iwantthatbelstaffanditsoccupant:
Every time I watch this ep I can’t help but think that Sherlock put Mycroft up to telling John about Irene because a) he wanted John to think she was dead and not worry about her potentially showing up again and b) he wanted to sort of test John and see whether or not he would tell Sherlock the truth about her.
I don’t think he’s trying to catch John in a lie, as if he doesn’t trust him or something; I think Sherlock is trying to figure out John’s general attitude toward lying. John gives him the story about Irene being in America because he doesn’t want to upset Sherlock (since John thinks he cares for Irene). This tells Sherlock that John thinks it’s okay to lie to someone in order to protect them, knowledge he later puts to use when he fakes his own death.
This tells Sherlock that John thinks it’s okay to lie to someone in order to protect them, knowledge he later puts to use when he fakes his own death.
OMG. Yes! It’s THIS. Exactly this. Of course. This is like…I’m having a moment here. I always knew / thought that Sherlock thought this, but this is the proof. No wonder he was SO surprised by John’s anger and resentment. Jesus. This is killing me.
Yes, exactly! His previous data from this moment in asib said John is okay with lying for good reason, and so he came back thinking that John would easily forgive him the lie, seeing as Sherlock only did it to protect him. And then when John didn’t forgive him, when John’s reaction was inconsistent with those earlier observations, Sherlock couldn’t understand it because he the data he had said that John would be okay with it, not angry and hurt as he actually is. (I think there’s definitely more at play there regarding his interpretation of how John felt about him, too, but I think this was certainly part of it.)
So fascinating! I’ve always thought of it as a Sherlock/Mycroft orchestrated Test For John.
Is John a good liar when the stakes are high and he is trying his best? Will he be able to pull it off, if is it comically obvious he is lying? This factors into whether or not Mycroft and Sherlock can let him in on their plans.
John didn’t pass.
Sherlock can easily see he is lying.
So
John is now officially Out of the Loop.