Wiggins wrote:

Harobed wrote:

Mattlocked wrote:

I came to my mind, for a second: What if John runs after the plane right now?
And I would have hated it.
Though I would like to have seen an embrace at least, I think they did the scene quite well. Have to watch it again to be sure...

Oh, Mattlocked, you spoke my heart, exactly!
I am one of those who misses seeing a more emotional reaction from John, but must swallow hard & face the fact, that, if he did, it may play as a bit mushy, out of character & spoil the continunity of the story.
 

 
I wonder if the not wanting To appear mushy may be a motive behind this series' writing.

Is it possible they felt since so many became obsessed shipping the two that they should put so distance in between the two?

Interesting thought...that!
 

I think it's just hilarious that Mrs. Hudson kept thinking that Our Boys were, in fact, secret lovers!
John put that straight & of course the marriage set the last word on all that!!

There is definitely some of that, or at least their art reflects life.
But they also try to be true to Canon.

I am wondering about John, too. Especially the scene in TEH where he is about to shave and Mary reads his blog where he wrote about Sherlock's movements and his abilities.
Mary read it aloud in a mocking tone. John said to Mary: "Don't read that."
As if he was ashamed of what he had written. It could be that it was just that he wrote about Sherlock becoming a criminal (what an amazing criminal he'd made if he turned his abilities against the law) and that John imagines something like that.
But I suspect that John is ashamed of his writing, his feelings towards Sherlock and what's the worst of Sherlock in person.
We can take into account that at this point of time John was very angry and felt betrayed.

It reminded me a bit of the situation when fanfiction by a fan was read aloud in public in a preview event last year.

Be wrote:

I just had an idea about why John is reluctant to look at the memory stick or end his relationship with Mary. Another than pure sentimental love.
Sherlock's first deduction about John mentioned that he doesn't approve of his brother (sister)  possibly because he recently walked out on his (her) wife.
Maybe there is a history of walking out. Maybe John experienced a father who left the family and little John and his mother were alone with a lot of financial? problems. And he would also know what that meant for a child.

 
Don't know if that is true but I have always wanted more background on John.   Parents?  School?  Where did he grow up?  We know more about Sherlock's past than we do about John's.

tonnaree:
We don't know, but I think we can try to join the dots.
We got a bit about his military background with Sholto. John apparently wanted a hero and a superior officer whom he can adore and follow. Sherlock saw this as "bounching around like a puppy".
And that John didn't see him anymore for some reason. John didn't answer Sherlock's question why there was no contact any more.
When we put that together with the walking out there can be something of a problem with an absent father and his wish to find somebody who is in charge. Maybe John ended the relationship because he secretly thought that Sholto failed in action and was responsible for his men's deaths. He lost his hero and broke the contact.
This is just me wildly imagining something that fits some of the facts.
P.S.
And maybe we can see John's violent reaction towards Sherlock in this light, too. It wasn't death that kept Sherlock away. It was a kind of walking out, too. Maybe it reminded him of his father's actions. And he is in fact dealing with his anger towards his father's absence.  

Last edited by Be (February 24, 2014 1:56 pm)

I am not really at home with psychoanalysing characters, not least because Moftiss love to trip us up; who saw Sherlock's parents coming? But John does seem a very needy person, for whatever reason, and that's a drawback from my perspective because I really enjoy the thrill of the chase and big adventures; the sort of thing that makes Sherlock think it's Christmas

So, I'm hoping that John stops angsting and emoing, and turns instead to burning off his adrenaline in the good old fashioned way; chasing villains! Interesting and scary villains, preferably, but villains none the less; Sherlock is most definitely not an angel but he does need to be on the side of the angels because otherwise we are rather lost.

Most modern therapists have abandoned excavating their patients memories for decades in favour of changing their behaviour now, not least because we are alive now and therefore can change what we do today, but we cannot change the past, so there's no advantage in reinforcing memories of the unpleasant past.

I think John does need therapy of some kind, but in my view chasing villains can be very therapeutic...

besleybean wrote:

Just as long as they're not your wife!

The jury is out on that one, and we have a long haul ahead of us
 

SherlocklivesinOH wrote:

Willow wrote:

I am not really at home with psychoanalysing characters, not least because Moftiss love to trip us up; who saw Sherlock's parents coming? But John does seem a very needy person, for whatever reason, and that's a drawback from my perspective because I really enjoy the thrill of the chase and big adventures; the sort of thing that makes Sherlock think it's Christmas

So, I'm hoping that John stops angsting and emoing, and turns instead to burning off his adrenaline in the good old fashioned way; chasing villains! Interesting and scary villains, preferably, but villains none the less; Sherlock is most definitely not an angel but he does need to be on the side of the angels because otherwise we are rather lost.

Most modern therapists have abandoned excavating their patients memories for decades in favour of changing their behaviour now, not least because we are alive now and therefore can change what we do today, but we cannot change the past, so there's no advantage in reinforcing memories of the unpleasant past.

I think John does need therapy of some kind, but in my view chasing villains can be very therapeutic...

And while I'm no expert, I'm not sure PTSD is the right diagnosis for John...the nightmares would fit, and anger, depression, avoidance of long-term relationships, and even lack of interest in normal life can be symptoms -  but wouldn't someone with PTSD be scared (freaked out) over the kinds of things John and Sherlock jump into? John seeks these situations out...whatever he is, he's not especially fearful.

Sherlock's work is probably enough like combat that it feels normal to John.

I think that John's career as a trauma surgeon would have provided him with the kind of life which really suited him; as I think I've said elsewhere they tend to be happy campers provided they have a decent supply of people who are about to become corpses unless somebody does something now. Trauma surgeons have to be able to take decisions rapidly, in the full knowledge that they may be wrong, because without a decision the patient is going to die anyway, and they need the massive adrenaline supply which fuels that.

Of course, that isn't confined to trauma surgeons; my daughter is a physician, not a surgeon, but she leads the resuscitation team which is, by definition, geared to doing things now because now is all the time you have. But a trauma surgeon does that all day, every day, whereas for much of the time my daughter is dealing with rather more long term problems, where you may have a day, or even two, to save someone's life. 

So John was physically and psychologically suited to a life which soaked up his mad adrenaline rushes, and all of a sudden that has gone. Moftiss have been very cagey about what went wrong with John, since this leaves them more scope for whatever they are going to do in the future, but an injury which affected his ability to operate might be relatively mild in physical terms but exceedingly traumatic psychologically. PSTD pours adrenaline into you, and if you are already a notch above average in that department it would be even worse. Life as a GP in the suburbs is not good for John, as I think we see when Sherlock returns; all that energy has turned inwards once again, and thus, in my entirely unqualified opinion, he needs to do some therapeutic villain chasing