TwoSouls wrote:

My interpretation of the dynamic between the two in this scene: John must be confused beyond believe by all that`s been happening to him in the past months. He is probably scared aswell because he doesn`t know whether he can trust his own judgement and decisions concerning himself, Mary and Sherlock. He seems more distant from Sherlock than ever and Sherlock respects that. He himself can`t really afford to get all emotional but has to get his game together, if he wants to stand the slightest chance on his undercover mission. I never saw the joke about Sherlock being a girls name as a cop out after failing to say something more important. More as Sherlock`s slightly selfish need to see John laugh once more and remind them of all the good times.
As for the handshake , that seems to me to be a really Sherlock-y thing to do. After all he is rather old fashioned in a lot of ways and this must appear to him to be the proper way to tell your best friend and partner that it has been an honour to know him. And he doesn`t let go immediately which shows that the whole thing is really heartfelt, I think.

Hm. I can live with this.