The only slight question I have is: could they really only find Appledore by the laptop tracker?

Yes, I don't think Sherlock ever had any intention of "selling" Mycroft, and I think Mycroft would have trusted him not to do that.  It seems as if Magnusson guessed Sherlock's plan correctly (it would give the government legal access to Magnusson's vaults, and he'd be taken out of the picture.  Maybe Sherlock hoped to get Mary's files before Mycroft arrived, or maybe he thought they wouldn't dangerous as long as Magnusson didn't have them).  It would make sense for Mycroft to be in on a plan like that, or perhaps to trust Sherlock to find a way to do it without giving him the details.

Maybe the laptop scene at their parents' house is just a very unsubtle setup for audience?  But it could be that Mycroft is giving Sherlock a go-ahead, without knowing exactly what the plan is (and that it involves him being drugged).  Or perhaps there was only limited information on that laptop - enough to incriminate Magnusson, but not to risk anything. 

La Jolie wrote:

I like the idea that leaving it lying around was Mycroft's go-ahead for Sherlock (whatever Sherlock was planning). That would also mean that he knew that telling Sherlock to keep off Magnussen would have the opposite effect. In that case, you could read their conversation outside the house ("your loss would break my heart") as Mycroft telling Sherlock something like "I know I can't stop you, so just be careful, and good luck". One might even assume that Mycroft was very well aware that there was "something in the punch", but drank it all the same because he trusted Sherlock to handle things well.

And why do I think that? Because they smoke together, which they only do at very critical, pivotal moments in their life (as in the Morgue in ASIB after Irene's "death"). Sherlock of course knew that there was a pivotal point coming, but if Mycroft didn't know it and wasn't supposed to know it, it would have made him very suspicious, and he would surely have commented on it. But he doesn't. He just joins in. Although he isn't entirely comfortable with the plan ("this isn't agreeing with me"). 

I'm not so sure about the smoking, although it's true... they don't seem to share a smoke except in very special circumstances (or that's what we are shown). But I also thought, maybe at home at their parents place they would slip into old behaviour and habits, and I read the scene as "god, we both hate this christmas business at home, let's escape and have a smoke which we don't usually do but here we are for once suffering the same".

I agree with you that all of Mycrofts lines are very suggestive of something big coming on. I still don't fully believe Mycroft would trust Sherlock as much to the point he lets himself be knowingly drugged while Sherlock handles Magnusson.
Can Mycroft be sure at that point that Sherlock is clean of drugs, in full possession of all his usual cleverness, and having a very good plan? I'm not sure. Sherlock seems unstable in most scenes, and Mycroft would pick up on that. Would he really trust Sherlock to be top of his game and able to handle Magnusson? Their conversations hint otherwise.
But: Sherlock does mention he considers Mycroft "under his (Magnussons) thumb", so maybe Mycroft just needed a good excuse to be out of the way and out of suspicion. He couldn't have known that Sherlocks would need to shoot Magnusson. Maybe he was playing along for alibi, keeping himself out of line, leaving the legwork once more to Sherlock.
But what irritates me again, then, is that Mycroft tells Sherlock that Magnusson isn't "a dragon for him to slay". It doesn't sound to me like hidden encouragement, but like a honest statement of fact.

This scene doesn't read very clear for me if we try to put too much interpretation into it  - for me it reads best with a Mycroft that's very much in the dark about Sherlocks plans. The lines "your loss would break my heart" and "something in the punch" might just be for the audience to enjoy Mycroft in ignorance about the stuff going on, for once. While choosing the fitting words by accident which makes for good entertainment.

I just don't know. My head starts hurting in a good way, too, now :D
 

Whisky wrote:

But what irritates me again, then, is that Mycroft tells Sherlock that Magnusson isn't "a dragon for him to slay". It doesn't sound to me like hidden encouragement, but like a honest statement of fact.

 

I wouldn´t red too much into Mycroft´s "dragon" statement - since it´s obviously just a nice reference to this rather humorous passage from the original short story "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton", the scene where John Watson and Sherlock broke into the blackmailer´s office:

I nodded, and stood by the door. My first feeling of fear had passed away, and I thrilled now with a keener zest than I had ever enjoyed when we were the defenders of the law instead of its defiers. The high object of our mission, the consciousness that it was unselfish and chivalrous, the villainous character of our opponent, all added to the sporting interest of the adventure. Far from feeling guilty, I rejoiced and exulted in our dangers. With a glow of admiration I watched Holmes unrolling his case of instruments and choosing his tool with the calm, scientific accuracy of a surgeon who performs a delicate operation. I knew that the opening of safes was a particular hobby with him, and I understood the joy which it gave him to be confronted with this green and gold monster, the dragon which held in its maw the reputations of many fair ladies.

Romantic and gifted with a rich imagination, it´s originaly Dr. Watson who describes the blackmailer´s vaults as a dragon and himself and Sherlock as a pair of knith-errands who want to save a fair lady from the clutches of a monster (cute!). Since in BBC Sherlock there are no vaults, the meaning was trasferred to Magnussen himself and now it´s Mycroft who warns Sherlock that he is no knight able to take on that monster.

I need to get this off my chest.

I found the Tarmac scene disappointing.

I know a lot of you guys love the scene, but from the very first time I saw it, I was disappointed. This is, from their point of view, probably the very last time they will see each other. Sherlock will most probably be dead in six months time, and they both know it. 

And what do they say? Sherlock cracks bad jokes, and John says things like "I can't think of a single thing to say" and "We are not naming our daughter after you" (a remark I found very cold and unnessesary considering the circumstances).

And how do they end this meaningless conversation? By shaking hands, standing far apart, like they were business associates. I mean, even if we take Johnlock out of the equation, these guys are supposed to be the best of friends. Even Mary gives Sherlock a hug. If you look at how they talk to each other and the shaking of hands, you would think these guys hardly know each other.

I know of course there is more going on under the surface. You see it in their eyes. But I still think it is way, way too understated. I was not expecting tears and a declaration of undying love, fluff and unicorns jumping over rainbows. But there is nothing.

So, no, this scene gives me very little, to be honest. 

 

I haven't read the thread yet, I needed to get it off my chest before reading anyone else's opinion on it. 

I've read the thread now, and I still feel the same about it. It is a good point about John feeling overwhelmed and not ready to show emotions, but on a different note that doesn't make much sense at all. During Sherlock's speech, John actually gets up and give him a warm hug, in front of everybody. And before the jump in TRF, John is not afraid to tell Sherlock what he thinks about him, and that is in a highly stressful situation. So we know that John can both show and speak about what he feels towards Sherlock, both in a time of peace and in a time of great stress.

So what do we get from John in this situation? "We are not naming our daughter after you". Not even trying to say anything, not a hug. Nothing.

To me, this tells me that they are more distant to each other here than what they were in TRF. And I think that is what is the most painful thing for me to see in that scene.

I see what you mean, but it doesn't fit with what we've seen of him so far. He can talk about his feelings during high stress when Sherlock is about to (he believes) commit sucidide. He has endured a LOT of stressful situations with Sherlock, and takes it all in stride. In TEH, the tube scene, three minutes after believing he is about to die, he has shrugged it off. Same with the experiment in THoB. 

And this scene takes place several months after Sherlock got shot and Mary's past was revelead, and probably several days after Sherlock shot Magnussen. It makes no sense that John should still be so overwhelmed by those things still when he has shrugged everything else off within minutes. Not to the point we see in this scene.

I guess that depends on how you interpret it. When Sherlock says "Who knows?" and won't really meet John's eyes, it can be interpreted that John understands what that means. 

It took me a while to come to terms with this scene, because initially I also thought What the heck, why can't they show more emotions, why can't they talk about how miserable it all feels?!
But the way I see it now (and it was mentioned in this thread already, I'm sure), John certainly still is overwhelmed by everything that's happened. I don't see him as someone who can shrug something like this off within days or even weeks. And I think he's fu**** scared. And I also think that he has no idea how his life will evolve now. So what is there to say when you don't know what to say? There certainly are a myriad things to say, if you think about it, so where should they even begin? So I think the only logical solution, from a writers point of view, is to have them say nothing at all apart from some jokes - jokes which feel awkward and which actually make you feel how much pain there is between them.