looking at the safe (camera) trying to deduce its code; the safe contains her cell phone. Double deduction, as he realises there’s a trap in the safe.

TRF 

Addlestone. Children’s lives at risk, people standing at his side, Sherlock is looking at a map (camera) in his [Mind Palace], placing the info he just received via his phone. Info that helped him to narrow down the kids location.

TSOT 

(the two reasons why every single one of us is) here today: The mayfly deduction. Sherlock looking at the photographer’s camera (actual camera). Someone’s life is at risk (Sholto’s), Sherlock just poured his soul reading John’s blog from his phone, and people are sitting beside him.

So all these scenes: 

• Have an audience. 
• Sherlock is looking directly at a clue/camera (in reality or in his MP)
• Involve a cell phone. 
• Are about Sherlock saving someone’s life. 
• Have Sherlock saying his deduction outloud. 

So what can we say about this?

It has an audience, probably it will be about saving someone’s life, Sherlock’s eyes are focused on something (a clue) and his deduction is I LOVE YOU. What can be that puzzle, the thing that makes him say it?

We all know how in this show a clue or a deduction is not JUST that, but it carries a meaning and say something about Sherlock. And the fact Sherlock says these words out loud deserve all the freaking out we can experience.

“I LOVE YOU” SAVES A LIFE

LOVE CONQUERS ALL

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(Now, here’s me agreeing with about 99.9% of their thoughts.)

Beautiful meta. I agree these shots are intentional, and what they mean for the ILY scene…

In each shot, Sherlock is making a discovery/deduction. We’re intended to see these frames as if we’re looking directly into Sherlock as he is looking directly into his discovery. We get to witness his feelings firsthand like this, meaning there’s no hiding what he’s feeling. Those behind him, the “audience” OP speaks of, they actually can’t see him so he has this benefit of hiding some of what he’s going through. But we, the true audience, we see it in full. So, absolutely, yes, there’s huge importance in the way these shots were filmed.

Also, in each situation, a person’s life is in danger. This is Sherlock’s “style”. In The Six Thatchers, when he meets with Ella, she asks him to reciprocate her communication and he says that’s “not his style”. No, it’s not, but this is. Sherlock only knows how to communicate if it is laid out in the guise of a case. The Sign of Three was a beautiful example of this. He’s saying all these wonderful things to the camera about John and Mary, but it is hard for him…very hard. It only begins to become easier when Sherlock focuses on the murder case that’s happening right in front of them. Same goes for all those other frames. As long as something is presented as a ‘case’, then Sherlock can ‘deduce’ it…even if it’s about himself, which was the intention of Eurus setting up Sherrinford as one huge case, all centering on Sherlock himself. Without danger, without a case, without the threat of a life ending…he can’t see anything.

In the longer version of OP’s meta, they first thought this scene was occurring in the Mind Palace. It’s interesting that so many saw the "I Love You" scene as taking place in Sherlock’s head. Almost everyone thought it was in his imagination, because there’s no way he would ever say those words in real life, right? But no, this room turned out to be real. It’s a deduction zone, as we’ve seen so, so many times before, with one big difference. In that room, with Mycroft and John there, as well as Eurus, we effectively see Sherlock absolutely unable to hide himself any longer. Normally when he’d turn towards us to make his deduction, it would feel safer for him, but not this time. This secret….this secret that he’s not allowed a single person to know, he’s being forced to spill it via the only thing that can do this to him: a deduction. But this time, the deduction, and the case, are ALL about him.

“This is all about you. Everything in this room.” -Mycroft

The importance of Mycroft and John alone being there for this startling revelation, and why it’s so ingenious (and cruel), is those are the two people Sherlock fears knowing this deduction. Mycroft, who holds love up to be about as important as a paper cup, and John, who has always thought love was an unknown quantity to him, not to mention John is still suffering the loss of his wife. Also, Sherlock still feels he has to play this role with John, being a sort of superhero who ‘doesn’t love’. He even goes through that whole “While romantic entanglements might be fulfilling for ordinary people” spiel at the end of The Lying Detective to try and maintain the last hanging threads of this image. It is all image with Sherlock, but especially with Mycroft and John. Here, in this room, right now…that image is about to be destroyed. The image he’s worked so hard on for almost his entire life, is about to be utterly demolished.

And it’s all because of a deduction. The deduction that Sherlock loves Molly Hooper.

‘I LOVE YOU’ SAVES A LIFE: it does, it saves Sherlock’s life. Molly’s life was never in danger, but Sherlock’s life always was. 

LOVE CONQUERS ALL: it did. Love conquered trauma for Sherlock, John, Mycroft and Eurus. Love conquered fear for Mary Watson. Love conquered the hate of Moriarty. Love conquered loneliness for Molly Hooper. Love truly conquered all.