You know what? This is one thing that I enjoyed seeing in Series 3 despite my intital feelings at first. We see things about John that are shown in ASiP, but soon are ignored or forgotten about. I know John is abit more ordinary than Sherlock, but there was one thing they had in common: their addiction to danger. In Series 1 and 2, John pretends to be as normal as the rest of the people, but in fact, he is just like Sherlock in certain aspects. He doesn't trust easily nor does he make friends easy too. The only thing that made him drawn to Sherlock in the first place was Sherlock giving him what he sought, and that was the craving for danger. If they didn't have that addiction, I bet John would have left Sherlock years ago. XD That is the thing that got them together.

I see alot of people going like : John is going to leave Mary and get back with Sherlock and go to 221b. Their domestic bliss.

No, John isn't. He will stay with Mary. Why? Because unlike his other girlfriends, she is dangerous like him and would bring all the danger he wants. It won't be just the baby that keeps him there. It is Mary and the danger she brings. She shot sherlock? Oh yes, he will never forget she did that, but he wouldn't leave her just like how he put up with Sherlock's moods, emotional manipulation, and drugging him, he will stay because of his cravings, which is quite disturbing. 

I don't like Sherlock pointing out that John knew about Mary subconsciously, but I like to look at that scene as John being called out for his own attitude and that he is no better than Sherlock or Mary. 

I'm not saying that John doesn't love Sherlock and Mary. He does. He just can't shake off his addiction and hopefully, in Series 4, he realizes this and becomes better.



 

Last edited by LoveIsAViciousMotivator (May 8, 2014 12:21 am)

LoveIsAViciousMotivator wrote:

I see alot of people going like : John is going to leave Mary and get back with Sherlock and go to 221b. Their domestic bliss.
No, John isn't. He will stay with Mary. Why? Because unlike his other girlfriends, she is dangerous like him and would bring all the danger he wants. It won't be just the baby that keeps him there. It is Mary and the danger she brings. She shot sherlock? Oh yes, he will never forget she did that, but he wouldn't leave her just like how he put up with Sherlock's moods, emotional manipulation, and drugging him, he will stay because of his cravings, which is quite disturbing.
 

Yes, you have made your point of view clear very eloquently. But you know what? That is actually for me the thing I dislike about the Mary story arc. If she is perfect and provides just anything for our John, where will Sherlocks place in the picture be? I know the writers have moved on from sheepish Sherlock admiring John, but I feel I'm also done with hurt and angst between them ( in this season rather shown on Sherlocks side of psyche). At least I would like to see John and Sherlock as real partners again and if they keep Mary she should step back as not to distract our poor John.

And getting Mary out of the picture doesn't necessarily mean that John would have to leave her. Lots of different scenarios are thinkable when it comes to that.
But I agree, I actually can't shake the feeling completely that John might indeed have read the file on Mary and for some reason decided to keep it a secret.

mrshouse wrote:

Yes, you have made your point of view clear very eloquently. But you know what? That is actually for me the thing I dislike about the Mary story arc. If she is perfect and provides just anything for our John, where will Sherlocks place in the picture be? I know the writers have moved on from sheepish Sherlock admiring John, but I feel I'm also done with hurt and angst between them ( in this season rather shown on Sherlocks side of psyche). At least I would like to see John and Sherlock as real partners again and if they keep Mary she should step back as not to distract our poor John.

Why does she have to step back? ( I know she will have to when the baby comes full term if the writers' do go through with the baby's birth) Why not the three of them work together on cases? There are still pretty good stories in the Sherlock canon which I would love to see this trio take on. S4 can really prove to us how Mary can redeem her actions as well as help Sherlock and John.

Lots of potential with a major female character among the cast. 

Yes, yes, I know, Mary might not be here for long, but I will hate to see her placed as a background character. She can bring alot to the table.

Matter of personal taste, I'm afraid.*shrugs* Personally for me three leads are too crowded. Great support, fine.

Wow! I guess I'm the only one here who likes to see this trio go to work! Well, so be it! I can't wait for Sherlock, John, and Mary to kick butt in Series 4. 

Anyway, back on topic, like I said, I hope John Watson learns from what he learned in HLV about himself and learns to better himself as a person, as a husband, and as a father. 

Well I think they already played fast and loose with Canon by bringing Mary into the series after the Fall, at the point where,in the books, she dies.
So they can now keep her in as long as they want to, and do whatever they want with her - they always seem to find a way of reinterpreting some area of Canon to excuse their straying from it!! 
My feeling is that Moftiss have no intention of writing Amanda out - not least because Martin and Amanda seem particularly friendly with Mark, and I just think she'll be kept on board, as part of the "family".
For me, I'd get to used to this if they have her as a peripheral character, like Molly.
But a crime busting trio, to my mind, would be too far removed from canon, and from the series I fell in love with.
With all this in mind, I expect John to spend some of season 4 slightly conflicted between settling into parenthood, and missing the adrenaline rush of being with Sherlock, before finding a way of doing both.
Given that Mary insisted on joining him when he went to the drug den, and when they raced up to Major Sholto's room, I'm not going to be too surprised if a convenient baby sitter is found, and Mary often joins him in his adventures.

Last edited by Tinks (May 8, 2014 2:43 pm)

Actually, this is what my worst soapy soap nightmares are made of. Mary and Sherlock on chase and John changing Sherleys nappies? Cooking for them? Mary outsmarting anyone? Shudder...
Not the show I fell in love with...

Tinks wrote:

My feeling is that Moftiss have no intention of writing Amanda out - not least because Martin and Amanda seem particularly friendly with Mark, and I just think she'll be kept on board, as part of the "family".

I can quite understand why they would want to keep her for that reason alone - but I really hope it's just a reason amongst others.

I never liked the idea of Mary much, but I have to confess, it did work well. I think it would be easier to focus only on John and Sherloc again if Mary wasn't such a strong character... and I think she partly is because Amanda Abbington is a really good Mary and has good chemistry with the others. For me, Mary wasn't a supporting character at all, she was well-matched for John and Sherlock, and that's the main reason I don't want her to stay... her character is too powerful to be a side character. She feels more like a Moriarty to me - someone who immediatly attracts attention when entering a scene, a strong complex character. And I think that's a temptation for future series - who would write off a character like that?

I think I'd like her to stay only when she started working against/opposite Sherlock and John... because the dynamics would fit better then... but that would be heartbreaking, and it would totally ruin series 3 for me
 

LoveIsAViciousMotivator wrote:

@Tinks: Yeah! That would be good conflict for John. I can actually see moments where John has to juggle his place as a husband/father and a partner to Sherlock. There is going to be times where John would have to look at sherlock and say: I can't help.  As well as moments where he would be looking at Mary and his baby, saying: Sherlock needs me. Mary would probably depending on what is going on and the child would be like: Whoa! Hold on, John! I'm coming! or she would be like: Got to look after our child!

Oh even better, Mary telling John she would help Sherlock and John is left with changing diapers or how ever far long the child is. LOL That's a funny image. 

And you really honestly want to see all this on the show...?
Tastes really are different. If they show me any of this on a regular basis (as regular as you can get with three episodes), then I'll most likely throw my tv out of the window.