I’m just going to make this one post about the whole thing and then I’m done, cause there’s literally no point in stressing about it or being upset and I’ll tell you why.
First, Martin Freeman has supported the narrative of John and Sherlock being romantic partners countless times in the far past AND even recent past. This interview is such a blatant contradiction of him calling Sherlock the “gayest story in the history of television,” calling the Oklahoma parody true and accurate, saying he read the canon as Holmes and Watson being in love, and not being bothered in the slightest about Johnlock fan art. So don’t take it too seriously.
You have to look at what he’s saying in context. We don’t know what the question was. It seems like he was upset about Freebatch or a Marvel question and ended up extending his answer to johnlock. Yeah, it was shitty, but of course he’d be angry about fans speculating about his personal life, or being asked about Ben in an interview that wasn’t supposed to be about him.
Second, it’s not like Johnlock is the only ship that’s been “shot down” by a cast/crew quote before. Literally every ship that’s somewhat popular has quotes that are both in support of it and against it. We just happen to be the biggest ship, so it makes sense that we’d have the most of these quotes, both good and bad. If Sherl0llians can ignore Moffat’s quote about the ily scene, and Ben and Loo’s past quotes about how Molly will never be with Sherlock in favor of Ben randomly saying Sherlock might love her, then we have every right to do the same with this. If War/stans can ignore Amanda calling Mary a psychopath in favor of Martin saying they’re happily together, we can ignore this.This is why you can never take cast/crew quotes to heart. If you did, you’ve have to take everything they say seriously, and there are too many wild contradictions for that to even be possible.
Third, yes it’s true that of all the ships, the cast/crew comment the most about Johnlock, both positively and negatively. But when you think about it, it makes sense. John and Sherlock are the leads, and the romantic tension between them is so blatantly obvious that the actors and writers are asked about it all the freaking time. There’s a reason journalists hardly ever (if ever) ask about War/stan, Adblock, or Sherl0llly. If they did, they’d have their fair share of quotes they can celebrate and ignore, but no one asks.
Lastly, it really doesn’t fucking matter what they say, or what their intentions are. Fictional content should be able to stand on it’s own. You shouldn’t be asked to filter what you’re seeing through interview quotes from the writers and actors. That’s literally not how any fiction has ever worked. Quotes don’t change the material of the show.
If they supposedly didn’t act as lovers, so what??? We saw it, and so did thousands of others. Maybe it was unintentional, maybe not. It doesn’t matter because it’s there. It’s not like we’re a bunch of rabid fangirls demanding that everything needs to be gay out of nowhere. All the quotes in the world can’t change the fact that we have hoards and hoards of support for reading their relationship romantically- evidence that Gahtiss admitted he put there for shits and giggles. We were asked the question of Sherlock’s sexuality and ability to love numerous times in the show, we answered it, and now we’re the bad guys. Nope, that’s not how it works.
reblogging cause this is relevant again, I guess
“You shouldn’t be asked to filter what you’re seeing through interview quotes from the writers and actors. That’s literally not how any fiction has ever worked. Quotes don’t change the material of the show.”
As for if we are ‘wrong’. I wonder why so many fans would think Sherlock and John are gay… 🤔
OH yeah.
🙄 😒😒😒
*PS: Yes, I know the person at BBC3 was an unchecked employee just pushing stuff to get more viewers, but the point is that the content of the posts were -still pointing out and highlighting themes that Actually Exist in the Show-.
Well we will always have Martin’s facial expressions and sly turn of phrase to tell us what he thinks of S4 and the future of Sherlock. He gave us that disappointed facial expression in the interview when he discussed the ending, throwing in the ‘as friends’ to emphasise that there was another obvious option. He clearly was not a happy camper. Now we get this recent video where he was asked about further episodes of Sherlock:
Look at 1.38. He winces. He also rocks back. Bad memories and an experience that holds negative emotion. He also goes on to closing his eyes and shaking his head ‘no’ even though he’s attempting to be upbeat about the prospect.
So that’s a “NO” from Martin and a sure sign that he thinks s4 was shite and he has no plans to return.
On the other side of the duo, Benedict gave us that ‘John Watson’ answer to the question on who does Sherlock love. He rambled on a bit but his first response was his real response. He didn’t like the last minute Molly scene and that love declaration as he never saw his character have romantic feelings for Molly. So when at the Oxford talk this week the interviewer Alan said he thought s4 was shite [still waiting for video or transcript but informed that he did say this] Ben responded with a ‘well I thought episode 2 was OK’. Oh dear, only OK? Well it did have Toby Jones, who Ben views as family [Tim dated Toby’s Mum for years before he met Wanda] and of course it contained the Shakespeare monologue, and this:
So of course Ben would remember ep 2. But by only mentioning ep 2 he silently agreed with Alan that ep 1 and 3 were shite.
As time goes on the evidence mounts. Two unhappy leads.
Exactly.
Good that someone smarter than me also recognizes it’s significant that Ben would only mention Ep 2, silently consigning Eps 1 and 3 to the bin. Thanks @i-love-the-bee-keeper for the analysis.
Unfortunately this evidence works against my hypothesis that the showrunners could have enticed the actors into those shit roles in S4 by letting them (at least part way) into the secret of an explanatory S5 to make it all better.
Evidence is that the actors were as blindsided by the awfulness as we were.
Evidence is that the actors hate the memory of what they were made to do.
Now that they are both independently successful, in demand in Hollywood and elsewhere, and plenty well-off financially, there is no reason in the world why they would go back to work for the writers who betrayed them.
Martin wanted to play bi John soooo badly. He was pumped for it and enticed by playing John in a new way. I don’t remember the interview but he was /giddy/ talking about it.
And every interview I’ve seen of his about/since season 4 has the complete opposite feeling. You can see he’s only going through the motions, this is his job and that’s it. The spark is gone and it’s so disheartening.
Seriously, Moffat and Gatiss fucked up royally on season 4 to make most fans and their freaking leads dislike it so much
i cant believe martin talked about the deleted gay bar scene at the q&a and stared at moffat like ‘what are you going to do about it buddy it’s out now everyone knows’
You can watch the interview in which this happens here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPOTGibC3eI Discussion starts at 15:22. Note Moffat’s rubbing his face in pained dismay
as Martin describes the filmed, deleted scene in gleeful detail and
expresses his disappointment. And then Benedict chiming in.
“and..Sherlock’s…grounding..shook.” TELL US MORE.
Pretty sure Sue does get out a “next series” when the interviewer asks why the scene wasn’t included in s3 extras, before Moffat deflects the conversation.
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