Davina wrote:

John forgetting that the GF did not have a dog is an insult and is just the final straw. She says about her friends saying what a great boyfriend he is, perhaps they have been praising him to her or maybe they have been criticising him and his relationship with Sherlock. He was prepared to go away and spend Christmas with her though wasn't he.

Actually, he was going to Harry's the next day. I didn't notice any reference to "Nobody" going with him.

Davina wrote:

Personally I think that Sherlock knows exactly who she is but by going through the list of John's 'conquests' and then adding the 'boring teacher' as the icing on the cake he must be hoping that this will cause trouble between her and John. It certainly makes John seem like a right womaniser. We know Sherlock is manipulative when he wants to get something. He doesn't want John to go away at Christmas and he is deliberately trying to make life difficult for him. Note he hasn't been moaning at John about his plans to go away but he has been moaning about it to Molly.

I don't know about looking like a womanizer-- I don't think men are considered that unless they're sleeping with more than one person at a time. I got the feeling that he's a serial dater, however. How else is a guy going to find someone decent? I feel bad for John, though--  sorry, but he's just too damn old to be so unsettled in his private life. I know it's "hard to find a good (woman) these days", but still and all, that's tough, to be alone and wanting more and not connecting with anyone. ('Course, I think he HAS connected with someone, if he would just open his eyes and find some bravery somewhere--  hooking up with Sherlock would be like riding an untamed bronco, but I think it could be done, if the bronc were given freedom to run in between rides, as it were, lolololololol..... ahem.)

Yes, Sherlock is the King of Manipulators. He thinks he's 100% justified, of course.

I wonder why he would admit to himself that he didn't want John to go away for Christmas-- he HAD admitted it, else he never would have said anything to anyone. Why was it important for him to shove that thing about Harry still drinking in John's face (what a pissy thing to do). And why, by all things holy, would he have been complaining about John going away to Molly? Or really,to anyone? Good grief.

That evening was the Evening From Hell, in major ways. Whew. It's as if the writers took every horror story from every holiday they ever had and wrote it into one scene. It was unrelenting.

Oh God, Christmas with Sherlock is always gonna be bad! I can imagine Sherlock and John might have an OK Christmas if they just spent it together though - John flicking through the Christmas telly with his feet up, Sherlock doing some experiment on the turkey....oh, and maybe finding a blue carbuncle, that might go down well....

A carbuncle can also be a gemstone. I guess that's what's meant here  . There's a ACD story about it, "The blue carbuncle" if I remember correctly.

Davina wrote:

Yes. Read the story The Blue Carbuncle and all will become clear. It's a good one actually. It would make a good Christmas Special!   

An ACD Sherlock story, I presume.

Okay everyone, I started this thread a while back so now I'm going to dig down for the one last bit of subtext I could possibly mine out of this scene before I put it to rest. It's buried so deep that it will most likely seem absurd; but it's been on my mind so I'm going to spit it out at last.  My excuse is that I was an English major and that's what English majors DO!    Also, I'm going on the premise that no line in this show is wasted and they're all there for a reason.

My interpretation has always been that the theme of jealousy is a constant throughout this entire scene - blatant and out there. It may not necessarily be a romantic or sexual jealousy but it certainly has to do with possessiveness, i.e. Sherlock attempting to imploding everyone's relationships - especially John's, John counting the number of texts from Irene, Sherlock cutting Molly down because she inadvertently reveals his personal thoughts concerning John going away for Christmas, etc. See previous posts for all detailed discussions....

What caught my attention (after about 20 viewings) was Mrs. Hudson's line, after Sherlock plays his Christmas carol, about how she wished "he could have worn the antlers".  He says, "Somethings are best left to the imagination, Mrs. Hudson."  He then turns around and runs smack into John's girlfriend, Jeanette (Ms.Nobody).  Hmmm, for us English majors, antlers have a certain symbolism associated to them.  Here's a quote I found on line that explains it:

In Shakespeare's day, horns and antlers were a common symbol of a "cuckolded" husband, a.k.a. a man whose wife has cheated on him. So, whenever horns come up in a play, we know there's a 99% chance that someone is worried about starring in an upcoming episode of the reality show Cheaters.

So, Mrs. Hudson's antler line - just for amusement?  Or is there symbolism buried there? Far-fetched maybe - but don't blame me for these kinds of thoughts and interpretations - blame my college professors.  .  I just had to get this out there .

ancientsgate wrote:

bwahahahahahaha! A cuckolded husband?  OMG bwahahahahaha *rolls on floor laughing*  I love it. God bless the English majors....

I think it's clear as well that he was uncomfortable from the start with the whole gathering thing. Slightly strange, seeing as it's only his closest friends with whom he's all comfortable with (well, except perhaps Molly).

I always figured that when he started going off towards Molly it was meant to be friendly teasing. What made it so horrible was that he was the receiver of the gift, something he didn't know. (So perhaps evidence that he didn't know about her crush towards him?).

However, towards the end I feel even Sherlock becomes quite out of character. Yes, he can be rude and arrogant, but he is never purpously mean and cruel. And just about everything he says is done jokingly and is in itself logical and reasonable. And then comes the last line:

"... obviously to compensate for the size of her mouth and breasts". 

That is incredibly cruel, sadistically vile. And that is incredibly out of character as I see it. Where on earth did that last line come from?!

(On a different note, I have also always been confused by Mrs Hudson saying "It's the one time of year the boys have to be nice to me". John is always nice to Mrs. Hudson, I felt that remark was a bit unfair towards him).

Oh wow, I'm so glad this thread got bumped, that info about antlers is priceless!

Not sure what Sherlock is thinking when Molly arrives ("Oh dear lord"). He doesn't like the way everyone is being so cheerful and friendly ("Everybody saying hello to each other, how wonderful!"). He obviously doesn't think much of "Christmas drinkies". His bad mood is definitely the reason he is so cruel to Molly, so is it to do with not liking Christmas, or because Jeanette is there, or because John is planning on going away and leaving Sherlock alone? Hmmm...

I think it's all of the above.

I agree Vhanja, I watched it again, and Sherlock is jokey and smiling every time he deduces something about someone at the party. I'm not sure why he turns so nasty on Molly, but it probably has to do with her previous comment about John.

It is a bit strange that John was counting how many texts Sherlock received. But he knew they were from Irene, and the alert sound was very noticeable. Sherlock avoided his questions about Irene, John was very curious about it. He seems to really want to know how Sherlock feels about Irene or women in general...