ravenmorganleigh:xistentialangst:mid0nz:finalproblem:The...

ravenmorganleigh:

xistentialangst:

mid0nz:

finalproblem:

The Empty Hearse DVD commentary:

Gatiss: We talked a lot, didn’t we, about having that problem of suddenly someone spoiling the fun. It’s the worst thing you can do. The important thing was to regard the third series as a new team, in a way. And actually, fundamentally, she and Sherlock would immediately get on.

Stubbs: Yes.

Gatiss: And that sort of changes everything.

Moffat: Which resulted in us writing a scene between Sherlock and Mary that we couldn’t make work. We both took passes at it and we couldn’t make it work. And it’s all replaced by one line.

Gatiss: “I like him.”

Moffat: “I like him.” And that was it. The whole story.

Stubbs: I loved that line.

Moffat: It carries a lot of import. That was about three pages, endlessly rewritten.

Gatiss: That’s why the scripts are too short!

Ok fanficcers– here’s your prompt. Write that missing scene. What EXACTLY would have happened between Sherlock and Mary- the two of them ALONE when they first met- that would make them fast friends. (And remember if they were fast friends, we’d ALL love her, too.) GO!

faerymorstan?

Probably the reason they wrote and rewrote that scene, and in the end decided to replace it with one line “I like him” was because it COULDN’T work because it was NOT IN CHARACTER. Really, for either of them (given what we later know about Mary.) So instead of *showing* this actually happening, they simply *tell* the audience that it happened (”I like him.”). Thus they don’t have to actually delve into it and make it work or justify it.  It’s a bit of a cheat really.

I agree. 

And in trying to create this artificial “besties” relationship between Sherlock and Mary, and tricking us into believing it– well, it actually makes Mary look even WORSE when she shoots Sherlock. 

All it really did (for me) was underline her deviousness, her cold-bloodedness, he ruthlessness, and her complete inability to be LOYAL. 

And it made me upset with John, for what is he, if he is not a paragon of Loyalty? HOW could he forgive a woman like that? Who would say, “I like him”, and befriend Sherlock and then turn around an shoot him, because she didn’t want to be exposed for who she really was? 

I’m not sure Mofftiss was successful, here…

The fact that they seemed to be “besties” made the moment she shot Sherlock all the more dramatic and shocking. And that’s fine, that worked. What didn’t work for me was when John forgave her at Christmas *after* she’d been revealed for what she really was. I don’t think that worked at all with John’s character. But hopefully they will resolve that in S4.