Well, that would fit with their interview when they said they won´t just kill her off in the hiatus and plan to keep her around some time, now they introduced her so extensively. I didn´t know Moffat was so partial to surrogate families in his work.

The good thing is that this minimizes the danger for unborn baby Watson.

But the thought really worries me.. I dislike their family-interaction in TSoT with a passion and I have no idea how they could possibly make it work after all that happened. I´m open to let their genius surprise me, but.. oh no, I don´t even want to think about Sherlock/John/Baby-interactions.. Mary being the benevolent mother for all of them.. nooooo!!! *runs away screaming*

Theywon´tletthathappentheywon´tletthathappentheywon´t.. 

nakahara wrote:

Yet they somehow made that baby more real when they let John reveal that she will be a girl (and she will probably be called Shirley after Sherlock, I bet.)
 
Too much effort if they just want to kill baby off in S4.
 

My impression was that the 'it's a girl' bit was John's explanation for why none of Sherlock's names could work; Sherlock doesn't know about the conversation between John and Mary on this topic, although obviously we do know because the writers made sure we know...
 

Can′t she just be kidnapped by TARDIS or by the Weeping Angels?
 

Last edited by nakahara (March 4, 2014 12:26 pm)

Tinks wrote:

Well if there's a Baby, and if Mary is sticking around, then I guess things will go on much as they did last season, with some focus on John's happy family life and him getting caught up in Sherlock's adventures whenever he goes to visit him.
It could also mean a season finale that sees the death of Mary, which is something I really, really don't want, but we wait and see.

Well, the opening show will be a big knockdown fight between Sherlock and whoever is responsible for Moriarty's gif, and I cannot see John being allowed in on that with the lethal killer nurse in tow; I'm voting for a resolution in the first episode.

Unless, of course, Sherlock's sabotaged plane is forced to make a crash landing, tragically killing Mary in the process, but with John nobly rescuing Sherlock from the blazing wreckage
 

Lovelies, I can't express how annoying this all sounds to me...
maryjohnbabydoglock??? Gross...😒 But I have to admit that some of the reasonings sound plausible. But moftiss needs to restore some balance to the universe again, which is difficult. In my opinion Mary is Mary sued even more by making her a bamf, there is literally nothing anymore she can't provide, she even wants to keep John in trouble. Where is place for Sherlock? I want my boys!!!!!

Remember that we were told before series 3 aired and during setlock that fans were going to feel as frustrated as ever. And look at what we see here.
In canon Doyle found an easy way to deal with Dr. Watson's wife Mary Morstan. Her name was not mentioned after The sign of Four. Sometimes a wife was mentioned and sometimes she was just gone. Some scholars think that Watson had several different wifes.
In Victorian times Doyle couldn't do a divorce in his stories (although he often hinted at the problematic legal situation for women in "inconvenient" marriages and supported the right to get a divorce).

Today we can have a divorce for John and Mary or simply state that the marriage was illegal from the beginning.  But I doubt that we will get that. Would be boring. I also doubt that the writers go to all the trouble to have a marriage and a lengthy wedding speech and a baby to just kill them. That would be a surprise, but what's the point.
I bet that the writers are tempted to do a baby in Baker Street scene (BakerStreetBabes!) just because they can. They wanted to see how Sherlock would cope with being the best man and placed him in the fluffy wedding scenario with dancing, kissing, hugging, love....

In the 21st century there are several possibilities to find a reason why people part, divorce or live together in a partnership. Patchwork-families. Lesbian women with a child, gay men married with a child, conventional marriages with children whose real parents live elsewhere or people in a partnership of their very own creation. There are a lot of possibilities to cope with Mrs. Watson and her daughter alive without them standing between John and Sherlock.
But a crime investigation concerning their death would be nice, too.  

I think that we can try to look at the hints we have rather than speculate at what will happen later. Who knows whether we are alive at that time.

lil wrote:

I don't get the responsable parent John means no dangerous adventures John...policemen. .firemen...soldiers...s.a.s ...mi6 agents...we all have families too.I do think it would mean a more mature duo but we got a hint of that already.

 
Besides, we know that John is a kind of adrenaline junkie. Even if he tries to be responsible, I don't think he could manage to be out of trouble for long (and Sherlock would ensure that  ).

lil wrote:

Agree@swan...a modern reflection of society could easily be a single father John with grandma Hudders and Sherlock helping out as the extended family of choice.
Its not exactly canon but before we know it we could easily have a baker st dozen type kids gang being sent out to find strange coloured taxis or boats on occasion.
I don't get the responsable parent John means no dangerous adventures John...policemen. .firemen...soldiers...s.a.s ...mi6 agents...we all have families too..

 
It's true that real-life policemen, firemen, etc. have families.  But real-life folks like aren't routinely targeted and kidnapped because of their jobs.  Alas, we have to live in the canon (fictional) world where anyone close to John or Sherlock is likely to be kidnapped, poisoned, or extorted on a regular basis.  That's fiine when John gets kidnapped (three times!); he can (fictionally) shake off the trauma of that.  But put in an innocent child, and as far as I can tell, neither Sherlock nor John dares to take on Moriarty or Magnussen again.  Look how dangerous their mere affection for each other and Mary has been!

Fillyjonk 
 

miriel68 wrote:

Admittedly,I am very curious about how they will handle Mary in the 4th seson. I think they got themselves in a very tight corner there. On the other hand it is Moftiss we are talking about... The pregnancy factor is a most intriguing one. I loved it when they twisted our expectation about "The Sign of Three", but I agree with other posters that simply killing the child is not really the option, it would be to shocking and to cruel to John.My guess is that they know they will need to get rid of Mary (they are, after all, ACD fans and may do some un-orthodox things, but have never actually gone AGAINST the canon so far) and they prepared the ground by "secret agent" factor. This way1. We love her a bit less (she was becoming far too much likeable in first two episodes)and therefore2. Will mourn her loss lessand3. they open the possibilities of dispatching Mary in a plausible way (Otherwise: how many heatlhy women die suddelny in their forties nowadays?) The most daunting challenge, as I see it, is to "solve" Mary's & baby's problem without inflicting too much trauma on John. He has been traumatized by Sherlock's death long enough and the last thing the show needs is having John mourning again too much. Also, because it would take the focus from John & Sherlock doing "new" things.Hmm....

 
Well, having a baby in one's 40's is a great deal safer than it used to be, but it is not entirely without risks; I do agree whole heartedly that I really do not want to see John mourning again, not least because it sucks the life out of the iconic centrepiece of Sherlock and John adventuring together.

In practical terms the writers need to decide whether it's possible to move Mary into the background but still have her in John's life, or dispense with her altogether; there are enough clues to suggest that her involvement with John's kidnapping in TEH may not have been wholly innocent, and I think that if this were the case then John might conclude there was no way back from there. If she was a willing party to set Sherlock up for CAM then even the 'I don't want to know' John would be hard pressed to carry on not wanting to know.

One possibility is a rerun of the John and Mycroft discussion at the end of aSiB, but this time between Sherlock and Mycroft, suggesting that Mary is in a witness protection scheme whereas they believe her to be dead. The wheel turning is a favourite Moftiss device; they love to echo and subtly change the themes.

Mary being pregnant is, I think, the reason John is prepared to toss the memory stick in the fire; Mary not being in jail gives Sherlock his cover story for getting into Appledore, which both he and Mycroft want. I can, therefore, see logical reasons for Sherlock's actions; I don't think it's about Sherlock forgiving Mary, it's about Sherlock needing Mary if he is to have a shot at getting into the dragon's lair and uncovering the treasure hoard of information.

Last edited by Willow (March 6, 2014 10:57 pm)