Parentlock as the endgame for S4

johnlocklives:

Alright, since everyone’s been ignoring my theories on that matter, it’s time to do a proper meta. And before you scoff and say they’d never go down that path, I beg you to consider this because it seems 100% plausible.

btw this will be so messy, I’ve never written a meta in my life

So, let’s look at the evidence, shall we?

1) Baby’s not John’s is too easy

- There’s the perfect theory by @abitnotgood  (x) on the baby being David’s. While the points she made are very persuasive, I don’t think it’s happening. First, that’s just too easy for the writers. Remember, they love messy plots and a lot of drama. If they were to write the kid as not John’s, what then? The baby’d go to its biological father? Just like that? I imagine the man’d be indeed very confused, John coming toward him with an infant being like ‘hey dude i’ve got something of yours lol surprise anyway i must go and save sherlock’s arse bye’

Plus, it can’t stay with Mary, because obviously she‘s a psychopath, or she’ll die.

2) Baby dying?

- Oh come on, we all know Mofftiss. They’d NEVER kill a baby. They’re too weak for this. The kid was written in there for a reason. If they’d wanted to kill it, they’d have made it stillborn.

3) Baby is Mind Palace/ nightmare?

- Even though I love this theory, there’re already too many scenes with the baby for them to be considered a dream. Chase through London? Baby shower? Molly babysitting? Christening? Nope. No EMP.

• So, now we’ve established the baby’s staying. How does that add to the parentlock theory?

1) The name

- Rosamunde Mary Watson was a late Victorian poet who wrote about failed marriages. There’s also one poem concerning a couple fighting for a child. Since Mary’s evil and bound to disappear/die in S4, it’s obvious John wins and the baby is in his care.

And because we know johnlock will be fully acknowledged, John’ll move with the baby in 221B after everything is resolved -> parentlock.

2) TPTB’s comments

- The actors as well as the writers claim this might be the last series. That ‘it won’t be easy to continue; once we see the finale we’ll know. ‘ And don’t forget all the talk about a big hiatus awaiting us. Why else make a gap in the storyline if not for parentlock? It’s impossible to solve cases with a baby in the row so Sherlock and John will have to dismiss cases until the baby is old enough. Hence the need for a pause.

- And then there’s the comment Martin made:

(x)

Yeah…how else do you want to interpret it?

-AND then there’s a comment made by Benedict (can’t find the link to the interview now, sorry!) where he tells us to ‘expect something that we’d never expect on this show‘. What do we constantly consider an impossibility? Parentlock.

and that leads me to the next point…

3) Mummy Holmes as a mirror to Sherlock

- As we all know, Mummy and Daddy Holmes serve as a mirror to Sherlock and John. Mummy gave up her work to raise children. Is Sherlock going to do the same for John and Rosie?

This theory was first brought up by @
idonthavefriendsivejustgot1

. (x)

4) The ‘happy family‘ photo

- Oh man, this unfamous photo is such a big foreshadowing thing! Look how Mary is dressed as Sherlock and even has the prominent cheekbones and curls. 
I mean, by now it’s pretty obvious John-and-Mary-as-happy-parents won’t last.

This means one thing:  we’re meant to imagine Sherlock there instead because he’s going to replace her eventually.  By John’s side, raising a baby with him.

____________________________________________________________

• And there’s more, of course,. Take Sherlock ‘having a huge affection for the baby‘  and him already protecting it in the new clip. Sherlock looks like he doesn’t care, but I think he will grow to love it.

Parentlock is literally the only possible outcome. It all makes sense. I agree it’ll ruin the show 100% but since it’s the last season it probably doesn’t matter. I’m sure many of you will love the idea of Sherlock and John raising AGRA Jr together lmao.

Tagging @inevitably-johnlocked @sussexbound @xistentialangst @deducingbbcsherlock @monikakrasnorada because their metas are always eye-opening and this could interest them.

Thanks for tagging me! 

This is a decent argument for parentlock. The one thing that always struck me is the line about Mummy Holmes giving up her career to raise kids, especially with the way they so strongly mirrored Sherlock’s parents with Sherlock and John. They didn’t need to put that line in there. We could have just been left to assume the raising of Sherlock and Mycroft happened “somehow”. So to me it’s very telling that they included it, and it seems like the only reason to do so is foreshadowing.

I also agree that the whole “where we leave them at S4 end there is a natural break” would make sense if John and Sherlock end S4 as a family with a baby. Yes, basically, they’d be taking time off to raise said baby to a reasonable age and, again, we have the Mummy Holmes analogy. But the comment could also mean something else. Only time will tell. 

Regarding the baby being real or not: At this point, I’m just throwing up my hand with a hysterical laugh. HA HA HA. I don’t know. I agree with you, that there is too much of the baby in setlock to easily write it off as imaginary. We have the birth in the car, the christening, the baby shower, Molly babysitting, Lestrade and John talking about baby, the bloodhound scene where the baby is now at least six months only and maybe closer to a year. There’s also the birth announcement in the “real” press–I know many have explained that away by various means. But nevertheless my belief in EMP has been lowered considerably by the appearance of confirmation outside of Sherlock’s head that the baby is real and Sherlock is not currently in a coma. To me the birth announcement is similar to John’s blog–a 4th wall breaking device that still has to be consistent with the internal reality of the show. Is the ad a ruse/fairy tale? Maybe. But why? It was never necessary to do the ad in the first place. And we know Mary was legitimately pregnant in the show, so it’s not like her giving birth is coming out of left field. I HATE the idea of John spending another year with Mary for whatever reason, or for that bloodhound/case clip to be ‘real’, so I’d LOVE for it to all be a nightmare. I’ll be thrilled if that’s the case. But I’m prepared for it not to be. The wedding was equally painful to me, but it happened. I’m wary of dismissing scenes as a “dream” just because we johnlockers don’t like them and don’t want them to be true. Moftiss are more than capable of cruelly twisting the knife.

Ultimately, anything we project before S4 airs is a guess. And a tiny bit exhausting at this point.

But making the case for the baby-is-not-real option, there wasn’t a trace of baby in E2 and E3 setlock. Did the baby die? Was it imaginary after all? Was it squirreled away someplace safe? Kidnapped by Mary? Is Mrs. Hudson watching it and it’s only in scenes that were filmed on the closed 221B set? No idea.  

I don’t agree with you that Moftiss wouldn’t kill the baby. If they did that, it would have to be  done very carefully and serve a greater purpose (like, Mary kills the baby in a Medea like move and it shows how evil she really is). But just because I think they would do it doesn’t mean I think they will.

At this point, parentlock wouldn’t surprise me and certainly wouldn’t disappoint me. If it were John and Sherlock together as a couple and they decide to raise the baby and Mary is dead/gone? I’m better than fine with that. Johnlock is the only really important thing IMHO, especially since, as you said, there may not be a S5 anyway.