I don't think there's any question that Sherlock would rather have Irene as an opponent than your average, run-of-the-mill criminal. More challenge, and therefore, more interesting.

But I've always thought (and maybe, again, it's a bias coming from reading too much about Johnlock) that IF Sherlock Holmes (at least the original character) were going to have a sexual/romantic relationship, it would be either 1) someone he's really come to trust and rely upon as a friend (i.e., Watson), or 2) someone who was a bit of a groupie, all "I want you because you're so amazing" (and Watson is a hero-worshipper in some adaptations).

Maybe Irene was like that by the end, or maybe she was just pretending to be?

Be wrote:

It doesn't make sense for me that Mary should not at least trust Sherlock to help her and rather risk meeting CAM alone while being pregnant.
?
 

This point was a big one for me, too: if Mary wanted to protect herself from CAM, helping Sherlock, or at least NOT putting him out of action would have served that cause better. Not to mention that she made herself more "bad" and gave her husband a much stronger potential reason for hating her (shooting his best friend as opposed to people in the past, whom he doesn't know and who might have been as bad as CAM.)

nakahara wrote:

 
Since John′s marriage with Mary Morstan (who doesn′t legally exist) is null and void, he should marry Sherlock secretly.
 

Johnlock or no, this last point had occurred to me: I'm no expert on annulments but it seems like there could be grounds for declaring the Watson marriage invalid - thereby making it easier to get Mary out of the picture without killing her.

As for Sherlock's not including John in his Reichenbach plan - he may have had a valid concern but it seems to me that he took quite a chance by including so many other people. Does he really know the ability to lie/keep secrets of so many other people better than John's? He had to have a lot of trust in all those people, because they all, in a sense, had his life in their hands.

But I agree - I was not crazy about John almost killing Sherlock for being alive  and while I ABSOLUTELY understand John's emotional distress upon finding out about Mary - I felt like he took it out on Sherlock. And he was mad at Mary for lying to him and her shooting Sherlock wasn't as important to him.

RedKitten wrote:

. And I think Anderson got to hear it because, of all the people who were not in on the fact that Sherlock was not actually dead, Anderson, whom Sherlock always thought was an incompetent idiot, was the only person believed he wasn't dead (following the newspaper clues in the mini-episode) and he was right. I think it would be in keeping with Sherlock's character in this series that he acknowledge that fact in this way. .I don't think we will ever be sure what really happened, tho'.

This part was something I hadn't thought of - Anderson in sense redeemed himself - or proved himself smarter, or a better detective, or something "better" in Sherlock's eyes, because he guessed Sherlock wasn't dead. And since he didn't REALLY like Sherlock to begin with, with him it wasn't a case of just "hoping," (as John might do) - it was a case of actually figuring it out.

Wiggins wrote:

When your kids name new stuffed animals sherlock and John "wasson"

My brother and sister-in-law named their dog Watson. Ironically, the only Sherlock incarnation they follow is Elementary!

But they wanted a "famous sidekick" name.

mrshouse wrote:

Guys, I love this one...
archiveofourown.org/works/152269
Oh and "Stag night for two" really made my day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One thing that didn't occur to me at first: it would seem that TSoT proceeds as it does on the show up until the knee grab...but I thnk you would also have to "fix" the alcohol consumption, i.e.,  have them not have as much. Because if they drank as much as they had on the show, they would probably have had more...um...technical difficulties, with what they did after the knee grab.  And often, drunk!sex raises either consent issues or denial: "It wasn't the REAL us." None of that in Stag NIght for Two...

 John may have been unknowingly attracted to Mary because he sensed her capacity for violence, though I am exceedingly dubious about that idea; I do worry that it's close to arguing that a woman in an abusive relationship actually chose a man she knew would beat her up because deep down she wanted it to be like that. I don't want to touch that one with a sixteen feet barge pole.

Leaving out the "capacity for violence" and the good/bad debate, Mary had already, bythat point, shown herself to have certain traits in common with Sherlock (i.e., cleverness - remember the tracking of John when he was in the bonfire; her "working" of the boys to get them to go work a case). I like the idea that John chose a woman who is a lot like Sherlock. 
 

RavenMorganLeigh wrote:

Fillyjonk wrote:

I love the idea of thinking about what the other characters who love Sherlock would counsel John about Mary.

John: Say, Molly - Mary and I are going to grab a bite to eat. Would you like to come with us?
Molly: Um... er... no, thanks. SHE SHOT SHERLOCK."

John: Mrs. Hudson, Mary and I are having tea with Sherlock. Would you care to join us?
Mrs. Hudson: No, dear. I love Sherlock, and she killed him. I really can't see how I would ever take tea with her.

Fillyjonk

I swear, I keep thinking up this scene where Molly, having found out what really happened, slaps the heck out of Mary, with a "How DARE you hurt someone who's never done anything but try to help you!" 

Hmmmm... I think I will....

I wanted John to give Mary something like this...he WAS angry, but his anger focused more on her lying to him about her past (and he acted like he blamed Sherlock for that!)
 

besleybean wrote:

The  'I'm indestructible ' line is canonical.

Where in canon? I remember from canon that Holmes says a few times, something to the effect of, "I am not the super-being that Watson's memoirs make me out to be."

QuiteExtraordinary wrote:

I feel a bit differently about the situation with Irene. It's not so much the question in which way they feel attracted to each other. For example, if Sherlock slept with her after rescuing her in Karachi doesn't really matter because it wouldn't change anything about the story. The point is that he came back to London (meaning to Baker Street, and to John) immediately afterwards.
Sherlock and Irene are fascinated with each other, but their ideas of what life should be like are too different. Irene would never stay in Baker Street to live with Sherlock like John does. She would want to be the dominant one in the relationship, and Sherlock would have to follow her into a wild life where they would go to strange places all over the world and do all sorts of dubious things. In some part of his soul Sherlock is adventurous enough to want that, and then he considers leaving John behind to be with Irene. That was the actual "seduction" Irene probably had in mind. But in the end Sherlock decided against that because ... well, he's really more the stay-at-home type. It's important to him that he can always come home after every adventure, back to the surroundings and the people he's used to. Living with Irene is perhaps something he does in his dreams but not in reality. Only under certain circumstances like in TSOT, where Sherlock fears his connection with John could be in danger because of John's marriage, the thought of Irene comes back because then she suddenly seems "attractive" again.

I don't think Sherlock would be opposed to going to strange places on adventures or cases...he seems to have done that during the Hiatus. (Die-hard Holmes-Irene shippers believe that canon-Holmes hooked up with Irene during his travels during the Hiatus of canon.)

But I do think Sherlock would want his partner in relationships, sexual and otherwise, to be more...I wouldn't say submissive, because John stands up to him...but willing to follow him,