Just when I re-watched HLV today I thought that Sherlock´s "I rather keep you guessing" might also apply to TPTB and their way of storytelling..^^

I have several thoughts about "Heartbreak".. first I think Moriarty doesn´t only refer to the most recent events, but to his whole life so far.. to all the sentiments he fears the most and tries to avoid/lock away at all costs. All the hurtful memories his mindpalace brought up on top of the actual physical pain and shock.. how Mycroft called him stupid little boy, how Mummy and Daddy have been very cross, his childhood dog they put down.. all this adds to the general downward spiral he´s in, which culminates in his break-down in Moriarty´s cell, when he absolutely hits rock bottom. So probably each of the words can´t be linked to just one event, but to all the times he ever suffered from them.. An emotional child like Sherlock must have suffered from pain and heartbreak quite a lot before he (not too successfully) tried to keep himself distant from all that. Life will break your heart, as they say, and all this passes before his eyes in the face of death, spelled out by his inner nemesis. 

Second, I do think that Mary´s betrayal of trust indeed breaks his heart.. he´s so sure she´ll never hurt him when he takes a step forward and calls her "Mrs. Watson", thus speaking to the woman he thought he knew and let into his inner circle of trusted friends. His "Mary?" after the shoot sounds soo shaken and vulnerable.. if it didn´t break his heart, it certainly broke mine ​.

That is an interesting thought, Schmiezi, and it could be an explanation for the fact that we don't get to see Sherlock's process of "taking her case".

Vhanja wrote:

I think No 4 can be explained with Sherlock being - for all practical purposes - asexual, by choice. Simply not interested in any kind of romantic/sexual relationship with anyone, no matter gender.

 
I mean, I can see where you're going with that one, but to me it sounded like she was going to say something else but changed her mind.

And the only thing that changed was that John walked in.

I honestly think she was going to say "gay" or even "in love with John" but decided against it when John walked in, because neither of them wanted to spoil their wedding.

I may be totally spitballing here, but that's the impression I got.

Hope I'm not too late and bumping a dead thread, but I've had these little devil's advocate thoughts in my head for a while. Get ready for a lot of text! ;)

Now personally, I'm a Johnlocker too, but for almost every point raised in its defense, I can also see the other side of the coin. Almost anything that can be answered "because (romantic) love" can also be answered "because (non-romantic) love". And I'm not militant about any particular interpretations, so I feel capable of offering an opposing viewpoint without any bias.

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I'll start with the Vitruvian Man picture, because I think this is an easy one. It shows the 'ideal proportions' of the male body. In this scene, Sherlock is seeking help finding the exact (ideal) alcohol intake for John. That would mean knowing John's body proportions. It's a bizarre little crafts project, no matter how you read it, but it could've simply been something for the viewer to giggle about. Sherlock is, after all, spectacularly ignorant about some things. To him, maybe he didn't see anything bizarre about it at all-- which is exactly why it's funny to see him present it so casually to Molly.

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Oh what a night... Sherlock's desperately sad look at the end of TSoT. His best friend really did move on without him. He thought he could just come back to London and slot right back into life like nothing changed. But everything changed. He's thinking about all the things Hudders says, that marriage changes people and old friends inevitably drift away. John IS his closest friend, after all, of the scant few friends he even has. At this point in Sherlock's arc he's actually started opening up, allowed himself to "get involved" and have sentiment, to become something he'd never thought possible: "be someone's best friend". And now he's losing it all. That's still incredibly painful, even without being in love.

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Irene Adler. Battersea. This one's the toughtest nut to crack from a non-Johnlock perspective. The dialog between John and Irene is incredibly powerful, and absolutely loaded with possible meanings on all sides. It is at once frustratingly vague, and yet, so on-the-nose with its delivery. A fantastic bit of writing, IMO. There is a BIG point being made here, but the question is, what is it? Some argue Adlock, some argue Johnlock. But let's try to find an alternative to both of these.

Sherlock secretly follows John, and discovers Irene is still alive. This profoundly affects him, because it means Irene outplayed him in a way not even Moriarty would in TRF. His interest in Irene has often been described by the writers as an adoration/fascination of her intellect. So why doesn't he step out and announce himself?... Well, if we're not Johnlocking and we're not Adlocking, why would he? He doesn't need to step out there, to face her, because it was the game that interested him. Not her. Stepping out there would be pointless, she's not important in that way. But staying hidden and overhearing two people having this conversation about him and how captivating he apparently is to both of them is far more interesting. That is, until his presence is rumbled by the text alert sound. He bails, not wanting to engage either of them in discussion, perhaps still reeling from the whole 'being outplayed' thing, which occupies his brain all the way back to 221b.

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To the very best of times. Someone else posted already what I would say about this one: that Sherlock probably has so, so many things to say in that moment on the tarmac. So many "thank you for"s and "sorry that I"s that were never spoken over their long companionship. And ultimately, he didn't want John to remember this moment with sorrow, and nor did he want to remember John that way. So he lied about knowing his 6-months fate, and instead opted to make a silly quip and make him smile and laugh. Sherlock's look of sadness, then, is a knowing one; he knows he's going on a suicide mission, but John has been spared that horrible reality. John can laugh more freely here... maybe they'll see eachother again, somehow, sometime. Hope springs eternal. Sherlock, on the other hand, is heartwrenchingly melancholy. Being 'in' love is absolutely not a requirement of the sadness present in this scene.

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(Edit: Oh! I've thought of another one.)

John dreaming of Sherlock while he sleeps next to his wife. He's dreaming of the war, more specifically. Mycroft said it best: he's not haunted by the war, he misses it. And then he met Sherlock, who provided that danger and adventure he needed in life. Sherlock represents those things to John now, and he misses it. That's why this dream scene so closely parallels the one at the beginning of ASiP.

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That's all I can think of at the moment, but I'll gladly make an effort of countering other moments people generally feel are strong for Johnlock.

And to counter one of my own arguments above, I must say I find the Irene one the most difficult to read this way. Would 'being intellectually outplayed' by Irene faking her death really affect him so much that we get that dramatic, up-close dazed face as he walks down Baker Street? Really? Moriarty never had such an effect on him. To me, this reaction speaks of something much more profound or personal. To me, it was definitely something one or both of them said about him, or about themselves, or about how they felt, that really rocked his boat. And without Johnlock or Adlock, I'm at a loss at what that could be.

Phew. That was hard, but fun.

Last edited by GimmeCat (June 2, 2016 10:43 pm)

Thank you! :D I've been dying to have a place to discuss all this, lol.

According to the team it was Adlock.

I don't see it that way at all...
Except for the very last shot of Sherlock, when he stops at putting the phone in the drawer, gazes out at the rain and says 'The Woman'.
Hard to explain that away...

Well when Sherlock refers to John as The Man, I'll listen!

Well, I don't know ... John is the main person in his life, somebody he loves deeply, his primary relationship, friend and partner.  Whereas Irene is somebody he's met a couple of times.  It makes sense for "it's always you" to be about John, especially around the time that he's making a vow to John.  

I think this thread might have passed me by.  Must catch up!

Vhanja wrote:

Also, I have a slightly different view on John dreaming about Sherlock. It doesn't have to be Johnlock-y, but I always saw that dream as Sherlock saving John from his nightmares about the war. He sleeps restlessly, having these horrible nightmares about the war (as in ASiP9, and then he hears Sherlock's soothing voice in his head, and he calms down. 
 

Aww. Johnlocky or not, that is adorable.