John Watson

[Pseudonym]

He probably knew that if he invited John's other friends he wouldn't be able to stick it for longer than one drink. Can I vote for Sherlock to be the stripper? ;)

[Van Buren Supernova]

It terrifies me.. but.. I kind of want to go! You are not a bloke! Nobody tells me not. But wait, no, it terrifies me. Okay I would peek. Wait, think about it, you like him for his brain. But then, it's Sherlock, he is really not shabby looking. Wait..how about it would ruin everything forever. Oh whatever. He would be weird and awkward.. that's what make him attractive. But then.. wait..

 

*continue to argue with self for another hour*

[Pseudonym]

'Not shabby looking,' lol.

 

Is that you as yourself or you channelling John's inner dialogue? ;)

 

If he was playing a stripper as part of a case or for an experiment he could maybe pull it off...

[Van Buren Supernova]

Oh, no doubt, me as myself, obviously, definitely. XD

[T.o.b.y]

 

What's everyone's head-cannons on John's parents?

 

I think they are either dead or the relationship is pretty distant. John never mentions them, if they were at the wedding at all we sure didn't notice them and they aren't present at Rosie's christening.

 

Of course they could be pretty horrible, considering how many emotional problems John seems to have, but then those might be due to his experiences during the war or something else entirely.

 

It's definitely my headcanon that Harry got some sort of flak for being gay, but whether that was from parents, classmates, fellow students at university, co-workers or whatnot, no fixed ideas. It just seems to me that John has witnessed social disadvantages of being openly homosexual.

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

As for the pills: one should ask Lestrade. They may not know which pill was which, but at least if there was a poison in one of them. Or both. :D

 

Woulda been nice, and maybe they did (after the episode ended and John had already posted his blog entry).  On the other hand, I've known law-enforcement investigations to be appallingly lax.  I was on a jury once, where a cell phone had turned up in a jail cell (strictly forbidden), and one of the guards was accused of allowing the prisoner access to the personal property he had turned over when he was checked into the jail.  Problem was, they never checked the prisoner's personal property bag to see if his phone was missing!  Obviously he had gotten a phone somewhere, but this particular guard was being charged with abetting him only because he's the one who had processed him in.  To my way of thinking, the prosecution had not even proven that the crime the defendant was charged with had even occurred.

 

I think that Irene might have called Jim saying she had the ominous "Coventry" code and that it's important (exactly the same what she told Sherlock). Jim could not crack it and send her to Sherlock, using the apparent blackmail attempt as a bait.

 

At that point, I don't think Irene had the slightest idea what she had, just that it was an MOD code of some sort.  It wasn't till after Sherlock explained it to her that she knew what it was.

 

If he was playing a stripper as part of a case or for an experiment he could maybe pull it off...

 

That's what strippers DO!!!  :P

[Pseudonym]

Oh dear, now I'm thinking of a Moriarty vs Sherlock strip off. My money is on Sherlock, Moriarty is too psychotic, though he does appear to have gun fellating skills. But wait, that was in Sherlock's head, so does that mean Sherlock does? Oh dear, Carol, you've pushed me down the rabbit hole.

[Van Buren Supernova]

Sorry if it had been discussed before.

Do you guys think John texting is considered emotional affair?

 

It's not the classic or physical affair but it fits emotional affair.

 

Although personally, I think there are a lot of ways/grey area to justify confiding in someone other than your spouse, but then again, if that includes prolonged flirting, it looks like EA to me.

 

Based on their texts, John and bus girl, it also seems like they are in touch for awhile and have more connection than what are shown.

 

Another stray observation which I am sure is just a script error.

John was writing about his alternate activity of changing and buying nappies while Mary was there, obviously, still pregnant.

Yep, I checked with Ariane DeVere

 

 

And since when he is playing Dad to Sherlock?

 

I mean, I thought I’d spent the last few years being a Dad to Sherlock, but it

really doesn’t compare. The baby runs all of our lives. (Maybe not THAT different

to Sherlock then!) If I’m not changing nappies, I’m buying nappies. I’ve fought in

Afghanistan and my best friend once faked his own death but none of that..

[Pseudonym]

They seem to like that joke of comparing Sherlock to a baby - in TSoT there's something about them having a 'real' baby to look after (I think Sherlock says that), then there are the comments with Lestrade in T6T about Sherlock being like a baby and needing winding. I think it might be (yet another) overdone joke they chose to run with. Yes, young Sherlock may have been petulant and childish but to keep referring to him as a baby is a bit OTT, not to mention how different he is since the fall. Sherlock in most of S3 and all of S4 is not remotely babyish, if he ever was. 

 

Going from that quote (the being a dad to Sherlock makes me feel icky) he seems to harp on a bit about being in Afghanistan. Yes, you were an army doctor, we get it. The guys I know who have been in Iraq or Afghanistan barely mention it, it's not something they bring up constantly, especially if it was over ten years ago. All the snippets I see from the blog are cringeworthy, they really should have got someone better in to write it, the one that was actually online I mean. I'm sure some junior writer would have leapt at the chance to do their own mini versions of case fic. 

 

As for the EA, I think if he was just texting about his life and moaning about Mary and the baby it would be one thing, the more sexual flirting side though (I can't remember what he says when Mary gets up in the night to change Rosie, but I think that's flirty?) I think that makes it a lot more of a EA. Though I think he is over the top with his guilt about it saying that he cheated on her. 

[J.P.]

Yes, the baby joke - it was Sherlock who said it directly after his all-3-of-you deduction.

Is it only me or the jokes in S4 feel a bit stretched?

 

As for the affair - I think the most important aspect is that John wanted more. Don't know how I would feel, knowing my partner was flirting with another woman, even if it was only text and he ended it after a while. From an observer POV it seems to be important THAT he ended it and that he felt so bad about it.

[Van Buren Supernova]

If say, John is confiding with a female friend about his life, and there is a bit of flirting, I'd say it's not as bad as getting in contact with stranger with the only intention is flirting. Because I believe that what we were shown. It started as straightaway flirting, not friendship.

 

Some of the message like 'miss you' and 'nice to get to know you a little' etc make me think there are a bit more than what we are shown. Not physical, no, but maybe more conversations, accidental meetups or maybe coffee.

So, I don't know what to think of that.

I believe from many testimonial EA is normally more damaging to relationship than other kind of affair, but that depends I guess.

 

About the baby joke, yah, I remember TSoT and I think it's overdone too. Once, it's quite alright although I find it awkward when Sherlock said that, thought it was a portrayal of Sherlock's awkwardness at the wedding, which is fitting.

But mentioned again, no, because I don't see it at all. Yes, Sherlock being difficult sometimes and throwing tantrum, but that is friend level, not parent and children level. So yah, agree, it's icky.

 

While @Afghanistan, I actually find it okay. It's long running joke since forever and I don't mind that because John indeed loves to remind everyone about him being a doctor and soldier. Living and having a friend like Sherlock, he has to hold on those, to remind Sherlock he is still significant and has things that Sherlock doesn't. :p

[Pseudonym]

Yes there must be more to the texts, you don't say 'miss you' to someone you've only texted a few times... plus since it was Eurus' plan to mess with his head she would probably try to subtly push it as far as she could knowing how much guilt he would feel about it. I wonder how far she would have gone? And now I'm imagining a Mary/Eurus death match with John as the prize. :D 

 

With all the (imho sickeningly overdone) themes about love conquering all this season maybe all Eurus needed was the love of a good man like John. Then she would have been a delightful young lady. ;) 

[T.o.b.y]

Yes there must be more to the texts, you don't say 'miss you' to someone you've only texted a few times... plus since it was Eurus' plan to mess with his head she would probably try to subtly push it as far as she could knowing how much guilt he would feel about it. I wonder how far she would have gone? And now I'm imagining a Mary/Eurus death match with John as the prize. :D

 

With all the (imho sickeningly overdone) themes about love conquering all this season maybe all Eurus needed was the love of a good man like John. Then she would have been a delightful young lady. ;)

...Because we all know what a delightful young lady Mary was and how much good John's love did her...

 

I think his guilt stems mostly from not having loved Mary well enough, or at least so he thinks. It doesn't matter that the affair never went beyond texting, what matters is that he wanted more and he betrayed her, thus failing to live up to her image of him as a good man and letting her down in yet another way.

 

I think what Mary was trying to tell them with her last message was that even if neither of them can fully be the hero other people see him as or who he would like to be, the ideals they aspire to and the legend that they have created are still valid. They can be both, the great detective and the good man as well as the traumatized drug addict and the troubled, war-worn soldier with massive anger management issues.

 

My favorite part of this series, series 4, is where Sherlock tells John he is only human and says it in such a way that it's clear he accepts that - and his own fallibility as well.

[Pseudonym]

Exactly my point and why I think the love heals all theme is, ahem, b*llsh*t. 

 

I hate those DVD messages so much. 

[SherlockedCAMPer]

My 2 cents on John's texting. 1) a gentleman wouldn't do such a thing especially to a stranger. I was saddened when he didn't toss the phone number. And even more saddened when he started texting her. 2) it really doesn't matter what type of an affair it was. Because he was getting involved with a woman that wasn't his wife (or other family member) outside of a more or less professional work relationship (or by association of Sherlock's inner circle), he was having an affair.

[Van Buren Supernova]

.. maybe all Eurus needed was the love of a good man like John. Then she would have been a delightful young lady. ;)

I don't know that. :D

She likes to make mountain out of molehill. And if John cheated Mary with her, she would keep it in mind that he is capable of doing the same thing to her someday.

I think, John still ends up in a well. :P

[Arcadia]

I didn't like the baby joke when Sherlock made it. I sort of enjoyed Greg's comparison of having a baby was like living with Sherlock ... but why didn't Sherlock get the joke, since he himself made the same comparison at the wedding. Why, why, why don't any of these people watch their own show? Arrrggh!!!!!
 
*pant pant pant*
 
At any rate, I thought the "winding" remark was unnecessary. (And you can't tell me Sherlock isn't smart enough to get that joke! Grumble grumble.....) And I didn't even notice the "dad" reference so by now I'm so fed up with the whole joke I don't even care any more.
 
This isn't even what I planned to type. This episode, aaaiiieeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!! If I ever get ahold of Gatiss....

[Pseudonym]

Ha. Am I getting the impression you might find it ever so mildly irritating? :D 

[T.o.b.y]

I didn't like the baby joke when Sherlock made it. I sort of enjoyed Greg's comparison of having a baby was like living with Sherlock ... but why didn't Sherlock get the joke, since he himself made the same comparison at the wedding. Why, why, why don't any of these people watch their own show? Arrrggh!!!!!

 

*pant pant pant*

 

At any rate, I thought the "winding" remark was unnecessary. (And you can't tell me Sherlock isn't smart enough to get that joke! Grumble grumble.....) And I didn't even notice the "dad" reference so by now I'm so fed up with the whole joke I don't even care any more.

 

This isn't even what I planned to type. This episode, aaaiiieeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!! If I ever get ahold of Gatiss....

Of course Sherlock got the joke! He just pretended he didn't because it was at his expense. At least that's how I view that scene; it never occurred to me that Sherlock might genuinely not know what Lestrade and John are talking about.

[Pseudonym]

I got the impression he wasn't paying all that much attention, he was lagging behind and not really listening, then when he gathered it was something about him he didn't bother finding out. But then he does say 'no, I don't get it' when Greg says about him needing winding, which he should have got even if he missed the rest of it. 

[Arcadia]

I'm going with Tobe's explanation, it makes me feel better.
 
Okay, now that I've calmed down, what I mean to discuss was ... John. (Surprise!)
 
Specifically, the scene where he "confesses" to Mary. I've never taken his "hallucinations" about Mary completely literally ... that is, I don't think John thinks he's actually seeing Mary everywhere he goes. I think it's a metaphorical device to show us what he is thinking and feeling throughout the show. She's his inner voice, but when he's talking to her, it's him talking to himself, imagining what she would say.
 
So when he's confessing to Mary, when he's letting out his guilt and feelings of failure, when he's describing the kind of man he wants to be but isn't ... he's talking to himself, but I think he's also talking to the other person who's actually in the room, Sherlock. The confession even starts with him talking directly to Sherlock ("I cheated on her.") So I think it's meant to work both ways; when he says "Who you thought I was is the man I want to be," I think that applies to both Mary and Sherlock. He should have been a better husband; he should have been a better friend. He thinks he let them both down. But he also wants to go forward, and try to mend what they had. He doesn't have that chance with Mary, but he does with Sherlock.
 
So I guess that's why I think that John Watson, in his own very emotionally constipated way, apologized to Sherlock for hurting him, for not being the friend he should have been. His apology was more in the form of soul cleansing, but to my mind that makes it more sincere. It also makes me want to hug him, and I don't think I've ever said that about John before. He's usually too prickly. Hm.

[Pseudonym]

I don't know, saying 'I'm not good but I want to be' isn't the same as saying sorry. I don't want to hug John I want to kick him. 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Once you've kicked him, he'll need a hug. (Maybe two. ;) )

[Arcadia]

I think John would actually help you kick himself, Pseud. Then he could hug you, or something. :p

[Arcadia]

​Warning: schmaltzy, idealistic romanticism, dead ahead.

 

I've been reading this fanfic: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12361196/1/Time-of-the-Season

 

It's the kind of thing I normally abandon after a few paragraphs ... Sherlolly fluff ... but for some reason it engaged me enough to last to the end. (There's a scene between Mycroft and Sherlock that is just perfect.) At any rate, this is last scene. I don't know (or care :P) if it fits with "canon" or not; I just liked it so much I thought I'd share it, and this seems the appropriate place to do so. It takes place as John and Sherlock are being driven home after the events at Sherrinford, and Sherlock is reflecting that he can't keep his loved ones safe. John answers:

"No, you can't. You do the best you can, within reason, but you're only human, Sherlock, just like the rest of us. It's the trying that counts -- and the love that's behind it. You know bloody well you can't put life on hold for fear of death."

 

They were silent then, for a time, each of them absorbed in their own thoughts. John suddenly felt overwhelmed with memories, regret, pain, love. Mary smiled at him, loving him in spite of everything, her blue eyes bright with hard won wisdom, and courage. And tears.

 

Sherlock finally said, meditatively, "I've lived in fear all my life. It was Jim Moriarty who pointed that out."

 

"What?" John frowned, abruptly shaken from his own melancholy.

 

"Well, his ghost, or whatever it was. When I was shot and still unconscious. I asked him why he never felt pain."

 

"Good God. And what did he say?" John asked, fascinated.

 

"He said you always feel it, but you don't have to fear it. That it was all good. Pain. Heartbreak. Loss." Sherlock looked at John again. "Shows you're alive, at least."

 

John gave a sour little bark of laughter. "That's the truth."

 

Sherlock slid wearily down the leather seat. Looking up at the ceiling, he said, "I always thought of love as something childish, but now ... it seems to be the only reasonable response."

 

"You're growing up, mate," John said, not without sympathy.

 

He could see that Sherlock was giving a tired smile as he murmured, "Time to put away childish things?"

 

John nodded. "Soldiers."

 

Sherlock raised a brow. "It seems an odd label in this particular context."

 

But John shook his head, and there was Mary, smiling at him again. He said softly, "No. For better or worse, it's the very heart of the matter."