sussexbound:

wellthengameover:

When people complain about Sherlock shutting John out and lying to him to protect him and how this is so problematic, I really think they’re missing the point. It’s supposed to be problematic. It’s not supposed to be ideal. This is a weakness Sherlock is overcoming.

It’s most notable when Sherlock deals with Jim (or Mary - as she’s Moran, that’s basically Jim). He lies to John in TGG so he can meet Jim alone so John won’t be in danger; he lies to John in TRF so John will be safe; he lies to John in HLV about Mary so John will go back to Mary and she won’t kill him.

There’s a very common romantic trope about the Hero protecting the Beloved. Not letting the Beloved be an equal partner who takes equal risks. There’s obviously a big problem with this - and instead of embracing this trope, as apparently most people think, I think Mofftisson have taken this trope and turned it on its head and said “This doesn’t work. You can’t do this.”

Every time Sherlock lies to protect John, leaves him out, etc., it works for the immediate moment: John doesn’t die. But it invariably leads to something else worse happening. Not that this new bad thing is Sherlock’s fault - it’s always the villains’ fault - but that it probably wouldn’t have happened if Sherlock hadn’t left John out:

1. Sherlock gets rid of John so he can meet Jim alone in TGG >> John gets kidnapped and used as a hostage against him
2. Sherlock fakes his death so that John won’t get sniped and takes out Jim’s network so that John will be safe >> Sebastian Moran marries John
   
3. Sherlock tells John he can trust Mary and doesn’t tell him she worked for Jim >> we don’t know what the consequences of this will be, but I really don’t think they’re going to be anything good 

Sherlock lies and does these things to protect John - and they do protect John, which is good - but they always also backfire into something worse.

Lying to John, leaving him out, etc. is a weakness Sherlock is overcoming. He’s improving. In HLV, he’s already done more than he did in TRF to bring John in. Sherlock’s taking steps, not going cold-turkey - which makes perfect sense, especially as people tend to revert to what’s natural for them in a crisis. He did the Empty House Reveal after he realized Mary was Moran. He told John some things, which was more than he did in TRF: in TRF, when John would ask him things, Sherlock would just tell him he wasn’t going to tell him:

Now he’s telling John a minimum of information - but still certainly not even close to everything.

When we come to HLV, Sherlock has fallen into this weakness again - though, as I’ve said, less so than before (because, as people have talked about S3 is about Sherlock realizing that Reichenbach was the biggest mistake and regret of his life). Sherlock didn’t tell John that Mary worked for Jim, that she meant to kill him, or that he doesn’t trust her. (I mean that he didn’t tell John this after the Empty House Reveal. Obviously he couldn’t tell him then. But he could’ve told him in the hospital the next day. But he didn’t. John obviously also has responsibility in this, but we’re currently talking about Sherlock.)

I cannot possibly imagine that lying to John about John’s own wife will play out well for Sherlock. And in my opinion, these consequences - remember Steven’s quote - are going to be one of the last things that makes Sherlock realize that he can’t shut John out anymore, not if he wants to be with him. I think some of these long-term consequences of lying about Mary to John will include: John being shot and seriously injured by Mary; John temporarily leaving Sherlock (which I think will be by far the most direct consequence of Sherlock lying about Mary); and the baby being killed.

I also think that Sherlock is going to finally understand this lying-to-someone-to-protect-them situation from the other side (John’s side) when he finds out Mycroft has been under Jim’s thumb the whole time.

By the time that we come to the end of the show and the final showdown with Jim, I believe that John and Sherlock will be completely working together. In fact, I believe that Mofftisson have set up the story so that Sherlock cannot defeat Jim until he stops leaving John out or lying to protect him.

(Please don’t write to me about how John is responsible for these bad things; of course he is also responsible and of course he makes bad decisions, too. This post is about Sherlock.)

^^This is so important–just all of it!^^