sfmpco

Interesting that in TEH that when Sherlock asks Molly to solve crimes and she is hoping he'll ask her to dinner. She's engaged and she's still hoping, and I'm sure she would have secretly taken her ring off if they had gone to dinner. The scenes between them are so fun and all at once also delightfully awkward. Lots of smiles and side glances. And then, it's the end of the day and he invites her for fish & chips. So, he has at least invited her out. But instead of jumping on that, she asked him what the day was all about, and the conversation took a different route. Molly, Molly, Molly. Seize the moment and talk about the other stuff over dinner! Sweetest, tenderest scene between them, and he's so genuine, not being manipulative at all. One of his most "normal" and calm behavior scenes.

Well, notice back in TEH that when Sherlock is first filtering info on Mary (after John gives him the bloody nose), that one of the words that flies at him is SECRET. So right there he knows something is being hidden from him about her. However, I think he puts it aside because he feels he has made a connection with her, and we follow his lead. If he likes her and she likes him, we also like her and ignore that filtered word. Still, the clue was there almost from the start. As for her past, CAM may give a hint to it when he mentions something to the effect of "too bad your family can't be here" in the wedding telegram, and I have to wonder if there is something there with her family that if found out would really make John not like her. Well, that would be really, really dark and I hope the show doesn't go there. HLV was dark enough.

In Sherlock's case? Sure. I think that sums the character up pretty well. In a real person? Who knows. He's sincerely manipulative.

Certainly the way he is drawn now, relationship with women wouldn't go well but that's mostly because he just isn't a people person. He really doesn't have the skills (yet) to be with someone. He is just barely learning to have friends, but even in TEH, he doesn't approach his return into John's life like an adult but like a child. He can't get off the mustache issue and is joking. I also have no problem thinking of him in relationships with women, but right now Molly is the only one who "sees" him, but although she counts to him and he appreciates all she's done, he doesn't "see" her. When he says in "ASiP" that he's married to his work, I think it's really a way for him to avoid personal relationships because he just doesn't know how to have them. Mycroft makes several illusions to Sherlock having no experience with women and Moriarty calls him a virgin. Irene senses his inexperience immediately which is why she tells him she's not sure he knows where to look on her naked body. Later she takes her conversation from "Have you ever had anyone" to "let's have dinner." Well, she's a dominatrix. She can spot inexperience. He and Irene would never work out. For one thing, I feel like with her - "Once a blackmailer, ALWAYS a blackmailer." He would never trust her. He would also never put himself with a dominatrix because he always has to be in control of a situation. He liked her intellect and that's how they connected. He only made one little stab at their relationship, and that was to text her a happy new year. I do feel like he had some connection with Janine at the wedding. He clearly was being charming to her, and he was charmed by her liking of him so much so that he demonstrated a pirouette and started to show off to her during the great deduction. And at the dance, he looked to her and would have gone to her to dance with her until he saw she was with someone, and then he left. Alone. Alone is still his most comfortable place to be. I think it would be hard for him to date in the traditional sense because he finds traditional dating activities to be boring - as evidenced by his snips with John in TBB. Dinner and a movie? He'd be bored to tears. Romance is an activity that would be too slow for him.

I keep wondering if Mrs. Hudson hadn't interrupted what was becoming a very intense moment, would Sherlock have accepted Irene's invitation to dinner. Even he seems a little off-put by the break in momentum, and he seems to slightly console Irene with, "It's not the end of the world, it's just Mrs. Hudson." I think he was being drawn into Irene's spell.

When I first heard the line I was wondering if we would see SH in a future episode with a dog. We know he likes dogs. Redbeard. BTW, it was interesting that Lestrade totally missed shooting the hound beast, but John was a sure shot.

Well, we know that the mother was also a genius. And how do you raise two super genius boys to whom all else are like goldfish? Clearly the boys played games together. Even as adults they still play OPERATION. And apparently they used to have contests on deductions (The Empty Hearse).

Well in Baskerville he says he only has ONE friend - John, but in Reichenbach Moriarty names 3 - John, Mrs. Hudson, and Lestrade - and Sherlock doesn't discount that, so to me it means that he has progressed to admitting more than one friendship. Of course, we know he also has Molly, so that's 4, but Moriarty doesn't count Molly. I don't think SH saw Lestrade as a friend necessarily in Baskerville. I do think he has always seen Mrs. Hudson as a friend and someone he can depend on, but he didn't count her in Baskerville. He made it very clear that John was his ONE FRIEND. All of season 2 really is about cracking the tough exterior he has. Each episode puts in another crack, and by the end of season 3 we see less of the machine and more of the humanity of the man. And in "The Great Game," Sherlock says to Moriarty something along the lines that he's been told he doesn't have a heart, and Moriarty responds that they both know that's not true. That Sherlock feels great fear about not being able to trust his own senses and he experiences that fear is the crack. The machine has a weak point. In Scandal Irene became a weak point - whatever that infatuation was (wouldn't call it love), but the fact that he sized up her measurements right off and stumbled over his own words when she was naked is part of the cracking. He did get his heart engaged a bit, and when he discovered the deception, he was pretty devastated. That was the big crack. Then in Reichenbach he was starting to shatter all over the place. This show is just brilliant.

So what was Sherlock's comment at the end to mean - "Gotta see a man about a dog." Any takers?

John is pretty dang clueless about being there for Sherlock during the meltdown. You would think he would have just listened and been there for him. As a friend he should have been a little more observant. Love the way Sherlock tries to break the ice and make up the next day. So awkward and clueless. A man who has a friend but isn't always sure how to be one.

Cumberbatch is 37 and will be 38 in July. Personally I still think there are times when he is lit too young and other times when he seems in his 40's. Wish the look was more consistent. I like the older look.

I feel like Sherlock is so upset because as a drug addict, he knows what a drug feels like, and he is sensing that although he can't put his finger on it. The perception thing is really scaring him to pieces, probably not something he experienced in his drug using days. I do believe he knows totally that he has been drugged.

Just noticed tonight that John volunteers the term aspergers in relation to Sherlock. That's kind of what I would have thought from the beginning, although he doesn't fit all the classic symptoms. He does fit some of the classic symptoms, however.

Was just thinking about when Moriarty threatens Sherlock with, "I will burn the heart out of you" and how John is later put into the fire - John being Sherlock's pressure point. Of course, Moriarty was already dead when that happened, but it's still interesting. Not making a case for JohnLock as I don't see a case to be made.

Sexiest line from Scandal and perhaps in all the episodes? "...Because I took your pulse." That deep whisper in her ear. Melt, melt, melt.

Mycroft hasn't just been shot, so it's only natural that his head would be working better than Sherlock's at that point. I started to post just that much, but then I realized -- Where is Mycroft's helpful hint about the mirror actually coming from? Since (as you mentioned earlier) we're apparently seeing inside Sherlock's mind palace -- isn't "Mycroft" is a manifestation of Sherlock's own intellect, merely a technique that Sherlock uses to help himself focus? We're working with a lot of layers here! Good one, very layered! He definitely hear's Mycroft's taunting which helps keep him on his game. Good grief, if Cumberbatch doesn't win a BAFTA for one of the 3rd series episodes, he has been robbed!!!

I'm curious -- do you mean the 60-minute unaired pilot? (In which case, did you somehow see that before you saw any of the 90-minute episodes?) Or when you say "pilot," are you referring to the first regular episode, the 90-minute version of "Study in Pink"? i've only seen bits of the original 60-minute pilot. Sorry, i tend to call the 1st episode of a show the pilot, which really ASiP is still just a remake of the the original pilot. Glad they tinkered with his makeup some because he looks REALLY young in the pilot. Sometimes he still photographs very young. So it will be nice in about 10 years when he has some more permanent character lines in his face. I like the age he looks when he gives Molly the 2nd kiss on the cheek.

I should also add that two of the times in TEH that Sherlock came to Molly (#1 when he appeared in the mirror of her locker and #2 when he came to ask for help), he was like a phantom - just suddenly there, always startling her a little. That's exactly how secretive he would have to be, which doesn't really make for the best dating scenario.

I doubt we will ever see Sherlock in a truly romantic situation because to do so would be to go so far out of canon that SH fans would be screaming bloody murder. But I do think that seeing him grow as a human being by daring to let his guard down for whatever reason is interesting. If by HLV he was still the exact same person as he was in ASiP, he really wouldn't be as interesting. I've thought a LOT about the Molly scenario, and certainly there are tons of Youtube videos promoting that relationship (some of them very poignant, btw - check out the "Say Something" one). Her character has grown a lot too. Even IF Sherlock ever dated anyone, I think that because of who he is in public and because he never knows when someone he cares about will be put into a dangerous situation, I would think he would keep any dating completely secret. He would not be out on the town like John. Even Mycroft has him constantly watched, so he would have to be very cloak and dagger about it, especially after those rooftop threats from Moriarty. He trusts Molly even though he knows how she feels about him, and he clearly cares about her, but care and love are different things, and he doesn't cross that line because to cross that line removes that emotional safety net he has with her. He can't tamper with it even if he were inclined to, which he isn't. Her crush on him doesn't make him feel unsafe, even though for her the two times he kisses her on the cheek just about rip her heart out, the second kiss being even more meaningful. (I'm discounting the window-crashing, hair ruffling big smacker he gave her which never really happened. Suspect that was put in just for the fans.) Molly can, of course, lay into him verbally and physically like no one else (except for Irene), and he never stops her. In fact, she gets him to apologize the first time she verbally stands up to him, and she gets a false apology when she slaps him for giving a clean urine sample when clearly he was high. She's in his mind palace enough to help him figure out what to do and what's happening after Mary shoots him. As one who suffers from his unrequited love, Molly sees things, believes things, hopes for things, that he cannot give her. He cannot be the man she wants or needs him to be, and when he does the big deduction in TSoT, you can see her fall hopelessly in love with him all over again, poor thing. But that's part of the painful beauty of unrequited love - you always hope and believe in the person, and you believe that someday, somehow, they will see you.

Oh yes, that's true. Dang it. I think I should stop talking now. I'm lowering the I.Q. of the whole forum.

He hugged Mrs. Hudson in ASiP True. Darn it, but that was more of a shoulder pat and because he was standing over her and she was sitting, and then she leaned into him. But with Mary it was a conscious decision to embrace her.

Okay, I'm going to go out on a limb here. First of all, although I have two episodes I'm not as keen on, I of course fell in love with the whole show BECAUSE of the pilot. It was so well written, edited, directed, acted, music - perfection. However, the episodes that have the straight forward cases worked from point A to point B are the least interesting to me. As the show has developed, and as the characters have developed, so have all the other aspects. That's why I prefer the more convoluted ones, which to me start with "Scandal in Belgravia." However, there is something completely priceless in every episode. Sherlock doesn't give as many insults as he used to, but John sure does get some zingers in.

I agree with your entire post, I just had to pick up on this particular paragraph. The alternative explanation is very sad indeed. All you said, it is completely true. And it means that Sherlock deluded himself, that he let his heart rule his head. He does not want John to be sad, and that is why he is trying to much to redeem Mary in John's eyes. Even making it look like shooting him was no big deal. This is not about liking Mary. Not in my eyes. It is about John. And the tragic thing is: John does not realize this. Sherlock likes Mary probably from the moment she gently assures him that she will bring John around about making up with Sherlock, and when she tells John in the cab that she likes Sherlock, I think it is completely genuine. She didn't meet him under the circumstances of him doing detective stuff but under the circumstances of a very, very awkward reunion that resulted in John attacking Sherlock three times (love that whole brawling sequence). Also, Sherlock is so focused on John's mustache that the gravity of what John is going through is totally lost on him - and Mary witnesses this child-like, socially incompetent behavior in someone she had likely been told amazing stories about. This was Mary's first impression of him. So although we as the audience have no clue at this point that she is hiding anything, we do feel endeared to her and her immediate liking of Sherlock. When Sherlock is helping Mary with the wedding planning details, he is completely besotted with her. There's no sexual tension towards him from her, and he responds to her as if she's the most safe and trustworthy person he knows. So he completely relaxes his guard around her. She's like a sister he never had, and the fact that she loves his best friend just allows him to let his walls down around her and be a little more of his true self - which means he puts the detective on the shelf while with her. I love it that she can see through his lies and calls him out about it. Like a mother gently scolding her child. I think she does see him a child in some ways. Well, that was her first impression. Clearly she in endeared to him and he to her... and you get even further evidence of that when Sherlock comments on John's weight, John denies the figure and Sherlock says, "Mary and I think different" which implies that Sherlock and Mary probably have a little gossipy phone time... because they really like each other and are comfortable with each other. And then she shoots Sherlock, and the word "liar" floats by her... she could decipher his lies, but he couldn't decipher hers. She had never really let her guard down. Of course, she had never planned for Sherlock to come upon her getting ready to kill CAM, and if Sherlock had never come in, no one would have ever been the wiser. I do not believe that this invalidates the fact that she was genuinely endeared to Sherlock and he to her which is why he is so shocked to discover what she is. At the end... Sherlock: "You will look after him for me, won't you?" Mary: "Don't worry, I'll keep him out of trouble." Sherlock: "That's my girl." My girl. There's ownership of a deep, caring friendship with her. Notice that Mary hugs him. We never see Sherlock hug anyone in any of the episodes. He's not the hugging type and is really almost put off by it, but with Mary, he puts his right arm around her and is smiling. She doesn't get a two-armed hug, just one, but she's the only one who has ever gotten an embrace at all. Even John doesn't get a hug and of all people John would deserve it on what would seem a last good-bye. So it shows that Sherlock is still very endeared to Mary despite everything. She has his complete forgiveness. I would venture to say that he actually loves Mary (in the most platonic way). I really don't want to explore Mary's past that much in future episodes. It's almost enough to leave that old festering wound alone and consider the case shut with CAM's death. If the series kills her off next season (and Mary Watson did die in the books), Sherlock may be just as devastated as John.

The staircase would have been stored in his mind palace, as everything was, so if it isn't the original staircase, it is certainly a visual reference to it. Love that he's got Moriarty in the mind palace chained up by the neck in a straight jacket and padded room where he absolutely cannot escape. Moriarty says he is dead, which means that Sherlock absolutely believes that Moriarty IS dead. You can't blow your brains out and not be dead (and the creators said that they didn't create a double fake-out suicide). And speaking of the mind palace, it is interesting to me that apparently Mycroft doesn't use the technique of mind palace and is slightly disparaging about it to Sherlock. It is also great to show Mycroft's faster intellect by having Sherlock focusing on the wrong details regarding what kind of gun shot him instead did the bullet pass through him and shattering the mirror. Sherlock is dancing around the wrong details. Mycroft is in control of his intellectual prowess, and Sherlock is not entirely in control of his own. Especially from the "A Study in Pink" to "His Last Vow," we can see more and more that as he gets flooded with information, he can go completely off-kilter and manic (the classic wedding reception scene) trying to sort it all out, something that Mycroft apparently doesn't suffer. Makes me wonder if Sherlock's drug habit wasn't partly to calm the voices in his head.

Just speculating on where Sherlock got any sort of earnings before John came on the scene. He's been working with the police for 5 years but doesn't get paid for being involved. Clearly, though, he has a credit card since he loans it to John in "The Blind Banker." So he has a credit history. Can't imagine him doing something so mundane as to sit down and pay the bills (probably pays all bills online). Still one has to wonder where his income came from. Clearly he wasn't making enough which is why he took a roommate, although even if John hadn't come along, Mrs. Hudson likely would have rented it to him alone. Maybe some independent cases, but not enough to keep him financially afloat.