Aww, nice thread title, Sliverblaze!  This could be interesting!  I can think of a few things I'd like to discuss further, although it depends if many of us want to (I think Johnlock is the dominant view - although not amongst people I know in real life). 

A little thing that came up today on the Johnlock thread was the tarmac scene, where Sherlock says that there is something he has been meaning to tell John (and ends up saying that Sherlock is a girl's name, but you get the feeling that there IS something unsaid between them that Sherlock would liked to have said at their last meeting).   I thought it could be a simple "I love you", which would fit equally well with Johnlock and Nonlock (or whatever we're calling it!).  After all, they do love each other, and although it has been said, there's a different between announcing it (e.g. at the wedding) and saying it face to face like that.

But I still have the problem that it HAS been said, even if it wasn't face to face.  Sherlock is clear that what he is going to say is something that he has NEVER said, and he has said that he loves John. 

It's quite possible that there isn't an answer.  Maybe it's just meant to be left hanging, for the audience to fill in the blanks and choose their own interpretation.   Or maybe, it really is Sherlock's lead-in to a joke - they do communicate how they feel about each other through banter sometimes, don't they?    It reminds me a little of John's line in TRF about nobody being able to fake being an an annoying dick all the time (I find that part quite moving, because it's showing John's faith in Sherlock against the odds - and they both know it is).   Sherlock is showing what he feels for John, through humour.  It's not just the humour in the scene that I find similar - it's the situation - in both cases Sherlock is planning to go off to a "death", or at least a separation.

But leaving that aside, if he really did have something that he hadn't said and wanted to say, but then chose not to ... what was it?  (Over in the other thread I'd suggested something about John's faith in Sherlock, which I don't think Sherlock ever verbally acknowledges, does he?)

I think he just wanted to say ' thank you.'

I never thought about it that way. I just thought it was a plot point. But it does seem to suggest that they're getting closer. 

I actually don't think there's an answer. I think it's Moffat's sense of humour. 

Yes, it's frustrating!  Or they get to a bit you'd been dying for them to discuss only for them to ramble off on some anecdote about something unrelated!

And yes, Silverblaze, I do think there probably isn't an actual answer - there are other things which Moffat leaves to the audiences imagination and never answers. 

Last edited by Liberty (December 13, 2014 5:23 pm)

Liberty wrote:

He more than says thank you at the wedding, though, doesn't he?  I feel it's got to be something more, if it's anything.

I think there is more, too, but in another way. Sherlocks honorific speech at the wedding was a show, it was what the guests exspect from him as the best man.
But in this tarmac scene for me he wants to let John know how much their friendship means to him. And because Sherlock has problems to talk about feelings especially to tell someone how much he likes him/her, he goes around telling what he really want to say and talks about names hoping John will understand. It is his way to say John he feels deep friendship to him.

Puhhhh and I hope you can understand what I want to say with all that, it is so hard to explain in English what I think about it.
 And yes, I´m a convinced Non-Johnlock  

It's that indirectness that makes that scene so powerful for me. 

I believe that was very deliberate from Moffat's side. 

Liberty wrote:

I'm probably off on a complete flight of fantasy, but knowing somebody's true, secret name is a theme in fairytales, isn't it?  (Rumpelstiltskin is the one that springs to mind - a woman has to go away with an imp, or give up her first born to him - can't remember which - unless she can guess his true name).  There are loads of fairytale references in the series.

Edit: got distracted by this idea and was having a look at true names on wiki ... I'd forgotten about Bilbo hiding his true name from Smaug!   So funny that the same characters play that out!  Anyway, it's not just fairytales that are mentioned there.  Interesting. 

John hid his true name, but Sherlock sought it out against his will (and it eventually did have some power in a case!) ... John doesn't ask for Sherlock's but Sherlock eventually gives it freely, before he dies.  I'm sure there's some symbolism there.

Many strong superstitions are tightly connected with human names. Between Gaels, the ancestors of today´s Irish and Scottish people, you never gave your full personal name to strangers, just the name of your clan (beginning with O´ preposition), because the name in fact embodies you and if the knowledge of it have fallen into the hands of your enemies, they could harm you using some magical properties. Giving your full name to somebody is therefore a sign of ultimate trust and connection.

The Viking had also the superstition called "nafnfestr" (name-bounding). By naming your child after somebody who is deceased, you bind all the qualities that person had in life to your offspring.

I´m always reminded of that when I´m watching Sherlock giving his name to John, suggesting that he names his daughter after him.
 

I am bit on the fence on this one.

1. I personally ship them, and in my view they would be more happy together than with anyone else. 
2. Based on the show alone, it can be just as easily be interpreted either way (friendship or romance)
3. I honestly do not believe that they will ever become a romantic relationship in the series, and I do not believe that was ever the intention of neither Moftiss nor Benedict/Martin.

And Sherlock will have absolutely no trucks with superstition.

Yes, here it is used in a symbolic way, IMHO.