Morton wrote:

My head canon is on the lines of John spent time being bored while recuperating which contributed to the onset of PTSD like symptoms - the hand tremor vanished as soon as Mycroft put him under stress, as in 'not haunted by the war...you miss it....welcome back' from Mycroft. If he'd had PTSD John would be avoiding 'danger' not going 'Oh God, yes.' to Sherlock's invititation 'wanna see some more' surely?

But then we are left with the question of why John left the army. Military doctors are gold dust; they are desperate to keep them, and would take John back in a heartbeat.

So if John is creating a psychosomatic limp and a hand tremor, both of which disappear when he is faced with something interesting and exciting, the question of why he's out of the army becomes even more important, and Sholto's question about whether he's still seeing the psychiatrist becomes even more explosive...
 

SusiGo wrote:

Of course they may do that. But I honestly wonder how many fans they would lose over such a development. For many fans the Sherlock-John relationship is the main focus and the thing they love most about the show. And Mary does change the dynamics, even if she is in the background looking after the child (which I for the life of me cannot imagine her do). 

I must confess that I too have difficulty in seeing Mary content to sit at home looking after the baby, whilst John and Sherlock are off adventuring together. I think ACD knew very well that it was almost impossible to fit suburban domestic bliss for Watson into the framework of the stories; it takes attention away from the centrepiece, and that is never good...
 

nakahara wrote:

They will find a babysitter.
Later the babysitter will be revealed as the Satan incarnate, but that is a normal occurence in this show.

Alternatively, the baby will be revealed as Satan incarnate
 
I suspect that the only way to resolve this without killing off a baby or a pregnant woman is for Mary to disappear; the last scene at the airfield shows her in some distress over Moriaty's apparent return, so there's a possible link with him. Belis has noted that Mary's moral compass isn't wired the way we normally think of them; she is self protective, and if her life is seriously threatened, particularly by an utter lunatic who thinks wrapping people in explosives is a fun thing to do, I don't think she would hang around to fight the good fight.

If she did disappear then it's unlikely that Sherlock could find the time to track her down, even if he wanted to; he is, after all, charged with finding out what the hell is going on with the apparent return of Moriarty. That's what lifted his death sentence, and I doubt that Mycroft would or could deflect the interest of people like M.

I have previously speculated that there might be a rerun of the Mycroft and John scene in ASiB, where they are wondering what to tell Sherlock about Irene, but this time with Mycroft and Sherlock wondering what to tell John about Mary;  I think there might be some hint of that, not least because Moftiss are so fond of rerunning things through their audiences brains, with subtle, and sometimes not so subtle, changes.

belis wrote:

I'm not a particularly tidy person. I think I could put up with the experiments in the kitchen (having shared a flat with 3 guys oblivious to basic principles of food hygiene I have seen all sorts growing in the fridge). I kept a full skeleton in a living room for a while so the skull is definitely OK. What would seriously get on my nerves after a while is the amount of clutter and the wall paper. I like my walls white. Maybe a touch of pastel if I feel adventerous. lol
 

Well, at least a full skeleton is guaranteed to generate thought, if only of the 'how do I get out of this place alive' variety.

You would like the Royal London outpatients department; it's white. The only touch of pink was, oddly enough, on the person of the male nurse in charge of the burns clinic, who clearly sees more cases in a week than many practioners see in a lifetime, and threw himself heart and soul into getting me onto the plane to San Diego next Monday so I can enjoy lots of fresh air on the long voyage back to England, though the snorkelling has got the chop

As you know, my preferred opening to next season would be Sherlock's sabotaged plane crash landing on Mary, with sadly fatal results, but John heroically saving Sherlock from the flaming wreckage. Should anyone want to write a fanfic on this I can provide details of the appropriate dressings, the many virtues of silver, the realities of surgical debridement, and contraindications for skin grafts... 


 

Sherlock Holmes

I entirely agree that Sherlock needs to be about Sherlock and John at its heart; that is the iconic centrepiece that pulls us in, and Moftiss have to get us back there if it is to continue to be Sherlock.

But they have to do it in a vaguely plausible way, and John plus Mary plus baby in the suburbs isn't plausible, just as John being a GP staring at people's bunions isn't plausible, if we are going to get the thrill of the Game is On!

I am sure that when John opened his front door at the beginning of HLV he really did expect to see Sherlock there, needing his help to foil some dastardly villain or another, and that would have been wonderful for John, and for Sherlock, and for us. Instead it was the neighbour, and although we got Billy from canon in a somewhat weird way, I don't want Sherlock to be lonely, just as I don't want John isolated because of 'that wife of his'.

I appreciate that no doubt there all sorts of ideas which could be subtly teased out with John in suburbia but I would prefer cutting the Gordian knot; fortunately I think Mycroft is a dab hand with a pair of shears...

It is, indeed, a beautiful explanation but there is considerable doubt as to whether the slave whispering over and over again 'Remember you are mortal' actually happened. Mary Beard's book on Roman triumphs notes that there's not much in the way of contemporaneous evidence to support it, though I have wondered whether the decision by Roman Emperors to become gods may have been influenced by this. I have always rather liked the story of Vespasian commenting that he appeared to be turning into a god, as his ironic way of acknowledging that he was dying...

Swanpride wrote:

Giving back????? I didn't got the impression that John was less a trusty friend this season.

Well, apart from beating up Sherlock in the first episode and threatening him with more violence when he'd been shot in the last episode; as the old saying goes, 'with friends like these, who needs enemies?'




 

SusiGo wrote:

RavenMorganLeigh wrote:

I thought it was interesting that John's voice in Sherlock's head was derisive and critical. John seemed comforted/intrigued, by Sherlock's. 

Think of the situation in which this happens. It is the day after John has attacked Sherlock three times. He headbutted him when Sherlock asked him to come on a case with him. Despite of Mary's assurances Sherlock has reason to assume that John will not work with him again. And does not want to resume their friendship which might be even worse. Therefore I think he concentrates on John's negative comments/attitude. He may well think that he has lost John and knows only too well that Molly cannot replace him.

This is interesting; Sherlock has had two dangerous years taking down a worldwide criminal network, a thoroughly nasty time being beaten up by a Serbian interrogator, and returns to England to spend his evening being beaten up by John. Viewed in that light one can certainly see why John's voice would be derisive and critical.

SusiGo wrote:

As for the jealousy - this is really interesting because John has been jealous in the past (Irene) and Sherlock may have been jealous of John's girlfriends but John has never said this to Sherlock.
Maybe he thinks John would call him jealous of Molly because she adapts quite well to the task and sort of surges ahead with the investigationof the skeleton but this does not really make sense. 
Or he thinks John might call him jealous of Mary because she has become the centre of John's life, a place Sherlock previously occupied.

I think the jealousy question is one which Sherlock is asking about himself; he has gone away to fight an undeclared war against Moriarty's associates and when he gets back he has, apparently,  been replaced. Sherlock is not the first returning warrior to experience that...

 

Swanpride wrote:

Above all, I don't think that John would allow Sherlock to take on Moriarty alone - again. In fact, this issue might come up next season, that Sherlock left him in the dust the first time around and John will be damned to allow him to do that again.

John has no way of preventing it; I appreciate that he might wish to, but John will be in his GPs office, and going home to Mary, whilst Mycroft will be working with Sherlock as he did before. I'm hoping for Lestrade to get lots of screen time, along with Molly who must know whether Moriarty's body was really Moriarty's body.

It should be fascinating to see how Moftiss solve the problem of giving us back Dr John Watson, trusty and loyal comrade of Sherlock Holmes; what they can't do is write a Mycroft who would be prepared to let John endanger his brother at all, much less for reasons of sentiment. It's time to choose sides...
 

belis wrote:

The way I would see it play out (when I'm trying to create a scenario that John would prefer, not a good TV show) is that Mary isn't going be the one to keep him in trouble and provide the excitement. She is going to help him maintain the illusion of normality that he likes to project to the outside world. She is a skilled liar whilst he isn't good at deception at all. He craves the danger and adrenaline whist she wants the normality. So Mary will busy herself creating a nice warm home and looking after the baby whilst he is out there running around with Sherlock. She will tolerate the degree of uncertainty and risks that others would struggle with (remember Sarah?). She will also put up with his anger outbursts and the darker side of his personality quite easily. By association with Mary John will continue to believe that he is the 'sane one', at least by comparison. It may not be the healthiest relationship but I can see it work.
 

Oddly enough, if you look at the opening scenes in John and Mary's house it is very far from nice and warm home decor; it's all very cold and clinical looking.

Admittedly, just about anywhere would look cold and clinical by contrast with 221b Baker St, but the person who dressed that set had very clear instructions from Moftiss and the director...