John one day just feeling so exhausted with everything, so sick of the drama and the pain and the lying and finally just breaking down and saying, “I’m so tired, Sherlock. I’m so tired of pretending I’m not in love with you.” That’s something I think about a lot.
Over the years there has been much conjecture by fans of the original ACD Holmes stories about how much of what John Watson wrote down actually happened exactly as he wrote it.
Many people believe that especially when it came to Holmes and Watson’s relationship, the stories that Watson published for public consumption were very sparse on details, or would change things that could possible incriminate them (homosexuality was illegal at the time, and in 1895, the year Mark Gatiss confirmed most of The Special was set, the author Oscar Wilde was imprisoned for just such a thing).
Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat have also talked about this in interviews, this theory that not everything John puts in print can’t be relied upon as accurate.
So in the clip they just released, we see a lot of focus on how John left Sherlock out of The Hound of the Baskervilles, even though it sounded like he featured more in the tale in reality, then what John’s story would lead you to believe. Mrs. Hudson bemoaned how John had characterised her, and John mentions that the illustrator is to blame for people thinking that their rooms are dingy and that John has a moustache. (I liked that part, because there is a certain level of gay subtext surrounding moustaches, and here we have, again, people making assumptions about John and Sherlock’s relationship. ‘The Illustrator’ is drawing John as moustached [gay], and so now John’s just like–fine, if that’s what you think here!)
Anyway… That’s what I meant by John as unreliable narrator. That did prattle on. My apologies.
Though, you know… The moustache might also be symbolic of a ‘beard’. So the illustrator draws john as strait, and now he’s had to act straight just so the public will recognise him, but he’s never been straight.
OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Because Sherlock prefers him clean shaven!
The moustache is john’s ability to pass as straight, but like that means that in the special it is just something he has had to ‘put on’ to be acceptable to the general public. But in reality, he’s not that.
OMG!
I’m going to cry. Victorian John is full on embracing of his same-sex attraction, and he only puts on the moustache (’beard’) because Victorian homophobic society is forcing him to!!!
you were fuckin told and you didn’t fuckin listen (not u sussexbound 💗)
it’s 1895, victorian england and homosexuality is illegal and john watson is together with sherlock holmes because who cares, sherlock’s a haughty idiot and a pain in the backside and the love of his life and john’ll do what he wants
it’s 2015 and homosexuality is no longer illegal and john watson is free to be with sherlock holmes and he is in love with him but they are not together because in the absence of external legal pressure, fear and homophobia have been instilled in him from an early age and he has spent his life wrestling with internalised biphobia, trust issues and a hatred of vulnerability likely all stemming from a similar childhood source and nurtured by his environment which has left him crippled in the face of his own emotional insecurity resulting in him choosing the safety of continued friendship over the risk inherent in asking for more
I’m a little obsessed with Moriarteaanyone on YouTube tonight. It is a crime of Moriartian proportions that this one only has 15,092 views.
Title: Sherlock Romantic Comedy Trailer: Sudden Burst of Sunlight
Vidder: Moriarteaanyone
Length: 1:49
Rating: Unrated, SFW
Relationships: John/Sherlock
Summary: None given
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Rec: This is the show. This is literally the show. Sherlock is a romantic comedy. On-point, expert editing make this completely believable. It’s funny because it’s true.
Love triangles only work when three people love each other. Two people will romantically love a third, but the first two have to love each other platonically. The lovers are conflicted, not only because they are trying to catch the attention of their beloved, but because they do not want to hurt each other.
Cyrano de Bergerac is a classic example. Cyrano and Christian both love Roxane, but they also care about each other. Cyrano gives up his suit for Roxane in part because he wants his friend Christian to be happy. The conflict comes from Cyrano’s self sacrifice for both of the people he loves.
Twilight is not a love triangle, it’s a rivalry. Edward doesn’t leave Bella because he wants Jacob to be happy; he leaves her because he thinks that’s what’s best for her. His priority is always Bella. Any time he works with Jacob, it is solely at the request of Bella for her benefit. The driving force is always Bella.
I could make one of these for all of John’s dates, but you get the picture. John wants Irene to tell Sherlock that she’s alive, not because he cares about Irene and wants her to have a nice happy life with Sherlock, but because John thinks that Sherlock loves her and that will make him happy. His motivations are entirely driven by Sherlock’s needs.
This is a rivalry. Sherlock’s actions through S3 support John. Everything he does, he does for John. He plans the wedding rather than go out on cases for John, he teaches John to dance, he arranges the meet-up at the empty house for John. If Sherlock wanted to help Mary, he could have easily done it without involving John. If he truly shot Magnussen for Mary, why not bring her along? She’s a trained assassin! Surely she could be some help. Yet he drugs her and leaves her at home. He excludes her because it’s not done for her benefit. He does not love her, platonically or otherwise. Sherlock backs away from John romantically not because of his high regard for Mary, but because he wants John to be happy. Mary benefits only because of her attachment to John. Sherlock’s sole focus is John’s safety. Mary compromises that, so Sherlock moves to protect her. Without John, he wouldn’t. Sherlock does not care about Mary.
