I am so glad his subconscious knows this. And get your f-in act together, John. Sorry. I don’t think tough love works. I’ve seen people destroyed by it. And that seems to be John’s mantra here.
But this was in Sherlock’s mind-palace. So, yes, Sherlock knows that Greg and Mycroft will stand by him – but he still thinks that John will get angry and leave.
Real John does stand by him – in fact real Mycroft relies on him to do so: “Look after him, please.”
You are right, of course. But I also think if you haven’t made it clear you will stand by someone in such a way that they *know* it…that is sort of an issue still. Mycroft shouldn’t have to ask. But then again, that’s just me being my usual Sherlock-centric self. Sherlock feels this way, and it’s not without reason. And yes, Mary takes him away, but he was ready to leave on his own using rhetoric I do associate with giving up on addicts when they need you most. I think this is a John issue. A deep John family issue where Sherlock thinks John will ditch him as he did his sister.
I think that, in reality, John would be there for Sherlock if Sherlock asked him to be. But Sherlock believes that John would leave him because he saw John leave him when he got married to Mary – we know that they hadn’t seen one another in awhile or been in communication in awhile at the start of HLV. So, in that sense, John did distance himself from Sherlock. But John has reason for distancing himself from Sherlock too. Sherlock left John too. John suffered indescribably when Sherlock “died”. And he left John by more than just faking dead, he left John by allowing John to believe he was dead but letting others know that he was not, including Mycroft, his parents, and Molly, someone who John would not have thought Sherlock to be close to, and certainly not closer than he saw himself to Sherlock. John would feel really betrayed by this. John already had trust issues, and this experience would only heighten them and cause himself to distance himself from Sherlock. We as an audience know why Sherlock “died” and didn’t tell John his plans – we know that, ultimately, Sherlock did all of this for John – but I don’t think that John really fully understands that yet. I don’t think Sherlock and him have properly talked about that yet. They both have communication issues.
Yes, this is all true. And I think Sherlock is well aware of how he contributed to this emotional mess. We’ve gone round this as a fandom, back when we discussed forgiveness for the Fall, and there’s no need for me to go on, accept to acknowledge that I generally do see things more from Sherlock’s POV.
My main point was to confirm that, through this, *we know Sherlock sees Lestrade and Mycroft as being there for him through it all, in ways John isn’t…and not just due to Mary, because in this scene John was ready to leave before Mary decided to take him away*. We have greater insight about what Sherlock has thought about John being there for him or not, and this perception stays with him right up until the waterfall. If John is truly that supportive, Sherlock doesn’t feel it. Yet. Yup, my personal issues surrounding being there for someone without them ever having to ask. Intuiting. That’s what good art does. Makes you think about this stuff.
Hmm. I love your posts. Thanks so much for them. 🙂 I love unpacking and thinking through everything, and your thoughtful posts definitely inspire me to do so.
Yes, Lestrade and Mycroft have helped Sherlock through some of the toughest moments of his life – dealing with drug addiction – and John hasn’t, so it totally makes sense that Sherlock has confidence they will be there for him and that they are there for him in this scene. In fact, John has turned away from Sherlock – in a sense – during this newest difficult moment of Sherlock’s life, by getting married and then throwing himself seemingly completely into his married life (as I already mentioned, we know at the start of HLV that they have been out of contact after John’s marriage). Hence this is perhaps why Mary takes John away in this scene, and why John is willing to go with her even before she says she is taking him away; that’s where Sherlock has seen and felt John’s support and loyalty has gone – to Mary and the marriage. I know we have already discussed John and the Fall and the emotional mess that Sherlock has caused ad nauseam, but I did bring it up again because I still think it relates very directly to why Sherlock doesn’t feel John’s support yet.
