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I think I agree with you.
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Again, I have no idea where the Russian fan site gets these quotes from, but here's one from Martin on John's anger towards Sherlock. Keep in mind it's been translated into Russian and back. Sorry I've got no source for you.
"Sherlock has promised to keep her safe. John enters, Mary is shot, so obviously Sherlock couldn't keep his promise. John understands of course that Sherlock can't stop the bullet, he can't save everyone. It's about all these tiny things that have been annoying John in Sherlock over all these years. Everything that's been happening between them has sort of accumulated. So John decides: "That's it, I'm removing you from my life." John loves Sherlock but can't stand him at times nonetheless. Of course it's not enough to remove Sherlock from his life because they still care about each other. But it's a hard time for John. He's barely become a father and now he's a single father, a widower. He doesn't know what to do. We often cut ourselves loose from the dearest people in order to pushish ourselves. John is just devastated. He doesn't know now what's right and wrong."
Last edited by ewige (January 8, 2017 4:41 pm)
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Yeah, that's kind of how I see it.
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I think that sounds about right. Sherlock is an easy target because there are things in their history that John has every right to be mad about. Also, when confronted with John when he's properly angry, Sherlock never fights back. Making him the perfect target.
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Aw.
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I think there's guilt on John's part too. Guilt for bringing Mary back (Sherlock and he were working together - the tracer was his idea) to her death, for encouraging her to go ahead to the aquarium, and for the "affair", etc. I think Sherlock doesn't fight back because he feels guilty too.
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I think he's also heart broken.
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Yes, I think both of them are. I know we've been told that there will be funny bits in TLD, but it's hard to imagine after last weeks ending!
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Will there?
Oh thank god for that...I'm all ready for being up all night with my head spinning again.
Last edited by besleybean (January 8, 2017 6:38 pm)
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Here's an interesting detailed list over what John might have felt a) when Sherlock fell and b) when Mary died.
Not sure if Moftiss really have thought it through that detailed, fans do tend to go a bit overboard with analyzing. However, I do think there's quite a few good points here:
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I am sorry.
I didn't get past the first one on the Mary list.
John has just found the love of his life dying, then she dies in his arms.
He wails like a dying animal.
He is gutted.
Last edited by besleybean (January 8, 2017 6:40 pm)
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Then perhaps you should get beyond that first one, as there are more details written.
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Humph!
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I thought there were good points, but I'm not sure why people would even expect that John should act in completely the same way to two different "deaths", in different circumstances, of people who play different roles in his life? I'm just not sure why the writer is making that argument? Or maybe I have missed something (not being a usual tumblr-frequenter!). I thought Martin did both scenes extremely well, and I'm very glad they were different (and that he doesn't just have a stock "somebody I love has just died" acting routine!).
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I think some fans try to argue that John's grief over Mary was deliberately fake because his reaction wasn't the same as when Sherlock fell. ("We've seen how John reacts when presented with shocking death of someone close to him, and it's not like this. Therefore, he's faking it.")
But as you say, and as they say in that post, the circumstances are different, John's role towards the two people are different and so there's a myriad of different emotions going on inside him.
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Quite so.
But point remains: he is gutted at the loss of his wife and mother of his child.
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I agree, he clearly is. However, I do think his feelings are quite complex - sorrow, grief, loss, anger, guilt, regret...
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Thanks, Vhanja. I think I've missed that line of argument - maybe not so popular here on this forum. I looked outside the forum after the episode, and people were making fun of John's gutteral moaning - which I found heartbreaking - so I've mostly kept away! I think he was clearly not faking. I don't even think John would be a good faker.
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John has been seen throughout the series to be a bad liar, even over the smallest things. I don't see why he would fake it. Yes, I think it was clear that his feelings towards Mary were declining, but feeling less in love with someone doesn't mean you won't grieve if they die in your arms.
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Here's what Martin has to say about it. A lot of it we've gone over before.