impossibleleaf:

sarahthecoat:

inevitably-johnlocked:

Hey Nonny!

Honestly I DON’T because I LOVE S3 – it’s my favourite season – but I DO think it’s because Mary plays a huge part of it. S1 and S2 was a lot more Sherlock-and-John, a lot more adventure oriented, a lot more just the two of them… and it was all from John’s POV, and I think a lot of people misread Sherlock’s character and hated the way they softened him in S3 when he always was a big softy. See, I love S3 because it is from Sherlock’s POV and we get to see his inner complex thoughts and workings, and we get to see just how much he adores and idolizes John (I mean, John is just SO GORGEOUS in S3, and I think that’s because the camera is supposed to be from Sherlock’s POV, so John in turn looks beautiful). That would be my guess; I think they also believe John’s character changed, whereas I don’t believe he did at all – because we’re in Sherlock’s POV, we’re seeing how SHERLOCK perceives John, but he clearly picks up on John’s admiration for him (TSo3 and TAB are the most obvious).

But yes, I do believe MARY is the BIGGEST point against S3, and in the wake of S4, we’re seeing just how pointless her role and characterization was in S3 since they literally did nothing with it at the end of it all. They were building her up to be an interesting exciting villain and in the end nothing came of it.

I dimly recall enjoying watching the episodes the first time, at my friend’s house who had a tv. We laughed and gasped and squealed in probably most of the right places. But immediately afterward, we started noticing all the things that didn’t make sense, and the “plots” collapsed like houses of cards. So that was annoying and frustrating, and only some of that was “fixed” by meta analysis.
TEH was packed with fake lying BS from one end to the other, and ymmv but i don’t enjoy that. TSOT was trying to come off as a wacky rom-com or something, but “mary” is just creepy, and sherlock is clearly heartbroken, so, no. HLV, i never wont to see again. SUPER creepy/rapey villain, the absolutely nonsensical shooting (s) etc, again, just NO. I wasted my money on the dvd set, learned my lesson there: do not preorder. Did not make that mistake again.
“Mary” is definitely a big part of what ruined s3-4 for me, but not all of it. I nearly liked her for two whole weeks. A bigger factor was feeling disrespected as a fan, the nonsensical “plots”, the all hurt no comfort, and the simple lack of enjoyment on the part of the CHARACTERS. Gone were the moments like giggling in the 221b foyer, the “OH” and “brilliant!” and making each other smile and laugh. There was just nothing to savor, the way there had been in s1-2. I get that some people love angst, and I’m happy for them, but i can’t do it unmixed with any resolution. Sherlock being a “softy” is not a problem, he already was.
I wish they had wrapped up “mary” within s3, rather than dragging her thru TAB and s4. Personally, i would have rather spent the time on sherlock and john, their back stories, their relationship, and slightly more plausible cases. Just, a more coherent story would be nice, rather than random chunks of six different WIPs.

I used to love Mary. Then HLV happened.

Mofftiss asked far too much of us. He wants to do a River Song 2.0 but this falls flat. I was told, no, ordered to forgive her for shooting Sherlock. They needed us to believe that she was surgery and at the same time implied that Sherlock never was in any danger.

So what? Moriarty telling Sherlock how he’s going to enjoy death, that meant nothing because he never was going to die? Sherlock punching the ground to start his heart again, that was just him being overdramatic? After all, that was surgery, he didn’t need to do it. So, he didn’t choose to live because he thought John was in grave danger because of that wife?

I would have reluctantly bought the surgery thing if Sherlock hadn’t had thought for 10 whole minutes that the way he needed to fall would change whether or not he’d survive this bullet wound and if he hadn’t crawled his way back to life after the doctor gave up on him.

And what Mary did spoils everything she’s done until then, doesn’t it? And she goes after Sherlock with a gun ready, looking after him with a look that is made to remind you of a hitman on a mission. We spend a third of the episode, the heart of this episode, honest to God thinking she’s going to kill Sherlock.

I could, somehow, have forgiven her. But they should have done it immediately afterwards.

Like, by doing something like that:

They do not drug Mary with the tea. She comes with them, because she is the one being blackmailed and she has her agency. They go to Magnussen’s office and he taunts them (while being reluctantly shifty of Mary but apparently being pregnant and having no gun on youself makes you harmless).

They follow Magnussen and her face literally looses colour when she realizes he has no documents and everything is in his head. She internally freaks out whenever he tells John something about her past because, God, what if John changes his mind?

And he starts flicking his face in front of her and she realizes that she’s put him in danger. That Magnussen can call anyone and they’d go killing her husband and her daughter.

So, when the helicopters start coming, she takes his gun and finally kills him. She tells John and Sherlock to get away from her, that she’s sorry to have put them on this mess and asks John to take good care of their daughter. She says that she did try to kill Sherlock because she’s known about this chain of pressure points business and she just wanted to break the chain and not turn John into a pawn, but she’s sorry. God, she’s sorry because she likes him but she wanted to protect John. Please forgive her, she’s never wanted her past to become their burden.

And she goes on the plane, because she too is too clever to go to prison. So she asks for Sherlock to look after John and the baby who’s now born. And the Moriarty video appears when she’s taken off.

And Sherlock tells Mycroft he’ll only help them if Mary comes back.

Had they done that, I would have cried like baby and forgiven everything.

But I suppose their idea was better than mine.