Do you think that Moffat and Gatiss originally intended Johnlock to be the endgame of the Sherlock TV series, and they just chickened out? Or do you think we were all just imagining something that was never really there?
Yes, I think both are possibilities.
I think a lot of what makes them seem "off" (in my opinion) is the idea that they're trying to tell us something deep, and in fact the show has been about them learning something deep – and yet we're still expected to think of Johnlock and Sherlock as the ultimate expression of those things. I think it's supposed to be some grand tragedy about their failures, but really it feels like someone trying to tell a great tragic story, only ending up creating an anti-tragic story.
A lot of the weirdness of the show comes from being told one thing, and then not being able to believe that what the person told you was true, when it should be obvious from the situation the person is in and their feelings about it.
