#sh bbc

it even sounds as a waterfall!!!

— d. laporte

I just realized how Moftiss can bring back Moriarty, but i don’t have my own John, so i’ve got no one to share my deduction skills with. Now i’m so glad that i have a skull here...

Earlier this week, Anony submitted a question asking me about Molly's role and her importance in helping Sherlock for TRF: here After having a conversation with asteraceaeblue - something she said was so brilliant and inspired, it got me thinking even more about Molly's role. I still believe Molly did all those things I posted in my previous answer, but then I thought about this: What If Molly's biggest role was to convince people of a personal / romantic relationship between she and Sherlock? This would make her position of handling Sherlock's funeral way more believable. Under normal circumstances, it would be logical to assume that Sherlock's parents or even Mycroft would handle funeral arrangements, right? He was a single man, he experienced a fall from grace -- so, naturally, his family would step in. They didn't tho. His parents weren't at the funeral, per John. Mycroft might have kept himself somewhat remote or removed -- given the disgrace -- so who was going to do it? John was far too distraught. But, what if Sherlock asked Molly to play his grieving love interest? To really drive home he was dead. It does explain a few BIG things. Such as: 1) The kiss in Anderson's theory. We loved it! But, what on Earth would lead Anderson to believe Sherlock would plant a passionate good-bye kiss on Molly like this? Did he see something we (audience) didn't? Interesting, too, that Lestrade called "bullocks" on Anderson's 'Derren Browne, the mask, the fake body and Moriarty' part of the theory --- but he never once denied Molly. He went on to say: Molly handled everything. "She laid him out." In lay vernacular - this means Molly took care of the funeral. 2) At the end of TEH -- everyone gathers at Sherlock's, with Lestrade saying to Molly: "Is it serious, you two?" Molly answers: "Yeah, I've moved on." If Molly has played the grieving girlfriend / partner for the better part of two years, that conversation NOW makes sense. As well as John's reaction to meeting Tom. Molly is not telling anyone she knew Sherlock was alive (she's apparently just as surprised as everyone), so as far as Lestrade is concerned - Sherlock is back and Molly has found someone new that looks a whole lot like her formerly dead / but now not dead boyfriend, and he's gotta know if it's serious. So, what does she say - I'm over the pain and grief, I've moved on. The only people that knew of Molly's involvement - after the fact - is John (Mary), and Anderson. It's unknown if Lestrade was told, but it appears that he wasn't. At least not at this juncture. So.... Molly played the grieving lover for almost two years. And there is no reason people would not believe her. They knew she had a crush on Sherlock - she and Sherlock worked together closely - Sherlock kept many secrets and this would be considered another one. She probably held something similar to Power of Attorney, things like that - which substantiated her position even more. And, if any of that is true -- and I've pretty much convinced myself it is --- this scene in TEH is even more heartbreaking: "What was today about?" "Saying Thank you." "It's okay, it was my pleasure." "No, I mean it." "I don't mean 'pleasure.' I mean, I didn't mind. I wanted to." BUT, Sherlock's next response takes on a WHOLE NEW MEANING when he says: "Moriarty slipped up. He made a mistake. Because the one person he thought didn’t matter at all to me was the one person that mattered the most. You made it all possible." "But you can’t do this again, can you?" Sherlock's comment isn't just about solving crimes. We've meta'd that one to the moon and back. There's no apparent reason why Molly wouldn't be able to solve crimes with him again - other than time or availability. Tom didn't seem like a jealous kinda guy, either. So, Sherlock's comment is speaking to something else: He asked her to be his grieving partner for two years - to be that one person who mattered to him the most - only to discover she really did matter the most -- and now when he's back, he knows she can't continue to play the role - she can't continue to be his girlfriend - "You can't do this again, can you?" She's engaged. :( Until HLV -- and now we have to wait until s4, or the Christmas special