Why Molly and Not John?

 (Sherlock meta by theleftpill)

An anon asked Petratodd if she thought Sherlolly would ever become canon. This is something I’ve been mulling over since my my third full viewing of S3. I’m a professional editor for film/TV and spend most of my job working with story structure, character development, and how to best reveal the plot. From this point of view, I think the writers are pointing to a romantic attachment between Sherlock and Molly in both the plot points and character development. While I’ll be really surprised if it becomes a major storyline, or is ever happily resolved, I think it’s definitely headed in that direction.

Sherlock goes to Molly to save his life. Twice. Even his subconscious goes to Molly, the first person he trusts. She’s the person he depends on for his life, the person he can trust without limits. “The one who mattered the most.” When John refuses to be available after the return (both emotionally, and physically for cases), Sherlock turns to Molly. He wants to “solve crimes” with her. Molly’s the one who runs his urine test (ew) and calls him on the carpet for his stupidity. She’s becoming very physically involved in the story, even when they could use a different character.

He could have gone to John to save his life. John is an army doctor. He has extensive knowledge on how to survive a gunshot wound. Sherlock knows this. John could easily have been used to talk him through the fall. Sherlock could have let John in on Lazarus; there are many scenarios where John could have been prevented from “letting the cat out of the bag”, or they could have just not used John’s inability to lie as a plot point. It makes narrative sense for John to be the one to help save his life both times, but that’s not who Sherlock goes to. He goes to Molly.

Sherlock allows himself to be vulnerable to Molly. Twice. Three times actually. The Reichenbach request, in his Mind Palace/subconscious, and in The Empty Hearse when he thanks her for helping him. This vulnerability is a huge move forward in Sherlock’s character development; asking for help, placing trust and giving sincere thanks were things that just did not happen in S1 and most of S2. Sherlock is growing and the writers are using Molly to facilitate it.

(Oh wait - four! Four times Sherlock was vulnerable - the Christmas present! Fuck! They really are setting this up!)

He could have gone to John. John and Sherlock adore each other. It’s no secret. They love each other and have said so - Sherlock in public. But Sherlock has never been vulnerable to him before (the closest he’s come is the “apology” in The Hounds of Baskerville and that’s debatable.) It would make narrative sense, and more importantly, demonstrate tremendous character growth to be that vulnerable to John. But he didn’t. He’s vulnerable to Molly.

Now. Why would they use Molly for all that? John is one of the main characters on the show and ACD canon, and his character has been established enough that you could replace Molly with him in any of those scenes. But the writers didn’t use him, they used Molly. Why would they use a secondary character? She isn’t in the ACD canon, so they are not beholden to any canon story line involving her. Why spend so much time on her?

Because they are making Molly IM. POR. TANT.

Screen time in a TV show is very important. You want to use only the elements that are crucial to your story because you have only so much time to tell it. Good storytelling includes setting up your later plot points earlier in the story so it leads to a natural and satisfying conclusion. If you don’t have those seeds early on, your story ends up feeling fake and your audience will cry bullshit. So you want to put elements in the start of your story that will become important later on.

I have this issue in my current show. I have a big revelation in the last act of the show that is set up beautifully in the first act of the show. Unfortunately, I have 39 minutes to tell this story (yes, an hour show is only 39 minutes long) and there is more important content than this, so I won’t have time to play the earlier scene. So now the big revelation is going to come out of the blue and feel fake, disingenuous. “Sherlock” has only 4 hours 30 minutes to tell a story which could reasonably be three times that. The writers aren’t going to waste screen time on plot or character that doesn’t serve some sort of purpose. So I ask again, why use Molly to further Sherlock’s character in such crucial, momentous ways?

I think these and just about every other Molly scene is setting up for a stronger emotional attachment and certainly a strong role for Molly in the show. My conjecture is that Sherlock will fall in love with her, as far as he is capable. I said in my earlier post that she will be a “love interest”; there are many levels to that and many directions it can be taken. I don’t think it will ever be consummated, because there goes your conflict (see: Moonlighting), and Sherlock is canonically a bachelor, but I do think that’s the direction the story is pointing.

But wait! you cry. Sherlock is gay! He admitted it to Janine and because the Mind Palace courtroom is red! (Both of which are bullshit and merit their own post.) So he can’t end up with Molly! Well, not so much. The Sign of Three pretty clearly tracks Sherlock’s growing attraction - yes, attraction - to Janine. The wedding starts with him noncommittal to her presence, and ends with him hopefully seeking her out to dance with. (Again, this could be its own post, and probably will be.) According to this narrative, Sherlock is either straight or bi, both doors opened wide to an emotional interest in Molly. Again, sowing the seeds for a later narrative.

Whether or not you take this to prove “Sherlolly will be canon” is up to you, because I’m not trying to prove that either way. This is what I see in the show, combined with my professional experience, and it leads me to believe that Molly is being set up for a romantic attachment to Sherlock. Don’t know if it will actually happen. Only Moftiss know for sure.