Liberty wrote:

(I wonder if John continually accepting his deceptions without much comment sets a bad example?  Maybe he should challenge him more?  Did Sherlock really think it was OK to deceive Janine because John doesn't mind being deceived?).

I think there may be some truth in that! John really minds remarkably little. Janine's reaction is really much more normal. I'm glad they let the scene play out the way it did, rather than go with the "friendlier" option. It's outrageous enough what John lets Sherlock get away with. It would have been completely unbelievable if Janine would have been just OK with that deception. Apart from the question whether they actually had full blown sex or not, going out with someone for a month is a huge emotional investment, and to find out that it was all a bluff from beginning to end would make ME turn absolutely monstrous, as Sherlock's dear mum would say.

I don't really think that in sum, as of the end of HLV, Sherlock desperately needed any MORE punishment, but in that particular case, I just can't feel sorry for him.
 

She could refer to his sexuality as well. Like in TSoT when she says "whatever it is you are". Maybe she knows by now. I do not think she knew before that he is using people and lying to them. Would make no sense in this context. 

Here's Arianne de Vere's transcript of the hospital scene with Janine:

(Janine and Sherlock in the hospital room)
Steven: “This was an interesting scene, wasn’t it? One thing I thought was, she had to kick back at him. I didn’t want her just to be the sorrowing woman. But originally at the end of this scene we had her leaving and they almost make up. She sort of says, ‘Look, obviously we’re not getting married, but if no-one wants us at the age of sixty, shall we just get together?’ and that sort of ties in with the idea of the cottage that we know he’s gonna one day live in.”
Sue: “With the bees.”
Mark: “She’s bought a cottage on the Sussex Downs with the money, and he says, ‘Keep the beehives.’ But it was too nice.”
Steven: “He got off the hook. I didn’t like the idea that he’d got off the hook; that he should be made to suffer. Because she takes the comedy revenge of the newspapers, which I think he probably quite admires – finds it faintly embarrassing but admires that she was clever, but the fact that she just skewers him with, ‘You lied and lied. We could have been friends’.”
Mark: “No, it’s good because it has consequences. I means he’s not just gonna get away with it.”
Steven: “And he does actually like her, but the fact is he’s capable of doing this kind of thing to people he likes. She’s kind, decent and clever, and look how he screwed up. I mean, he could just have asked her to help him. But a really lovely performance, I think.”
Mark: “But as we know, she’ll be back. Everybody is!”
Una: “She’s such fun in real life as well.”
Steven: “I just like the idea that ... I don’t know if we’d ever do it, but Sherlock – if he needs a date for somewhere – will just phone up and say, ‘Come on, I’ll take you to that place,’ and she’ll say, ‘No! I hate you!’ and he’d say, ‘Oh, come on,’ and she’d go and they’d have a great time but he’d still be appalling to her and leave her stranded somewhere! Or possibly she’d leave him!”
Mark: “[Or] maybe she’d just hang up!”

Yes.  It does explain why Janine bought the cottage in Sussex and got rid of the beehives.  That was puzzling me, and as I said earlier, it seemed kind of sinister, as if she was destroying Sherlock's future?  But it looks like they just took out the talk about retiring together and left the beginning of the conversation in.  I think I wish they hadn't left that in - either have the retirement talk, or don't mention the cottage at all! 

They do joke about Janine coming back, but no hints about her coming back as a villain (although I don't suppose they'd give anything away if they were planning it).   But what they say about this scene makes me think they weren't planning for her to be a villain at this point.   (Which doesn't mean that they can't change their minds in S4). 

Last edited by Liberty (November 8, 2014 8:53 am)

Yes, true.   And I think that does make her minor deception (I don't think she's ever entirely convinced by Sherlock, but lets him think she is, and I also think she's under Magnussen's instructions to lure him to the office that day) much more forgiveable, and makes Sherlock's deception more cruel.    She's caught between these two men who are using her and manipulating her. 

Actually, I'd never really thought about that - that maybe Magnussen was punishing her for letting Sherlock in?  I'd assumed that Magnussen was already controlling Janine and used her to set up the meeting with Sherlock, while making Sherlock think he had the upper hand.  Do you think she might have been completely innocent, then - that Magnussen told her he'd be out and she unknowingly just answered Sherlock's questions?  It's possible.  I'm going to be left wondering now, and I don't suppose we'll ever know for sure.

Really?.
Wow.

I really like her and think she would make a great villain...
It's just how the team speak about her on the commentary.
They are so glad she gives Sherlock a hard time.

I don't think there is any real chance of Sherlock and Molly getting together.
But then I wouldn't count on Janine either.

Yes but canonically I think he retires alone.
Anyhow, we'll see what the Sherlock creators write for us.