ivyblossom:

mytimeywimeydetector:

Are you OK? And don’t just say you are, because I know what that means, looking sad when you think no-one can see you.

Ok can we just stop for a sec and look at this perfect piece of deduction? Sherlock is a performer, a show off. And there’s no point in showing off when there’s no one around to watch. Sherlock’s regard for John is painfully obvious in that the only time when he lets his guard down is when John’s not looking. That little look up to John? It’s alright, he’s not looking, he can’t see you not being in control, not being strong. Because right there is the man that Sherlock wants to impress the most, and who he fears showing the deepest part of himself to. John Watson is simultaneously the most important and the most unknown element in Sherlock’s life. He might fly off to catch the bad guy and take a different taxi because he can’t concentrate with John around but at the end of the day he always comes right back to him. Back home to John. 

I also really loved this scene, but I’m reading it a bit differently. It’s not that Sherlock can’t let his guard down around John. I think he absolutely can, and we have many scenes in this series where he does so, including admitting that he doesn’t understand something, which I suspect he doesn’t admit to just anyone.

At this point in the story, with Molly in the lab, Sherlock knows what’s going to happen to him. He knows he’s going to end up dead, and may not see a way out yet. Sherlock knows that Moriarty intends to burn the heart out of him, and that he has a plan to do so, and Sherlock knows exactly what that means. There’s a countdown in his head at this point, and the ending is assured.

Molly tells us is that Sherlock is sad. He’s sad because he knows his life with John is ending, and possibly he’s sad because he must know how gutted John is going to be by his death. And there’s nothing he can do about it yet, except wait for it, and preserve what he’s got for as long as he can.

Just in passing: the kicker for me in this scene comes just a few seconds later, with Molly’s profoundly bleak but pragmatic line “I don’t count”. The look of sudden still astonishment that Sherlock turns on her is suggestive of someone who’s just now, for the first time, realized that the creature speaking to him is in fact sentient. Other realizations follow in quick succession: watch his eyes.

I swear, Cumberbatch could act his way through solid neutronium. But none of these fireworks could happen in isolation. This ensemble is just a privilege to watch.