I don't want her to be Harry because I really want Catherine Tate to be Harry. But if for some reason (and I cannot think of a single good reason for that ;-) ) that were not possible, I think that would make an interesting plot twist.
But I do think, dramatically, John needs to have moved on and settled down and all the rest and he needs to be married to someone, really. TBH I don't see much dramatic tension in the idea that he's spent two or three years mooning around after Sherlock. My sense is that the story arc is really, mainly, not about Sherlock in some ways but John's journey. His person jouney from wounded war vet, of reintergration into society, the whole sexuality question that is kind of a joke but also very insistent. He's gone from a very regimented world in terms of both morality and ethics but also just having a structure round him and a clear sense of what is expected of him-and he loses that pretty much overnight when he is invalided out. The implcation is that he's pretty much cut himself off from society in order to join the army, including being estraged from his sister-and he has to reintergrate to this. His whole world, every part of it is shaken to the core by Sherlock and those few years after I think need to be about him consolodating this knowledge, this roller coaster he's been on. So he needs to do what most people in their forties do do, which is settling down, marrying, raising a family perhaps (they won't have kids though-too complex). To put it another way, given he's not disinterested in the ladies, and given that now Sherlock is out of the way and so not preventing him either emotionally or practicallly from committing, then unless the wildest slash dreams of tumblrs everywhere are about to be realised, he needs to be married (or long term relationship).
ETA to put it another way. John is Sherlock's foil. Without Sherlock, John is ordinary. (ish). So for dramatic constrast, we need to see John without Sherlock in the same way we saw Donna without the Doctor. Settled down a little. Knowing there is more out there. But getting on with life. (actually thaht's not a great comparison but John's a lot more personable than Donna)
Last edited by beekeeper (March 29, 2013 1:54 pm)