Their masks just drop. The instant Mary turns away, both their expressions change completely. For a fleeting moment, you can see their real feelings behind those fake smiles and empty promises. Bitterness, disgust, mistrust.Â
I see two people playing one another. And whatâs more, I think they both know it. Sherlock tried to lull Mary into a false sense of security with his âsurgeryâ explanation. For whatever reason, he needed John to trust Mary, to stay with her, it was vital John stay just where I put him. But that doesnât mean Sherlock trusts Mary. It means he needs Mary to think sheâs gotten what she wants. He needs her to think sheâs in control.
But Mary knows what heâs doing. Iâm not John, I can tell when youâre fibbing. Mary quietly sat back and allowed Sherlock to âdeduceâ her, explain how she saved him by phoning the ambulanceâŠnot only does she never once offer a single piece of information herself, she never even confirms or denies what Sherlock says. She sits there, blankly, taking it in and calculating how best to use what heâs giving her to work with.Â
Give Mary my love. Tell her sheâs safe now.
I was so upset by that line initially. After all that, why did Sherlock want John to think he shot Magnussen for Mary? That he sacrificed his own life and became a murderer just for her? Then I realizedâŠitâs not that he wants John to think that. Itâs that he needs Mary to believe it.Â
The giant gap of time between the Great Watson Domestic at 221B and Christmas makes it so difficult to really come up with a solid theory as to what everyoneâs motives were in the end. Hereâs what we do know:
1. Mary and John werenât speaking during those months. (She says so.) Itâs very plausible they werenât living together.
2. Therefore itâs also plausible John temporarily returned to 221B. (Remember when he realized Sherlock had moved his chair back? âMrs. Hudson, why does Sherlock think Iâll be moving back in?â Sherlock didnât expect them to clear things up that evening. He knew John would need some time.)
3. Sherlock wasnât twiddling his thumbs during those months. Whatever his plans were with Mary, he was preparing.
4. Sherlock learned from Reichenbach that protecting John is one thing, but lying to him is another. He isnât going to do that again, not if he can help it. He shared his plans with John, at least to some extent. (Sherlock usually withholds a few steps. Johnâs used to that by now.)
5. âThese are prepared words, Mary. Iâve chosen these words with care." Thereâs no wasted dialogue on this show. John says this for a reason. I believe that, for whatever reasons, Sherlock helped him choose these words. Sherlock needed Mary to believe John was going to stay with her. But that doesnât necessarily mean that was Johnâs intention. All Iâm saying is, at this point in time, John is telling Mary he wants to work it out, and Sherlock knows thatâs what heâs doing. Therefore this is part of Sherlockâs plan.Â
And personally, I donât think he ultimately intended for John to stay with Mary, nor do I think John intends to. I truly believe Sherlock knows Mary didnât perform surgery â that the reason she took a shot that was a probable, but not definite, kill was the nature of her paradoxical relationship with John. She will do anything not to lose John, but she needs the challenge of having to fight for him or sheâll get bored.
Sherlock knows the Watsons are doomed. Very likely John knows it too. I believe Sherlock intended on getting Magnussenâs files on Mary for the sake of Johnâs safety â removing any leverage Magnussen would have over Mary, and therefore John (the whole pressure point thing). And after thatâŠwho knows. But it was never going to be domestic bliss for the Watsons.
Thatâs why Sherlockâs decision to shoot Magnussen is so intensely heartbreaking. He realizes heâs made a huge mistake â there are no files to get. The only way to truly protect John is to become a murderer, essentially sacrifice his own life. So just like Reichenbach, Sherlock is put in a position where he has to make a huge sacrifice for John without telling him why. Itâs too late to do anything else. Killing Magnussen means Mary will be safe, therefore John will be safeâŠbut only if Mary is still convinced of Sherlockâs charade. And that, unfortunately, means convincing John, too.
I really believe that once Sherlock escaped the hospital, he had a long-term plan for how to handle Mary. But it went horribly wrong. Which is why, in this moment when they say goodbye at the plane, we briefly see his mask drop. It wasnât supposed to happen this way. She wasnât supposed to win.
And thatâs also why John seems so off during the goodbye at the plane. Things went wrong at Appledore, but John simply canât accept that itâs truly over. Heâs waiting for one more miracle, anything. Sherlock doesnât always fill John in on every step of his plans, and Johnâs used to this. Heâs come to expect it. Sherlock jumps off buildings and survives. He knows where the off switch is on the bomb. In the end, Sherlock has it worked out. Always.
But John canât ask what the trick is, not with Mary and Mycroft there, he just has to trust. So he does. He shakes Sherlockâs hand silently, watches him board the plane. Watches the plane take off. Starts to wonder if maybe he was wrong. Maybe there was no trick after all. It really is over. And thenâŠ.miss me?
One more miracle.
