Sherlock’s mind palace after being shot by Mary in hlv is one of the sequences with the massive symbolism in the whole show.
Especially for what concerns Mary.
When Mycroft tells him to find something to stop the shock, Sherlock does one very important thing BEFORE finding Redbeard: he looks for John.
But when he opens John’s door in his own mind palace what happens? He doesn’t find John, but Mary, who shoots him in her wedding dress.
I THINK NO JOHNLOCK SYMBOLISM IS BETTER THAN THIS ONE.
We don’t know for sure he was looking for John, but it’s the only explanation for that scene. Sherlock was looking for something to calm him down, so why would he see Mary shooting him behind a closed door? The only explanation is that he wasn’t expecting to find Mary behind that door. There are two things that can calm down Sherlock: John and Redbeard, he tried for John first and just after he went to Redbeard.
Mary is pictured here as the biggest villain for Sherlock for two reasons: she actually shot him (she carries a gun), and she married John (she’s wearing the same dress of her wedding day).
Sherlock’s mind makes it very clear: Mary already “killed” Sherlock a long time before - when she married John and Sherlock had to be John’s best man.
Mary as a bride killed Sherlock’s heart. Impressive.
This isn’t my discovery, I just wrote a post about it because I couldn’t find the original one! Credit to the original post.