Fun fact: In the musical, Laurens’ last words are quoting Hamilton, and Hamilton’s last words are quoting Laurens.
Everyone thought sherlock was going to confess his love on the tarmac. Everyone. Including anti-johnlockers. Including casual viewers. Including John.
Does John know Sherlock’s there at Battersea?
So a few weeks ago, watching ASIP, I had a thought that John’s weird attempt to hit on Anthea again at the end is done to show Sherlock that he likes women, to save face after Sherlock’s rejection of him. Tonight I’m wondering if the same is true of the Battersea scene.
The reading we usually give this scene is that John doesn’t know Sherlock is there and wouldn’t say “I’m not gay” if he did. But.
hudders-and-hiddles pointed out tonight that when he says “anyone out there” he looks right at the wall behind which Sherlock is hiding, and that got me thinking.
So here’s a possibility to consider: John knows that Sherlock’s there, and he’s trying to save face again.
John says to Irene’s minion: “Couldn’t we just go to a cafe? Sherlock doesn’t follow me everywhere.” This doesn’t necessarily mean, though, that John doesn’t know Sherlock is following. This could be a classic John Watson lie by omission.
During the confrontation, John gets more and more angry and jealous. At this point, he believes that Sherlock is in love with Irene, so if she’s alive, he thinks Sherlock is going to go shag her forever and gaze adoringly into her eyes. If John knows Sherlock’s there, he’s aware that Sherlock also knows she’s alive. He’s eaten up by jealousy.
At the end of their conversation, John says “We’re not a couple,” followed by Irene’s “yes you are” and her sending of the text message. If John does know Sherlock’s there, he now knows the jig is up. Very soon, Sherlock will get the message and they’ll all have to acknowledge he’s there.
So in the last seconds he has the chance, John goes for the face-saving move. “Who … who the hell knows about Sherlock Holmes, but – for the record – if anyone out there still cares, I’m not actually gay.” And as he says “anyone out there,” he looks toward the wall where Sherlock is hiding.
In this interpretation of the scene, the “I’m not actually gay” is intended FOR Sherlock. It’s John’s last chance to say something while pretending he doesn’t know Sherlock is there. From the perspective of “people are more likely to believe things they overhear than bad lies you tell them,” that’s a smart move. And again, it’s obfuscation and lying by omission, because he’s not gay, he’s bi, but he doesn’t want Sherlock to know that NOW, now that the good ship Adlock is apparently sailing happily into the sunset.
And if at this point John thinks “Sherlock was married to his work but now he’s actually in love with Irene and she’s alive so what I hoped we had isn’t what I thought it was and now he might suspect I’m into him OH GOD I can’t be exposed,” well, he takes this opportunity to demonstrate that totally wasn’t true and I Was Never Into You. (Isn’t that a very human tendency that many of us have shown at one time or another?)
It’s painful, but possible, I think.
p.s. quotes taken from Ariane Devere’s amazing transcript!