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!

Rewatching Sherlolly: A Study in Pink 

 (Sherlock meta by justanotherfangirls)

So today I decided to rewatch A Study in Pink. Ramblings, speculations, and theories follow. I did try to be as logical as possible, but my judgement may be clouded. Sorry.

Starting off, I found it very interesting that they chose to introduce Sherlock Holmes with him beating a corpse with a riding crop and some cute girl getting turned on by it. This girl asked him out for coffee and he seemed to miss her intentions altogether. So he is eccentric, attractive, sexy and sexually unavailable. His brilliance was not really apparent in the first scene, but in the next scene with John Watson. First impressions are important for any show and this was what they went with. He was firstly, desirable, in his scene with Molly. He was a lonely genius who craves approval, in his scenes with John. He has the ability to earn respect in his scenes with Lestrade. He can be warm, in his scene with Mrs. Hudson. He was rude and arrogant with Sally and Anderson. He was petty and childish with Mycroft. He was ruthless and unforgiving with Jeff. And even if he was not yet physically there, Sherlock holds a fascination to mystery and brilliance that matches his own, even if it reeks of evil, with Moriarty.

Let’s take a closer look at Sherlock and Molly’s first scene. He is about to beat a corpse she knew with a riding crop, and she had no qualms about it. Not just anybody would be alright with that, no matter how hot the guy is. Molly is probably one of the few people who can deal with his eccentricities and get turned on by it. She is an odd one too, in her own quiet way. Later, he says, 'Anderson won’t work with me'. Not the other way around. I think he has a bigger problem getting people to work with him rather than him with them because he assumes everyone are idiots anyway. If only because of this Molly becomes somehow special.

But it gets better. Sherlock then tells her to text him after twenty minutes on what bruises will form. He is very particular in his experiments and ordinarily assumes everyone is an idiot, he’s the type to perform them himself. But he trusts Molly to be right. Also Molly has his number - this is not the first time that he asked her to assist him. I absolutely wanted to know how she was able to prove to him that she is above average, thankfully we have fics to help with that. Later he tells Lestrade that he needs an assistant. Not something one says if they are used to working alone all the time. I think at the Yard he sometimes manages to get one, but that he had no permanent one and no preference there. Something tells me he has one at St. Bart’s though.

Molly adorably turns on her awkward charms during this whole scene to ask him out for coffee. Sherlock speaks to her almost mechanically and busily writes in his notebook while Molly hesitantly tries to ask, but then Sherlock gets distracted. 'Are you wearing lipstick? You weren’t wearing lipstick before'. He is observant, but he doesn’t just deduce and then dismiss it, he asks her. He stares intently, trying to read her face. He is curious. Why does he care? Perhaps Molly had not reached importance to him to more than a reliable assistant, especially considering how oblivious he is of her before, but at that moment she was more important than continuing his train of thought. Maybe alarm signals went at the back of his mind, wondering if she put that on for someone who isn’t him. Maybe it’s just Moffat trying to be funny with the punchline in the next scene. Molly gives a non-answer, Sherlock waits for more but decides to return to his notes when Molly just continued smiling widely at him.

Molly gathers enough courage to complete her question. You could tell that she had thought through this and probably even practiced it in front of a mirror. (She had a really cute expression trying to be seductive.) Considering her hesitation and excitement, it looks like her first attempt. Now it could be argued that Sherlock knew she was asking him out and decided to reject her without looking like it, but as we see later he is more direct with John. Was it because he wanted a good working relationship with Molly? Hardly. He clearly believes clear boundaries are best for lasting relationships. If he knew what Molly was asking, he would have said he’s married to his work, though he’s flattered by her interest instead of black, two sugars. It’s more probable that he is simply oblivious, perhaps thinking that Molly can’t be attracted to him because there’s another guy she put lipstick on for, or simply that he is spectacularly ignorant in the rules of attraction. I personally think he believes Molly likes him and admires him enough to make him coffee, but not in that way. He leaves the riding crop, maybe he’s distracted by this conversation or by the next experiment he’ll do in the lab.

At the next scene, when he sees Molly, he turns all attention to her as he gets his coffee. He stares for a considerable amount of time and notices that the lipstick was gone. Again he asks, 'what happened to the lipstick?' And follows up with, 'I thought it was a big improvement, your mouth’s too small now'. He means lipstick suited her. With that follow up, of course Sherlock is an ass and could do that without reason. But it’s almost as if he was offended by her and was having his little petty revenge. It still may be Moffat trying to be funny, though.

Molly was supposed to be a one-off character to introduce Sherlock, but they loved Louise Brealey so much that they wanted her back. Needless to say they saw much potential in her and the character of Molly Hooper. And with this (very) long post about these first scenes that changed the creators’ minds in having only ACD canon characters, I could say I also think there is much, much potential indeed.

Sherlock wanted Anderson as assistant

 (Sherlock Meta by Ivy Blossom)

There are lots of things that occur to me far later than they should. The thing about Mrs Hudson that I should have noticed but didn't was the first one: I'm sure there will be a million more, because I am not particularly detail-oriented, to be honest. This is the second thing I just realized: Sherlock didn't originally want John to be his assistant. He wanted Anderson to play that role.

Sherlock: Who's on forensics?
Lestrade: Anderson.
Sherlock: Anderson won't work with me.

Not Anderson is an idiot, but Anderson won't work with me. Sherlock then proceeds to take John along with him to a crime scene, and is remarkably patient and accommodating with him. Why does he do that? Sherlock is neither patient nor accommodating as a general rule. When John deduces only the most obvious and basic details about Jennifer Wilson's death, Sherlock isn't scornful at all. Why does he behave this way?

Lestrade: He's not your assistant.
Sherlock: I need an assistant!

We know he doesn't bring John along for his own innate skills, because when John asks why he's there, as they're standing over Jennifer Wilson's body, Sherlock says, "Proving a point". He doesn't really care what John has to offer to the investigation of the crime scene, that's why he's not bothered by John's simple description of the cause of death. That wasn't the point.

He's trying to make Anderson jealous.

These two appear to have a tumultuous relationship; they must have argued over bodies before. Sherlock must respect Anderson's abilities; why else would he want him as an assistant? So Sherlock wants to demonstrate, in the most childish way possible, that if Anderson won't play ball, he will lock him out altogether. That's the worst thing Sherlock can imagine: being tantalizingly close to the crime scene and his own dazzling deductions, but not be able to hear them or participate.

So Sherlock slams the door in Anderson's face. It's not because noting that Rache is a German word is dumb (It was something that passed through Sherlock's mind as well, as we know); it's because Sherlock is proving his point.

I don't need you. See? See me not needing you? How do you like that, Anderson? HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT? I can deduce the fact that you're cheating on your wife with Sally, I know what you were doing last night. See? Aren't I good? That's how good I am. You want to be my assistant, Anderson, don't you. You need to, because I'm dazzling and you need to watch me. If you ask really nicely I might let you act as my assistant next time. I just might. 

Sherlock doesn't realize at that point that the perfect assistant for him is John. Anderson won't fire a bullet with the steadiest of hands through a window for him. Anderson won't help him behave appropriately in social situations and smooth out the rough edges of his interactions. Anderson may admire Sherlock's abilities, but he'd never say so out loud. Anderson will never love him. John's arrival utterly alters the job description of "assistant" for Sherlock. We never hear the word "assistant" again, in fact (to my knowledge).

Sherlock's reactions toward Anderson, and all the negative things he has to say about him thereafter, appear, in this light, to be more a reaction to Anderson's rejection of Sherlock than any scornfulness about his abilities.

Sherlock has the emotional life of a nine year old.

ASiP Retrospective: They Won’t Work With Me (Because Only John Will)

 (Sherlock Meta by radvera, just-sort-of-happened and ivyblossom )

radvera: 

That’s right, it’s 2016 and I’m writing a Johnlock meta about A Study in Pink. Luckily, it doesn’t matter that I was an infant when this episode first aired because Johnlock is the one facet of all our lives that is eternal and will always be. I’m also revisiting season one again because I love dying.

Not that we haven’t noticed and written extensive metas about everything in the show, but did you ever notice or write an extensive meta about how Sherlock says, “[They] won’t work with me?” The first time he says it, he’s talking specifically about Anderson, saying he needed an assistant but that Anderson, for some reason, wouldn’t work.

SH- Who's on forensics?
GL- It's Anderson
SH- Anderson won't work with me

Later on in the episode, it becomes very clear why Anderson wouldn’t want to work with Sherlock. But what about that second time he says it? Sherlock is asking John if he’d take a look at the body; Lestrade protests, saying they had a whole team of medical people outside, and Sherlock replies, “They won’t work with me.”

So what, exactly, does that mean? Anderson, understandably, is not willing to work with Sherlock on cases, but did Sherlock really offend the living hell out of an entire team of medical experts to the point where they can’t bear to put aside their personal distaste for the sake of professionalism and work with Sherlock on a case? Actually….possibly. But let’s take a look at that first “Anderson won’t work with me.”

GL- Well, he won't be your assistant
SH- I Need an assistant.

Why did Sherlock insist that he needed an assistant? That’s like, not even true. Sherlock doesn’t NEED an assistant, he just would LIKE one. He works better with one – speaking aloud to someone else helps him think – but Sherlock saying he needs an assistant and then ultimately agreeing to come to the crime scene even though Lestrade didn’t promise him an assistant at all sounds like he was just trying to kick up drama when there was no question whether or not he would go in the first place. But was he just being a baby, or was he trying to get out a message to a certain someone sitting 10 feet away? In this context, listening to this conversation, the audience is clearly meant to think immediately of John when Sherlock says that he needs an assistant. The real question is, did Sherlock intend for John to be his assistant from the minute Lestrade walked through the door?

After twirling around for a while, Sherlock puts on his coat and his little scarf and bounds out the door, leaving John and Mrs. Hudson in the dust. Mrs. Hudson then briefly talks about her husband to a pissed-off-looking John, and John yells because what else does John even do besides yell. Mrs. Hudson is off to make tea and John opens up a newspaper. We’ve all seen it like a hundred times so I’m paraphrasing.

But then…Sherlock comes back. He appears at the door again, purring about how John is an army doctor. Did you guys ever notice how long of a while it is between the moment Sherlock leaves and the moment he comes back? True, it seems like a very short time – only a few things happened and only a few words were said. But it’s kind of a long time for Sherlock to be gone, especially the way he was swooshing around, and we know how fast Sherlock can swoop down a flight of stairs when he has someplace to be, only to decide to…come back? And, unless I am completely misinterpreting the layout, there are only two flights of stairs between the ground floor and Sherlock and John’s flat, because the flat is just one floor up, right? So…when did he decide to come back? When he heard “Damn my leg” and decided that he couldn’t miss out on John’s super hot yelling? It’s possible, but it’s also possible that Sherlock had intended to come back into the room anyway. What I’m saying is, Sherlock must have deduced somewhere between meeting John and the moment when he asks him to join him to the crime scene that John would actually WANT to go. That he missed the adventure and would WANT to be his assistant. And, after all, Anderson won’t work.

GL- We have a whole team right outside
SH- They won't work with me.
GL- I'm breaking every rule letting you in here...

Fast forward to the second time Sherlock says “They won’t work with me.” An entire professional medical team refusing to even be in the same room as Sherlock, or just Sherlock bullshitting so Lestrade will let his bf take a look at the evidence? I think it’s the latter. I think Sherlock is not only curious about how good of a doctor John really is, but he wants to see if they’re actually compatible. (Not that being a hot army doctor doesn’t immediately put you on Sherlock’s Acceptable People List.) And maybe Sherlock isn’t necessarily comfortable with or ready for a relationship at this exact moment, or maybe he is, but at the root of it all, having John as just a friend is a really, really good start.

And maybe it’s not just Sherlock talking, either, when he says “They won’t work with me.” Maybe it’s the writers trying to tell us something. If something is repeated, pay attention to it, right? This show has constantly, since the very beginning, repeated lines, made the same thing pop up multiple times as if to say, “Hey, this is important so why not pay some attention to it, because we are trying to tell you something here.” (@ the entirety of The Abominable Bride) When Sherlock says “They won’t work with me”, maybe it’s the writers, the producers, the Sherlock team, Jesus, and all them, trying to say, “No one else will work.” Lestrade quickly and nobly offers his squadron of doctors and Sherlock shoots them all down at once. They won’t work with me. Because there is only one person in this entire show that really, truly, undeniably works with Sherlock.

They won’t work with Sherlock, because only John will.

just-sort-of-happened: 

I love this. Also, makes the TEH Works Beautifully sign a callback to this. A reminder of how well they fit together.

ivyblossom:

But John’s first outing with Sherlock isn’t a test of John’s skills at all, or even of his compatibility as an assistant. John doesn’t need to prove himself useful at that point, which is good, because he isn’t. Sherlock still wants Lestrade’s team to help him. The reason Sherlock brings John along to the crime scene was to prove a point to Anderson, to Sally, and to the rest of Lestrade’s team who refuse to work with him. What was that point?

You won’t help me? That’s fine. You’re expendable. I don’t need you. I’ve found someone else to take your place, look how easily I did that! Does that change your tune? Don’t you want to be inside the room rather than outside it? 

Sherlock is intensely petty and childish, and he brings John along to make Anderson jealous. He wants to shut Anderson out the way Anderson wants to shut Sherlock out. The fact that John is an army doctor is helpful in making his case for bringing him in to Lestrade, and make the whole thing seem at least marginally legit. But it’s not John he wants at that point. John is just his accommodating flatmate with an obvious lust for adventure. It’s Anderson and his team he wants in the room with him.

You can tell this is true because the most important part of John’s presence at that first crime scene was certainly not his contributions. He agreed that the victim was dead. John is resolutely not useful at the crime scene, but Sherlock isn’t petulantly disappointed about it. In fact he was gracious and patient with John’s stumbling deductions; how out of character! He doesn’t actually care what John says about the body. He doesn’t need John to have any deductions about it. He only wants John to take up time so that Anderson has to wait at the crime scene. He wants to slam the door in Anderson’s face and make him wonder what was going on behind it. So John has already fulfilled his role, as far as Sherlock’s concerned. Proving a point.

John goes on to completely surprise Sherlock several times: first by being as enthusiastic about deductions as Sherlock is. He wasn’t counting on praise. He wasn’t even looking for it, and he doesn’t know what to do with it. But it’s nice, and it changes things. Then, John goes on to demonstrate his ultimate capacity by figuring out where Sherlock is and shooting the cabbie with the steadiest of hands. Sherlock really wasn’t expecting that. 

What started as a petulant trick to get Lestrade’s team on side turned into discovering not only an assistant but a true partner. That’s the moment when John becomes, not just someone “who will work” with Sherlock, but someone who takes his russian roulette life and makes it about something much more. John makes him more than a puzzle solver. John makes him a hero.

What made Sherlock immediately accept John?

 (Sherlock Meta by Ivy Blossom)

mediumaevum asked:

Something's bugging me and I can't find "official" fan statements about it, so I thought I could ask you, if you don't mind. What made Sherlock immediately accept John? Back in Bart's, he knew Mike didn't have a phone, and John did. He asked him straight on about the violin and other stuff. What was is it he deduced about John that told him "he's the one"? Thanks!

Ivy Blossom:

At what point did Sherlock decide that John would be a acceptable flatmate? That was when he deduced that Mike Stamford was bringing him a potential one who had plenty of good reasons for needing a flatmate himself. Sherlock’s deductions (no strong ties, soldier, doctor, freshly back from a war) tell him enough to go on, as he says. He wasn’t looking for someone who would be perfect. He was looking for someone who would have him.

Sherlock hadn’t asked, “Who can I stand to share a flat with? Who will help me? Who will make my life better? Who will become my one and only friend?” He asked, “Who would have me for a flatmate?” Sherlock decides in that moment that John is alone enough, desperate enough, and possibly strong-stomached enough to be his flatmate.

He clearly has no clue who he’s just met. He has no idea at all how John is going to become central to his work and his life. He’s only solving an immediate problem. It’s less “he’s the one,” and more “this one is not going to say no if I offer him the second bedroom.” He’s so confident about it that he immediately moves in himself.

Though I suspect he also thinks John is kinda hot, because he’s flustered the next day when John drops by. We all know about Sherlock’s thing for soldiers. But that’s another story.