The ILY scene is still not a setback for Molly's character

 (Sherlock meta by mizjoely)

Q: Honestly, even if the second ILY wasn't real (dont perry, I believe wholeheartedly that it was), that scene is still in no way a setback for Molly's character. Who on earth thinks that S1!Molly would have demanded he say it first? Plus, my personal interpretation of that demand has always been that Molly was putting them on equal footing, that she took a little moment to be selfish and decided that he had to experience for himself just how difficult what he was asking of her would be.

A: That right there, my friends, is a grown ass woman who is over her silly S1 crush and is capable of working around her feelings, capable of putting the man she loves in his place, capable of not just giving into his every demand. So really, all the people who pretend to feel sympathy for Molly can just eff right off because the rest of us can see just how wrong, misplaced, and fake it is. [...]

Moftiss ship Sherlolly

 (By anonymous and mizjoely)

Anonymous: I can't help but add my two cents about Moftiss and their take on Sherlolly and post series 4 interviews. I totally agree with you that they deliberately kept all ships possible and ambiguous enough so any shipper can be happy (except for jl as TPTB went out of their way to show those two men are attracted to female part of population ;) alas it still can be shipped as two guys raising Rosie together etc etc) anyway. I like that's it all left to our interpretation, yet I can't stop feeling that Sherlolly has become a secret pleasure and the OTP of Moftiss. Yes, I include both Steven and Mark here. It's no secret that Steven ships Sherlolly, he even admitted it on s3 extras. But I also think Mark ships them too for it's him who wrote the shippiest moments of them and now doesn't deny what Sherlock feels but tries to keep it ambiguous. Why I think Sherlolly is this secret OTP of Moftiss? We're the only ship that [gets a] liplock on screen (true, it's Anderson's crazy theory butstill it has been shown on screen -I always felt it was an indulgence of Steven on his desire to see those two together, so he came up with a way for it to happen). Then the ILY scene. It had been added as a last afterthought/makeover of a scene no one liked except them. So if they couldn't have had a puzzle t hey went for ILY. Which is one of the biggest deals in this show. And who is it aimed at? Molly. Because they needed to change their scene why not make it into something they secretly would like to see but were keeping from doing to keep it neutral? Let's make it pleasurable to ourselves if the puzzle needs to be changed. So while still keeping it all ambigous it's actually quite obvious and self indulgent. Also all those tiny moments with tons for Sherlolly interpretation. Sherlolly has always been in the back of their minds. Subconciously at first then deliberately in the end. (I truly need to write some proper meta on this.)

mizjoely: However the showrunners feel about the ship, they definitely gave us a lot in a very economical manner. If I had to pick a quote to encapsulate my feelings about both Molly Hooper and her screen time, it would definitely be “Though she be but little she be fierce.” Thanks for sharing.

 The "ILY" was not a setback

 (Sherlock meta by mizjoely)

Q: I was reading some metas about The Final Problem and some (who aren't "Jlock Conspirators" oddly enough) claim that aside from Sherlock lying to Molly, Molly was in no danger and Sherlock knew it, since it explains how hurt both of them sound on the phone. What confuses me is how is all of this a setback to Molly's characterization since some claim she's back to being a lovesick puppy ("who deserves better") she was at the start of the show?

A: It’s only a setback if you feel it brings her back to being S1 Molly, the girl with the crush whom Sherlock manipulated. If you believe he was manipulating her again, and that his second “I love you” was nothing more than him “saying it like he meant it” as requested, then that can be viewed as a setback to her character.

I, however, do not believe that for one instant he “knew” she was in no danger. He believed she was in danger, therefore he was desperate to save her. That first “I love you” was him attempting to do as she demanded of him (oh, how weak of her, to demand that he say it first!); the second one, is him meaning it for real. A coerced confession doesn’t necessarily mean a faked confession, which is where I feel a lot of people are getting confused.

Just because he made her say it, and just because she made him say it, doesn’t mean it wasn’t true both times.

Sherlock is fully aware of Molly's feelings for him 

 (Sherlock meta by mizjoely, bassfanimation and theleftpill

mizjoely:

“After all not all the men you fall for turn out to be sociopaths.”

Why are none of us talking about the fact that this line shows definitively that Sherlock is fully aware of Molly’s feelings for him?? He defines himself as a sociopath, so he’s obviously talking about himself (or at least including himself in a select group of men) - ipso facto, he knows how Molly feels about him.

Guh. I will never be able to write a post S3 story where he’s oblivious of her feelings!

bassfanimation:

I’ve always thought of Sherlock as being very aware that Molly has feelings for him. I think the Christmas scene sealed it for them both. Unfortunately, it also forced them both to acknowledge that it was “impossible” for them to be together. Neither of them let the feelings be forgotten, but they both have had to compartmentalize it and try to ignore it. Sherlock can’t love, or at least he doesn’t want to love. We may never know why according to Moffat’s universe. Molly sadly accepts that because she doesn’t want to change him, even if it means he’ll never return her feelings. I like to think this is something Sherlock truly does love Molly for. She would rather love him from afar than to make him change for her, in any way, shape, or form. Him knowing that he has the love of someone is something he cherishes, even though he would never tell a soul.

theleftpill:

Oh yes, Sherlock knows exactly how Molly feels for him - evident in their first exchange: when Sherlock asks her about her lipstick after beating the corpse, his gaze lingers on her with a knowing expression. He knows exactly what’s up. Where I find the progression is in Sherlock’s reaction to that sentiment. S1 has him using it to his advantage, to utilize her and manipulate her to do his bidding - that is, when he wasn’t dismissing it. That starts to change when Sherlock calls out her “boyfriend” as gay and upsets her; he’s surprised by her pain and crestfallen. The Christmas party is the turn for me. Not only does he fully realize the extent of her love for him, but he reacts strongly in return. Not in love, not yet, but enough regret and affection that Sherlock apologizes for being an ass to her. Then he goes to her for help with the Fall - not to manipulate it from her, but because he accepts her affection and embraces what is freely given. In S3 he begins to return it in Sherlock-y ways; inviting her to solve crimes, bringing her further into the “circle” (engagement party), asking her to help with the stag night; and ultimately he has her in his head, literally, saving his life once again. While I’m not sure that returning her love is yet canon, there’s certainly plenty of fodder that proves he not only knows of her feeling, but returns it as best he can in the ways he knows how.

Regarding Sherlock's pause before "If it's true just say it anyway"

 (Sherlock meta by anonymous @mizjoely)

Regarding Sherlock’s pause before “If it’s true just say it anyway”. I agree with Anon, that was such an amazing moment and it was a turning point for me as well.

His energy changes palpably when he hears her say “it’s always been true”. It’s like time stops and everything else disappears for a moment. It was somehow such an intimate moment. To me it was as if he is (and we are) taken from the dimension of a task to be performed while time is running out to a completely different plane where it is just the two of them and where performing a task successfully, even if it is saving her life, is not what it’s actually about. Something just gives way in him, like he can’t play the game any more.

Her amazing sincerity in that moment, her refusal to continue playing games and the way she embraces vulnerability – these are her quintessential qualities, this is actually her strength, and it is what I think he is drawn to in her, even if he doesn’t know it. When she says it, he can’t go on as before, he is changing right before our eyes. He seems, for a moment, helpless against her sincerity. And that is their relationship right there. In that moment, something just stops, but then after a moment it’s also as if he is thinking: Oh God, Molly, not now, please, please just continue playing so I don’t lose you. 

I cannot believe this whole scene. I could write a book about it.

Sherlock didn’t allow himself to recognize Molly's 

feelings for him 

 (Sherlock meta by mizjoely)

Q: I just had this thought... In The Lying Detective Mrs Hudson says that if Sherlock can't figure something out he stabs it, shoots the wall etc etc... Is that what he did with Molly too, he couldn't figure out his feelings for her so kept pushing her away or insulted her ( earlier seasons)? Does that make sense?

A: Not only that but he didn’t allow himself to recognize her feelings for him as anything more than superficial. Think about it: S1 he blatantly takes advantage of her “crush” to get her to do things for him. S2 he completely misses the obvious when she comes to Baker Street for the Christmas party and incorrectly deduces that she’s got a new boyfriend. Later he is forced to see that she believes herself to be someone that doesn’t count and is able to correct that incorrect assumption, but that’s as far as it goes. By S3 he is able to thank her for everything by taking her on a day of crime solving, but still doesn’t deduce her correctly, doesn’t see that she actually IS ‘compensating’, trying to reassure both him and herself that she’s happy with Tom. In TAB he realizes that she’s not just a friend, but also a woman whom he has wronged. And in S4 she’s his friend, he tells her he loves her and actually realizes that he means it the second time he says it to her. He finally has been able to make the emotional connection that her feelings aren't just a crush, that it’s not just friendship, but a true, deep and lasting love. A love that maybe he can finally allow himself to return.

The Holmes siblings in TFP

 (Sherlock meta by sherlolly through mizjoely)

I was chatting with @sherlolly, who is using her phone, and since this was such a good analysis/discussion of Mycroft and Eurus in The Final Problem, I volunteered to transcribe her thoughts in a post (because we all know what a pain it is to do longish posts on a phone!). 

I hurt for Mycroft in this episode. My heart [aches] for all of them, that scene [when Eurus tries to force Sherlock to shoot either John or Mycroft] was essentially Mycroft saying, I love you enough to die so that you can stay with your friend. John loved Sherlock enough to be the one to die if he thought Sherlock would live. And ultimately, Sherlock loves both of them enough that he would have taken his own life so they could live.

Mycroft has always had his own way of doing what he thought was best, which usually involves doing things that no one sees in the same way that he does.

Sherlock understood that when he told their parents that Mycroft had done his best. For Mycroft, the things he did were his best. I’m not saying that they were THE best, that’s an important distinction. I am saying that with all of his understanding, Mycroft did what he thought was best.

To which I replied: Yup, I see it. But I’ve always been ambivalent about Myke and probably always will be. But I like him way better now than I used to. 

I’m not so sure I would want to tell my parents hey, guess what, my sister and your daughter is alive, but damn, she’s a bat shit crazy murderer. Because he doesn’t process emotions the same way that regular people do, Mycroft makes most of his decisions based on his brain. And what he rationally thinks is better. It’s like when Sherlock told Molly that Jim from IT was gay. He thought that he was "saving her some time", and "wasn’t that kinder". Mycroft however, has never believed that the truth is kinder.

I don’t think either one of them are completely right or completely wrong. For all of the things he has done, Mycroft has aspects of a moral code that Sherlock never has. And Sherlock has a code that Mycroft never has. And I’m not entirely sure if Eurus could have been saved even if 5 year old Sherlock could have figured out the code. Would she have gone as far into the Cuckoo’s Nest as she did? Maybe not. But it would always have been inside her, that desire to hurt, that wanting to kill.

See, Eurus knew that she was already too far gone. But Sherlock knew how to bring her back in a way that Mycroft would not have thought of. He showed her that he had not left her, maybe he couldn’t bring her home, but he could land the plane for her in a safe place. She absolutely freaked out that Sherlock was going to kill himself because if he had killed himself, who was going to land the plane for her?

That is the difference between her and Moriarty. Moriarty just kept wanting more and more and more thrills like a junkie. She had been desperately crying out for love and salvation. When she clings to Sherlock when he finds her, at that moment she is the little girl again, the one desperate for her brother’s love. This extraordinary genius, this ruthless killer, reduced to being a terrified little girl wanting her brother to rescue her. And Sherlock’s heart hurt for her, in spite of everything that she had done and I’m sure that although he realizes he could not have saved her ultimately, he probably also has guilt. She retreated into herself because she did not want to be lost again. Then Sherlock started visiting her regularly and playing the violin, showed her that he was there, and reawakened her.

Does Sherlock have a personality disorder because of his childhood trauma?

 (Sherlock meta by mizjoely)

While chatting with @sherlolly I had a bit of an epiphany regarding Sherlock, in that he actually has a sort of personality disorder because of his childhood trauma. He now has to integrate the emotional self he truly is with the coldly logical self he imposed upon himself after Eurus killed his best friend and burned down the family house. It’s almost like he suffered from DID, and now he’s merging those two personalities into a new Sherlock Holmes. And I don’t think he could have managed it if it wasn’t for Molly Hooper and John Watson.

He told Molly in TRF that he’d ALWAYS trusted her and that she’d ALWAYS counted. I think it’s because of her that he was able to form a real emotional bond with John Watson, and because of that emotional bond, he was better able to understand and forgive his sister for her actions. Without Molly and John, Sherlock could never have brought her home (or as close to home as she’ll ever be capable of).

Of course I’m not a psychologist and have no background in psychology so I’m sure I’m way off base, but this is how it struck me today and as we all know, I’m crap at meta so we’ll just call this musings.