And he was never hurt by Sherlock the way John was - just the usual insults, ok, some unusual as well 
So he had less obstacles for acting the way he did in S3.

Well, perhaps in S4 Lestrade will have moved in with Sherlock. His wife was leaving him anyway, so ...

Lestrade has known and worked with Sherlock longer than John has known Sherlock. However, they have not shared the same bond of friendship as John and Sherlock. I think their relationship (Sherlock and Lestrade) has been on a more professional level. Lestrade never felt the same type of betrayal that John did when he learned he was not privy to the secret that Sherlock survived.
I don't think Lestrade will ever move into Baker Street, but I do hope we see more of him in future series.

RavenMorganLeigh wrote:

See, I keep thinking that there's a certain amount of teasing going on between Sherlock and Lestrade; where Sherlock is now walking on eggshells with John. Sherlock will call Greg every "G" name in the book-- and I actually think it's him being a bit of a prankster. 

Lestrade just seemed to be more open-hearted; and he had to have felt some guilt-- he had Sherlock in cuffs and under arrest before TRF! But in series 3-- we see him as actively appreciating Sherlock, actually being more of a friend than almost anyone else, save Mrs. Hudson. 

What I mean by "better freind", is willingness to hear the other person out, without resorting to violence.  

As for the sort of bond shared; I think proof is in the pudding-- the bond between Lestrade and Sherlock is stronger than ever; but the one between John and Sherlock has become rather one-sided-- Sherlock is the one doing all the work, and John seems content to let it lapse. 

Yes, the bit about walking on eggshells really seems to sum it up; there is something profoundly wrong about it. Lestrade openly admits that he felt guilt but John, who had been quite callous towards Sherlock in TRF, has never admitted that he might have been at fault. He perceives himself as a victim, and all the fault and all the blame lie with other people.

He seems to be mirroring Mary in this; one wonders whether living with her has encouraged him to think in these terms...
 

Willow wrote:

RavenMorganLeigh wrote:

See, I keep thinking that there's a certain amount of teasing going on between Sherlock and Lestrade; where Sherlock is now walking on eggshells with John. Sherlock will call Greg every "G" name in the book-- and I actually think it's him being a bit of a prankster. 

Lestrade just seemed to be more open-hearted; and he had to have felt some guilt-- he had Sherlock in cuffs and under arrest before TRF! But in series 3-- we see him as actively appreciating Sherlock, actually being more of a friend than almost anyone else, save Mrs. Hudson. 

What I mean by "better freind", is willingness to hear the other person out, without resorting to violence.  

As for the sort of bond shared; I think proof is in the pudding-- the bond between Lestrade and Sherlock is stronger than ever; but the one between John and Sherlock has become rather one-sided-- Sherlock is the one doing all the work, and John seems content to let it lapse. 

Yes, the bit about walking on eggshells really seems to sum it up; there is something profoundly wrong about it. Lestrade openly admits that he felt guilt but John, who had been quite callous towards Sherlock in TRF, has never admitted that he might have been at fault. He perceives himself as a victim, and all the fault and all the blame lie with other people.

He seems to be mirroring Mary in this; one wonders whether living with her has encouraged him to think in these terms...
 

I keep seeing some sort of cathartic breakdown scene with Sherlock and John at some point during season 4-- and what would bring that about? I hate to say ot, but Mary's death, or an unredeemable betrayal, or the loss of both Mary and the baby-- (and it's not that I want to see this) -- but that sort of scenario would definitley be a catalyst for such a cathartic scene that could result in Sherlock and John becoming closer than ever. 

In my heart of hearts though, I just want John to wake up and recognize that actually *he's the one responsible for giving himself the life he really wants, without making it Sherlock's or Mary's responisbility*!  

His conscious and subconscious need to become integrated a bit more befor that happens, though....

I personally thought that John reacted exactly how he should have. I always saw John turning towards anger first. If you read reunion fanfics, in the majority of them, John's first reaction is to hit or attack Sherlock. Just like Sherlock, John isn't good with expressing emotions verbally. While he's a much more emotional person than Sherlock, he doesn't talk about them. He's also not the touchy-feely kind of guy.

Just imagine what John's been through. He lost his best friend in the worst imaginable way. He had to watch him kill himself in front of his eyes after delivering a goodbye letter of sorts to him. John had to watch helplessly, without the power to change any of that. Myself having lost family members to natural causes or illness, I can only imagine what John went through, cause what Sherlock did takes loss to yet another level.

John grieved for a best friend he thought he lost for two years. He's now come to terms with never seeing the guy again. To have him suddenly jump out of a cake, saying, "Surprise, I'm still alive, but I didn't dare tell you cause I tought you'd blab," would make even *me* angry. And I'm not, much unlike John, a person who naturally turns to anger first.

If you ask me, had John first hugged Sherlock like Lestrade, I would have thought that very out of character, and would have been disappointed with the writers. That's not John.

SolarSystem wrote:

I think Sherlock as well as John acted in character. But I suppose that John probably wouldn't even have attacked Sherlock - at least not in the first restaurant - if Sherlock hadn't tried to be funny. And don't get me wrong, I understand that this was Sherlock's way of dealing with that situation, he clearly felt very uncomfortable.

Yes, exactly my thinking as well. I think the reunion scene was probably the one I anticipated most where series 3 was concerned, and in hindsight, it could've gone terribly wrong. For two years, I waited for something emotionally charged, something slightly angsty and intense. And we go exactly that, and I thought it was actually pretty darn near perfect, and perfectly in character for both of them. I'm very happy with it, and it's one of the reasons that I realized the other day TEH is my favourite episode in series 3.

I did think the reunion was a bit of a blow, to be honest, because even given that John forgave Sherlock later, I felt like the wind had been taken out of my sails for most of the episode;much like Sherlock himself must've felt, I suppose.
Lestrade's reaction was the only bright spot in the episode for me; he strikes me as almost a benevolent Father figure to Sherlock sometimes. I really hope to see a bit more of him next time.

I agree, I also want to see more of Lestrade in S4. I like the dynamic between him and Sherlock - and I rather liked when they went down to that skeleton  in TEH and he asked Sherlock about John, that felt kind of sweet.

But I thought it was kind of clever to not resolve the situation between Sherlock and John all that fast and soon in the episode. They gave us the scene in 221B after Sherlock's parents have left, they gave us the scene at the very end in the corridor... they really protracted it until the very end, and to me that felt perfect.