I agree with gently, and furthermore I think that in the long-run three is just too uneven a number. Even if she hadn't done what she did, to me BBC Sherlock works best with Sherlock and John in the centre of it. Of course you could have Mary in the background without seeing much of her, but then what would be the point of introducing her in the first place?
The show works best (for me) with John and Sherlock living together in 221B - and with Mary around that just doesn't happen. So even if she were a 'nice girl' she'd still be some kind of disturbing factor.

To me it doesn't matter at all either. I even liked her for a while until I realised what I came to think of as the sad truth now.

I agree with what the others said. Although I am a Johnlocker and prefer to have them (as most of the time in canon) alone in 221B, I was surprised by how much I liked Mary in episode 1 and 2. But to me what she does in HLV is unforgiveable (not only shooting Sherlock but her whole behaviour afterwards) and I frankly do not believe the "surgery" explanation. 

Last edited by SusiGo (April 14, 2014 12:09 pm)

Thank you James, you have given me much food for thought.
I have always had mixed feelings about Mary.
I knew she had to 'done', because it's Canon.
I presumed that Mark and Steven would want to update her and make her a stronger, female character.
It could be seen that they also deceided to ally her to Sherlock, possibly in an attempt to make her more aceeptable.
I am on board with the plan at the moment and am really waiting to see what S4 brings...

Zatoichi wrote:

If you ask how I could have accepted her more easily.. if she had been a supporting character instead of a third lead, if she hadn´t acted like the grown-up or even mother of the trio, and if she hadn´t shot Sherlock...

Quite right, Zatoichi.
And even more: Mothers don't shoot their kids. This isn't done!
 

So, NNHO, what do our answers tell you now? 

Ok, I get it, you know. Mary isn't exactly popular. But think all the directions they could take her in. Eventually John will return to baker street so I'm kind of excited. What if they kill her off like in the canon? This won't happen soon necessarily but think of all the drama! And aftermath! John being comforted by Sherlock. John and Sherlock raising the kid. Sherlock would have progeny!! The possibilities are endless! +goes and takes a chill pill+
So, yeah, I think I'm the only one who thinks timing matters. Everybody is pro John and Sherlock because that is the center of the show established from the begining. Maybe people would defend Mary more if half as much emphasis had been placed on her and John's romance.

Mary has split the fandom in some kind of way, and I think a lot of the fans are as tired of the "is she a good person or not?" debate as they are of the friction that it's caused in the fandom. I myself am quite conflicted about Mary. I both want to like and dislike her, and I haven't fully made up my mind yet. But I can definitely say I'm sympathetic towards her because I can understand her actions. To me that matters more than whether something someone did is interpreted as good or bad.

Interestingly, it seems that (at least over on Tumblr), there's another kind of fandom war going on right now. I haven't seen it, but apparently someone made a gifset where they photoshopped Mary into a scene from the Fargo pilot so that it looks like Martin (as John) is killing Mary. Most of the Mary-hating part of the fandom thinks it's cool, the more tolerant part is ranting on about how that's disrepectful and taking things out of proportion.

I would tend to agree with the latter, but I don't have very strong feelings about it. I'm not in favour of the idea of such a gifset, but I also don't think creative thinking should be forbidden. In the end, it's all fiction. The argument of "what would Martin and Amanda think if they saw this" doesn't count in my eyes, because we're looking at characters and not real people here. Characters on TV get killed off all the time to serve a story. If you can't separate between a character and an actor, then my personal opinion is that you should try to reevaluate your way of thinking.

If I'm getting a little off piste here, my apologies.

I don't like Mary because I don't like Mary. She was more than willing to kill Sherlock to stop John from knowing who she really is. The baby name thing. All of it. I've tried writing a couple of times and I see her as a plot problem. SusiGo said she didn't believe the "surgery" bit. Maybe what she meant was she's not "buying it" and neither am I. In fact, I'm not buying very much of her and John's relationship at all. This will be solved by Mary's death.