My Top Five Things from Series Three

[earlgreytea68]

I've spent a lot of time, since the first time I watched "His Last Vow," thinking about all the things I disliked about how this season was handled. So I thought, in advance of the second time I watch "His Last Vow" tonight, that I would do a positive entry. Because, actually, on balance, I think I loved passionately a lot more than I hated, it's just human nature to focus on the bad. But the truth is that this series actually gave me more good than I would ever have wished for. In fact, everything in the list below was completely unexpected to me, and I'm so delighted to have been given it.

So here are my top 5 things from series 3.

1. It's canon now that Sherlock Holmes is in love with John Watson.

(photo by speckledlikealeopard) (I couldn't find a working gif of this moment. IT IS TOO FANTASTIC TO BE GIF'D.) (P.S. I hope I credited everything correctly; let me know if I should change something.)

I guess you can still debate this, and I guess maybe they'd deny it, but I don't care: For me, there is no other reading of anything Sherlock does in this series other than that he's desperately, hopelessly, recklessly in love with John. (Mycroft tells John Sherlock is "recklessly in love" with him in "Saving Sherlock Holmes." I think canon!Mycroft, given the end of S3, would absolutely agree with SSH!him.)

It was more than I ever dared to hope for, the Sherlock we got here, and how much he loves John. And all credit to Benedict, because a lot of it is just there in his eyes. I joked you could have a whole Tumblr devoted to Sherlock Looking At John In Ways That Will Break Your Heart. And you could. Even the way he looks at him when the reunion starts to go pear-shaped in the restaurant, that sad sort of desperate "Please don't be angry, please just hug me and say it's going to be okay and you're happy to see me, I don't know how to fix this any other way than to pretend I didn't break it." And whatever else might be going on during that train scene, the way Sherlock looks when John says he forgives him might be the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. The way he looks at him when he deduces the pregnancy and realizes the finality of the whole thing, that little, sad, memorizing look. The way he looks at him during the final confrontation with CAM. The way he looks at him on that tarmac.

He hears John's voice in his head when he's not there. He drops everything, shoves his way through a crowd, flings his way into a bonfire to save him. When John shows up, he immediately ushers his parents out, desperate to give John his full and undivided attention. He doesn't realize he's John's best friend, but then once he does he throws himself into the planning of a wedding that he secretly regards as an emotional battle that he just has to pull himself through because *John* wants it. He stands up and delivers a love letter to John instead of a best man speech (I read someone saying that Sherlock's best man speech reverses John's blog, allows John to be the star while putting Sherlock into the supporting actor role, and he does it *for John,* and it kills me). He plans the stag night so carefully, to the last detail, at pubs meaningful to their relationship. He writes John a gorgeous song and gives him a perfect wedding. He misses John so much he can't even bear to have his chair in the flat anymore. He downplays the fact that he dies because he died at the hands of John's wife. And, in the end, he gives up his entire life and gets on a plane headed for his death, all for John Watson.

I don't know what else we're supposed to do with any of that, other than to conclude that Sherlock is absolutely, unshakably devoted to John, so in love with him that John is literally the only thing that matters to him in his entire life. And it's *canon* now.

2. Everybody loves everybody.

(gif by giongalini)

Connected to that, this was the season where everybody came out and admitted that they love each other, and it was such a glorious thing to see. Lestrade gave Sherlock a hug (that he so desperately needed). Sherlock was lovely and sweet to Molly. And, best of all, Sherlock and Mycroft love each other. Sherlock worrying that Mycroft might be lonely, assuring him that it doesn't matter that he's different, that he shouldn't care, is my favorite scene in The Empty Hearse. And Mycroft telling Sherlock that he couldn't bear to lose him, while they furtively smoked in their parents' garden, was gorgeous and so rewarding.

And I haven't even discussed yet the fact that John tells Sherlock he loves him and Sherlock says it back. Oh, show. For so much of this series, your heart was really fantastically on display.

3. That John and Sherlock hug.

(gif by sherlocked_for_life)

I will never get tired of seeing it. John's hand on the back of Sherlock's neck is my favorite little detail. No, wait, my favorite little detail is the way John looks at him right before he sits down. No, wait, my favorite little detail is the way Sherlock is utterly bewildered at everyone's reaction to what he sees as just simple truth. No, wait, my favorite little detail is how Sherlock immediately turns to John for guidance, worried that he's ruined everything. No, wait--

4. The stag night.

(gif by estherlune)

Is the stag night the best thing ever committed to film?

Yes.

I just want to *live* in the stag night.

Everything about it is hilarious and fabulous and ridiculously sweet and fantastically shippy (I WILL NEVER GET OVER THE HAND ON THE KNEE AND THE CONVERSATION ABOUT IT, OKAY?), but the best thing about it--the *bestest* *thing*--is the way John looks at Sherlock while they're playing that game. In a series full of Sherlock pining after John, that drunk scene is the one real flash we get that it might be reciprocated, and what a glorious flash it is. When I re-watch the scene, I pause on that look, just to drink it in. I read a fix-it fic where John asks Sherlock if it was obvious that John's in love with him, and Sherlock replies, "Only when you're drunk." Yes. Perfection.

5. Janine

(gif by mishasteaparty)

If you'd told me that my new favorite character to write on this show would have been the girl Sherlock dates in the last episode, I would have been like, "????" But she is. Oh, Janine. She's a gem, and I love her, and I don't want her to show up on the show ever again, because I want her to BE MINE FOREVER, okay?

BONUS: Sherlock's mind palace.

(gif by mgxshui)

BONUS BONUS: Hair ruffling.

(gif by saint_lie)

Comments

[grey853.livejournal.com]

I agree with all of that except Janine. Can't really get into her, but I do agree that this whole season was a like a love song to John. Sherlock even wrote the music for it.

[dqbunny.livejournal.com]

This. I would substitute Molly for Janine. Because just how badass was Molly Hooper?

[grey853.livejournal.com]

Nope, I'm not a Molly fan, either. I especially didn't like her slapping Sherlock or taking up with a man who was obviously a surrogate Sherlock. I thought that was rather pathetic.

I would say I thought the development of Mrs. Hudson was a nice touch.

Still, I want the focus of the show to be about Sherlock and John, not all these secondary characters.

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

lol - He totally did!

[rereader.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!

***

(I don't think that in the show #1 is sexual love, but it is LOVE, in all caps, and it's deep and real, and there's really no arguing about that.)

(Of course, that doesn't mean it couldn't or shouldn't go there elsewhere... ;))
***

(I still don't like the way Mycroft behaves to Sherlock in most of season 3, though.)

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

I still don't know what to *make* of Mycroft in most of S3!

[auntiesuze.livejournal.com]

REDBEARD! WAHHHHHHH! T_______T

Heh. Patting myself on the back for reccing that fic to you. XD

Basically, yep to all of this (though I agree w/dqbunny - Molly needs to be in there somewhere... triple bonus?). I love Janine, too. It's rare that people just like Sherlock right off the bat (even after being obviously forewarned about him), but she was totally on board with his quirks and her hilarious tabloid revenge for using her to get to CAM was pretty damn awesome.

Oh wait...QUADRUPLE BONUS: Mummy and Daddy Holmes!!!! HOW AWESOME WERE THEY???

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

Heh. I loved that fic *so* much.

Yeah, there really wasn't room for all the awesome! I should have at least mentioned the Holmes parents in the "Everybody loves everybody" bullet point!

The fact that Janine seemed to genuinely like Sherlock Holmes just made my heart melt for him. Like, how often does he get that? She was so lovely.

[shadowfireflame.livejournal.com]

Aww, thanks for sharing this list. It made me very happy, and I totally agree with everything on it.

He drops everything, shoves his way through a crowd, flings his way into a bonfire to save him.

Yesss, this, and he literally drops everything and literally does all those things, that’s how reckless his love for John is.

Is the stag night the best thing ever committed to film? Yes.

Yes, it is. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve re-watched this whole scene. I’ve lost count.

And I also love Janine. She’s delightful. I love that she is a great friend to Sherlock and uses him back to get her revenge and her cottage. :)

The only thing I don’t quite get is that she works for Magnussen. Like, seriously, the pay must have been amazing to put up with eye-flicking. But it hurts me that she had to go through that; I just want to protect her from him. I have this not-fully-formed theory that Janine is secretly Jim Moriarty’s sister (because in canon he has a brother also named James; ACD was kind of lazy when it came to names, and she’s Irish, and they have similar coloring, and Sherlock is drawn to both of them, and then her working for Magnussen would make more sense then). But I also just want to keep her as she is currently.

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

Oh, Janine. I've heard the Moriarty's sister thing, and it would be interesting, but it would also make me so sad, because I love her *so* much!

[rereader.livejournal.com]

Not everyone from Ireland is related to Moriarty! *refuses to beleve otherwise*

[cryptic-answers.livejournal.com]

This was awesome. "His Last Vow" had bummed me out quite a bit, but your list makes me very happy. Thanks for looking on the positive side of things. I too want to have the stag night just playing in the background of my life at all times. Thank you! Think I'll go back and read Bang and Clatter from the beginning!

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

Sometimes you need to force yourself to look on the bright side! :-)

[verdant_fire]

I guess you can still debate this, and I guess maybe they'd deny it, but I don't care: For me, there is no other reading of anything Sherlock does in this series other than that he's desperately, hopelessly, recklessly in love with John.

They probably would deny the *in* love part, but honestly, I've thought about this a lot, and I don't know how else to read this series that makes sense. There's a reason this was the season that made a lot of people who had previously scoffed at shippers say 'never mind.' I've always been kind of a shipper agnostic about Johnlock on the actual show--I read a lot of fanfic and enjoy it, but in my head those are separate versions of the characters--but I was amazed at how overt the emotions were this season. After I finished it, my first reaction was 'Wow, I wonder how Mofftiss will be able to deny it now.' In actual canon, I don't think Sherlock wants to shag John (YMMV, of course), but I do think he's in love with him. Sure, people will kill and sacrifice for their family and even for their close friends, but I don't think any of that is enough to explain the way Sherlock loves John. John is his entire world. Sherlock does have a few other people he cares about, more obviously than ever this season, but none of them are even on the same plane as John. And really, if we weren't dealing with two men, if one of them were a woman, then IMO all anyone would be able to talk about would be how desperately Sherlock was in love with John. I think people get hung up on the 'no homo' thing and forget to actually look objectively at the text.

Finally, it's always been my stance that authorial intent, while influential, will only get you so far. When it comes down to it, the question is just whether or not the text will support your argument. To quote Joss Whedon, "All worthy work is open to interpretations the author did not intend. Art isn’t your pet — it’s your kid. It grows up and talks back to you."

I joked you could have a whole Tumblr devoted to Sherlock Looking At John In Ways That Will Break Your Heart.

You absolutely could, and it would probably end with me at my computer, sobbing. I literally choked up at his face in the train car when John forgives him.

I read someone saying that Sherlock's best man speech reverses John's blog, allows John to be the star while putting Sherlock into the supporting actor role, and he does it *for John,* and it kills me.

OH GOD, how did I miss this. I guess I was too busy being heartbroken by the way that speech is also Sherlock actively writing himself out of John's life (that 'start of a new chapter' bit, etc). The thing about TSoT is that most of it is upbeat and happy on the surface, but underneath it's the emotional torture of watching Sherlock give up everything he cares about for John, AGAIN.

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

It's true, this season went so much farther with the emotion between John/Sherlock than I ever, ever, ever thought it would. As you say, it just seemed so *overt.* I think it's absolutely true that if one of them was a woman, there would be no question what's going on there.

And yeah, The Sign of Three is actually the saddest episode of the season. Poor Sherlock. He does everything he can to give John what he wants, even though it leaves him so sad and alone at the end.

[rifleman-s.livejournal.com]

"No, wait, my favorite little detail is ...

Oh yes, I know that feeling - how can you just choose one?!!

I agree about the 'blog' thing - series 1 & 2 was seeing everything from John's point of view, just like the books, but series 3 was seeing things from Sherlock's point of view.

I am really enjoying all these thoughts you're sharing with us - and the gifs too, thanks!!

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

OMG! It just occurred to me that it's just like how the later Conan Doyle stories sometimes had to switch to Sherlock's POV (of course, because Watson had abandoned him. But, yeah).

[valiant-queene.livejournal.com]

This was totally fun to read! I just finished watching TEH, and it's breaking my heart a little to see just how obviously Sherlock loves John.

[chocolamousse.livejournal.com]

Like you, I loved passionately a lot more than I hated, but I beg to differ about everybody coming out and admitting they love each other. The way Mycroft dismissively waves Greg away after telling him about Sherlock's bolt holes broke my Mystradian heart a bit. :D

[earlgreytea68.livejournal.com]

Hey, at least Mycroft was actually looking at him! It's progress! ;-)