The way I would see it play out (when I'm trying to create a scenario that John would prefer, not a good TV show) is that Mary isn't going be the one to keep him in trouble and provide the excitement. She is going to help him maintain the illusion of normality that he likes to project to the outside world. She is a skilled liar whilst he isn't good at deception at all. He craves the danger and adrenaline whist she wants the normality. So Mary will busy herself creating a nice warm home and looking after the baby whilst he is out there running around with Sherlock. She will tolerate the degree of uncertainty and risks that others would struggle with (remember Sarah?). She will also put up with his anger outbursts and the darker side of his personality quite easily. By association with Mary John will continue to believe that he is the 'sane one', at least by comparison. It may not be the healthiest relationship but I can see it work.
 

belis wrote:

The way I would see it play out (when I'm trying to create a scenario that John would prefer, not a good TV show) is that Mary isn't going be the one to keep him in trouble and provide the excitement. She is going to help him maintain the illusion of normality that he likes to project to the outside world. She is a skilled liar whilst he isn't good at deception at all. He craves the danger and adrenaline whist she wants the normality. So Mary will busy herself creating a nice warm home and looking after the baby whilst he is out there running around with Sherlock. She will tolerate the degree of uncertainty and risks that others would struggle with (remember Sarah?). She will also put up with his anger outbursts and the darker side of his personality quite easily. By association with Mary John will continue to believe that he is the 'sane one', at least by comparison. It may not be the healthiest relationship but I can see it work.
 

Oddly enough, if you look at the opening scenes in John and Mary's house it is very far from nice and warm home decor; it's all very cold and clinical looking.

Admittedly, just about anywhere would look cold and clinical by contrast with 221b Baker St, but the person who dressed that set had very clear instructions from Moftiss and the director...
 

Willow wrote:

Oddly enough, if you look at the opening scenes in John and Mary's house it is very far from nice and warm home decor; it's all very cold and clinical looking.

It looks nice and warm to me. A bit like our house... oh wait, a doctor and a nurse live here too. lol
I think after you have worked in healthcare for a certain length of time 'clinical' becomes familiar and comforting rather then cold and detached. I would also imagine that coming from a military background John would have a certain preference for things being orderly and just right. It may be his stamp on the place that we see.

Last edited by belis (March 11, 2014 8:53 pm)

Willow wrote:

Then they certainly wouldn't like the Royal London trauma unit's decoration!

Lol I can't imagine anyone wanting this shade of pink in their house. Maybe very sparingly as an accent feature.

Willow wrote:

As far as I can tell it is the same set for the short film when Lestrade delivers the DVD; I remember commenting a while back that it didn't seem to have changed post marriage. No cosy little women's touches, the sort which magazines fetishise, but I take your point that officers quarters run on very conventional lines.

It's still very different to the apparent chaos of 221b Baker St...

There are plenty of cosy touches there. Courtains-superfluous to requirements as windows have blinds in them. Colourfull wall paper. Pictures on the wall. Sofa cushions. Even a little ornamental star that serves no practical purpose.

I think that if I had to spend any length of time living in chaos that is 221b Baker St I would have an overwhelming desire to make my house as utalitarian as possible just to calm the senses a little bit. ;)
 

tonnaree wrote:

Me and my family would be right at home with the chaos of 221b. 
We are an urully mob! 

I must confess that I would fit in to 221b a great deal better than I would do in suburban bliss; clearly there are very different personalities in play.

Also, 221b has Sherlock which I regard as a major plus point
 

tonnaree wrote:

Me and my family would be right at home with the chaos of 221b. 
We are an urully mob! 

I adore that flat. I'd live there in a heartbeat!

besleybean wrote:

I still maintain they should open it as a holiday flat for fans...I mean, even the set!

There should be a petetion. By the way-- I found the wallpaper, and YIKES!, expensive!!!!

belis wrote:

I'm not a particularly tidy person. I think I could put up with the experiments in the kitchen (having shared a flat with 3 guys oblivious to basic principles of food hygiene I have seen all sorts growing in the fridge). I kept a full skeleton in a living room for a while so the skull is definitely OK. What would seriously get on my nerves after a while is the amount of clutter and the wall paper. I like my walls white. Maybe a touch of pastel if I feel adventerous. lol
 

Well, at least a full skeleton is guaranteed to generate thought, if only of the 'how do I get out of this place alive' variety.

You would like the Royal London outpatients department; it's white. The only touch of pink was, oddly enough, on the person of the male nurse in charge of the burns clinic, who clearly sees more cases in a week than many practioners see in a lifetime, and threw himself heart and soul into getting me onto the plane to San Diego next Monday so I can enjoy lots of fresh air on the long voyage back to England, though the snorkelling has got the chop

As you know, my preferred opening to next season would be Sherlock's sabotaged plane crash landing on Mary, with sadly fatal results, but John heroically saving Sherlock from the flaming wreckage. Should anyone want to write a fanfic on this I can provide details of the appropriate dressings, the many virtues of silver, the realities of surgical debridement, and contraindications for skin grafts... 


 

Willow wrote:

belis wrote:

I'm not a particularly tidy person. I think I could put up with the experiments in the kitchen (having shared a flat with 3 guys oblivious to basic principles of food hygiene I have seen all sorts growing in the fridge). I kept a full skeleton in a living room for a while so the skull is definitely OK. What would seriously get on my nerves after a while is the amount of clutter and the wall paper. I like my walls white. Maybe a touch of pastel if I feel adventerous. lol
 

Well, at least a full skeleton is guaranteed to generate thought, if only of the 'how do I get out of this place alive' variety.

You would like the Royal London outpatients department; it's white. The only touch of pink was, oddly enough, on the person of the male nurse in charge of the burns clinic, who clearly sees more cases in a week than many practioners see in a lifetime, and threw himself heart and soul into getting me onto the plane to San Diego next Monday so I can enjoy lots of fresh air on the long voyage back to England, though the snorkelling has got the chop

As you know, my preferred opening to next season would be Sherlock's sabotaged plane crash landing on Mary, with sadly fatal results, but John heroically saving Sherlock from the flaming wreckage. Should anyone want to write a fanfic on this I can provide details of the appropriate dressings, the many virtues of silver, the realities of surgical debridement, and contraindications for skin grafts...


 

Grrrlfriend, I'll hold you to that. :-D

Mirthxx wrote:

Ozma wrote:

NotYourHousekeeperDear wrote:

I did find John massively out of character and I'm still reeling. Not in his relationship with Sherlock, but with Mary. A defining characteristic of John has always been his strong moral compass. Sherlock, although.manipulative of him at times, has never lied about the person who he really is. He has always come clean about any deceptions as soon as he feels they have served their purpose. But here we have Mary, who has not only lied about who she is, but has made so e questionable moral choices, and additionally only confesses to John because Sherlock insists, and we are supposed to believe john loves her so much he just forgives her? The only thing he really knows about her is she is a liar? I really can't believe he would still love her and I'm very cross about it!

yes. And I know we knew he was in the army and from the very first episode we are told he misses war and everything, but he is still not a violent sociopath and all of a sudden in this episode he needs violence and he is attracted to murderers. It's just too long of a stretch to just accept it without batting an eyelid or making excuses.

Also, I don't believe what Sherlock says, that John chose her because she was like that. On the contrary John chose her because she seemed so normal and safe to him - let's not lie to ourselves he had no way of knowing of her past, so he couldn't possibly have been attracted to that - as opposed to when he chooses Sherlock because he sees what he does and how he is.

What I mean is - John chose Sherlock because of the adrenaline he felt with him, BUT he chose Mary because of her normalcy.

So, no, it doesn't work for me.

Yeah, me neither.  When he said "But she wasn't suposed to be like that.  Why is she like that" was so heartbreaking and that he was more or less begging Sherlock to explain, and what he came up with is it's all your fault??  I was with John - Why is it always his fault?? 

I agree, he was attracted to someone who was intellegent and made him laugh, and probably (I suspect) someone who was more interested in him than Sherlock - I'm betting a lot of dates were spent avoiding questions about Sherlock and stating repeatedly that he was NOT a fraud.  I think they would have been better going for the Your attracted to intellegence than sociopaths.

.....although I really liked 'Even your landlady used to run a drug cartell.  LMAO!!
(However, again, she was Sherlock's landlady first and sort of came as a package deal - again sooo not John's fault that Sherlock had a cheap flat in her house)

Mxx

I think - it is evident to John that Mary has never been what she professed to be. I don't think he's in love with danger any more than he is with suburban boredom - his blog says he 'did good and had fun' with his friend solving crimes. John doesn't speak to Mary for 4 months after she became the client in that scene and John was probably living at 221B. I am sure that Sherlock was doing everything possible to solve the problem of Mary being a danger to John and there is a plan. Sherlock had to convince Mary that John would go back to her so the plan will work. Mrs H didn't run a drug cartel, Sherlock isn't any kind of socioppath, Mary, she may be a sociopath - John had too much to think about to dispute anything Sherlock said at that moment.

I can't call it if Mary was at that moment possibly only a danger becuase her enemies might kill John as revenge or, if Mary is an irredeemable sociopath she would kill rather than lose John. My logic and gut feeling is she is a sociopath who pseudo-loves John as an object to posess. I hope Mary will redeem herself in some way becuase we are due for a main female character who isn't an unrepentant villain besides Mrs Hudson.

Sorry if the baby is a canon refernce and a plot device to make it impossible for Sherlock to do anything then about John's problem other than for John to reconcile with her, after a suitable length of 'thinking it over' time, at Christmas, a traditional time for family and peace and goodwill to all. Mary might not be as important as the baby regardless of if it is John's child or not. She might redeem herself, I don't know.