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What did you hope for / fear in S3 - that didn't happen?


Carol the Dabbler

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We spent two years anticipating Series 3, hoping for some things, and fearing others.  In some cases we were right, much to our joy or consternation.  But in many cases we were wrong....

 

For example, I was hoping for a retraction or apology from Kitty Riley.  She was an interesting character, and I was curious to see how she'd handle it.

 

What about the rest of you?  What failed to materialize from your wish list -- or from your boggart cupboard?

 

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I hoped Mary would turn out to be a "baddie" (which she did), preferably as a version of Moran ( I mean, could there be more of an invitation than the name  Mary Mor(st)an?? I know it's not canon but I held high hopes they'd go for that), and then she'd disappear after being unmasked to feature as the next major villain. Sherlock and John could use that as a bonding moment after Sherlock's freturn to get reaquainted with each other.

I still held hopes when they dropped all those hints in the first (two) episodes, but, well. I lost out on the home straight.

I am a bit disappointed, even now. Maybe it's a bit vain but I don't think the "canon" solution to be that clever. One more reason why I hope for a "false bottom reveal" in season 4. I expected the writers to come up with a more intriguing solution than the amateurish one I came up with. It's not quite her background or her dramatic reveal that got my attention. It's her appaling behavior in HLV. I wasn't that impressed with the solution. Seemed a bit lazy to me. I hate all too predicable, stereotypical developments.

 

I also hoped wedding meant an adaption of the Milverton case. I.e. Sherlock marries someone (carrying the theme to the extreme). Didn't quite happen, though I was smirking in the beginning of HLV when Janine made her appearance.

 

The only fear I held that didn't come true was that they'd turn Sherlock into someone "tougher" by stressing his adventures during his absence. Instead, they've portrayed him more vulnerable. Which I quite like. They have even implied that he felt lonely. It fits with my head canon rather well.

 

Yeah, I somehow hoped for another Kitty Reiley appearance as well. It would have provided some symmetry. I love entanglements, and especially profound character development. I for example imagined she could have felt guilty after Sherlock's "suicide." She wasn't portrayed as a journalist that was ruthless to the core. It was the beginning of her career, and Sherlock was, so to speak, her "first victim." Somewhat of a turning point. Would it change her priorities? Or would fame's call win out? I would have liked to see that sort of development we saw with Anderson. I didn't expect it from him, though. An interesting surprise. On the other hand, I feel a bit sad that her character was discarded.

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I honestly hadn't given much thought to anything else than Sherlock's reunion with John, and how he had faked his death. The restaurant scene was a great surprise; I would never have thought of that. My versions of the reunion were much more simple, but here Sherlock pops up in a restaurant, pretending to be a waiter with a french accent, right when John is proposing. It's preposterous, crazy, and just brilliant. And at the same time, it doesn't at all detract from the fierce emotion when John realises who the waiter is. Very powerful reunion scene.

 

I did expect that Sherlock would understand more of what he'd put John through. Had actually expected a somewhat heartfelt apology, and was at first very disappointed, to be honest. Now I see that his reactions were very Sherlock-like, and the ending of TRF, when he walks away from the graveyard, is a good pointer. Also, I didn't believe much in his tears on the rooftop, so that should have been an indication as well. I mean, someone who can do what he did to John, and carry out the deception so well, has to be somewhat hardened.

 

How Sherlock faked his death (if we're to believe his explanation to Anderson) was surprising in the way that it wasn't surprising at all. Many had come up with similar theories - I don't think anyone got it entirely right, though, but close, and I guess I had expected to be more surprised. However, one surprise was that it was Sherlock himself lying on the pavement when John checked his pulse. I still don't get how Sherlock's eyes could look as dead as they did. And the ball under the armpit seemed a huge risk to take, but then again, the whole thing was risky. As Anderson pointed out, many things could have gone wrong. I kind of like that thought, actually. More so than Sherlock saying that he had everything under control.

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I expected S3 to be much more about the fallout of S2. Sherlock struggling to prove to the public that he is not a fraud, Kitty Riley having a breakdown when she realized she'd shared house and bed with a psychopath who used her to drive a man to (almost) suicide, Donovan and Anderson working through their guilt. They did the Anderson part beautifully (and who'd ever have expected the fandom to love him so much after S3?) but otherwise, not so much.

 

I also feared (but who didn't) that Mary would completely disrupt the dynamic between the boys, and I was so relieved and happy when Sign apparently proved me wrong (should know better than to trust Moftiss before all the cards are on the table). What I never expected is that she would do so with John's complicity.

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For example, I was hoping for a retraction or apology from Kitty Riley.  She was an interesting character, and I was curious to see how she'd handle it.

 

Does this count? (Go to around 1:20)

 

http://www.johnwatsonblog.co.uk/blog/07november

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A lot of what I expected came true. However, I was also a bit disappointed that much of what happened at the end of series 2 was largely ignored. Take Lestrade, for example. It's a bit odd that his career does not seem to have suffered at all after the great impression the chief superintendent got of him, doesn't it? Lestrade didn't feature enough in series 4, anyway. Sherlock's reputation was restored too easily as well. Then, while I firmly expected Magnussen would blackmail Mary and that she would shoot him, I thought he'd be after her money, because in the original, she was an heiress (or would have been if the treasure had been found). I should have known that on "Sherlock", even businessmen aren't particularly interested in something as boring as cash.

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Yeah, they do seem to have swept most of the fallout from Series 2 under the rug, don't they?
 

... one surprise was that it was Sherlock himself lying on the pavement when John checked his pulse. I still don't get how Sherlock's eyes could look as dead as they did. And the ball under the armpit seemed a huge risk to take....


The homeless-network people didn't let John feel for Sherlock's pulse for very long at all before they pulled him away, so they weren't taking too much of a chance there. As for his eyes, they didn't move at all (we already knew that Sherlock's a good actor), but I would have expected John to think it was odd the pupils were not dilated.

 

Added:  Not meaning to ignore you, Arcadia, but I assume that's a video, so I can't really check it out till I'm at the library next.

 

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My biggest fear for series 2 and 3 was that they would pair Sherlock off. I was relieved both times, I think they did Irene and Janine extremely well as "un-love stories" and so far, they've done everything right with Molly and Sherlock, relationship-wise, but that does not mean I have no apprehension for series 4 that way. Quite the contrary. If Mary Morstan turns out to be an ex-assassin living under an alias, she and Dr Watson have a child and Moriarty is back from the dead, then we've left Doyle so far behind us that Holmes with a girl-friend (or even getting married himself) seems frighteningly possible. And I think that would be the last straw for me (though I'd be happy to be proven wrong).

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At first I feared that Mary would disrupt the relationship between S & J, but then I read and heard interviews with Amanda Abbington assuring us that it wouldn't be the case, so I was relieved. Then I started thinking that it would be nice to see a girlfriend of John being supportive of Sherlock for once. However, it can get too much on the happy side, even for a sentimental person like me, which TSoT showed me. I thought the dynamic between Sherlock and Mary, while nice, was just a little too perfect. Too sweet. To some degree one might argue that it changed in HLV, but I don't really think so. Sherlock was very supportive of Mary, and their goodbye at the airport felt, again, too rosy.

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Yeah, I know what you mean, I think. I had also hoped for a little less harmony. But they worked around that pretty well by making things difficult between John and both Mary and Sherlock individually, so those two can team up against him once and a while. I loved it when, in His Last Vow, John tells them in exasperation "you two should get married". Mary and Sherlock are very much alike. They could be siblings. Except that Mary has much less pose and dignity, she's more down to earth and practical. In all, I think the relationship between Sherlock and Mary works better than the marriage between her and John. Which should make for an interesting series 4.

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The only thing I hoped for was that they would come up with an explanation of The Fall that would make sense. I was worried that they would pay too much attention to what the fans want to see just to make them happy, that it wouldn't make sense at all. Also I really hoped it was Sherlock who jumped off the building and not Moriarty with Sherlock's mask or something like that. So when I saw the first few minutes of TEH for the first time I was horrified and thought that they had to be joking :D I was so relieved that it turned out to be just one of Anderson's stupid theories.

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I was worried that they would pay too much attention to what the fans want to see just to make them happy....

 

 

Well thank heaven they didn't do that!   :P

 

I guess they figured out a way to more or less have their cake and eat it too -- but then of course they decided to throw doubt on even the "real" explanation.  If they did that in hopes of making everyone happy, I think they miscalculated just a bit.

 

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Yeah, I know what you mean, I think. I had also hoped for a little less harmony. But they worked around that pretty well by making things difficult between John and both Mary and Sherlock individually, so those two can team up against him once and a while. I loved it when, in His Last Vow, John tells them in exasperation "you two should get married". Mary and Sherlock are very much alike. They could be siblings. Except that Mary has much less pose and dignity, she's more down to earth and practical. In all, I think the relationship between Sherlock and Mary works better than the marriage between her and John. Which should make for an interesting series 4.

 

Hmm, I'd like to see the Mary-Sherlock friendship in slight dysfuntion. I actually cringed when John said those words. But then again, it's hard for me to reconcile with Mary being who she is. She's got a cold killer in her that I don't feel Sherlock has - despite a certain event in HLV. Though, maybe under different circumstances he could have had.

 

I enjoyed another comment, though, from TSoT: "What're you talking about, what's she talking about, get your wife under control!" "She's right." "Oh, you've changed!"

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I was afraid that the introduction of Mary would weaken the interaction between the two main characters. Then, when Mary seemed to be warm and understanding, I was much happier about the wedding (though I was sorry John would no longer live at 221B). Then her actions in HLV were appalling but consistent with being a villain, so that was okay......

 

What I didn't anticipate was John's behaviour. I expected the punch in the face, because Moftiss had strongly hinted that John's reaction to Sherlock's return would be much stronger that the original Watson's (i.e. fainting, followed by immediate acceptance). However, I didn't expect John ever to forgive someone (his own wife!) who hurt Sherlock, nor did I expect the series to end with the emotional gulf between the two men being so profound.

 

I hadn't thought about Kitty returning but I did want to see Sally Donovan apologise. It is interesting that - judging by the fanfic, anyway - people seemed to assume that she would be the remorseful one whereas Anderson would stay hostile. I was happy for that to be wrong, because I enjoyed Anderson's journey from an irritating twit to a likeable human being.

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... and I enjoyed Sally's brief appearance in The Sign of Three, apparently perfectly unrepentant and still rolling her eyes at what a text from "him" does to Lestrade's schedule. I think a lot of Sally's hostility towards Sherlock might stem from concern for Lestrade, and so I have quite a bit of sympathy with her, even though I absolutely adore Sherlock myself. I'd like Sally to never change much and to be around for a while.

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I'm afraid I still find him to be an irritating twit  :-)  but at least he's on, er, the "right" side now.

 

I would have liked to have seen if Donovan had any guilt about Sherlock. I kind of get why she is the way she is, but she's unneccesarily mean.

 

Hmmm, assuming there actually is an emotional gulf (I can't decide), maybe some of what we'll see in Series 4 will be John and Sherlock finding their way to a stronger relationship with each other? One Sherlock doesn't try to dominate so much? That seemed to be where they were going in 3, I think I'd like to see more of that.

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Hmm, well now we're getting into what we'd like to see in series 4, which has its own thread, but let me just quickly say I'd love to see Sherlock go back and forth on that (dominating his friendship with John). I like him being 'in control' mostly, and just occasionally put in his place! That's just more fun than him being all sweet and considerate, though I love that too, on occasion - but the fact that it doesn't happen too often makes it all the more special when it does.

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I know, sorry, I'm terrible at following directions. :)

 

I confess, I didn't really have any expectations of S3, simply cuz I hadn't seen this show (heard of, not seen) until one of our local PBS stations reran the first 6 eps - last spring, I think it was. I was still absorbing them when S3 came along. Which was great, actually.

 

I will say that after I saw the promos for TSo3 I was a little worried (not fond of sentimental shows), and I didn't really care for it that much at first viewing (except for that ending. WOW. Sniffle.) But now that I've seen the whole series a couple more times, and viewed TSo3 in context, it's become one of my favorites.

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He! I didn't follow my own directions - and I'm gonna continue not to do so now (ooops):

TSo3 (great abbreviation, btw) is definitely better in context, I agree - if I just watch that episode over and over, it feels too sappy. But as part of the whole show - wonderful! It's very gratying to see Sherlock be so honest with himself, and both he and John show open affection.

It was a wonderful surprise, though I confess at first it was also a bit of a shock, and I felt that it was out of character. Now, not so much. I see it as development.

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Just remembered that I had thought John would keep contact with some of his and Sherlock's friends after Sherlock had gone - certainly Mrs. Hudson, which clearly was not the case. I wasn't disappointed, just surprised, and definitely felt bad for both of them in that scene when John finally visits her. Achingly sad!

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Just remembered that I had thought John would keep contact with some of his and Sherlock's friends after Sherlock had gone - certainly Mrs. Hudson, which clearly was not the case. I wasn't disappointed, just surprised, and definitely felt bad for both of them in that scene when John finally visits her. Achingly sad!

 

Does anyone understand why he didn't stay in touch with her?  I haven't a clue, myself, and it makes me uncomfortable.  If I felt like he had an understandable reason, it probably wouldn't bother me, at least not in the same way.

 

Actually, I guess I do have one explanation, but it's not in-universe.  I'm pretty sure They were trying to draw a parallel between John's behavior and Sherlock's (not letting John know he was alive), apparently for artistic reasons.  But if it doesn't also make sense in-universe, it feels forced to me.

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It's funny, I just realized the other day that J. & S.  exhibit basically the same behavior in this regard. John only has to look at himself if he wants to know "why" Sherlock didn't get in touch.....

 

I don't find it particularly unusual, actually. A little sad and thoughtless, I guess, but pretty human. At first you don't want to deal with other people's pain, then you're kinda embarrassed because you didn't, then it's just easier to, as John put it, let things slide.... yep. Been there, done that. I would take it as a sign of healing that he finally DOES visit Mrs. H.

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Just remembered that I had thought John would keep contact with some of his and Sherlock's friends after Sherlock had gone - certainly Mrs. Hudson, which clearly was not the case. I wasn't disappointed, just surprised, and definitely felt bad for both of them in that scene when John finally visits her. Achingly sad!

 

Does anyone understand why he didn't stay in touch with her?  I haven't a clue, myself, and it makes me uncomfortable.  If I felt like he had an understandable reason, it probably wouldn't bother me, at least not in the same way.

 

 

 

 

I just figured that it reminded him of Sherlock. John left 221b. He left the flat, and we are not aware of any memento he took. He apparently didn't clean out the flat either. So he can't have spent much time there after Sherlock's death. I doubt he would have allowed Mycroft to dictate him what to do with Sherlock's things. I suppose John turned his back to all things connected to Sherlock. Mrs. Hudson included. Maybe because it was too painful. Then it felt uncomfortable. Or maybe because it was more convenient than to deal with everything. Could be a "running away from it" phenomenon. That's up to everybody's head canon I guess.

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I assumed John 'let it all slide' because, at first, it was too hard going back to the flat, being reminded of his loss. After a while he probably started feeling bad about it, and so couldn't bring himself to face the embarassment - plus, no matter how long he stayed away it would of course still hurt to look back. I'm very glad he finally did visit Mrs. Hudson - it would have been even more sad if he hadn't done so before we saw Sherlock return.

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It's funny, I just realized the other day that J. & S.  exhibit basically the same behavior in this regard. John only has to look at himself if he wants to know "why" Sherlock didn't get in touch.....

 

Well, Sherlock didn't get in touch because he was afraid John would 'let the cat out of the bag'. Or are you saying you think he might have had another reason he's not telling?

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