Thinking of all the episodes I think the most angry Sherlock ever got with John was in TRF when for a moment he thinks that John has come to believe Moriarty's lies about him.  There's a real desperation in his "can't you see what he's doing" outburst that we usually don't hear from Sherlock. Of all the things that have happened to him the one that hits the hardest is to think that John doubts him.
 His Hounds rant is much more dramatic but there I don't see him really being angry at John.  Sherlock is angry at himself and John is, of course, in just the right place to dump his feelings on.

I agree, I never saw Sherlock's outburst in The Hounds of Baskerville as him being angry at John.  Even if you just listen to what he's saying, it's not about John.

From what I remember and from reading what you two have already said, I think it is true that usually Sherlock gets angry when he's having trouble controlling his emotions in an intense situation.

He does mention how he hates Magnussen, but we don't always necessarily see "rage" or "pure anger" when they are in the same room.  I just took a quick look at a couple scenes and I found that in the presence of Magnussen, in the flat at Baker Steet, you can see it in Sherlock's expression.  He's pretty quiet, but anger is not always loud, is it? In the restaurant scene, they're both trying to put on a front, play with each other.  Sherlock isn't really angry.
In Appledore, Sherlock seems frustrated with some of that silent anger again.  But he's calculating, too.  Later, as John is in distress, for a while he no longer looks angry but upset by what he is seeing and not knowing what to do.  As it continues, Sherlock looks angry again.  His anger is rising.

In between those scenes is Sherlock's revelation of Mary to John, and while I don't think it's the only thing Sherlock expresses in that scene, for some of it he does seem angry with her.  But I think it's more for keeping a secret that could hurt John, rather than the idea of keeping something like that secret.
Sherlock does follow his shooting of Magnussen with "Give Mary my love," so either he stops being angry at her or his anger is override by wanting to help her for John's sake.

Now, after writing this I've realized that I have veered off the topic a bit, talking about Sherlock getting angry other that at John.  But perhaps from this we might see that more often he gets angry at other people and not John? Or that when he gets angry and it relates to John, it's not because of John's doing but someone else's, how that hurts John?

Last edited by Yitzock (November 13, 2015 3:18 pm)

I think there will always be a bit of little brother anger from Sherlock towards Mycroft, though it will normally be the situation that annoys him.
I think Sherlock does get angry with John, though more out of frustration....less so than he does with Lestrade.
He doesn't ever get angry with Molly, does he?

Last edited by besleybean (November 13, 2015 8:02 pm)

Oh I don't think it's anger: I think it's a combination of teasing and showing off...

I tend to think Sherlock is never really angry at Mycroft. It´s more acting than anger - he does it to show his defiant independence from his "big brother". Still, when he´s in trouble (like in TRF, TEH or HLV) he does not hesitate to ask Mycroft for help - or at least he expects Mycroft to make everything better.

The only occasions when Sherlock seems to be angry at particular person and not merely frustrated and uneasy about his loss of controll happened in TRF (Sherlock screaming at Moriarty in Kitty Riley´s flat) and HLV (Sherlock being angry at CAM for flicking John´s face and shooting him with a sneer "Merry Christmas" on his lips). Otherwise, he seems to never be angry at people - probably because he considers more of them to be foolish and you cannot really quarrel with fools. It is better to unfase them with sarcastic remarks or to overlook them in pride....

John was similar at the beginning. His anger manifested through sassy wit and thin quiet smiles not through stormy screaming fits... but during the ride through S3 he somehow infected himself with "Latin telenovela virus" and now he shouts and screams at the slightest provocation...

Last edited by nakahara (November 13, 2015 9:41 pm)

I agree with you.
Sherlock loves John and can't bear to think John's humanity will fail him.

Yeah, he doesn't seem angry when Lestrade comes to arrest him. He doesn't even seem hurt or disappointed, it's more as if he was expecting it. But he loses it when he thinks John might doubt him. I do believe it was anger born out of fear in that moment. 

He might want to persuade John to believe he was a fraud (although I'm not sure if that was already a set plan at the time this scene occured as they didn't know of Moriarty's ultimatum by then). But it's one thing having to persuade John to not believe in him and to have John lose faith in him on his own, I think.

Last edited by Vhanja (November 13, 2015 10:06 pm)

True, but on the other hand... in TRF we cannot precisely know what in Sherlock´s behaviour is acting and what is a genuine emotion... so we can never be sure what really possesses him in that scene. He is supposed to act as Moriarty´s victim and this "fit of anger" would fit into that act.

I view it slightly differently. I always saw it as a friendly tease, at least to begin with. His "she got loooove on her mind" sounds quite teasing to me, and so does most of his deduction. He goes into cruel-mode when he starts commenting the size of her mouth and breasts (a line that I find very OOC, to be honest. I can not believe Sherlock would ever say something like that to anyone).

I think he doesn't realise how cruel his teasing is until he he read the To Dearest Sherlock-note, That's when it all clicks into place.

I also get the feeling that he was perhaps being a bit more pushy in his deduction towards Molly than usual to let out some steam from the frustration and tension of having a Christmas party to begin with. 

But I might be wrong, of course.

Yep, as Sherlock's friend, John is the sounding board Sherlock needs.