Ho Yay wrote:

If one sees it -> One's mindset free from heteronormativity enough to see it.
If one doesn't see it -> heteronormativity is blocking from seing it or one has consumed very little romance in media to be acquainted with a language that is taught to viewers since childhood

..Sherlock has a progression that heteronormativity blocks from seeing...

What about if one sees it but doesn't believe it will be followed through because there are also many tropes that contradict a romantic arc? Like almost being blown up together and none of them confessing? Or like one of them going into certain death and the other one instead of rebelling or breaking down or yelling "this is just wrong!!" just watches while holding his wife's hand? Or one of them chosing his wife over and over, no matter what she did to his true love interest? It is things like that that make me not root for their romance, is this what you mean by "a progession that heteronormativity blocks fom seeing"?

Could it maybe also be thinkable that if one has grown up with massive exposure to romance they might find it hard to imagine a show might just be flirting with the idea of romance, or mingle it with deep care and friendship without the typical progression of love-stories? Being so used to a (stereo)typical progression of romance might not always be an advantage when interpreting shows like Sherlock, which are so inventive and not bound to any known genre (*cough* and not overly attached to the idea of internal consistency *cough*)..?

When John saves Sherlock in TAB again there are stares, flirting and Moriarty even remarks on it, they keep flirting and throw him off a cliff. They get established as a couple.

Could you explain a little more why you think this establishes them as a couple? because I also read the contrary interpretation that they finally got rid of the mistaken gay assumptions impersonated by crazy Moriarty there.. And as I get it they return to modern time

I have never followed love stories if I had the choice . 

@nakahara, it´s not difficult to pick up on the hints and innuendo and becoming a fan of it, quite the contrary.. but decoding "Sherlock" as actually being an epic romance (in which the love interest seems surprisingly okay with the hero almost sacrificing his life for his heteronormative spouse and other textual blows against everything I´d ever consider as "romantically promising") is another story.

Time will tell, that´s the good thing..

Liberty wrote:

Funnily enough, I thought TAB definitely cleared it up!  Then came here and found that not everybody saw it the same way.

 
I still haven't seen the Special.. Somehow can't bring myself to it. So I don't know.. But they are definitely teased by Moriarty about the nature of their relationship.. Again. And he and his gun get very excited in Sherlock's presence.. Again. So they definitely don't seem to be done with this kind of innuendo quite yet..

Sherlock - the story of a detective, his impulses and why he doesn't just elope with his special friend Dr. john Watson. A source of endless fascination since 1895 - and we know it's always 1895. 

I think I know where I'd place my money if I had the choice between "they are carefully crafting a love-story arc spanning the decades" and "they are milking the fascination with Sherlock's sexuality for their own benefit".. Not that I've ever gamble with them, I'm pretty sure they have "we always win whatever you do anyway" written in the rules of their game somewhere. That's not meant as criticizing them, it's their show and they can do whatever they want to be successful. And maybe I'm wrong, I almost wish I am when I read justified wishes for Johnlock as canon. But all the subtext and cinematographic hints and tropes mean nothing as long as main-text John stays stubbornly hetero and Sherlock just pines and pines for whatever, maybe just for John in his life, maybe even more.. make it explicit or take away the innuendo, that's how I am feeling about it at the moment. If I'm honest I'm thoroughly bored by the ambiguity I once enjoyed by now..

Glad to hear that, Phantom!!

I am happy today because I finally received the results notification of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test I took in December.. I wanted to have this certificate since I knew it existed and never quite dared to take the test because it has a reputation of being overly difficult on the highest level I was aiming at.. But I passed with a pretty decent result, I still can't quite believe it! *happy dance*

What the.. how are you supposed to pay back from allowances that are barely enough to cover for food and housing? Especially as you have additional costs for commuting now? Stay strong, and check if they even have the right to do that - sometimes they make unbelievable mistakes (a friend´s husband recently got an "F" on his final test for retraining, and after checking it turned out they "forgot" to count 20 points which were enough for a "D".. ) 

My bad luck continued over the weekend.. I dropped a frying pan on my foot, burned my finger on the waffle iron and poured a glass of water over the laptop - which chose to quit the function of the m,n, enter and back keys after that. Resentful thing.. I have an external keyboard now and decided to delay possibly fatal household chores like window cleaning and drilling holes until my losing streak is over..

Sorry to hear that, tonnaree.. What a horrible week. 

It you don't mind a less than stellar quality and spanish subtitles you can watch it on YouTube..

That's a great story, Mattlocked, thanks for sharing!  and a nice collection, too..

Here is a very bad pic of the legal part of my slightly smaller but yet fine collection: 



A big German newspaper titled about Alan "The magic remains", and I think this is indeed a consoling thought, that we still have so much of his work to enjoy. (Sigh)