#asib meta

[inevitably-johnlocked]

I want to talk about this scene from ASIB so bad!

Sherlock is staring at John's lips and 'new toothbrush' is written in a curved font. Like I can almost feel Sherlock wanting to brush his index finger along his bottom lip in the same way.

Seriously, this is so intense. And he does that not once but twice in that same sequence.

The pining. 🤌🤌🤌

Hey Lovely!

Always open to talk about scenes!

OMG, YEAH... the who deduction of John in ASiB is SO ridiculous, because, like... all it does is show EXACTLY how closely he observes John. AND it's also a bit silly because Sherlock would already KNOW John got a new toothbrush since they live together, and presumedly share a bathroom. But you're right, that deduction is STUPIDLY sensual, and reminds me of Sherlock rubbing his upper lip in TEH after finding out John has a moustache. Like this boy, this poor little meow meow, is obsessed with thinking about kissing John, LOL.

I love these two so much, LOL.

[teapotcode]

now that I think more about it, I think I get why sherlock falsely assumes Irene is in love with him in ASIB. 

Earlier in the episode he wrongly assumes Molly’s interested in another man at the Christmas party, but finds out he’s wrong and feels bad and apologizes to her. He clearly didn’t know and didn’t mean to hurt her. So now having learned from his mistake, he *overcorrects* and falsely assumes Irene *must* be in love him. He misinterprets Irene’s racing pulse as fear instead of love despite feeling Mrs. Hudson’s pulse and knowing she was afraid when it raced, so this tells me the Molly thing is clouding his better judgment.

 So he’s wrong the first time with Molly (he thinks Molly doesn’t love him when actually she does), then based on that he makes the same assumption but reversed with Irene (he thinks Irene loves him when actually she doesn’t) to avoid hurting her despite his kinda harsh “you should never let your heart rule your head” speech. He’s clearly upset about the idea of love being dangerous and humiliating in this scene and not mad at Irene since he goes on to save her at the end of the episode. sherlock isn’t any closer to understanding human emotions or their motivations by the end of the episode, he just unfortunately hammers home his own belief about love being dangerous. 

this also explains how he was able to figure out her password. Irene isn’t actually in love with him (she wants protection, she’s “playing the game”). so sherlock’s *reasoning* for figuring out her password is wrong, but he still ends up getting the right answer (i.e., that is was meant to be an unguessable password bc he’s a clueless virgin).

[gregorovitch-adler]

People thinking about John's role in this episode is only that he had the hots for Kate (Irene's gf- which he really didn't; there was no evidence to that except for that one throw away line in Buckingham Palace where she was just being mentioned in front of all of them and John hadn't even seen her at that time and even when he did, he showed zero interest in her) and conveniently ignoring the fact that he spent the episode being jealous over Sherlock and hated Irene Adler the whole time, was obsessing over Sherlock's dating life, was heartbroken because he thought that Sherlock is in love with Irene, etc. is also a huge example of heteronormativity.

I find it baffling that people still think that the two main characters are straight in this show. They just come off as desperate people who will twist the story in any way they like to make everyone straight instead of reading the show for what it actually is. This screams their own sheer heteronormativity and nothing else.

One thing I love about A Scandal in Belgravia is how the episode exposes heteronormativity. We are presented with a man showing absolutely no interest in a woman besides the interest he has in solving the case she’s involved in. He never responds to a single text she sends him until it’s hinted that perhaps his refusal to answer is a sign of interest, then he immediately replies. He keeps telling her not to be flattered by anything he says, not to give him compliments and not to think that he’s interested in ‘having dinner’. Meanwhile, a self-proclaimed lesbian tries to manipulate a man into helping her commit a crime by coming on to him and drops him the moment she gets what she wants (‘Not you, junior, you’re done now’). And yet people still think they’re in love because intelligent hero + sexy intelligent woman = straight romance.

Another thing I love (?) about A Scandal in Belgravia is how the episode exposes indifference to sexual harassment and abuse. This romance that people see is not just between an uninterested man and a manipulative woman. Irene sexually harasses and abuses Sherlock clearly and repeatedly all the way through the episode. She approaches him naked. She personalises her text alert noise to a moan that he can’t switch off. She repeatedly asks him to ‘have dinner’ when he’s quite clearly told her multiple times that he isn’t interested. She texts him repeatedly through a period of several months (that’s called stalking). She repeatedly touches him without his permission - straddling his lap in the nude, caressing his shoulder, touching his hand, kissing his cheek - and every time we see that his reaction is clear discomfort. She continues to come on to him very strongly even after he’s clearly told her not to (‘Please don’t feel obliged to tell me that was amazing or fantastic. John has expressed that sentiment in every variant available to the English language.’ - ‘I would have you right here on this desk until you begged for mercy twice.’) She drugs and hits him, which is assault by any definition and sexual assault when taking into account that she beats him with a riding crop. And yet still people think they’re in love because intelligent hero + sexy intelligent woman = straight romance.

[winterdaphne2]

Gay Easter Eggs in BBC Sherlock

(I trust the above requires no explanation.)

Perhaps someone has done this before, but I wanted to put together a compilation of gay easter eggs in the show that I’ve seen other people point out and/or have thoughts on myself. So here it is!

When I say “easter eggs,” I’m thinking of small clues that the show creators included in the set designs, music choices, and other details of the show to reference that Sherlock and John are in love. I’m thinking of things you could miss at first, especially little clues that often require a bit of extra information or require observations across episodes to understand.

Of course, there’s also lots of subtext woven into the show, moments where interpreting the dialogue or visuals in a certain way tells us something about Sherlock, John, and/or the state of their feelings for one another. I’m not sure if I can clearly define “subtext” versus “easter eggs” and explain what distinguishes them, but at least to me, several of the things I’ve listed here seem a bit different from what people often refer to as subtext. Maybe subtext is about uncovering the layers to a piece of dialogue or an action that takes place in plain sight and seeing how that impacts our interpretation of the story, but easter eggs are about spotting smaller, hidden details. I’m not trained in literary or film studies, though, and I’m not trying to be doctrinaire about this at all! This list is just for fun, anyway. (The above image might not actually count as an easter egg, but I couldn’t resist including it here. Indulge me.)

The more I read about this show and the harder I look, the more I think that hardly anything is there on accident. All these easter eggs must have been included on purpose. The creators knew they were telling a love story all along.

I’ve linked to the posts where I initially saw people point these out or to other good sources, and for some of these I’ve added my own commentary/observations/interpretations. I’m sure there are many other easter eggs that I’ve missed! What have you spotted?

John’s PIN in TBB – When John tries to pay for his groceries at the beginning of the episode, we see that his PIN is 743. In ASIB, Irene’s code to unlock her phone is SHER, which would be 7437 on a phone keypad. So, John’s PIN is a clue that he is or will be in love with Sherlock. Source: @loudest-subtext-in-tv, here.

Shaftesbury Avenue, 20m from Piccadilly Circus in TBB – While investigating in Chinatown, Sherlock and John bump into each other at what used to be a cruising spot for gay men in London. Source: @the-signs-of-two, here.

Archer the American in ASIB – In the scene where the American CIA agents try to get Sherlock to open Irene’s safe, the head CIA agent pressures Sherlock by threatening to have one of his men shoot John. The agent says: “Mr. Archer, on the count of three, shoot Dr. Watson.” Ordering someone named “Archer” to shoot John could be a reference to Arthur Conan Doyle’s poem “The Blind Archer,” which is about Cupid and describes Cupid shooting two men who sound an awful lot like Sherlock and John. Source: couldntpossiblycomment, here.

“¿Dónde Estás, Yolanda?” in TEH – The song that plays during the scene with John and Sherlock’s disastrous reunion at the Landmark restaurant is a cover of the song “¿Dónde Estás, Yolanda?” performed by the band Pink Martini. The Spanish lyrics to this song are about searching for a long-lost lover, which is fitting for the scene where John sees Sherlock again for the first time since his fall. Notably, the creators didn’t use the first of the two versions of this song that Pink Martini has released. The band’s first version appears on their 1997 studio album Sympathique and features a man singing about a woman. Instead of using that version, the creators used the version from Pink Martini’s 2011 compilation album A Retrospective, in which China Forbes performs most of the vocals. So, the creators deliberately chose a remade version of the song in which a woman sings about a woman. They chose a gay song about searching for a long-lost lover for Sherlock and John’s reunion. abrae (@tea-and-liminality on tumblr) has a meta with more to say about the use of this song here.

John’s “oscillation on the pavement” in TEH – In TSOT, John observes a potential client standing outside 221B and trying to make up her mind as to whether to come in. Sherlock tells John “I’ve seen those symptoms before. Oscillation on the pavement always means there’s a love affair.” In the previous episode, John came to visit Sherlock at 221B but hesitated on the pavement outside, staring at the door and trying to decide whether to go in. Sherlock’s comment, “I’ve seen those symptoms before,” is a hint that we, the audience, have also seen those symptoms before—with John in the previous episode. Source: @bidoctor, here. (I saw someone else point out that last part about Sherlock’s hint to the audience, but I can’t find that post, sorry!)

Lilac dresses in TSOT – While planning John and Mary’s wedding, Sherlock chooses lilac-colored dresses for the bridesmaids. When John tells Sherlock that he likes the bridesmaids in purple, Sherlock pointedly corrects him by stating that the dresses are lilac. Apparently, “In Victorian times, giving a lilac meant that the giver is trying to remind the receiver of a first love.” So by dressing the bridesmaids in lilac, Sherlock is trying to remind John of his first love: himself, Sherlock. My heart breaks. Source: @asherlockstudy, here.

Putting the horns on Mary and Janine in TSOT and HLV – In TSOT, there’s a shot where Mary gives Sherlock and John a thumbs up before they head out on a case. The way Mary is standing, the horns on Sherlock’s cow skull thing on the wall behind her are placed right over her head. (I always thought this shot looked pretty weird, but now I see that it must have been intentional!) In the HLV scene with Janine at 221B, there’s a moment when Janine steps in front of John in the frame to kiss Sherlock, and her movement positions the horns right over her head. “Putting the horns” on someone means cheating on them. So in both cases, placing the horns right above Mary’s and Janine’s heads indicates to the audience that Sherlock and John are the real relationship in this show. Source: this post from multiple users on the @sherlockmeta blog.

The architecture of Sherlock’s mind palace in HLV – In the mind palace scene after Mary shoots Sherlock, the architecture of Sherlock’s mind palace is based on locations from ASIP. Sherlock literally built his mind palace out of places from his first case with John, illustrating that his relationship with John is what grounds him and that it means everything to him. abrae has some very helpful screencaps of this here (and I would recommend that whole meta, btw!)

The glasshouse scene in TAB – In TAB, the Victorian John tries to ask Sherlock about his sexuality and sexual history while they’re sitting in a glasshouse. In Victorian Britain, “glasshouse” was another term for a military prison. So John, a military veteran, asks Sherlock about his sexuality in a setting that represents where he would have been sent if he had acted upon his homosexual desires at a time when homosexuality was criminalized. Source: @haffieliesel, here.

What do we say about coincidences? The universe is rarely so lazy.

[inexpressiblybeatiful]

Hey guys! Adlockers! Okay I just want to start with mentioning the fact that sometimes, even years later we still find tiny things in ASiB. And we'll, I just found one.

When I was looking through my saved adlock things on my phone I looked at that this gif and found something interesting. The thing is that when Irene goes to look at her phone to see who texted her she looks irritated/annoyed, almost angry,but the moment she sees who wrote her she calms down and maybe gets shocked (?). You can see it in the way how she moves her lips. At first they are kind of tensed, then, after seeing who texted her, they sort of stop and become smaller.

I think that the reason she became so frustrated was because she assumed someone whom she didn't like(maybe Moriarty) texted her. But all of these thoughts went away when she realised she got homeboy's attention.

That's it. That's the post.

[asherlockstudy]

Hi!

Do you know why does Mycroft lie to John about Irene's fate in Karachi in ASIB?

Also, why does John say that Sherlock nearly despised her in the end when he clearly didn't? (I mean, this thing was the primary source of John's jealousy in the whole episode, wasn't it?)

All these weeks have been super crazy for me, sorry for this delay!

So, this was a question that really tormented me back in the day but I hadn't landed on a conclusion I deemed 100% safe. However, I am now leaning towards the realisation that we should take this scene at face value because Mycroft did NOT lie to John.

Mycroft waits outside 221B, hoping to meet John returning home. John is surprised to see him. Mycroft clearly is anxious to tell Sherlock himself: a) he can't decide which version of the story to tell Sherlock and b) he dreads that Sherlock might get emotional and he won't be able to deal with it. Given all the Eurus / Trevor context, we now know that Mycroft is terrified of how Sherlock will take the death of another person who is significant to him. We also know now that Sherlock considered Mycroft a terrible actor, which makes Mycroft even more anxious to lie in front of Sherlock. Mycroft points out that he neither smokes nor frequents cafes, making clear that he gets out of his way with all this situation.

Mycroft tries his story to John, Irene managed to get into a witness protection program in America. The fact that he uses promising speech like "She will survive... and thrive but he will never see her again", shows genuine sentimentality by Mycroft and not any mood for scheming. He asks John to convince Sherlock that he won't meet Irene again but at least she will continue having a happy life. There is no reason for Mycroft to say "she will survive and thrive" other than that he truly believes this would make Sherlock happy, as clearly neither Mycroft nor John cared whether Irene would survive and thrive. This is further proved by Mycroft's conviction that Irene was THE woman for Sherlock. He suspected that in the mortuary and he fully believed that when he told Sherlock "I drove you into her path. I am sorry. I didn't know (that you also like women)." Mycroft was effectively misled that Sherlock was in love with Irene. Of course Mycroft did not know Sherlock deciphered the email for John and not Irene and Irene did exactly nothing to correct his false impression. But this is why Mycroft is sorry. When John cedes to tell Sherlock, Mycroft tells him sadly that Irene is actually dead, and he does mean it as a truth This gives John a pause too, because even though he initially claimed Sherlock didn't care about Irene's fate, a finality like her actual death is something that even John fears it could sadden Sherlock. Mycroft is clearly lost and asks John what they should do.

If Mycroft wanted to mislead John, then he wouldn't ask his opinion. But, also, there's no reason for Mycroft to mislead John in this case. Whichever version was true, the result was the same; Sherlock and Irene would not meet again, so it's not like John had any antagonism, let alone that Mycroft wouldn't care so much about it. Besides, Sherlock and John had gone on with their lives normally during these two months, there was no reason for Mycroft to add a lie out of nowhere, especially since John seemed confident Sherlock despised Irene in the end.

So, the face value truth is:

John: Was it definitely her? She's done this before. Mycroft: I was thorough, this time. It would take Sherlock Holmes to fool me and I don't think he was on hand, do you? John swallows hard.

John Watson, always right. I understand that Mycroft sounds so suspicious here but perhaps it's a false perception because we know exactly this is what happened. However, it must actually be just tragic irony. Sherlock managed to fool Mycroft and he helped Irene disappear. Irene is NOT in a witness protection program in America. This is the lie Mycroft came up with because he thought Irene was dead. The only accurate information Mycroft has is that Irene was caught by terrorists in Karachi two months ago. Sherlock was secretly and independently following Irene's moves as he knew she was in mortal danger. He disguised himself as a terrorist, pretended to behead her and helped her escape while he confirmed her to be dead to the other terrorists. Since the terrorists believed her dead, this is the information that reached Mycroft. This means that after Irene fled, her and Sherlock's ways parted forever. Sherlock thought he paid her back, in a way, for her love.

It's interesting that John swallows hard when Mycroft doubts Sherlock could have saved Irene. He is pretty stone-faced throughout his encounter with Mycroft but now worry creeps in. Perhaps John remembered that Sherlock wasn't home for like a couple of days two months ago and deep inside John fears that Sherlock is the type of person who would run to Irene's rescue? He hopes he is wrong and he suppresses this momentary suspicion.

John is also torn about what to do. He hesitantly follows Mycroft's advice. Sherlock looks genuinely interested in what has become of Irene. He asks whether she's back in London, whether she's back on the game. This proves that they parted ways for good after her rescue and also that Sherlock didn't have anything to do with sending her to America or collaborating with Mycroft for it or whatever. No, Irene's traces are lost for good now. Neither Mycroft nor Sherlock know where she really is. When John tells him where she supposedly is, Sherlock appears a little surprised, but then mostly believes it if with a little hesitation. However, it seems that later Sherlock was able to decode Mycroft's lie as we see in "TSOT" that he says "God knows where she is". As a sidenote, Irene sends him a black rose when Sherlock is hospitalized in HLV. She is most likely pretty close to Sherlock, and certainly not in America, but she never shows up in Sherlock's life again.

Once he learns her case is closed, Sherlock shows disinterest in anything else, including the prospect of seeing her again. (He also does not wish to see her case file, as he knows everything inside it will be crap from the point of Karachi onwards.) Seeing this growing disinterest, John tries to tell him the "truth" just to not be a liar to his best friend since Sherlock doesn't care much anyway but Sherlock breaks him off and asks for her phone. John perceives this as a love gesture and eventually doesn't tell him what Mycroft told him.

Now, as to why John thought Sherlock despised her, I think that was mostly wishful thinking on his part. Sherlock had been played by Irene and this wounded his ego and then John chose to see everything in his reaction as evidence of Sherlock's anger. But this wasn't the case. John actually contradicts himself in front of Mycroft. I already wrote he looks pretty stone-faced, distant, he has a somewhat defensive posture. Mycroft tries to open up about Sherlock's sentimental nature but John shoots his attempt down. Perhaps it is too much for John at the moment to consider that Sherlock has emotions (and romantic ones), and especially to contemplate this in the presence of Mycroft. "He's not like that." "He doesn't feel things this way." "I don't know." And yet, in just the previous episode it's revealed to us that John thought and hoped Sherlock was a hero who wanted to do the good thing. And two episodes later, John confesses he thought Sherlock was the most human human being he ever met. So... his attitude towards Mycroft was closed-off, guarded and fake.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hello dear Steph, after re-watching the series again I stumbled over something I never understood: In the Battersea end sequence after Irene and John hear the moan text alert go off Irene looks at John and says 'I don't think so. Do you?'

What the fuck does she mean??? 🤔 It's been 84 years and at this point I am just afraid to ask. That's why I am on anon 😅 Please explain it to me like I am 8 years old.

Hey Nonny!

Ah, it's all good! It took me a long time to understand what was meant by it, and even then, I'm not 100, but yeah, ASiB turned out to be a very revealing episode into the psyches of John and Sherlock.

So the simple explanation: John finds out that Sherlock heard him. He's panicking, worried about how it will affect his friendship. Irene, being a Sherlock mirror, reminds John that going after Sherlock RIGHT then is not a good idea. Sherlock needs time to process his epiphany, and Irene knows John would fuck it up somehow if he chased after Sherlock. She was VERY aware of how much these idiots liked each other, and believed herself to know John better than John knew himself.

Basically, "if you go after him right now, you will only embarass yourself into fake denials and a rocky friendship. She is a Sherlock Mirror, and is essentially speaking as Sherlock in this scene. When you rewatch the scene REALIZING that she is essentially "Sherlock's Sexuality" it makes a lot more sense (throughout the rest of the series, she's ALWAYS present when Sherlock is thinking about John in a Special Way™, so with that lense in mind for THIS scene, it make a LOT more sense). The entire series (yes, even the horrid S4) is told in subtext, and when we realize characters often stand in for each other, more often for John and Sherlock (like Anderson as the John mirror in TEH, Lestrade and Molly for Sherlock and John in S3, or Molly as a John mirror in TFP), then the series itself makes a lot more sense for odd random scenes like the Battersea scene.

Meh, not the best analysis, I know, but I do believe that she does inevitably want them together, like her and Kate. She understands why John likes Sherlock, and vice versa. Check out that link above for more Irene Meta I and others wrote. She is an intriguing character, for sure.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hello, I hope you're doing well.

I just wanted to say that I'll never get over this particular exchange in ASIB lol-

S-If I wanted to look at naked women I’d borrow John’s laptop.

J-You do borrow my laptop.

S- I confiscate it.

Like seriously!! Why do you confiscate it Sherlock? Do you have an authority over him?

"How dare you watch porn when I'm right here! You're grounded! You're not allowed to touch or own laptop for a month. Go to your room."

Totally straight behaviour to be irritated over the fact that your flatmate watches naked women on his laptop.

That too right in front of Irene. She must be having a facepalm moment. Her thoughts must've been like- I'm sitting naked in front of these two but they just wouldn't stop with their couple-bickering. What the hell is my life? Why are they wasting my time?

The whole scene is hilarious actually.

Hey Lovely!

AHAHAHAHHAHA RIGHT. It's so fucking blatant how jeally Sherlock and John get over each other this entire episode, and Irene uses it to her advantage the entire time. In hindsight ASiB is a very clever episode like that if you're seeing the subtext of the whole thing, and just... it's so obvious to me that Irene was manipulating them both like clay, LOL.

[cumbercougars]

IMO Molly looks her most beautiful after the ASiB christmas scene when she's at the morgue with her hair down and in her jumper but especially in the Barts Lab scene where Sherlock xrays Irene's phone. I couldn't figure it out why Molly looked so pretty and comfortable and Sherlock was back to being comfortable in her presence (after being on edge about her looks just a few days before that at the ill-fated Christmas party).

Then I realized that the wallpaper in the hallway leading to Sherlock's bedroom and Sherlock's bedroom color scheme looks similar to Molly's green striped t-shirt in the lab scene. It's all about the wallpaper and about Sherlock feeling comfortable and at home. Given his level of OCD, that is very important for him (sock index).

When Irene shows up in his bed in the following scene, her hair is open like Molly's in the morgue scene and her shirt is the color of his bedroom wallpaper. It is Irene's business to know what other people like and use that knowledge to manipulate them. So given how Irene dresses at 221B we know what she thinks Sherlock likes. Sherlock likes Molly being Molly. Molly is his comfort zone, his "home away from home". My goodness, even the tiles in Molly's kitchen are similar to Sherlock's kitchen.

Sherlock might not have realized it until late in Season 4 but pretty much from "Let's (let US) start with the riding crop", he needed and wanted her in his life. There is no Sherlock without Molly.

I am probably 10plus years late with these thoughts but I just wondered if anybody else has seen it the same way and would still like to add their thoughts to it. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Thank you so much for this wonderful meta. I also think that Molly's unpretentiousness is key. She is not scared to be vulnerable and her openness would be attractive to Sherlock. In his world deviousness is prevalent thus her lack of pretense stands out.

I'm not sure how much of what you mention was intended by the creative team of the show, but boy it's fun to connect the dots.

[fluffbyday-smutbynight]

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Love Hits You Unexpectedly, Sometimes

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Fluffbruary 2022 Trivia Tuesdays: Week 01 . 02 . 03 . 04

~ BBC Sherlock: Rewatch Meta ~

ASiB ~ Why I Love Irene Adler So Much // THoB  ~ Pt. 1 - Beware of the Dog / Pt. 2 - Lights in the Darkness / Pt. 3 - Killing the Hound // TAB ~ Way Too Deep // TLD ~ The Morgue Scene: a look at the script // TFP ~ The Coffin Scene

~ BBC Sherlock: Character Meta ~  Molly Hooper has been done dirty (and I say this as a hardcore Johnlocker) // (mini-meta) John Watson, a man with issues: one and two

~ Good Omens Meta ~

Petronius' Oysters (a modest contribution to a post by @ineffablyruined)

When in Rome... - Aziraphale's Hot Girl Summer?

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[i-am-adlocked]

Reasons to Love Adlock #4

HELLO BITCHES IM BACK HAHAHAHHA

“I don’t think so, do you?“

I have read a lot of metas on this fucking line. None has clicked so far until @sentimentalgenius and I rewatched ASiB a few hours ago on my birthday lel

META#1 = To stop John from following

Irene Adler is a dominatrix. She is a commander. When she tells you to do or not do something, she will say it.

She already says, point blank, at John not to follow Sherlock. 

How?

She raises her hand.

She, point blank, tells John through this gesture to not follow Sherlock. It’s not a suggestion. It’s a command.

So if the quote is “I don’t think so, do you?” that is a question. That is a soft statement.

We don’t believe Irene will command it this way. Irene makes him stop, why would she ask him if it’s a good idea or not?

She’s not asking his opinion. She already made her choice. And that’s for him to not follow. Because that’s what she tells him first.

META#2 = About “I’m not actually gay.” “Well, I am.”

Again, we don’t believe it’s about this one. Because this part was already closed by Irene Adler saying, “Look at us both.”

Again, Irene Adler already voiced her opinion.

“Look at us both.“  Despite our preferences, we still care about Sherlock.

And again, she’s not asking his opinion. 

“We’re not a couple.“ “Yes, you are.”

She’s not giving him a chance to even voice his defenses. She’s saying, POINT BLANK, that he cares. And nothing can change her mind.

Again, the statement is “I don’t think so, do you?” It’s too soft for her statement.

SO WHAT IS OUR META?

“I don’t think so, do you?“ Did he just arrive?

The phone alerted the two that Sherlock has been listening this whole time. And what was their most recent conversation? 

It’s about both of them being vulnerable.

And caring about Sherlock.

Something you would be embarrassed about to be known to the person who you’re trying to hide it from.

So when Irene was asking this, she was trying to ask John if Sherlock had heard them, basically.

[winterdaphne2]

Archived link to John's blog post

interesting note that the case from the blog that John gets complimented on, the aluminium crutch, is actually just a transcript of a voicemail that Sherlock left him. it is, perhaps, the most true account of all the cases on the blog, because John does no interpretation of the facts at all, he just transcribes Sherlock’s telling of it. and it is pointed out to us twice as a favorite case in universe, which I’d always loved as a bit of an inside joke because people compliment John on it when really it’s all Sherlock’s words, but even that goes to show the power the blog takes on in the story. once John writes it down, the truth of it becomes John’s telling of it - and for casual audiences at home who don’t know about the existence of the blog, the significance is lost entirely.

[coffeeteaitsallfine]

I want to state for the record that it is not even remotely surprising to me that John couldn’t start the car. It’s all right there in asib. Lucky break? Lmao I am cackling I feel so alive. Can’t wait to post the meta part 2

[gregorovitch-adler]

@jamielovesjam

Unpopular opinion (or not, idk)

Sherlock isn't asexual and/or gay

I honestly think he is a biromantic homosexual or a bisexual homoromantic

I think he felt some kind of small attraction to Irene. Maybe romantic, maybe sexual or maybe just a small interest, a small curiosity that he denied

He couldn t find both types of love with her

Not in the way he can with John

Both romantic

And sexual

In the same way he found in him

both love and friendship,

both joy and sadness,

both weakness and strenght

And I think that s beautiful

[221b-johnlocked-1895]

META COLLECTION

MASTERPOST n.7 - IRENE ADLER and HER RELATIONSHIP WITH SHERLOCK

X (Reasons why Adl0ck is not and never will be real)

X (Why does Sherlock carry with him a picture of Irene in TAB?)

X (Irene sexually harrased Sherlock - their ship is the result of heteronormativity)

X (Irene = Sherlock's mirror)

X (Irene’s three identities: the badass woman, Sherlock’s mirror, the sex expert - her role in Johnlock’s progress)

X (Why is Irene's theme played when John returns to Baker Street after two years?)

X (Why do modern adaptations characterise Irene as a love interest?)

X (gifset - differences between Sherlock's relationship with John and the one with Irene)

X ("Dinner?" "Starving" - "Why would I have dinner if I weren't hungry?")

X (an amazing video about ASiB made by Rebekah/TJLC Explained)

Part 6 is here, part 8 is here