It’s not really a point of emotional investment to me, but it struck me that for all the fan criticism about Molly’s apparent lack of resolution in TFP, the fact is that the show never really showed her moving on. Note, I’m only interested in this from the perspective of characterization continuity; I have no personal interests at play with Molly or her infatuation. If pressed, I’d say I relate to the pining but don’t actually feel that she’s had enough character development for me to be invested. As Ivy wrote recently, there’s only so much you can expect from minor characters in a show focused on the main protagonist and his… significant other, and Molly’s definitely a minor character who did not have an arc. Then again, even John didn’t have an arc, as I’ve said. However, regardless of your *opinion* of Molly still not being over Sherlock, there was actually little enough reason to think she was. That is an example of reading into things and ‘confirmation bias’, much like the divergent interpretations of Mary after HLV, like I referred to earlier.
Basically, I think there’s a fundamental difference between character *continuity* and character *development*. Molly (and every other minor character) has had continuity without development, except (arguably) for Mary, who seems to have some development in TST without the benefit of retaining full character continuity. John and Sherlock are the only two characters on the show who *definitely* show both continuity and development. A lot of people mistake one for the other or assume they always go together. They do not. In fact, there’s also a third level of growth and that’s a development *arc*, which only Sherlock himself has had on the show.
To sum up, we had this set of ‘new and different’ responses from Molly in Series 3:
Molly was quite willing to be Sherlock’s ‘John substitute’ in TEH, and even dressed and tried to take notes like him for Sherlock, but it didn’t really work out. When she realized it wasn’t working and Sherlock kept calling her John, she begged off from dinner and mentioned having a fiance.
She’s still willing to help Sherlock no matter what, even when it comes to weirder and/or less romantic things than helping on cases, like helping with Sherlock’s Stag Night preparations for his best friend. This is a bit of a subjective thing, ‘cause I suppose helping Sherlock with John could be used as proof of a lack of jealousy. She made a face when she saw the Vitruvian Man page of Sherlock’s little John binder, so maybe she also realized he’s gay (but this doesn’t mean she’d now have to get over him, ’cause that’s just a different reason for him to be unavailable as always). Still, Molly had never previously implied Sherlock was gay or into John romantically. Sure, she said he looks ‘sad’ when John can’t see him, but that’s not necessarily romantic. Anyway, no reason to think she helped Sherlock with any small task for any different reasons than the ones established in ASiP, when she got him coffee.
Then we meet her fiance in TSoT, and he’s a Sherlock clone to the point of copying his coat and scarf. Still, he showed himself to be a bit of an idiot, and Molly stabbed him with a fork when he embarrassed her. In other words, she was apparently looking for a smart bloke who looked and dressed like Sherlock.
When we see Molly in HLV, she’s acting tough on Sherlock’s drug relapse and seems angry and disappointed enough to slap him. She definitely feels close to him in a way that’s not shown to be going both ways (that is, Sherlock cares but doesn’t interfere or offer opinions on her life). Molly’s shown taking Sherlock’s behavior personally and including herself and John as the ‘people who care about you’, though this approach clearly doesn’t work on Sherlock, who makes a sarcastic remark. Anyway, she’s certainly more feisty, but not thinking rationally about Sherlock or able to see him as he is, unlike the flash of insight she showed in TRF. If anything, you could say she’s as attached as ever but a bit more bitter or conflicted about it and/or about Sherlock in general, whom she’d clearly idealized. The implication is that she’s angry he’s not living up to her ideals.
Finally, we see Molly in TST, and she’s taking care of Rosie and clearly feeling awkward about delivering such bad news about John, and feeling sorry for Sherlock. She’s not really acting like a close friend, in the sense of trying to *help* Sherlock with his grief and pain somehow, but she’s clearly still emotionally invested and as awkward about it as ever. Then of course we have proof she’s not over her infatuation in TFP.
I realize there a lot of opinions and responses that people have to this, whether it’s happiness or disappointment, but my point is that the one thing it’s *not* is surprising. I also realize that people *were* surprised, but this is mostly due to projection or ‘real life behavior’ assumptions, which rarely apply (particularly on BBC Sherlock, which typically picks the more dramatic over the more realistic response). You may or may not think Molly ‘should have’ been over it by now, or maybe you think it’s great that she isn’t. Either way, I mostly don’t have an issue, although I probably disagree regardless. Essentially, there’s really no reason for characters to do the ‘healthy thing’ when people so often don’t, but on the other hand, there’s nothing cool or special or even romantic to me about endless pining for a person you’re idealizing and can never have *or* grow much closer to unless you stop pining. Regardless, it is what it is, and furthermore it is what it’s been since we were introduced to these characters, more or less.
OK, so that was my understanding of the text as it stands, but I just wanted to add that I understand @jedilock’s critique and comparison to Doctor Who (at least in broad strokes, ’cause I don’t watch Doctor Who). The feel-good ideal is certainly ‘very affirming’, as Sherlock would say. The woman who’d been pining– for the sake of that woman– should grow as a person and realize her own worth, and (essentially) move on with her life. That would be best. Fixating on someone who cannot give you what you want definitely isn’t romantic, admirable or satisfying to watch (except for either people who project onto the character and insert their own happy ending, or people who just… like angst). However, I can excuse and/or dismiss the argument if it’s made on those grounds *alone*. I’m not particularly interested in fiction portraying the healthy and/or best case scenario, nor do I have a problem with all minor characters being fodder for Sherlock’s growth, as Ivy described. Except those aren’t the only grounds for critique by far.
One, there’s the issue that while it’s fine that Molly’s not really that important to the narrative and doesn’t need an arc, her continued fixation is simply… hard for many viewers to swallow because it doesn’t ring true. Even if a character doesn’t get an arc, their responses *do* have to change and develop with time to some degree, and we *have* seen some movement in Series 3 (even if my original post clearly shows that it’s easy to overstate the nature and the degree of Molly’s development). As I said, her motivations didn’t *change* in any fundamental way. However, she was not completely divorced from the effects of time, either. So it’s easy to feel that a real person (who is not a minor character created for a certain purpose) would not feel as Molly feels, not to the degree and *intensity* we see in TFP, most of which was there purely for the drama. That sort of forced drama is definitely a concern in terms of writing.
Two, there’s the use of a woman to further a man’s emotional growth and give him cathartic suffering, to the detriment of that female herself, which is definitely problematic. This has been a theme with Molly, Irene and even Mary in BBC Sherlock, as @delurkingdetective has discussed. That is probably excusable with Molly or even the category of ‘minor characters’ in general, but definitely worth critiquing when it’s actually an example of a trend with the treatment of women specifically in Moffat’s writing.
The larger issue is primarily a certain laziness, a reliance on tropes and reusing old, comfortable characterizations. This isn’t to say that tropes are *bad*, really… but used carelessly, they may confuse the audience and mess up the characterization of the protagonist (which is presumably not what anyone wants). One example is obviously all the extensive usage of romantic tropes in Sherlock, which certainly helped give some of us the impression the show’s structure meant to follow through on those signals. Perhaps even *more* problematically, the writing reuses some of Sherlock’s *own* mistakes and blind spots for plot convenience in ways that don’t entirely make sense in context. It’s not just *Molly* who keeps making her old mistake, over and over again, in ways that aren’t fully believable. The bigger issue is something like Sherlock’s behavior with Norbury in TST, as @delurkingdetective described. To have Sherlock trust that Norbury won’t or couldn’t kill him after being in a similar situation with Mary, *and* going on to be super-predictive detective again in TLD might explain why *John* lost faith in him, but it could easily justify the *viewer* losing faith in the show, as well. He wasn’t emotionally compromised with Norbury the way he was with Mary, so there’s no real excuse for his arrogance overriding his ability to predict and understand murder and murderers except pure plot necessity.
In essence: Mary had to die. Molly had to be in love. Sherlock had to suffer. And that is simply not good enough writing.
Let us have a look at how Mycroft addresses John because there is an interesting development over the episodes, one may even call it an arc. I checked with @callie-ariane‘s transcripts and found this. (N/A = not applicable, Mycroft does not meet John or does not address him by name):
ASiP – Doctor Watson
TBB – N/A
TGG – John
ASiB – John calling Mycroft by his first name, so we can assume it is mutual
THoB – N/A
TRF – John
TEH – John (when talking to Sherlock)
TSoT – N/A
HLV – John calling Mycroft by his first name, so we can assume it is mutual
TAB – Doctor Watson in BOTH modern and Victorian scenes
TST – N/A
TLD – N/A
TFP – Doctor Watson
They start with the formal address when they first meet in ASiP, change over to a first name basis some time between ASiP and TGG, and remain like this until some time after Mycroft’s drugs bust in HLV.
From TAB onwards Mycroft addresses John as Doctor Watson until the end of TFP. This cannot be explained by it being Victorian since in the last modern scene we get Mycroft saying: “Doctor Watson? Look after him …. please?”
The most conspicuous S4 episode in this regard is TFP where Mycroft throughout addresses John as Doctor Watson, even when they are alone.
I can think of three possible explanations so far:
sloppy and inconsistent writing
a conflict/development between Mycroft and John unknown to the viewer
EMP/dream
The switch takes place somewhere between the 221b drugs bust in HLV and TAB which equals the period of time in which a start of EMP is often assumed. I would love to hear your thoughts.
Guess who’s ascended to a whole new layer of confusion? It’s me.
At first I was absolutely convinced of EMP due to the fact that most of season four appears to be partially/wholly constructed. However, some scenes are impossible. Which makes me wonder if we are witnessing a collaborative retelling of events the perspectives of Sherlock, John, and Mycroft. An alibi. Or perhaps a version of John’s blog. Also, maybe there are drugs involved. It’s all very strange.
NOTE: I try to provide explanations for these scenes, however, the main thing is having them all laid out in a list. Whenever I’m coming up with theories these are always the moments I end up coming back to.
… to John throwing the AGRA data stick in the fire at Christmas — an event he was never present for because he wasn’t even in the room; he was outside eating mince pies with Wiggins (or something.)
(Left: HLV. Right: Sherlock’s TST flashback).
Explanation 1: Sherlock constructed the Holmes family Christmas scene where John forgives Mary in his mind palace as an alternate reality/test scenario. Explanation 2: John and Sherlock have constructed this memory together as part of an alibi. Explanation 3: Although The Six Thatchers seems deeply rooted in Sherlock’s POV, it’s actually filtered through John’s. Explanation 4: Mary plants this scene in Sherlock’s memory through use of HOUND/TD-12. Explanation 5: ???
Considering the other weird POV scenes in S4/HLV I’m still not sure where I stand on this. But within TST when Sherlock has this flashback the lighting flickers exactly like it does when Mary is in Sherlock’s hospital room and says:
“You don’t tell John. Look at me and tell me you’re not going to tell him.”
Which leads me to believe that Explanation 4 may be correct and Mary has convinced Sherlock that John forgives her through drugging him with “TD-12″/a derivative of HOUND that renders the recipient extremely suggestible.
2) Sherlock has a flashback in TLD …
… after seeing Faith!Eurus, to John walking off into the night with his cane — an event he was never present for because he was off dumpster diving for the pink suitcase. This scene is odd because John is seen from behind, from an outsider’s POV. In the next shot John gets the phone-booth call from Mycroft, who has been watching him through security cameras.
(Left: Mycroft watching John in ASiP. Right: Sherlock’s TLD flashback)
Explanation 1: This scene is from John’s POV and he’s imagining how he used to be before Sherlock from an outside perspective. In a flashback from Sherlock’s perspective. (?) Explanation 2: TLD has been filtered through Mycroft’s perspective as well and he’s working collaboratively to devise an alibi for John and Sherlock. Explanation 3: Sherlock had a flashback to something he didn’t see because it represent’s John in ASiP generally and it isn’t supposed to matter about where the shot is from itself. Explanation 4: Sherlock was secretly watching John leave somehow, hiding in an alleyway. Explanation 5: Season 4 is John’s blog/Sherlock collaborating with John in writing the blog. Explanation 6: ???
At the moment I’m quite interested in Explanation 2, just because it has relevant metaphorical implications considering how Mycroft represents the writers/writers of Holmes adaptations in general.
But to be honest, at this point I’m not sure how lenient this show is with it’s logic/suspension of belief. Explanation 3 does seem possible. It could be that the more simple answer is correct and that this really is Sherlock’s flashback.
Especially considering the fact that there aren’t that many good shots of John walking alone with the cane in ASiP that would fit the tone of this scene. This is a moment in which John feels isolated/alone, so it could just be representational.
Explanation 5 is also pretty interesting, considering how we haven’t seen the blog updating this season while it’s had a lot of attention drawn to it. It could be that the show has become the blog or some other variation of this.
3) “He’s better than a great man …”
In one of the final scenes of TFP Lestrade says that Sherlock isn’t merely a great man, “he’s a good one”, which references what Lestrade told John in ASiP when they first met. A conversation Sherlock wasn’t present for. He was in the cab with Jefferson Hope.
(Left: ASiP scene with only John present. Right: TFP scene)
Explanation 1: TFP is Sherlock’s recurring dream from TST and/or he is unconscious/in a coma after overdosing. Lestrade/John says this at his bedside, the real-world dialogue bleeding into his dream. Explanation 2: Sherlock and John are collaborating by formulating an alibi which involves explaining Sherlock’s dream and they add this line in. (?) Explanation 3: TFP is from John’s perspective and Sherlock explained to him that Moriarty’s “final problem” was to kill him. Also the TAB waterfall scene was beamed into his brain somehow. (?) Explanation 4: It’s in-universe fanfiction/a movie/a TV series about Sherlock and John’s lives. Explanation 5: Sherlock’s dream is being recounted on the blog for whatever reason. Explanation 6: Sherlock and John are coming up with a ridiculous explanation of events on the blog as part of an alibi, because they think the mainstream audience will think it’s the truth. Explanation 7: ???
4) “That wasn’tthe final problem.”
In TFP Moriarty introduces the episode with: “Hi! I’m Jim Moriarty. Welcome to the Final Problem!” John has never heard Moriarty say the phrase “the final problem” before. Only Sherlock hears this multiple times during Reichenbach — once at 221B over tea, again in the story of Sir Boast-A-Lot, and again on the rooftop of St Bart’s.
(Left: TRF with only Sherlock present. Right: TFP)
“Deep water, Sherlock, all your life, in your dreams. Deep waters …”
While Sherlock has flashbacks to his “past” we get a shot of the waterfall scene from TAB. If TFP were John’s dream, he would be unable to form a perfect visual recreation of a scene that occurred within Sherlock’s mind palace.
However, within TFP we also get these:
(Left: MHR, only John and Lestrade present. Right: TFP)
(Left: ASiP, only Sherlock. Right: ASiP, only John) (Both are shown during Mary’s final TFP speech)
(See #3) and additionally: Explanation 1: TFP is from Sherlock’s perspective and the ending references to ASiP and MHR are metaphorical/parallels. Explanation 2: TFP is from Sherlock’s perspective and he is telling it to John / it is being retold by John somewhere like the blog. Explanation 3: TFP is a fan-theory. Like Anderson’s in TEH or a movie/tv series/book/fanfic.
5) TAB is definitely from Sherlock’s POV …
… because, again, narratively it wouldn’t make much sense any other way. A concrete link is that Moriarty tells Sherlock “Because it’s not the fall that kills you, Sherlock. Of all people, you should know that. It’s not the fall. It’s never the fall. It’s the landing” in reference to “I want to solve problems… our problem. The Final Problem. It’s gonna start very soon, Sherlock… the Fall. But don’t worry: falling’s just like flying, except there’s a more permanent destination” from TRF as well as “I-O-U a fall” — conversations John was not present for.
(Left: TRF. Right: TAB)
6) Gunshot flashbacks.
Within TLD both Sherlock and John have flashbacks to gunshots that look exactly the same. Which makes me wonder what the exact logic of this show is. Can two characters have the same memory of a gun going off? We already know that within this episode Sherlock has a flashback to something it’s likely that only Mycroft has seen — so perhaps these gunshots are also metaphorical, or part of a retelling of events by Mycroft/John/Sherlock?
Gun #1: Norbury’s gun. (Or Mary’s. They’re the same model.) Gun #2: Likely John’s gun. Appears after “Taking your own life” speech to Faith!Eurus.
The fact that when Sherlock is on the bridge with hallucination!Faith!Eurus, the shot of the smoking gun is superimposed over him means that Sherlock is the one who got shot at in this memory.
This matches up with the flashback. Ungloved, right handed, with a Walther PPK without a silencer. (As opposed to gloved, left handed, with a silenced Walther PPK like Mary in CAM tower.)
But TST is presented so it seems like John did not see Norbury’s gun go off at the aquarium.
Therefore, either: a) John was there to see the gun go off and he, Mycroft, and possibly Sherlock are crafting an alibi. b) The whole of TLD is from Sherlock’s perspective, including John thinking about the smoking gun, and he subconsciously knows that John was present to see it be fired in TST but his memory manipulated through drugs. c) The whole of TLD is from Sherlock’s perspective, and he imagines John dreaming about the gun going off metaphorically. d) John’s dreaming of the smoking gun is from his POV and the shot is completely metaphorical.
Summary of Main Points:
– Sherlock has a flashback in TST to Christmas HLV. Therefore the burning AGRA data stick scene is fabricated, the flashback is metaphorical, or TST has been filtered through John’s POV.
– The lighting in Sherock’s TST flashback matches the lighting when Mary snuck into Sherlock’s hospital room in HLV. (Possibly indicating that Mary has drugged Sherlock with HOUND/TD-12 at least once to manipulate his memories.)
– Sherlock has a flashback in TLD to John with his cane. This could be metaphorical, an indicator that TLD is filtered through Mycroft’s POV as part of an alibi, or an indicator that TLD is filtered through John’s POV.
– John and Sherlock both have the same flashbacks to gunshots. This could be metaphorical, or an indicator that TLD is filtered through multiple POVs.
– TAB is definitely from Sherlock’s POV.(Thank God for this one concrete episode.)
– TFP has reference to TAB, meaning it has to be primarily based in Sherlock’s POV. There are dialogue references back to ASiP, meaning that eitherSherlock is unconscious and in a coma with Lestrade’s words filtering in, or that TFP is breaking the fourth wall and is an in-universe fanfic/book/movie that Sherlock has somehow influenced along with John — or TFP is a collaboration between Sherlock and John on the blog.
During the Molly scene at roughly 60:20/60:25 minutes, we hear Mrs Hudson’s voice saying “softer Sherlock!”. Why? I thought that if we had ever heard Mrs Hudson talk in Sherlock’s head it would only be “Norbury”. Is it only a sign of his new better, more “human” behaviour?
If any of you doesn’t want to be tagged please let me know
Ah! I’ll need to listen with headphones on…
Mrs. H coaching Sherlock by John’s bed? Comforting him as he tries to tell John what he needs him to hear?
I JUST LISTENED TO THIS BIT THREE TIMES AND I REGRET TO INFORM YOU IT IS INDEED MARTHA LOUISE HUDSON
Assuming that TFP is John’s near-death moments- I can only imagine this to be at John’s sickbed, Mrs Hudson telling Sherlock to speak to him softer because he isn’t responding. He isn’t “picking up his phone” and it went to the voice mail, in which molly (the mirror) tells him that she’s in “dead centre of town.” John is dying.
(On a separate note, if anyone sees this, could you please confirm in TLD if Sian does a voiceover on Gina Bramhill – the morgue!Faith – during the scene in which she’s td12’d and trying to remember? “I can’t remember, can’t remember who you’re trying to kill” I think it’s Sian’s voice but please tell me I haven’t lost my mind)
@holmesianscholar I listened to the TLD td12d Faith and it seems the voice of the orignal Faith not a voiceover but maybe someone else can listen to it?
just gonna leave this here again
I don’t care what anyone says, that is 100% Mrs Hudson holy shit.
I really hope that this reading of tfp, as John’s tab, which @the-7-percent-solution has been talking about since practically the moment the episode aired, and which has been expanded upon incredibly skillfully by @marcespot, gains the traction it deserves, because it results in some absolutely gorgeous textual call-and-response, and unfolds some truly beautiful johnlock dynamics.
Waterfall vs. Well
In TAB, Sherlock comes to the understanding that, no matter how brutally he feels he needs to wrestle with his inner demons, and no matter how brutally they beat him, with John by his side, everything is fine. John in Sherlock’s dream is a super manly man, with full control over his pistol (hur hur), and the ability to stand with Sherlock, even in this place where his inner Moriarty is beating the crap out of him, and his emotions are on full, gushing display.
John is all he needs, in order to take the leap at the end of dream. He does it willingly, joyfully, with complete confidence.
John, on the other hand, has not managed his emotions at all, which is abundantly clear from the entirety of s4, and I think, might account for a lot of the ooc stuff we see in tst and tld. He’s caught in a deep conflict, between the dissatisfaction of the hetero cover story life he’s chosen for himself, and the real connection he wants to have, with Sherlock. He isn’t the man he wants to be.
Rather than the free flow of emotion, potentially overwhelming, and powerful, that Sherlock experiences at the end of tab, John is deeply stuck. I know on a textual level everything about the well in tfp is dumb, but on the level of the dream, it’s incredibly profound.
@badsnowfo said: This would make sense of why there is a six Thatchers case in the blog and again this season…
RIGHT?! I’m going to kick myself if the reason the blog “has gone downhill a bit” is because there’s nothing to update it with because we’re still in Dream World aaaaaah 😉
I’m still not entirely sure in what situations the hand-clenching stops and when it comes back. Could anyone fill me in? Thanks!
John tends to clench his hand (and unclench/stretch) when he’s about to confront his feelings, or is having trouble coming to terms with how he feels about a situation. Another big one is the Tarmac Scene from HLV before he takes Sherlock’s hand, but you can see more here.
I’m focusing on my love of canon. Canon is incredibly rich. And I love canon Holmes so much. He’s such a good person, and there is so much I can do with him and Watson (also a gem of a fellow).
“I text her, The Woman I mean” wow John what a reaction to something you were just encouraging Weird almost like that conversation was about something else
why would they show his reaction to this like why else would the camera go to his face
LEONARD: You know I could arrest you? VELMA: What for? LEONARD: Wearing a dress like that. VELMA: Would you like me to take it off? LEONARD: Then I’d really have to press charges. VELMA: Press away.
VELMA (offscreen): Isn’t that how they got started? LEONARD (offscreen, with Mycroft mouthing along): Who? VELMA (offscreen): Adam and Eve. LEONARD (offscreen, with Mycroft mouthing along): Oh, them. VELMA (offscreen): And that turned out okay. LEONARD (offscreen): You think so?
VELMA: Now, what was all that about arresting me? (She flicks the ash from her cigarette onto the floor beside her. Mycroft smiles.) LEONARD (offscreen): Well, maybe not arresting you. VELMA (offscreen): No? LEONARD (on the footage): I could just keep you under close watch.
VELMA: Very close? LEONARD (offscreen): Uh-huh.
VELMA (offscreen): Shame. I was looking forward to putting myself into the hands of the authorities. LEONARD: You were? VELMA: Fingerprinting … (Turning back, Mycroft reaches over and stubs out a lit cigarette in an ashtray.) VELMA (offscreen): … being searched … (Mycroft turns to the screen.) VELMA: … thoroughly.
It’s the little things that make John’s mind bungalow so freaking good.
Velma (Wilhelmina, William) and Leonard (brave lion, my GOODNESS) are delicious together.
Leonard flirts like John does: he comes on clearly enough, but backs down again to allow room for a “no.” (“Well, maybe not arresting you…I could just keep you under close watch.”)
Velma smokes. Nice touch? Nice touch.
John realises that Sherlock wants him: Velma wants to put herself in authoritative hands; Velma wants to be searched thoroughly; Leonard is pleasantly surprised.
I LOVE THIS.
The Final Problem isn’t about sex. John’s figured out that it won’t be a barrier. It’s about whether he can trust Sherlock. It’s about love.
And what about voyeur Mycroft? Well, he’s been watching them from the start, hasn’t he? Bit embarrassing, that. Probably has cameras in 221B. Probably enjoys himself a bit too much.
It’s John’s idea to disrupt the movie. It’s okay for Mycroft to keep an eye on Sherlock as family, but that’s all. The rest is private.
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