I assume it was meant that Irene herself would take the blame, for passing on the info to Moriarty...whoever woeked out the code!

besleybean wrote:

As I have said elsewhere, I consider this whole exchange wih Mycroft to be grossly unfair.
Mycroft didn't know Irene was working for Moriarty...how the hell could he expect Sherlock to know?!
I also think the insuation about Sherlock's feelings over Irene to be a bit off...but then writers and actors all seem to think he was in love with her,

 
Just wanted to add a thought to this - it was kinda unfair, but then, part of the point (that Mycroft digs at him about), is Sherlock's penchant for wanting to show off and quickly crack something.  Regardless of whether he had the perception that it was a good idea to do so....  I mean, he knows Irene didn't exactly come by that information honestly, and considering the strong encryption the 'message' was put in, could have deduced that hey, it might not be a good idea to give the lady with a known habit of causing trouble with secrets the complete run-down of possibly top-secret info just because he likes people to know he's brilliant.  I don't know... I just figured that was the main part of it, regardless of them knowing it would be passed along to Moriarty, hence Mycroft's irritation at his indiscretion and comments about Sherlock's 'feelings'.  Then again, this doesn't factor in also that Sherlock probably doesn't care about watching out for everyone's secrets.  ;P

And definitely yes with the couple quotes you guys mentioned in relation - I figured that if they had made a deal (or managed to win), the masters either wouldn't find out it was Mycroft's little brother being the reason everything got leaked, or else it would be forgiven/swept under the rug when he made up for it.  Either way, they were partly trying to show what an effect she had on their game.  Moffat or one of the other writers did say, though, that it was about Sherlock AND love, not Sherlock in love.  That he wouldn't be the type to fall into it, but what happens when what HE loves, and his ability to stay on his game (and desire to show off) is knocked a bit by the presence of intellect/emotions full-force from someone else?