See, and this is what gets me-- (and this is me, only) --I loved Mary in the first two episodes: but when she shot Sherlock, that was it for me. I was done with her, and just wanted her gone. Even if Sherlock's pain and anguish wasn't a motivation for me, knowing John's heartbreak and betrayal and rage-- this is a guy with trust issues, PTSD, had just barely recovered from losing Sherlock, and Mary knew this-- I can't imagine how, loving John Watson and wanting the very best for him, that anyone would want him to be married to Mary-- it just blows my mind. 

And I'm pretty sure that an ex (?) assassin didn't just happen to show up at John's clinic and just happen to fall in love with him. I seriously think she was a plant by Moriarty's people, and is exactly why Sherlock took the precaution of not informing John that he was alive. I think she might have made the mistake of falling in love with John-- but her love is a narcissistic sort of love--and I think that actually might be what gets her killed. Or, maybe--just maybe, she learns to put put someone else's best interests above her own. 

Again-- this is only my take on this; no harm to anyone else's headcanon is meant.  I love everybody. 

SusiGo wrote:

RavenMorganLeigh wrote:

SusiGo wrote:

Is there really this compulsion? We have no idea where they are going to take her. And I am not sure that we will see so much of her in the future, at least not as a sympathetic main character. 

Hey, Susi! 

I guess I keep hearing folks go on about wanting the middle-class, suburban fantasy for Mary, John and the Baby-- and there's this deluge of Parent!Lock fanfic all over AO3, centered around that very scenario. So, extrapolating from that, yeah, I think there's a large contingent of folks who'd love to see Mary stay, as a main character, and as a Benevolent Mother figure. (scratches head in puzzlement) Go figure.

From what I see on tumblr and AO3, a lot of people do not want to have that at all. But I may be a bit biased. 
 

 Aren't we all? 

tonnaree wrote:

SusiGo wrote:

RavenMorganLeigh wrote:

Hey, Susi! 

I guess I keep hearing folks go on about wanting the middle-class, suburban fantasy for Mary, John and the Baby-- and there's this deluge of Parent!Lock fanfic all over AO3, centered around that very scenario. So, extrapolating from that, yeah, I think there's a large contingent of folks who'd love to see Mary stay, as a main character, and as a Benevolent Mother figure. (scratches head in puzzlement) Go figure.

From what I see on tumblr and AO3, a lot of people do not want to have that at all. But I may be a bit biased. 
 

I see a lot of people who want Mary gone so they can watch John and Sherlock raise the baby!

Okay-- here's a question...how does that work? When do they ever have time for crime solving? And you just know-- the Baby would immediately be kidnapped, expecially if she takes after John! 

Nepotism or not, I do not believe that they keep an actress in the series just for those reasons. This would be highly unprofessional. Ian Hallard and Louis Moffat and Benedict's parents all had small parts. Of course Amanda's part is bigger but they had said often enough that the main focus of the show is on Sherlock and John and I do believe that it will remain so.  

I'm torn. On one hand, I think Mofftiss are professional--but I also think they may (forgive me, I know I'm sinning) think that because it's them making the decisions, they can make it work. And they've got a lot of talent-- but I think that any creator can get cocky. If you add possible pressure from Martin, and Amanda-- I just think it's plausible that might think making Mary a primary character is a good idea. Somone else recently made the point that Moffatt has been increasingly family-oriented in terms of what focus he has in his shows, including Dr. Who. So, maybe he wants to have what I joking refer to as a Sherlockian Addams Family sort of thing. 

God, I hope not. 

And Mofftiss really wrote themselves into a corner with this one, with the fact that Mary's pregnant. It's like--now what???

RavenMorganLeigh wrote:

tonnaree wrote:

SusiGo wrote:

From what I see on tumblr and AO3, a lot of people do not want to have that at all. But I may be a bit biased. 
 

I see a lot of people who want Mary gone so they can watch John and Sherlock raise the baby!

Okay-- here's a question...how does that work? When do they ever have time for crime solving? And you just know-- the Baby would immediately be kidnapped, expecially if she takes after John! 

I don't think it would work and I don't expect it to happen, it's just very popular in fan fiction.  

RavenMorganLeigh wrote:

I'm torn. On one hand, I think Mofftiss are professional--but I also think they may (forgive me, I know I'm sinning) think that because it's them making the decisions, they can make it work. And they've got a lot of talent-- but I think that any creator can get cocky. If you add possible pressure from Martin, and Amanda-- I just think it's plausible that might think making Mary a primary character is a good idea. Somone else recently made the point that Moffatt has been increasingly family-oriented in terms of what focus he has in his shows, including Dr. Who. So, maybe he wants to have what I joking refer to as a Sherlockian Addams Family sort of thing. 
God, I hope not. 
And Mofftiss really wrote themselves into a corner with this one, with the fact that Mary's pregnant. It's like--now what???

I wish I had your way with words; you said everything so well. I agree with you, 100%. 

Coming back to edit this and add that IMO they've also painted themselves into a corner with Sherlock's S3 personality transplant. I'm very curious to see where this all goes.
 

Last edited by ancientsgate (August 20, 2014 2:47 am)

I'm sorry I haven't gone through all the discussion in this thread so this might've already been mentioned.

Did you guys notice that Mary's reveal and perhaps her fate has been foreshadowed in TSo3? And I'm not talking about Sherlock's Liar deduction or the evil horn thingy:

 
It’s the conversation Mrs. H Has with Sherlock and John.
 
Read the dialogue keeping these in mind:
Mrs. H = John; Mr. H = Mary; Mrs. H’s best friend = Sherlock
 
1. (Mrs. H - Sherlock)
.
SHERLOCK: Your husband was executed for double murder. You’re hardly an advert for companionship.
...
MRS HUDSON: My best friend, Margaret – she was my chief bridesmaid. We were going to be best friends forever, we always said that; but I hardly saw her after that.
...
MRS HUDSON: She cried the whole day, saying, “Ooh, it’s the end of an era.”
...
MRS HUDSON: I remember she left early. I mean, who leaves a wedding early? So sad!
 
 
2. (Mrs. H - John)
 
JOHN: Did you think you’d found the right one when you married Mr. Hudson?
MRS HUDSON: No! It was just a whirlwind thing for us. I knew it wouldn’t work, but I just got sort of swept along.
JOHN: Right.
MRS HUDSON: And then we moved to Florida. We had a fantastic time, but of course I didn’t know what he was up to. The drugs.
JOHN Drugs?
MRS HUDSON: He was running ... um, oh God, what d’you call it? Um, a ... cartel.
MRS HUDSON: Got in with a really bad crowd.
JOHN: Right.
MRS HUDSON: And then I found out about all the other women. I didn’t have a clue! So, when he was actually arrested for blowing someone’s head off ...
MRS HUDSON: ... it was quite a relief, to be honest.
JOHN: ... Right.
MRS HUDSON: It was purely physical between me and Frank. We couldn’t keep our hands off each other.
MRS HUDSON: I know: there was one night ...
 
I can’t imagine all those underlined parts matching with Sherlock, John and Mary’s story being a coincidence. So does this mean the bold part will more or less apply to Mary eventually?? And let's not forget from ASiP that the literal Sherlock ensured Mr. Hudson's death. The plot thickens... 


casehusbands and LSiT from tumblr noticed these parallels too and discussed more deeply about it so I suppose I should mention them.

 

I don't know. She has done pretty well As Mary so far to me. Pre HLV she maintained the innocent person image pretty convincingly. And during HLV I was astonished by her smooth transition to cold blooded, cool headed assassin. My favorite Mary line is probably, "Oh Sherlock, if you take one more step I swear I will kill you". The cold, detached and fearless way Amanda delivered the line is golden. She was trapped between Magnusson and Sherlock and her carefully constructed world was going to be ruined forever but her face didn’t show it one tiny bit. That’s the sign of a field agent climatized to adverse situations. And in case of her not having much chemistry with Martin well I see it as purely a conscious choice from the showrunners.

In short TPTB were the main barrier for their chemistry to blossom.