Thoughts On Molly

 (Sherlock meta by johns-posh-boy)

Let me put this out there, I LOVE MOLLY HOOPER. All I want for her is to move on from Sherlock and find some happiness. However, I’ve been feeling annoyed with Molly for awhile, and I think it started with her striking Sherlock for doing drugs in His Last Vow. 

Molly did not have the right to do that. Sherlock is a grown man who has the right to make his own decisions, even if they’re the wrong ones. Sherlock didn’t ask for her input. Not even John did, only for her to analyze his urine sample. You could argue that Molly is acting out of anguish that someone she cares about is hurting himself, but you didn’t see anyone else physically assaulting him. Not even John, who is closer to him than anyone in the world and is known for having a violent temper. If Molly truly cared that Sherlock was harming himself, she’d have tried reasoning with him. She didn’t even try to understand why Sherlock would do this. Instead she just wanted to act self-righteous and insert herself in Sherlock’s affairs.

Same with the “anyone but you” scene from The Six Thatchers. I respect that John is hurting right now and Molly sent Sherlock away per John’s request (that time she had the right to get involved), but she didn’t necessarily have to use the most hurtful words possible to make Sherlock leave. Even if she was quoting John. She could’ve been more compassionate toward Sherlock, if she “loves” him so much. Instead, I think that tiny part of her that resents Sherlock for not reciprocating her feelings, wanted Sherlock to feel even worse about the situation.

The problem with Molly is that she makes the same mistake normal people do when they’re infatuated with someone - they gain a sense of entitlement to that person. Even if that person has made it plain that they will never reciprocate their feelings. Sherlock owed Molly gratitude for assisting him in faking his own death, which he paid back by bringing her along on cases for a day. But beyond that, Sherlock owes her nothing, because Molly’s given him nothing, except unwanted attention.

Let me explain using a personal example:

In high school, I had a huge crush on this boy. I would have done anything to be his girlfriend. He was always very nice to me, but he made it clear to me that he’d never return my feelings. Still, I clung onto my feelings for him, in hopes that one day he’d wake up and realize that I was the one for him. It made him feel uncomfortable. Over time, my unrequited feelings turned into bitterness, and I acted antagonistic toward him, blaming him for my feelings instead of myself. I still wanted him, but a part of me despised him for not wanting me back. I knew I should just let go of my feelings for him, but I couldn’t. And I ended up estranging him from myself entirely. Looking back now, I wish I could have put my feelings aside, because I missed out on a potentially great friendship.

And that’s exactly what Molly is doing.

I didn’t write this to tear Molly down, because like I said, I like her a lot, and because she has great potential to be a strong character. But she needs to let go of her crush on Sherlock to be able to grow. (Also, Sherlock is gay, honey. I think deep down, you know that.)

John really cares about Sherlock in s4

 (Sherlock meta by Ivy Blossom)

Q: [...] are there any particular moments in Series 4 that suggest or demonstrate to you that John really loves and/or genuinely cares about Sherlock? I guess secondarily, how do you read Sherlock putting off rescuing John from that well until after he dealt with Eurus In TFP?

A: Any particular moments? It’s hard to pick, it’s kind of infused through the whole thing, but okay, I’ll do my best.

In The Six Thatchers, John should be deliriously happy. He’s got what he wanted: the normal life with a job, a wife, and a new daughter, but he’s also got Sherlock, who is as committed to maintaining this careful and potentially awkward balance as he is. They still solve crimes together, and Mary and Rosie aren’t an obstruction. In fact, sometimes they join in! John’s devotion to Sherlock is pretty obvious from that alone, but Sherlock’s special place in John’s life is underscored by John asking him to be Rosie’s godfather.

John should be happy, but he’s not. He’s never managed to get over what Mary did and who she really is. His happy life with wife and baby is a lie. As his trust in Mary continues to decline, his trust in Sherlock never waivers. John and Sherlock confront threats together as a team while Mary lies, drugs Sherlock, and scarpers. Sherlock, weird, rude, and difficult, is John’s stable rock, and Mary does not look good in comparison.

After Mary dies, John blames Sherlock and cuts him off. I’d suggest that this is more indicative of how much John cares about Sherlock than otherwise. Not only because he thought Sherlock was a superhero who could could genuinely protect Mary and Rosie from everything forever, but because, as we later learn, the reason why John pushes Sherlock away stems primarily from his own self-loathing. John betrayed Mary, and his guilt and despair at not being able to live up to Mary’s, Sherlock’s, and his own expectations leads him to push away the things he loves most, including his daughter and his life with Sherlock. This is underscored by his goodbye scene in the hospital, where he leaves his cane as a silent final message: you saved me, I didn’t deserve it, and here I betray you. 

We’ve had Sherlock’s mind palace for a while, which is a wonderful way to see what’s actually going on in his head. In The Lying Detective, we finally get the equivalent for John: Mary. Hallucinated Mary isn’t a ghost or even a memory, she’s the honest part of John. And she adores Sherlock. She talks about him constantly. She watches him mid-deduction with love and delight. She recognizes that Sherlock knows John, understands him completely, but John disagrees. Sherlock can’t possibly know how worthless John is; like Mary, Sherlock believes he is a good, moral man, and John knows that they’re both wrong. The voice in his head says: Sherlock may be a monster, but he’s my monster. 

The most dramatic indicator of how John feels about Sherlock is his confession and breakdown at the end of The Lying Detective. This is the first time John has been completely honest in this entire story. John hides his feelings constantly, he lies about them, even to himself. And in this scene he nearly does it again, he nearly walks away. Had he done so, I believe his relationship with Sherlock would have been essentially over. He would have grown more and more distant and dishonest until their connection was entirely lost. But out of love and faith, he finally, finally makes a different choice. He chooses to be brutally honest and vulnerable. He cries, but does not turn away. He lets Sherlock hold him. No one has or ever will be this close to John.

Sherlock does not put off rescuing John in The Final Problem. From the moment he realizes that John is in danger, all Sherlock does is try to save him. The problem is that the solution is Eurus. We know that he can’t rescue John without her intervention because he was unable to the first time; the puzzle is too complex for him, it will always be too complex for him. The mistake he made all his life was thinking that intelligence was the answer. When he was a boy he didn’t have the resources to do what he does now: he recognizes that it’s sentiment that will save John, not brainpower. He’s got sentiment in his tool belt now, and that’s because of John. John made him feel and taught him to be a loving and feeling person, and that’s what allows him to triumph over his much more brilliant sister in the end.

My (respectful) thoughts on Johnlock 2017 and why John Watson does not deserve Sherlock Holmes

 (Sherlock meta by sherlolly-locked and penelope1730)

sherlolly-locked:

First and foremost, I will mention that I am an avid Sherlolly shipper but I have always had the utmost respect for Johnlock shippers (and the shippers of other OTPs in our marvellous fandom), but I do have some points I’d like to put forward to Johnlockers after watching [...] The Six Thatchers. 

John Watson is not a good person. 

Over the course of the series John Watson has proved himself deceitful, a sexist and a cheater. (Yes he loves Mary and Rosie but not enough to resist the temptations of a smiling woman on a bus who showed an interest in him).

Sherlock is an evolved individual, who has only in recent seasons began to grow affection for his fellow human beings. He has become close and loyal to those he loves. He is logical and steady and unique. He would never betray the trust of someone he loves.

After watching The Six Thatchers I truly believe that John Watson does not deserve Sherlock Holmes. 

(But this is just my opinion and I continue to have respect for those who ship them, as always).

penelope1730:

I’m not a Johnlock shipper, but even with what went down, I don’t think John is a bad person. He’s just incredibly human - flaws and all. He is as deserving as any other human being (in his position) who’s trying to figure things out in the best way he can. IMHO. His anger with Sherlock over Mary’s death, while not fair or just, stems not only from profound grief, but his own guilt and uncertainty. John made a decision to accept Mary’s past and focus on their future, without fully knowing or even understanding what that meant. As Mycroft pointed out to Sherlock, people with a history like Mary’s tend to “retire” early - permenantly. I had a feeling it was never going to end well where Mary was concerned. Sherlock did his best, even if he did continue to antagonize old lady [Norbury] longer than necessary. No one could have predicted that Mary would take a bullet for him. There were so many ways that could have gone down…Mary could have pushed Sherlock, John could have jumped in, British Security Services could have been more prepared…these were all split second timed decisions, with too many ‘What if’s’ left to wonder about. Both Sherlock and John have evolved & we know they sort it out later on. But, for now, I think John needs to grieve and, sadly, many times that includes blame.

Thoughts on John and the cheating after TST

 (Sherlock meta by weeesi, bandersnatchmycummerbund, asortofbookevent, 

unreconstructedfangirl and notagarroter)

weeesi:

So my sense is: most people HATE the insinuation that John wants to or is cheating … Is that right? I ask because …. I think I don’t actually hate it? I think it’s 1) within the realm of John’s character and 2) a device to show he’s not happy/with the right person at this point in his life and 3) still an insinuation or suggestion at this point.

bandersnatchmycummerbund:

I don’t hate it! Honestly I love it– I think it’s in character and a super interesting storyline. Or rather that it would be. I don’t personally think that’s actually what’s happening here, but I’m super hopeful that John at least thinks that’s what’s happening because I’d love to explore John and his (bad) choices and struggles in that way.

I also like it, actually. On my read, John has always been someone who wants very much to be seen as a decent, stand-up guy, but doesn’t really want to do the work to be that guy (or maybe can’t, actually – because I’m pretty sure John’s idea of Myself, A Good Guy, is not full of barely-suppressed rage.)

In a way, hanging out with Sherlock has always been a great solution for that tension: he gets to be the normal one, and the clear-eyed moral compass, while being neither particularly normal nor particularly grounded in the moral mainstream – all while enjoying the pleasure of living in Sherlock’s London battlefield.

We saw him get anxious in the beginning of HLV, and I think this is similar. In a way, his attachment to Mary is beside the point; he actually chafes against the normal middle-class life he tells himself he wants… and that feeling makes him angrier still, because his fiction about himself has become harder to sustain.

So yeah, it seemed in character to me. Regardless of whether or not he loved his wife (and I think he did, in a complicated way, it YMMV, this is an point on which I think BBC canon is terminally ambiguous) I think John Watson would self-destruct just for the sake of a spark.

I love the character of John Watson, even on the days when I don’t like him very much as a human being. We all carry around fictions of ourselves – it’s part of being human – and it’s wonderful to see that realized so compellingly on screen. To me, the infidelity is a sharp but fitting piece of that puzzle.

asortofbookevent:

I would be surprised if we don’t see John’s “flirtations” explained by plot reveals in the later episode. But I do hope they don’t totally sweep away the element of infidelity, for the sake of the beautiful characterization you’ve described!

unreconstructedfangirl:

I don’t hate it, and I love @tiltedsyllogism‘s characterisation.

I feel like John is a guy that is pretty well in need of certain kinds of validation. Think about his attempt to make a move on Anthea, and more importantly, the woman he thinks is the new Anthea in ASIB, but who is really Irene’s agent. “Nothing I couldn’t heartlessly abandon…” Add that to his string of girlfriends?

The departure, really, from John’s prior characterisation is that in the past, John has always been loyal when he is emotionally engaged… but there’s always a first lapse if there’s going to be one, isn’t there, and I do think he is under pressure, so… it could happen.

That said, I don’t think he actually cheated, I think he just seriously considered cheating, and it’s enough to make him feel very guilty, which in the end gives me ample reason to forgive. He’s not a perfect man.

notagarroter:

To be perfectly honest… If anything, I like John *more* now than I did before.

Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t like this behavior in a partner or father of my child. Not in real life. But for a fictional character? Bring it on.

The fact is, “John Watson the Moral Compass” is a bit of a pill. He was always telling Sherlock how to behave and scolding him when he was "a bit not good.” Dull. He may have been the best and bravest man Sherlock ever knew, but he was also kind of bland and conventional, or at least he presented himself that way.

(And I totally agree with @tiltedsyllogism that John was never as decent or moral as he wanted to believe – it was a fiction both he and Sherlock created together, because it served their purposes.)

Now that the fiction is starting to fall apart, I find him suddenly fascinating and I’m desperate to know what comes next, what consequences there may be.

My hope is that he’ll develop a more subtle and empathetic understanding of the world around him, because he’s aware of his own weaknesses. It’s too bad Mary had to die, because I wonder if this new, weaker, more morally compromised John might have understood her better than sanctimonious S3 John did.

A mission that meant certain death 

 (Sherlock meta by foxestacado)

Sherlock was prepared to die. He probably planned to overdose on the plane. So when he received an unexpected reprieve from death, he dove straight into cases–working on so many at a time that John tried to rein him in (“you can’t go on spinning plates like this”).

Understandable, really, because Sherlock sacrificed his life for John by murdering Magnussen, entered solitary confinement and accepted a suicide mission. Sherlock thought he would never have this again. 

He worked as if on borrowed time, throwing himself eagerly into situations where he faces death. 

• He tells John he’s “having fun, while I can." 
• When he encounters what he thought was Moriarty’s puzzle, he not only says it’s designed to "tease” and “beguile” him, it’s a “noose” for him to willingly put his neck in. 
• He faces Ajay without back-up, knowing this man has already killed in his pursuit of the Thatcher statues. 
• When snipers attack the house in Morocco, Sherlock leaps into the center of the room to cover John while Mary dove for cover. 
• Perhaps most telling of all, when Mrs. Norbury shoots, he appears to be accepting his fate.

Sherlock thought he was the Merchant of Samarra; he didn’t expect to survive, and anticipated dying throughout The Six Thatchers. He thought these cases were his last.

Mary & John 

 (Sherlock meta by thelonelybrilliance)

There was something quite tragic and yet beautiful that Mary died without knowing that John slipped.

This isn’t to say that I’m happy John slipped, or that I think it was a small deal. I do think he was remorseful. I do think he is human.

John has more trust issues with his spouse than most people, and he’s done a really remarkable job of swallowing it down. He loves (loved! GAH MY HEART) Mary VERY MUCH. But new fatherhood is tough, and feeling on the outs from two of the most important people in his life from an intellectual/plotting standpoint–that can be difficult. All of this made it not OOC for me that John would get a little close to a dangerous line.

But. He pulled back. He pulled back and he was sorry and remembered that he loved his crazy little family and his adorable, dangerous, inscrutable wife with her little lace-up sneakers and her assassin’s past. And he wanted to tell her–he wanted to apologize. He wasn’t going to sweep it under the rug.

And then she died. I can only imagine that on top of everything else–all of John’s other insurmountable grief, he feels guilt. But Mary was a very different person than John was. In a way, I think (with the exception that surely she was sad to leave behind John and Rosie) Mary was content when she was dying. She had her shot, her crystalline perfect moment with a man she loved more than anything, even if she couldn’t stay because her past would always catch up with her.

So Mary knew she was always going to die. And Mary got to die looking at her perfect husband–a good man, a faithful man, who, yes, isn’t perfect, and yes, toyed with a possibility of indiscretion, but that doesn’t change who John Watson is and it didn’t distract her in that last moment from seeing who he was.

Does John really love Mary?

 (Sherlock Meta by Ivy Blossom and sussexbound)

Question: hello, sorry for showing up on your doorstep all out the sudden, i don't know if you take asks or not, if not then i apologize. but if you do, there's something I'd like to ask because I always value your insight on Sherlock. See, many people insist that John doesn't love Mary at all and even claim he never did which is driving me nuts, because taking into consideration human emotional complexity and the bbc canon, I disagree. And you know John so well, I'd love to see your perspective on this.

Ivy Blossom: 

Well hello there, stranger, standing here on my doorstep! Please, come on in!

First off: I love the idea that I know John well. He drops by the library from time to time, we go for a pint, I help him with his blog. I’m his sister’s ex, but he and I got along better than either of us did with her, so.

I can’t imagine a version of this story where John doesn’t love Mary. We’re at a point, here after we’ve seen The Six Thatchers but nothing more, where there is a clear suggestion that John is cheating on Mary, and many are shocked and appalled by this. How could ethical, moral-compass John do such a thing? Well: how could ethical, moral-compass John marry someone he never felt any love for? I don’t think he would, and I don’t think he did. John definitely loves Mary.

I think it’s safe to say, in the context of this story, that John and Sherlock are soulmates. They were built with a piece missing in the shape of the other, and each of them become their best and most whole selves when they’re together. This is true no matter who else enters either of their lives, no matter how much either of them loves anyone else. This core construction is permanent and unconditional. It’s practically biological. They don’t even have to like it or want it; it just is. John (or Sherlock!) loving anyone else cannot lessen the reality of this connection, and the foundational bond between Sherlock and John doesn’t lessen the love they feel for other people. Complicate it? Certainly. It may even make it impossible for either of them to properly commit to anyone else. But love isn’t a zero sum game even at the worst of times.

There is no question in my mind that John loves Mary. He loves the version of her that she wants to be. John gets restless in his marriage before Mary shoots Sherlock and her secrets start to spill out, but that’s not a statement on how much John loves her. No one but Sherlock can fill the gap in John that Sherlock fills. He certainly loves her while she can’t.

If John knew Mary’s whole past, if he had known her before she became Mary Morstan, would he have loved her? Mary tells us he wouldn’t, and it seems she’s right. John is having a hard time accepting the lies Mary tells. He doesn’t like her behaviour or her choices when her past self creeps back. Would he have found his way through his anger and feelings of betrayal and committed fully to his marriage again? Possibly. He isn’t ready to give up on her entirely.



married Mary’s fantasy version of herself rather than her reality, and sometimes reality seeps in. John no longer trusts Mary, and that’s difficult terrain for love. But I don’t think John stopped loving her by the end of The Six Thatchers. He is angry with her, and disappointed, but he still loves her.

Barring any rug-pulling details that force us to change our understanding of her death, perhaps Mary has demonstrated that she was capable of reshaping herself to be the Mary Watson she wanted to be. She might have genuinely become exactly who she pretended to be. And John would have loved her.

sussexbound:

I feel like the ‘Miss Me’ video, with the “Go to Hell, Sherlock” message was meant to be a rug pull indicating that her sacrifice was probably not as selfless as it appeared.

But that being said, I agree with the rest of this. Of course John loved her once, or at least the woman he thought she was. He would never have married someone he didn’t love. And I do think his apology in HLV was sincere, and I do think that he wanted to try to make it work, because he thought it was what he should do (they were about to have a child together, for one), he thought he could do, and Sherlock was feeding him the surgery story and acting like all was forgiven.

I felt like John was feeling horribly torn all the way through TST, and part of his anger at Sherlock at the end, is really more guilt and anger at himself. He was straying with bus lady, his heart was still tied so much to Sherlock, and that love is always there, always in the background of everything. He was feeling unappreciated and shut out by both Sherlock and Mary who seemed to have their own little friendship which mostly excluded him.

When he was out with Sherlock, he shut his phone off, tried to ignore Mary, because he valued the Sherlock time, and clearly felt like she was butting-in, in some ways. But she was his wife, and he should want to spend time with her, shouldn’t he? And he had a new baby he loved, and should be there for. And Sherlock and Mary got along, which was–good.

And then Mary just ran off, and he and Sherlock had a plan, they put a tracer on her AGRA drive, and then they just let her run, for weeks at least, before they went and got her. Why? Maybe they just cherished the time together, and dragged it out? And by the time they got there John wasn’t even sure if he liked Mary any more, which is sad. And yet, when they got home, he was still trying to make it work (even though he was drinking again).

John was just being torn in so many different directions. I get exhausted just thinking about it. I feel for him in TST, I really do. It’s a very difficult place to be in, and now, with everything that’s happened, he has a tough road ahead, and some very difficult decisions to make.