I just wanted to put it in the context of his work. There is a certain Moffat handwriting and lots of parallels between Sherlock and Dr Who but IMO Mary is not one of them.

Zatoichi wrote:

I have no idea about Dr. Who, it´s just what I could imagine from his commentaries and interviews about how he sees Mary´s character (the last comment about the lucky baby was from AA I think). He commented about her fitting right in, not disturbing the dynamic, being kick-ass and not being able to stay away from danger, just like John.. so for him everything is fine with her being part of the family.

But you were talking about the Moffat-verse, as you called it. I think that includes way more of his work?
And you seemed sincere in your former post that Mary is fitting in the context of that.

Liberty wrote:

I suspect that Moffat likes Mary (and expects us to like her too).  That's the impression I get.   Maybe we're meant to accept her, or maybe he plans to "surprise" us by making her a villain after all.   But I do think that at this point, going in to S4, we're meant to follow Sherlock's lead and think that she's OK.   

It might be a bit of a misjudgment on the writers' part.  Maybe they didn't expect us to feel so protective of Sherlock. 

 
As much as I hate it, this rings true. And yeah, I think it's a big mistake on Mofftiss' part.

And there is still the idea that there are two drives because they do not seem to be completely identical. 

And I read an interesting meta analysing John's way of speaking the scene. His dodging Mary's question if he has read the drive and answering only after some hesitation. He might either lie or has not read the drive for himself but gave it to Sherlock and/or Mycroft. 

Yes, but it goes like this (thanks as ever to Ariane). You can see how long it takes John to answer the question and how he evades it for some time.

MARY: So, have you read it?
(John looks down at the pen drive, repeatedly turning it around in his fingers, the key ring attachment rattling noisily, then he clasps his fist around it and looks at her while gesturing to the floor in front of him.)
JOHN: W-would you come here a moment?
MARY (shaking her head): No. Tell me. Have you?
JOHN (in an exasperated voice): Just ... 
(He pauses and seems to rein in his temper.)
JOHN (more calmly): ... come here.
(She grimaces unhappily, then unwraps the blanket from around her stomach and legs and starts to stand up, holding one hand to her abdomen. She is now very visibly pregnant. John steps towards her to help her up.)
MARY: No, I’m fine.
(Wincing, she gets to her feet as John steps back again. She walks across the room and John turns to one side so that he is side-on to the fireplace. Mary stops in front of him and lowers her eyes. When John speaks, his voice is little more than a whisper and his throat is tight.)
JOHN: I’ve thought long and hard about what I want to say to you.
(He draws in a long breath through his nose as she raises her eyes to him.)
JOHN: These are prepared words, Mary.
(He lowers his head for a moment, grimacing slightly and pulling in another slightly shaky breath before glancing up at her.)
JOHN: I’ve chosen these words with care.
MARY (a little nervously): Okay.
(John clears his throat, and he can be heard rolling the pen drive round in his fingers again. Finally he looks up to meet her eyes.)
JOHN (still speaking quietly): The problems of your past are your business. The problems of your future ... are my privilege.
(Mary’s face starts to crumple a little and tears begin to form in her eyes.)
JOHN: It’s all I have to say. It’s all I need to know.
(He looks down at the pen drive while Mary gazes at him tearfully. After a few moments he glances up at her again, then turns to the fireplace and drops the pen drive onto the burning logs. Mary quietly starts to cry as she looks at the drive on top of the fire. John clears his throat again as he turns back to her.)
JOHN (quietly): No, I didn’t read it.

The question is, if John could lie to Mary in a convincing way. He generally sucks at lying and cannot keep secrets for long. And Mary has a trained eye for details like this.

Last edited by nakahara (September 12, 2015 6:40 pm)

The problem I see in the lying theory is the following: Different to Sherlock, who can make people see what he wants them to see over a prolonged period of time (see Janine), John is not a very good actor. That fact was given as the reason why Sherlock had to go through with the fall, why he could not contact him for two years. If we believe Lazarus, Sherlock went to great lengths to ensure that John was not forced to lie. So even if Sherlock had briefed him on what to say before the fireplace, it would have been an extremely short-sighted solution. John would, as far as we know, never be able to uphold the illusion of love and forgiveness for a prolonged period of time. And that is not even taking into consideration the risks both John and Sherlock take when they confront CAM. Because, if saving Mary would have not been important at that point anymore, there would have been another solution: cut Mary loose, basically deconstruct the pressure point chain. I don’t believe that John (or Sherlock for that matter) would go through all of that just to take Mary down himself (“Bitterness is a paralytic, love is a much more vicious motivator”).

I, for one, have little doubt that Sherlock at least knows what was on that drive.

SusiGo wrote:

So do I. But then why help her and risk so much? All for John?

 

 
It doesn't make sense unless John truly loves Mary, and wants to bury her past to keep her safe.

I honestly don't think the fandom hates John, far from it. I think he's actually the favorite character. But there's a lot of confusion about what happened with his character in s3.