#why i became a tjlcer

[i-am-adlocked]

Ngl Season 1 John seriously gave me “Oh he’s sooo gay for him” vibes. Only keeping himself back because Sherlock literally rejected him at Angelo’s the second day they ever met.

John could be bi for all we know but for me, he is definitely straight but will not be opposed if Sherlock ever said “Wanna make out?”

I know plenty of straight men who had told me variations of: “I’m straighter than a ruler made of steel and like being in control in bed but if [name of male celebrity] asked me to be on my knees and beg for it, I will do so with tears in my eyes for absolute want.”

Which absolutely is the reason why I love Battersea so much.

I’ll admit I was both an Adlocker and Johnlocker (I only really stopped by Season 3 when I started getting kinda pissed at John). In fact, I may have tried searching for Jadlock fics and was deeply disappointed how few they were back in the day.

But like John being a straight man. Irene being a gay woman. But also both having Sherlock as their exception and loving him and being hella hot for him cos ummm look at him??? listen to him??? Battersea seriously satisfied my love for both ships ngl

Legit Johnlock Scenes

Dirty thoughts at a crime scene.

[str8-goggles]

Why I became a TJLCer

Dear fandom (and some others),

I think I’m done reblogging negative posts. I have some things I have to SAY though first, and they aren’t going to be negative. Not really. 

My history with the show is down below, but it essentially comes down to this:

I DECIDED to believe in TJLC, because it meant that the show was better than it was. 

It started with @loudest-subtext-in-tv ‘s original tumblr, I don’t think she had finished M-theory yet. In fact, I read her meta before S3, so I’m sure she hadn’t. I remember thinking she was BRILLIANT, and that meta as a concept was FASCINATING, and that I would NEVER be smart enough to contribute. Even though she wrote some amazing theories, I honestly thought she was reaching a bit too much. I was only somewhat interested in Johnlock (it wasn’t my favorite ship at the time), and I didn’t believe it would really happen. 

I flirted with meta for years, but I didn’t want to be disappointed, and more importantly, I didn’t have the confidence to contribute to the community. So what was the point? 

TRF made me sob, and I think I eventually read enough meta to say “JFC, if they don’t make Johnlock canon, that is a HUGE mistake, because THIS is the heart of the show. THIS is what makes the show great. It’s the chemistry, the ROMANTIC chemistry, between these actors. I think this was circa 2013. 

I have always felt that this show would be better if Johnlock was canon, but that didn’t mean it would be canon.

In 2016, I started to get back into the fandom, especially over the summer. There was so much meta to catch up on! Then I found TJLCE, and I was convinced that this really could be possible. 

Occam’s razor. It was the best explanation of all of the facts. 

Otherwise this show was pretty messy, and only slightly above mediocre. Honestly, the thing that pushed this show beyond mediocrity for me was the characterization in writing and the ACTING. Dear GOD the ACTING. 

As I started spending more and more time, energy and brain power on the series, people in my life expressed concern for me. “What if it doesn’t happen?”

I would always say the same thing: If it doesn’t happen, that’s a shame, but the show is 1000x more fun to watch and think about it this is true. I choose to see it that way, because I’m having more fun.

I do understand that not everyone has the luxury of thinking of it this way. I have more to write on that later. I just want to emphasize that 

What we came up with was more fun, better written, more brilliant, and more socially important, than anything the writers chose to portray. 

It’s a shame for them, but it’s something we should all be proud of. 

Under the cut will follow a breakdown of my experience in detail, for anyone who is curious. I enjoyed writing it. Read if you wish.

I was excited about Sherlock when previews started in 2010. When I saw the first episode, I thought it was FANTASTIC, with a few exceptions. 

Why didn’t Sherlock immediately realize it had to be a cab? I did!

lol that ended up being the original plan in the gay pilot-- so I forgave them

I ADORED their use of technology. I still think its one of the best things that ever existed about this show. 

I saw the possibility of Johnlock shipping, and they were both hot, but I felt pretty meh about it. 

Then I watched TBB, and it was a little disappointing. 

I only forgave this episode in 2016, when I became convinced the TBB codes were real. I read M-theory in 2014, but I still wasn’t convinced it was real until TJLCE. (Thank you so much @quietlyprim)

The characterization was frustrating, and didn’t develop enough. (Ironically I think this is because they were trying to establish John’s heterosexuality, and put distance between him and Sherlock. This is one of the reasons the episode falls flat. They aren’t in sync.)

The bad guys were ridiculous.

I watched TGG and was hooked once again. 

I was most impressed by the huge number of interesting and inventive mysteries! How fun! None of which were boring or simple!

I thought Moriarty was too camp and ridiculous, and he kept taking me out of my immersion with his line delivery. I kept thinking “Are they serious with this?” (Sorry Andrew! I grew to love you)

After Sherlock and John decided to die together, I thought the ship looked more interesting, and began reading some fanfiction at the request of my friend @januarymarlinquin . 

I was really frustrated at the cliff hanger!! My GOD that felt painful at the time. My favorite head cannon theory would be that they jump in the pool to escape the blast. 

But I knew I had to wait a long time, so I mostly moved on with my life. 

more to come later. 

[tea-at-221]

A Note on Identifying as “TJLC” Within 2020 Tumblr

I don't know how much you, reader, know about TJLC...but. Well, me, relatively speaking--I'm a newer fan. I became very invested in BBC Sherlock/Johnlock in, if I remember correctly, like mid-2016? So in between S3 and S4. I was fortunate in that I didn't have some of the huge hiatuses to wait through like fans who got to the fandom sooner did, but I also came in AFTER a lot of the bad stuff that went down with TJLC. By the time I showed up I only interpreted TJLC as a group that believed that Johnlock was coded into the show, subtextually, to be end-game. I watched all the old videos Rebekah made on YouTube about TJLC (click for a link to a playlist including some if not all of those), and thought they were very smart and insightful, and I was excited because I came to really think the show was doing something pretty cool...and along the way, just being on Tumblr, I learned more about sexuality in general and my own in particular.

I had no real idea about the "Power Puff Girls" (the group who apparently started TJLC...the name vaguely rings a bell so I guess I must have seen it, or them, around in some capacity at the very beginning of my time here, but I don't have distinct recollections...they might even be mentioned in the TJLC videos I linked to above? But I just don’t remember, my memory is awful and it’s been years since I watched those) or all the controversy surrounding TJLC. I did pick up on the idea that TJLC was viewed as sort of an extremist thing by certain fans, but I didn't know why and thought some of it was due maybe to homophobia or to inter-fandom debacles I probably couldn't grasp due to my newbie status. (In fact, I didn't know the full story of TJLC until I watched that Sarah Z video that came out recently. The video left me feeling a bit grateful that I didn't show up sooner, and also a bit defensive on behalf of innocent TJLCers.)

I didn't know all the negative connotations...I was just aware that there was some discomfort surrounding the group, and some idea that the group came across as toxic or made things uncomfortable for some, possibly even including the actors at cons and whatnot (which isn’t cool, obviously). But there are such problems in every fandom occasionally, and I knew I wasn't going to engage in any toxic behavior/doubted all TJLCers were like that, so I adopted the problematic term for myself. It was the closest fit for my perception of where I fit within the fandom: I was someone who could clearly see the subtext and thought it surely must be intentional, and that anyone with their heteronormativity glasses off could doubtless see it too. I had taken my glasses off after a lifetime of not knowing I was being forced to wear them, and I was really excited and eager for other people to take theirs off as well.

I'm lucky, in a way, that I did come to fandom so late in life even though it's fulfilled me so much that I often wish I could have had that fun sooner, especially while time and health were on my side (I was 33 before I entered my first fandom--Doctor Who, as a Ten/Rose shipper--and I'm 38 now)...because if I had been, say, a teenager who stumbled on all this at such an impressionable/tumultuous age, and had begun to feel as passionately about my ships as I do now, I can only imagine how toxic and explosive all that could have been and how I might have gotten embroiled in it. And it probably would have been a sore spot of embarrassment forever and ruined my enjoyment of Sherlock, if not fandom altogether.

So, I have a *lot* of empathy for the people that likely did happen to. Such a shame all that had to go down the way it did. And especially, shame on the older folks in fandom who engaged in that behavior knowing that impressionable younger people were listening to them. While I sometimes feel very passionately about certain issues and I want to jump up on my soapbox, I try to refrain enough to be emotionally balanced/diplomatic because I know I have to remain aware that I'm older than a lot of other fans here. I don't want to aggravate anyone's trauma and cause them mental harm. We can't see the people on the other side of the screen, but once you reach a certain age you have to remind yourself that they're there and that you can't know what they're dealing with in life/how they might internalize what you've said. Remaining aware of those sorts of consequences is just basic human empathy and awareness of one's responsibility/culpability.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Someone compared us TJLCers to being 'abused exes returning to abusive partners'??? Really? We're not like that, are we?

Hey Nonny!

Yeah, I saw that post; I’m not sure if they meant it to come off this way, but it feels like a gatekeeper wanting to ruin people’s fun in the fandom. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, because some people only see the noisiest of the fandom and those people are what many think everyone is like. I’ve a lot of mixed feelings about the acronym as a whole, but I’ve another ask that I’m going into depth about that. Let’s just say that I feel like it’s not what it used to be.

I understand why the op of the post may think that way, and why it can be attributed to that metaphor, because – and I’m being bluntly honest here – people who are “TJLC AND NOTHING ELSE AND IT HAS TO BE MY BRAND OF TJLC OR YOU’RE WRONG”, well, yeah, of course you’re setting yourself back up for disaster. Militant attitudes begets terrible outcomes and toxic fandoms and cult-like behaviour. Moffat comes out with something, people pick it apart to no end, and nothing comes of it. Then something else happens, and then disappointment again. It’s a vicious cycle. Now content from them is “pay to experience” (re: the escape room) and even then, it’s not even written by Mofftiss so I don’t know why people think there’s anything to glean from it – all they did is give them the licence to use the BRAND BBC Sherlock. I dunno. 

These days I keep myself separated from those still hardcore in into it, because they don’t like me anyway since I am open to hearing opinions of everyone within the Johnlock fandom, and their thoughts help shape my own theories. I have not just blindly accepted S4 because I’m a creature of logic and while I LOVE the tinhatting and the speculating and the theorizing, the Logic part of my brain that I keep grounded in reality just genuinely can’t in good faith see the actors “faking it” for this long. Heck, even Mofftiss were shocked that no one liked S4, and I just... can’t help but disappoint even myself when I keep finding flaws in my own tinhat theories. *shrugs* It’s fine.

Listen, I call myself an “old school TJLCer”, because I still believe what we believed back in S3 – that Johnlock was endgame, but somewhere along the way, something happened, and whether or not S4 was intentional, it just feels REALLY slapped together because I just cannot make sense of how we went from TAB to whatever the hell S4 was. 

I have no problem with the acronym, but it evolved into an amorphous hybrid of varying theories that had nothing to do with the core beliefs anymore, and the just before S4, different TJLCers were tearing each other apart because one group thought this, but another thought that, and all these groups didn’t like each other... and I had to step back from that, because it became too cult-like to me. It’s no wonder we got a bad rep. It became cliquy and I am too old for that shit. I literally am just here to have fun, make friends, and provide content for everyone to enjoy.

So TL;DR in a way, it is. But it doesn’t have to be. Keep theorizing and speculating and engaging and having fun, but keep yourself grounded in reality. Because if you REALLY take a step back, and just... see how Mofftiss have essentially decided other projects were more important and Ben and Martin are tired of people asking them about Sherlock, and watching filming schedules and stuff... well.

But that’s just my thoughts about it. :P

[itsalways2017]

Stumbled upon this today, this is from a post in 2018 so I don’t wanna reblog. 

Of course everyone can see the “connectedness between Sherlock and John”. That’s the reason why anyone of us became a TJLCer in the first place. I would never be a TJLCer if I hadn’t felt that chemistry between them in A Study in Pink. 

Unfortunately, this is not a straight couple, you cannot say “Their interactions are so romantic, they must be in love”. People would say you are a delusional shipper. (hell, I’m talking as if TJLCers are not regarded as delusional even when they have all the evidences). If only we could just believe that Johnlock is the endgame based on the plot and characterisation lol 

And not to mention, TJLC does analyze the textual level?

[bewitchingjediandavengingnarnia]

“Oh no she's still a crazy Johnlock fangirl”

I fell in love with a show about one of the most famous friendships in fictional history. Then I fell in love with the idea that it could be more than a friendship-that it should be. 

I expressed my love for the show and characters the way I always have with my other fandoms/obsessions. I created art. By doing fanart, reading, writing, painting, gathering a cosplay, etc. It's the only way I know how. I found other people on here who were like-minded and shared my love for the show.

I slowly started to find out that many people, including friends, started hating the show for valid reasons, which slowly made me feel forced to hide the fact that I was still a fangirl. I knew that my friends wouldn’t actually judge me, and again, they never meant to make me feel bad. They never told me to stop my art/passion for it. Nobody did. My decision to hide it all was on me. I just felt like defending myself would be pointless. Even fans who tried to civilly defend their reasons for still loving the show were attacked and I didn’t want that to happen to me. Especially by friends whose opinions I value. Which was pretty dumb to begin with because again, of course they wouldn’t attack me because they’re good friends. Still, just the idea that I had to defend my reasons to feel okay about still “fangirling” was enough to keep me from doing it. So I didn’t. I stayed quiet. That was my mistake.

And I don’t understand why we were mocked and criticized for believing that something good could happen in the world. For being wrong about hoping for something good. For hoping it wasn’t just another queer baiting show. And I know that queer baiting wasn’t the only problem in Sherlock, though it was one of the main ones and lots of tjlcers were annoying, true, but of course the quiet ones were left unnoticed and hated just as much as the bad eggs. Every fandom has bad eggs. Some more than others, but for some reason this fandom was singled out to be one of the worst, with anybody associated with it deemed absolute scum, even though plenty of other problematic fandoms get away with their bad eggs simply because their content is less problematic, if at all. The good and bad fans are distinguishable. But because BBC’s Sherlock is problematic in of itself, ALL of its fans were automatically labeled as problematic too, with no hope of either type of fan being distinguishable. It’s easy to do that-to assume that all the fans are bad people for liking that kind of show. But here’s the thing: You can acknowledge what is wrong in something you’re interested in and still love it for other reasons. It’s allowed. You’re not required to agree with every single little thing about a series, movie, book, song, celebrity, etc. I may like something that is problematic; that doesn’t mean I like it because it is problematic. I like it for various different reasons that have nothing to do with the negative aspects I acknowledge. And I don’t get why the people who hate the queer baiting in Sherlock would attack those who believed the show was going to develop into something in the end that was definitely gay. I don’t understand all the hate. I really don’t. 

I was devastated by the joke that was the ending of my beloved show. It had so much damn potential and ended up being such a disappointment to many of us. I still believe something went wrong. And even if I am wrong again, I don’t care. If that makes me a gullible idiot then so be it. Different opinions are okay! You can love the show or hate it. You can believe something went wrong or it was doomed from the start. But just because some people were able to see the inevitable end for what it was, doesn’t mean they’re “better” than those who didn’t. Doesn’t mean the rest of us are worthless baddies for not having seen it coming. There’s nothing wrong with making a mistake. There’s nothing wrong with still believing I was right as long as I’m not judging others for thinking differently. Personally, I can safely say I never hurt anyone over this. And it’s okay if people think I’m crazy for still believing. Even if I am hated for just loving a show.

At the time when I found this show, it became one of the few things that truly made me happy. Don't ask me why I don't know. It was a big source of comfort to me which eventually became a source of embarrassment and shame. The thing that brought me enjoyment suddenly started taking it away. I felt like I was wrong to still be in love with this show-that I was a horrible person for it. I was afraid to be myself. To express myself. 

No more. TLDR: I’m done with feeling stupid or like a bad person just for loving a show that didn’t turn out to be the way I thought it would.  

I will express my love for Johnlock because it brought me joy and friends. I will not regret being a part of something so special even though it came at a price.

I will continue to make my art in any way, shape, or form I can. I don’t like or agree with the ending, but I will always love Sherlock for the hope it gave me for respectful lgbt representation. And I will continue to hope. I will hope for good things to happen in the future. And I will do my damnedest to be a part of it. I love the determination it inspired in so many of us to fix the problem.

[loudest-subtext-in-tv]

Sherlock, EMP theory, and What Dreams May Come

[I have to preface this by making clear that I believe the BFI screening was fake – faker than it seems most people are considering. I don’t think they would give away any big reveals, including any of the following: TJLC, whether Mary or Moriarty are alive or dead, whether Mycroft was being strong-armed by Moriarty, whether Rosie was ever born, or whether EMP is the case. If EMP is the case, it’s intrinsically tied to Johnlock and all the rest so they have to film a separate plot. And yes, I do believe they would go so far as filming many scenes for a different plot line just to protect the reveal of all the big secrets they’ve kept for six years. For what it’s worth, out of all the things I listed this meta is almost entirely just dealing with Johnlock and EMP. So please don’t dismiss the parallels in this meta out of hand because of “spoilers” you may have heard.]

EMP theory (extended mind palace theory) argues that everything around the time Mary shot Sherlock through at least the beginning of TFP will have taken place in Sherlock’s mind while he lays dying in the hospital. Here is a link to the origins of the theory, which became an idea in January. I didn’t pay the theory much attention until T6T aired, when it suddenly seemed like the only explanation of all the facts.

In my opinion, one of the strongest arguments for EMP theory is the movie/novel What Dreams May Come. I haven’t read the novel so I’m doing this meta off the movie alone. 

To start:

Gatiss admires the writer, Richard Matheson, as @skulls-and-tea notes with this Tweet Gatiss made:

What’s the plot of What Dreams May Come? The protagonist is a married guy. He dies in a brutal car accident, and goes to heaven… but his wife, in her grief, kills herself and goes to hell. The protagonist then goes to hell to save his spouse. 

Remember when Sherlock was in this heavenly room that we know is not what Ella’s office actually looks like, wondering what to do about John?

And then, seemingly in answer to this question just afterwards, we see Sherlock watch the Miss Me? DVD, where Mary tells him what to do about John?

And how does one do that?

What exactly is hell, anyway? As @skulls-and-tea quotes Matheson in What Dreams May Come at the link above:

“Everyone’s Hell is different. It’s not all fire and pain. The real Hell is your life gone wrong.”

Sounds a lot like the plot of The Six Thatchers and The Lying Detective from Sherlock’s perspective: John clearly isn’t really into Mary and clearly wants to cheat with someone… but would rather be with anyone but Sherlock, even some rando from the bus; Sherlock can’t keep his vow to protect Mary or John; John blames Sherlock for failing to protect Mary and Sherlock thinks it’s deserved; Sherlock is so oblivious he fails to protect John from Sherlock’s own sister, etc.

Towards the beginning of What Dreams May Come, right before the car accident happens, the protagonist reflects in voice-over narration about the phone call he’d just had with his wife:

“I said, ‘I love you…’ I’ll always remember that. At least I got to say it.” 

But our story is a little different: Sherlock hasn’t gotten to tell John he loves him. If Sherlock were dying in a hospital, struggling to return back to the living to stop John from killing himself over Sherlock’s death, what thought just might wake Sherlock up?

The parallels I’m about to describe between BBC Sherlock and What Dreams May Come are pretty specific and insane. 

Do I have your attention yet?

What Dreams May Come begins with a brief section about Chris and Annie meeting, getting married, having two kids… and then their two kids die in a car accident. For four years, Chris and Annie support one another through their depression.

One day, on the anniversary of their kids’ death, Chris and Annie speak on the phone and he tells her he loves her. On the way home from work, he gets in an awful car accident while trying to save someone else. 

He makes it to the hospital, just like Sherlock…

But Chris dies in surgery because only the power of gay love can restart one’s heart. Sad, but it is what it is. :(

While dying, Chris thinks of his kids’ dog that got put down:

Remind you of anyone else who thought of a beloved dog being put down as he lay dying?

One of the first things Chris learns about being dead is that “dreams don’t deal in time. Time doesn’t count.” That’s why events just sort of float back and forth once he’s dead.

You know, just like how time gets all fucky once Sherlock gets shot. We start jumping months forwards and backwards in HLV after he gets shot; TAB jumps all over the place; so do T6T and TLD. And in the episodes that are supposed to be real, T6T and TLD, none of the time seems to add up coherently. For example, Sherlock’s birthday is supposed to be in January yet we know for a fact that at least a few months had to have passed since the Christmas Sherlock shot CAM… but certainly nowhere near a year (we’d have missed an entire Christmas, if so).

It’s also worth noting that Inception, another movie about dreams (and dreams within dreams) which seems to have been an influence on a Doctor Who Christmas special that Moffat wrote, posits the same thing: mere minutes in real life time can be hours, days, months, years in dream time.

Moving on. 

Remember that shot of Ella’s office from earlier?

Check out the stained glass imagery from Chris attending his own funeral:

Dying helps Chris see himself and lose his fear.

If EMPers are right, that’s exactly the purpose of Sherlock dying during all these episodes, and why it’s necessary for Sherlock to send himself to mind palace therapy. While people like to complain that “it was all a dream” would somehow make all the recent episodes pointless, that’s only the case when the writing is shitty and the writers are using a dream as a previously-unplanned excuse to escape from a dumb corner they’ve written themselves into.

That obviously wouldn’t be the least bit true for BBC Sherlock if you give it a thought: 1) this was planned since HLV (which I’ll get into in my big EMP meta), and 2) it’s because Sherlock is stuck inside his own head that Sherlock is enduring huge psychological struggles and coming out of them with real character growth. Not only will all that growth be present and necessary to the plot once Sherlock finally wakes up, it will probably be the reason he wakes up.

The entire point of having whole episodes in Sherlock’s head is for Sherlock to see himself clearly, for Sherlock and the audience to see plainly what he fears and how much he fears it. How else could we ever get a clear picture of a man who doesn’t allow himself to show much emotion, who keeps backing away from John because he thinks that’s what would make John happiest? Everyone agrees that Sherlock restarting his heart for John in his mind palace in HLV is a fantastic way to show Sherlock’s heart and character… but somehow several episodes of Sherlock fighting and succeeding to stay a good, selfless person even as his inner demons rip him apart is cheap and bad? What? 

Do people really think the mind of Sherlock Holmes, and the fears that plague his heart, would be simple enough to resolve in an episode or two? If so, I issue you a challenge: go write a story where you resolve your own issues with depression and intimacy in a 90 minute runtime. If you can do that, I trust you feel much better now and life should be splendid for you going forward. If not, then surely you see my point. We’re told Sherlock has demons, and we know from TAB that his mind is exceedingly complex.

Not to mention the audience gets to see the lengths Sherlock would go to for John, even when it’s unfair to himself. “Nicer than anyone,” indeed. How could anyone watch HLV, TAB, T6T, and TLD and come away thinking Sherlock is a sociopath? How could anyone watch Sherlock go through all that in his head and decide the romance is gross and evil because it’s gay? Have we ever seen that level of self-sacrifice and devotion from any other character in the history of literature, queer or otherwise?

Anyway.

After Chris sees Annie at his funeral, everything drifts along and he’s suddenly at their house. He looks at a painting Annie made of where they would retire one day, and I swear to god this next image is a painting of the character Chris from What Dreams May Come and not the result of John’s obsession with Sherlock bleeding into John’s art at one of those paint-and-drink-wine classes folks attend nowadays:

Dark hair, long coat billowing out behind him while he looks mysteriously into the distance. Again, that’s Chris.

Then Chris watches Annie write in her diary:

“Dear diary, I am writing in your bullshit pages because my shrink is crazier than I am. He thinks you’re therapy… He’s so stupid. He’s so stupid he thinks he pulled me through the breakdown when it was only Christy. Always. Only Chris.”

Remind you of John, Ella, and his blog? John was never happy writing his blog until Sherlock came along. And after Sherlock died, the way John coped was continuing to write about Sherlock. And then Sherlock came back from the dead, and John kept writing about him. 

Did the therapy ever really do anything for John? You don’t have to tell TJLCers that of course it didn’t. What made John happier was Sherlock. Otherwise, Ella’s assignment would have just had John writing about all the nothing that was going on in his life.

Chris tries to talk to Annie, but when she senses he’s there it fills her with intense grief. So he realizes that he’s got to leave her alone and go. He leaves her sobbing at his grave and goes toward the light.

Chris ends up in heaven, which looks like one of his wife’s beautiful paintings. You know, just like Sherlock’s mind palace when he was dying in HLV looked like the place where John shot the cabbie for Sherlock, other parts looked like the home he shared with John at 221b, etc.

And Chris’s dog – apparently a different dog from when he was a child – is there! He even jokes to himself that he screwed up and he’s in dog heaven. Oh, here’s a familiar shot:

Chris soon finds out that he’s creating all the things around him:

You know, just like EMPers allege Sherlock is doing, and just like we know for a fact was happening in TAB.

The person telling Chris this is Albert, an old friend who, like Chris, used to be a doctor. Check out one of the first lessons Chris has to absorb, after they discuss what part of a person defines them:

That’s right: dying is a way that Chris learns there’s more to what defines him than his brain. If EMPers are right, that’s the point of Sherlock being stuck in a coma for several episodes: he’s got to reassess his priorities, and confront his fear of embracing things other than pure rationality.

And look what happens next! Albert shows him that Chris’s house, in this place, can do all sorts of weird shit:

Remind you of any promo pics? Like… nearly all of the ones in the countdown to S4 had backgrounds of the wall of 221b crumbling? To save space, here’s one for the upcoming The Final Problem:

Meanwhile, in real life Annie is painting things and feeling like Chris can still hear her and see her paintings. And it’s true, those things do bleed into Chris’s experience of heaven. He sees Annie and a purple tree she just painted:

We know from TAB that the “real world” can bleed into Sherlock’s mind palace as well – though of course EMPers say even those parts of TAB aren’t real:

This bleed-through mechanic is why I suggested after T6T that John was not crying over Mary’s death, but crying over Sherlock’s bedside in real life when he thought Sherlock was going to die. That’s why he says, “Don’t you dare, you made a vow, you swore it.” Not because John absurdly blames Sherlock for Mary’s death, but because on John’s wedding day Sherlock made a vow to always be there for John. John’s angry and desperate because Sherlock is dying.

After all, as @tjlcisthenewsexy, @doomsteady, and @impatient14 discuss here, the Samarra story that bookends T6T seems to actually be about Sherlock trying to rewrite his own death after getting shot by Mary, not just Sherlock trying to stop Mary’s life from catching up with her. When Norbury shoots at Sherlock, it’s a lot like when Mary shoots at him, and Norbury is a mirror for Mary – plus as @themanandthemachine points out, she even uses the same gun as Mary.

Anyway, back to the field with the purple tree and Annie. How does Chris get back to her? By jumping off a waterfall, of course:

The parallel to ACD seems like a good candidate for why Mofftiss would think to incorporate What Dreams May Come into Sherlock, just like the poison scene from The Princess Bride is an ACD allusion in a story about a guy surprising the love of his life by revealing he didn’t actually die.

Anyway.

Once Chris gets to where Annie had been standing, she’s gone. So he has this exchange with Albert:

Albert: “You and Annie… a long courtship?” 

Chris: “No, actually. From the very first moment, it was like–”

Albert: “Soulmates. It’s extremely rare, but it exists. Sort of like twin souls, tuned in to each other.

Sounds a lot like how TJLCers read John and Sherlock’s first couple of days together.

Later, Chris wakes up in a place with some couches and chairs, flooded with water:

Kind of like this promo shot:

Soon it’s revealed that Chris’s dead daughter has been masquerading around in heaven as an adult East Asian woman with an entirely different name. She says things his daughter would know and say. You know, just like EMPers say that Sherlock is imagining people like Faith and Norbury and Culverton etc. representing other characters in Sherlock’s real life, saying things that those people would know and say.

The biggest mindfuck is that later Albert is revealed to actually be Chris’s son Ian, even though Chris really did know Albert in real life. Truly, the things EMPers suggest, such as Mary representing parts of Sherlock and so on, are not that strange compared to this movie Moffat and Gatiss have certainly seen.

Soon, we’re back with Annie, who’s working her way up to suicide. Here’s the self-harm marks:

Remember how Euros-as-Faith in TLD was a John mirror, with her walking stick and gun, coming to Sherlock’s flat saying Sherlock was her last hope? I argued that John’s suicidal attitude over Sherlock not waking up was bleeding into Sherlock’s mind, a reminder that he can’t give up on his own life and has to come back and save John.

Well, Sherlock observed that Faith was self-harming:

Sherlock doesn’t want her to kill herself, so he leaves the flat for the first time in weeks for a stranger that reminds him of John. He continues to freak out about suicide throughout the episode.

Annie kills herself, and Chris finds out that means she’s gone to hell. Albert tries to talk him out of it, but Chris insists on finding Annie.

Chris has to literally revisit sore memories in his psyche to get to Annie, just like Sherlock is having to do with Euros/Sherrinford. It’s part of going through hell.

There are lots of visuals of being doused in water on the journey, just like all the rain in Sherlock:

A guide in a boat tells Chris that the real danger of hell is “losing your mind.” Which corresponds pretty well with like, all of TLD.

Early into hell is when Albert is revealed to be Chris’s dead son Ian. Ian says he chose to be Albert to remind Chris to think about what he said to Annie to “bring her back” when Ian and his sister had died.

Perhaps Sherlock had to imagine Mary caring deeply for John simply because she’s the one in his memories who said, “Save John Watson" in TEH.

Later, in one of Chris’s memories, Annie says, “That’s my role: to bring adventure to your life.” A very John-and-Sherlock kind of relationship foundation.

Once they’re deep in hell, there’s a crumbling version of the home Chris and Annie shared together:

Consider again the promo shots with 221b crumbling. 

Then Chris’s guide says:

“Suicides can get pretty tortured, pretty committed to punishing themselves.” 

Recall Sherlock letting John beat the shit out of him in the morgue in TLD. Now, Sherlock’s not precisely a suicide given that he’s been shot, but he’s been coded as a suicide risk since the first episode. The EMP read on TLD is that Sherlock is dying in bed and trying to decide whether he wants to let go or not, hence the scenes with Sherlock saying, “I don’t want to die,” while in a hospital bed, and his ranting that suicides hurt the people who love you.

Chris’s guide, an old white dude, tells him that Annie is in the house, and what Chris must do is go open his heart to her and say what he needs to say. But then, in yet another mindfuck, the guide reveals that he’s the real Albert.

So, yeah: EMP theory is not very weird at all. Matheson did all this shit decades ago. Characters can stand-in for characters that already exist.

The inside of their old house is filled with water, again just like the promo pics of 221b for Sherlock:

The scene with Annie has some possibly relevant stuff. One quote that sticks out to me is this, which Chris says of himself:

“He pushed away the pain so hard, he disconnected himself from the person he loved the most.”

Definitely fits as commentary on Sherlock’s fear of sentiment and opening up.

Chris can’t totally get through to Annie, so instead he decides to stay with her in hell. He says, “Good people end up in hell because they can’t forgive themselves. I know I can’t.” Annie can’t forgive herself because she unreasonably blames herself for the death of Chris and their children both. Kind of like Sherlock blaming himself unreasonably for Mary’s death.

Annie finally accepts that Chris is there with her, some stuff happens, and eventually they both wake up in heaven together. They make out. Their dog and kids are there. They discuss being reborn and finding each other again, and they do. This stuff’s not really relevant, just heart-wrenching in a weirdly happy way.

The end.

[missmari5251-blog]

After The Final Problem

Redbeard is Victor, a human boy. Sooo? Why the dog bowl?

How did John climb out if he was chained to the bottom?

Who is Sherlock in love with? It certainly isn’t Molly Hooper, that was just cruel.

Is their non cannon insane sister the ground breaking television they were speaking of?

Did she really torture her brothers and John and kill several people because Sherlock wouldn’t play with her as a child?

Why the elephants?

What was on John’s letter to Sherlock?

Why did they have to mention Oscar Wilde?

Why the blatant queerbaiting in general?

No loose end? Was that meant to be a cruel joke?

Tbh I didn’t hate it, at least that’s what I’m telling myself because it literally hurts to think about hating something I’ve loved so much. I feel like this isn’t real or its just some silly prank. Like mofftiss is going to jump out from behind the corner and be like jk, calm down guys, here’s the real episode.

I feel like maybe we gave them a little to much credit. Like all of us tjlcers became real life versions of Sherlock, wanting every comment from the writers, every line in the show, every elephant to mean so much more (than it actually did) in the bigger scheme of things. We were too clever and now we’re disappointed.

However I don’t regret it.

[pearlrebs]

I guess i wasnt very clear. Easy to seem angry over the internet unintentionally. I mean to say; rebs url (a small thing) represented something to us. Xe left and we all really miss xer. Xe mattered to us and was a special part of tjlc. 1/8

In many peoples eyes this is an aggressive act. Im sure that you can see at least a little how we would see it that way. 2/8

I wasnt implying that you are not queer or that i hate queers. i was saying that, this is the internet, im not going to always believe everything everyone tells me. 3/8

Most queers i know, try and stick together despite our differences. And the fact that you seem very angry (could be reading into it) at a group of people who are predominately queer tells me that you COULD be something other than queer. 4/8

As you yourself said this is just a tv show...but its more than that isnt it? Why you spend so much thought throwing shade at rebs or the tjlcers or whoever, tells me that theres something else going on and that it is important. 5/8

banding together with like-minded people is the solution to the political shitfest we are in. I'd like to think that we could work thru our differences to reach our common goals assuming, we have common goals. (if im wrong, please let me know) 6/8

I dont see myself as a victim, im only sad. not in a pitying way. Its hard to describe. You were probably the victim of an angry tjlcer on here or witnessed the chaos and theres really no excuse for hatefullness (im admonishing my own camp here). 7/8

debate, yes, but never being mean just to be mean. That doesnt get anyone anywhere. I hope this makes sense and im not trying to offend you. I just think life is too short to hate. And its sad that there has been much on here. 8/8

I’m actually not angry, I think it’s all kinda funny. Though I do try my best to respond seriously to serious messages. The “go fuck yourself”s will always be met with a “sounds good,” but when someone takes the time to send a message like this, I tend to pay attention. Anyways...

First you say you’re not going to always believe everything everyone tells you, then you turn around and say that the tj//lc group is predominantly queer. Who’s telling you that? Hard evidence? Demographics data? A census taken by a neutral third party to determine age range and sexuality, and what direction they believe the show should go? As I answered someone before: anecdotal evidence is inadmissible in science and court for a reason. Of course since you’re a lesbian (a factoid gleaned from your profile, but if this is inaccurate, please inform me. But I could easily say you’re not, but I don’t, because when someone tells me they’re queer, I believe them, who the hell wants to be in a [most places on the globe] hated minority? [by “hated,” I mean high risk of murder, bullying, and homelessness, and possibly being a criminal act depending on where you live]), your experience is going to be skewed towards finding other queer people. You think the group is predominantly queer people, but from the outside looking in, even as a queer person, I’ve mostly seen a bunch of straight women geeking over two middle aged white dudes possibly touching dicks, and using “representation” as a mask. I haven’t mingled with your community — I’ve got my own, who are and aren’t queer all the same.

And again, I say that with full knowledge that it is anecdotal evidence from my viewpoint and experience. I could be wrong. But that doesn’t mean you’re right either. 

Moving on. Most queer people (I don’t like the term “queers” personally, but as a queer person, you can reclaim that word however you want) you know stick together despite the differences. Okay. But if our difference is that you don’t think I deserve rights, or that my life is somehow worth less than a straight person’s (voting Dump/Pence, specifically Mike Pence, who would rather a gay person go to a conversion camp — where the risk of suicide is nearly 70% — than be gay), then that’s not a “difference.” That’s almost a hate crime (and it actually is in some countries). 

I assume you and I have similar goals — stop the carney-handed mango. I assume all but the 14% of LGBT people who did vote for that cheeto in a wig, do. Hence why I make a point of saying I don’t hate Rebs as a person (although the fact that xer Patreon is still up, and xe’s still collecting money, despite the fact xe’s publicly declared xe has no intention on ever making videos again, and even taking the existing ones down, is a little less than the perfect angel everyone is insisting that xe is). 

Tbh, maybe I tend to befriend more queer people irl, but you know what else is important? Straight allies. To me, being LGBT+ is a description of where I put my genitals/my gender identity, and I don’t exactly bond with people over that. A shared struggle, yes, and if I see a queer person being bullied, I will step in. I can support a gay man’s rights, even if that gay man is going out there campaigning for the orangutan in a suit (and some did). I’ll say he should be allowed to get married to whoever he wants, and when his Nazi buddies turn on his ass, I’ll be helping him find a visa out of here, but dear Ahura Mazda, I wouldn’t be caught dead having a beer with him. In fact, they most criticism I’ve ever gotten for being trans, is from other trans people. Yes, they should have rights, but fuck them as individuals, holy shit, don’t tell me how to transition. You can be trans (or any LGBT+) and still be a shitty person. 

But like... about 10%-15% of people are queer. 10%-15% of people couldn’t have voted for our rights and won. Meaning we have a ton of straight people on our side. And that’s what we are: we’re people. I love Steven Universe and pizza. I’ll find people that love Steven Universe and pizza that didn’t vote for literally satan. 

I’ve personally never been wronged by a hateful tj//lcer. But as you pointed out, there was a lot of hatefulness that was slung around. I watched as people attacked Mark Gatiss for not making their ship canon, or call him straight (they really care about representation, don’t they? /s), attacked other queer ships, tags, bullied some other queer shippers into self-harm, etc. 

No, that wasn’t you doing any of that, and that wasn’t anything you participated in... This blog really isn’t about you, I don’t know why you’re so sad about it. This is about everyone’s actions that I’m starting to suspect we both found deplorable. Though I guess if you were a close follower of Rebs, you hated Mary from second one, which was really uncalled for (hate her for shooting Sherlock — I don’t, but it’s a reason — but that didn’t happen until we knew her for two whole episodes, half of a third, and she was just a lovely person until that exact moment). 

The thing is, it IS just a show to me. I’m just responding to hate until I get bored with it. But tj//lc it became so much more to a bunch of people, and that’s why it got so toxic. 

Again, THE PROBLEM is tj//lcers were demanding representation from a show, and writers, who were always honest that they weren’t going to give it. At least not in the way they wanted (and when it wasn’t in the way they wanted, they had tantrums, which is why I say: it was never about “representation” for some of them.). Rebs, even if it started as just a hobby, quickly became, and fed into this mass conspiracy that ultimately did end up hurting a lot of people. Possibly including xerself. That’s why I don’t feel bad taking your symbol: it is just a show, everyone had prior warning that jxhnlock wouldn’t happen, so the conspiracy was always just going to be fanfiction, and Rebs did some shitty things. 

The way people are freaking out... they need to get over it. Or if not, okay, soak in grief forever over a fictional ship, but there’s probably better ways of dealing with all this besides sending me hate. Because honestly, what does anyone hope to accomplish by sending me hate? Me to delete? Sure, let’s say I did that. Jxhnlock isn’t going to be any more canon, and Rebs isn’t going to be any less wrong, and all of the hate xe encouraged is still going to be out there. Oh, and I’ll keep responding, which really just makes it worse. 

Had people just ignored me — never sent any messages — there would be precisely one post on this blog, which was my original announcement that I had it.

Also — what have I said that’s “hateful?” Yeah, okay, I called rebs a “twat” for being a misogynist, I thought it was delightfully ironic, having a misogynistic slur juxtaposed next to that observation (like saying, “don’t fucking swear”), but no one got the joke, so I took it down. But otherwise? Saying John Watson is Straight is just a fact. Jxhnlock never happened, and since it didn’t, the insistence that he’s bisexual has no standing. He’s always said, “I’m not gay.” I never took that to mean he was saying, “I’m not gay, but I like men, I’m bisexual/pansexual.” Jeez, no, if he was part of the community at all, I imagine he’d let it pass, rather than get angry about the assumption (like Sherlock does, who is, said by the writers, to be neither gay nor straight. In fact, I’ve often heard that if you’re a good straight ally, it means not being upset if people assume you’re gay for standing up with them — so in some interpretation, he’s actually a bit homophobic). I’ve also pointed out that xe was wrong, which xe is. My banner is of Gatiss confirm jxhnlock wasn’t happening again — this is a thing that happened. Are facts “hateful” now? 

Also... “life is too short to hate.” I mean... I think I’ve got enough life left in me to hate the sentient tire fire that uses too much fake tan cream, and the apparent resurgence of Nazis in America. Don’t you? Shouldn’t you? 

tj//cers are definitely not on that level, but I don’t hate them, is the thing. I said this before: I hate no one in particular, just what the legacy produced. 

[chaoticfandomthot]

For All The Shocked TJLCers

Okay this is a freakin’ long post I must warn you:

This post is for all the Johnlockers who feels betrayed by the end of S4 ep 03 For all the TJLCers who are currently angry with this ending.

Remember, what’s so fun about shipping some “non-canon” (because it is canon) ships, particularly when we are Sherlockians? That’s right, it’s finding all those little proofs that this OTP is clearly real.

The Johnlock ship was and will always be for us like a case for Sherlock. Once we saw it, we wanted it to happen, to solve it. We found all the hints, made-up a whole shitload of fantastic theories and we had a lot of fun, but we also had a lot of bad moments.

But… What happens to Sherlock once a case is solved? He’s bored. And what do you think would’ve happened to us if Johnlock actually became openly canon?

Of course we would all be happy af for the rest of our lives, but eventually, we would be a bit bored. Because when everything is canon, theories and hints are useless.

If I take for example the YoI (Yuri!!! On Ice) fandom. At first the canon gay relationship between the two principal characters was amazing, revolutionary and very new. I’m not saying it isn’t anymore, I’m saying that it has become a bit boring now, there isn’t any theory or headcanon on this fandom, because the canon changes it all.

Mofftiss understand all of this. They knew from the beginning that most of the fun we had was because of this mystery over the ship. We even named it after this fun! The JohnLock Conspiracy!

What would’ve become of TJLC if it was officially canon? Who needs a conspiracy when it’s true? Have you ever seen a conspiracy on the fact that the water we drink is liquid? No! Because it’s a known fact!

Mofftiss did not Queerbait us, they just saved TJLC.

(Even if in order to do that, they killed a part of Johnlock (and our hearts))

PS: I said “officially canon” in this message because it is (from my point of view) already canon. They just didn’t say it out loud. I mean, if it wasn’t canon, why would Sherlock chose John every single time? -He chose John over Mycroft’s life -He chose John over his sister’s freedom -He chose John over the little girl on the plane -He choses John over the city that has been crashed by the plane -He choses John over his own freedom -He choses John over his career -He choses John over his reputation -He choses John’s “innocence” over his own -He choses John’s safety over his own -He choses John’s safety and comfort over the trust and relationship they had built over the years -He choses John’s life over his own more than once (a shitload of time)

He has always choses John and he will always choose him. Like he says: “It’s Always You, John Watson”

PPS: Don’t forget that they now live together with a kid…. Not that I’m implying anything buuut….

[milarvela]

Ever since john's "anyone but you" note plus his previous proclivity to violence, i had always suspected that it was only a matter of time until sherlock became his victim. the harsh truth is: THIS is how martin's/bbc's john is like. flawed, violent, angry, imperfect. he's NOT the perfect saint that fandom has often very mistakenly characterize him as in their fics

Not that I ever cared for the perfect saint but the thing is that John is such an OTT repulsive, violent idiot that it’s impossible to believe anyone would want to marry him or have him in their life as a friend. But we’re supposed to believe that both Mary and Sherlock predicted that this was how John would react if she died, and they thought it was okay.

Well, maybe they all deserve each other but I think it’s understandable when people who ship Johnlock don’t want him to be like that. Maybe if you want to read/write non-con and such but for an ordinary romance it’s hardly common to want violence and anger. Not that there aren’t countless fics where Sherlock is afraid of doing/saying something that doesn’t please saint John and he’ll leave. Never knew people found that sort of thing desirable but whatever. Many Johnlockers are weird that way, wanting Sherlock to worship saint John, no matter what. In fact, I believe the perfect John isn’t so much a misinterpretation of canon as it is a desire to have Sherlock worship John. I blame TJLCers, most of whom favoured John and wrote accordingly, and got others to write the same thing too, for which the conspirators of course can’t be blamed.

I don’t really understand this need to say that John’s actions in TLD were in character. So what? I mean, do people honestly believe that kicking Sherlock was good writing? Necessary for the episode? Making Johnlock better in fics? The show more enjoyable? Why did you ship it if you thought the next thing, judging by John’s character, was going to be him trying to kill Sherlock? And most importantly, why didn’t he ever hit and kick all those other characters far more deserving his anger and violence than Sherlock. Like Mary or Mycroft. If you can choose when and who you kick, you are not a predictably violent and angry person. You just choose your victim especially, rationally.

Don’t know if any of you “John’s violent and angry; this was only to expect” people were those who also believed he didn’t forgive Mary for shooting Sherlock and had a plan with Mycroft because he’s such a BAMF and great friend, but in case you are: LOL

I try at making gifs again :>

[annashipper]

Potentially SPOILERY ask for TFP

so I’m putting it under a page break

TJLCER Anon:   If the bfi screening is what we get aired, then sherlolly is all but explicitly made canon. The I love you is for her. Under a forced context but all the same it's for her. I'd rather let you all know this now because unless tjlc is right in the end we really need to mourn without some of the nasty sherlollians coming onto our posts. Some of the nasty johnlockers deserve it yes, but we as a whole do not. Feel free to spread this to every sherlollian and grats on winning. Sincerely, a tjlcer.

Anna:  Dearest TJLCer Anon, I don’t know if you’re messing with me because I’m a Sherlollian or if you’re telling me the truth.

If it’s the former, shame on you for pulling on my heart strings.

If it’s the latter, I am now seriously freaking out on whether Molly makes it out of the fourth season alive or not.

For the record, I’m not one of those shippers who need their OTP ship to become canon to enjoy a show.  Perhaps it’s because some of the ships I’ve shipped in the past were a huge disappointment when they became canon and the shows jumped the shark after that, perhaps it’s because I’m content with good fanfiction.

When it comes to shipping Sherlock with Molly in particular, I’ve never expected it to become canon.  The reason for that is because Sherlock Holmes has been around for more than 100 years and I don’t expect Moftiss to address his sexuality.

I’ve said it many times before and I mean it:  I can understand why so many people ship Johnlock.  I get it and I respect it 100%!

What I do not get is the overwhelming need some Johnlockers feel to be nasty towards Sherlollians, Sheriarties, Adlockers, etc.  When did what we ship on the show become the be all and end all reason we have to watch the show?  I don’t get it!

When the teaser with the “I love you” in it aired, I received this ask:  LINK, and I think that’s the crux of the problem.

So many Johnlockers have been watching “the gay show” since 2010, while most of us have been watching a show called Sherlock and either shipping Johnlock, Sherlolly, Adlock, Sheriarty, Shally, Sherstrade or... shipping nothing at all.

I can only speak for myself, but I’m perfectly fine with the notion of Sherlock Holmes not having a love life on screen.  In fact, I prefer it.  

There’s fanfic for that...  

[sherlockgayaturgy]

“E” is a plant

John’s affair is a plant.

This is the first time we see “E.”

I know this part of it is a little bit of a stretch, but I see her as an Irene mirror, mostly because of the shade of the lipstick which is iconic of Irene. That was the episode that had a lot of people convinced that Sherlock was straight, it makes sense that they would hearken back to that visually here.

We also get this beautiful shot of her and John (reflected in the bus glass). 

Reflections nearly always indicate that a character is mirroring something. NOTE THE FLOWER REFLECTED IN JOHN’S HAIR, a reference to TPLOSH. The scene where it appears in TPLOSH is very blatantly a scene which toys with the idea of Watson as a bisexual. WHY WOULD THEY PUT IT IN A SEEN WHERE JOHN IS SO CLEARLY FLIRTING WITH A NEW WOMAN? To indicate to us, the TJLC community, that THIS IS NOT RIGHT.

Other people have also pointed out that she already has a piece of paper, which she presumably hands to John later in the episode, in her hand. She had it ready before she and John even made eye contact. So either she’d been eyeing him for a while and wrote her number down just in CASE he HAPPENED to notice her, or she had it ready because she’d already been following him.

I’m not going to go into the whole texting part of their affair and enter the debate about whether John was texting Sherlock or “E.” I don’t think he was texting Sherlock. I think that John and “E” did sleep together, and it’s going to come up later.

Why is this important?

Right before Mary dies, Sherlock gives his speech about widows/divorcees/moving on. We, in the TJLC community (most of us anyway) were ROOTING for John to break things off with Mary himself. Most TJLCers I know did not want Mary to die, because it would be too easy of an out for John from the relationship and we thought he’d go running back to Sherlock. Sherlock even says himself that divorcees are more likely to move on.

So now he’s going to be left thinking that John will never move on from Mary, and that he will have no hope at a future with John.

EXCEPT.

John was having his affair. He may continue to see “E” in future episodes. We know Sherlock is going to have scenes with “E.” I find it incredibly hard to believe he’s NOT going to find out about their affair. And when he finds out, he’s going to be devastated. That might even be the scene we saw from the Czech trailer where he’s screaming on the bridge, b/c it looked similar to some setlock photos we had where he was deducing LiR. So what he’s going to infer is that John moved on. And it wasn’t with him.

It’s going to burn his heart out. Which is EXACTLY what Moriarty’s plan was all along. To convince Sherlock that no matter how good of a person he became, he and John would NEVER be together.

We just need John to wake up and see what’s happening here.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

(1/2) Hey Steph! This is a long ask, so feel free to take your time answering as I love your insights! I have two Q's actually. 1. Was TAB supposed to be a standalone? I heard that they lied and something about how it was vital that they showed it before S4, but in hindsight (tinfoil hat aside), I don't see any connections between the two? 2. What were your initial thoughts on the "I Love you" trailer before S4? Ik many use this as proof for queerbaiting, but as a casual viewer then, I...

(2/2) thought y’ll were ridiculous for believing that it’s John when he was clearly in the background. Ofc after rewatching the series with an open mind, I became aware of my own prejudice and am all aboard the Johnlock train now. But I would imagine that as a shipper then, my hopes would be gone after seeing that, not fuel confidence like it did for some. Ik it’s done and we know who it’s to, but I’m interested in hearing the insights from a Johnlocker at that time. Thanks! :)

Hey Nonny! 

Never a problem! I’ll try to answer as best I can!!

1. Ahhh, TAB is an episode I studied IMMENSELY. I love it so much. Mofftiss, before TAB aired, kept insisting that it was a standalone episode and had nothing to do with the current timelines. They also kept saying that “the time is right for us to do this” which had us believing that they were insistent in getting it out before S4, which is why a lot of us DIDN’T believe that the episode was standalone. Many thought it was important because it was foreshadowing the events to come and let us know what Sherlock knows and feels for John…. essentially, instead of trying to solve the mystery of Moriarty, he ended up rediscovering his own self, and finally learning to love and accept John into his life as an equal, not as someone he needs to protect and keep safe. The episode was a huge character-building episode for Sherlock specifically, and I personally think it’s one of the most important episodes of the series. Because “it’s all a dream”, it forces the audience to use metaphorical interpretations of Sherlock’s character and of the people around him, showing us what he knows and how to teach us to see below the surface and read the subtext.

Many people think that it is a “key” to understanding what the hell is going on in S4, and reveals to us that if something seems wrong in the Sherlock universe, then something most likely is. Some people have suggested that the “alternatively” that we have been flipped to in the opening credits is when a secondary timeline had started. I personally don’t think so, since so much character development happened on Sherlock’s part in TAB and to exclude it negates all that development he had. Plus everyone was very much in character, so I digress. I do believe, though, that Unreliable Narrator started in T6T’s D-Notice scene.

Regardless, TAB helps us understand how to read the subtext at a metaphorical level. So when we refer to “John’s TAB” we mean that John is also now having hallucinations of his own, and everything in TFP is all metaphorical like it was for Sherlock – Sherlock’s is Victorian and dramatic like him, and John’s is full of pop culture and horror tropes like the things he likes. In that sense, it makes TAB connected to S4, since it helps us uncover the subtext below. 

Unfortunately, much of S4 is so inconsistent that I honestly have no idea how THAT season connects to the rest of the series, LOL. But if it is all a metaphorical season of a play-by-play of the events of the series so far, then I suppose it can work. It has been suggested that S4 is a "reverse" of the events that have happened so far, or a subtextual replay of the series. I can't find the post at the moment, but it's an interesting read.

2. Well, given what we thought was going to happen, and given the logical narrative next step in the chain, I as well initially thought it was finally Sherlock admitting his feelings, but upon sitting on it more, I then thought it was either blackmail and Sherlock was being forced to confess his feelings under duress, or it was a passcode.  When Mark revealed that Sherlock was “speaking to a mirror”, I then thought it was going to be Molly, but it won’t be good. And lo and behold, what we got was the forced ILY that we did get, which was exactly an entire scene mirroring John, especially if it is in John’s head (she’s even wearing the same sweater that she wore when she was “being John” in TEH). It was baiting, though, especially since BBC themselves kept using it to boost the watch numbers (”who does Sherlock love?!?!!!111?”) and while I am glad that it wasn’t directed at John, I am horrified that it instead destroyed the character arc of Molly, who, in S3, “grew up” and it really seemed like she was done with Sherlock and finally understood he was gay and in love with John. The only way I can deal with it is with John’s POV / TAB reading of the episode: it's how John has always viewed Molly, and this is his projecting his own fears of Sherlock’s “reciprocation of feelings” – as in he fears Sherlock will only say it because it’s what John wants to hear, and not mean it. It’s a very powerful scene at the subtextual level, but on the surface level, it’s very misogynistic (ie. woman being used only as a throw-away plot device and hopelessly in love with the male lead) and terribly drags Molly’s character through the mud. It makes me sad that many cannot see it as such.

As I’ve said numerous times, I’m 50 / 50 on S4. I cannot logically take it at face value simply because of how inconsistent and fucky it all is, and my brain just cannot understand how we went from TAB to S4 without either something happening in the interim, or there being a bigger plan in play, ie. TJLC. I still firmly believe Johnlock is endgame, but I also accept the very likely possibility that the series is over – I have to remain a bit skeptical since I am a creature of logic and because of the “finale” feel of TFP (ie. no cliffhangers) and the post-season interviews with the actors makes me think that it’s likely that it’s not really coming back. But I remain hopeful… I have too much fun doing what I do, and I thoroughly enjoy making people feel better about the series again, as best as I can.

PHEW! Sorry, I ramble a lot; seeing as you are a new Johnlocker I assume you’re also new to my blog and therefore have just discovered how long winded my responses can get when I am passionate about a topic! That all said, thank YOU for allowing yourself to at least give us the benefit of the doubt and understand where we were coming from – it’s all most Johnlockers and TJLCers ever ask for, to be honest. We aren’t trying to convert people, we just want people to understand how narrative structure and tools work, such as mirrors and subtext. I mean, I’m tickled pink that you are all aboard with us, and I am happy that you just watched the episodes through new goggles. Here’s a fun game, Nonny: Now that you have Gay Goggles™, rewatch all the episodes again, and then ESPECIALLY DIE at TSo3 (my Johnlock Enlightenment Episode®) – you’ll be kicking yourself once you realize how close to the surface it really all was and – if indeed S4 is the final season – you’ll understand WHY we call it all queerbaiting. It’s not even subtle in S3 especially, but yeah, it fucking HURTS to see how much they love each other and how hard Mofftiss just keep making them stay apart. It’s REALLY apparent in S4, like it looks like they’re doing everything possible to keep John and Sherlock apart because Ben and Martin can’t fucking stop making Goo Goo eyes at each other, LOL.

Anyway, TL;DR: 1) Surface level, no, it doesn’t really connect except as the "what happened on the tarmac" filler episode, but subtextually it is the key to the series as a whole. 2) Yes, it was baiting of all kinds, hetero and queerbaiting… sadly a lot of The Others didn’t see how fake that whole scene was and how much it dragged Molly, and I feel sad for them, genuinely, because what kind of standards for relationships do they have if they thought that scene was real and genuine? Sherlock clearly didn’t want to do it because it wasn’t true, and he cares for Molly very much as a friend and didn't want to hurt her.

I hope I answered your questions alright! Cheers Nonny!

[bitspieces]

You know what?

Don’t blame other people for the things you believed in. Don’t say it’s TJLCers fault that you believed in Johnlock becoming canon. What they all did was believe in something and say why they did so. Some people got convinced and became part of a (wonderful) community, other were skeptics or plainly refused to believe. Nobody forced you to believe, they just presented you with arguments, to believe them or not was entirely your choice. You might have been influenced of course, but that’s what life is! People believe in things and you can’t blame them for having ideas and showing facts to support those, even if they convince you and then prove to have been wrong. That’d be like blaming the priest for believing in hell and heaven. What happened was people believing in something and explaining why they did so and then getting it wrong. Those people got hurt, and if they convinced you along the way and you got hurt too they’re probably sorry but it wasn’t their fault. You can’t blame someone for convincing you of something (even if it turns out wrong), unless they forced you. And you can’t blame people for expressing their ideas, because that’s what human beings do, that’s what human beings are. Don’t blame them, I know you feel bad but they do too, don’t make them feel even worse. We are supposed to stick together and help each other, not hurt each other even more.

[shinriki]

About Ship wars

Ok, well don't say I didn't warn you. A couple terms first: * Shipping - Derived from "relationship." Imagining two characters being romantic. This is usually accompanied by producing fanworks that depict those characters in a romantic situation. The relationship can be canonical or not, and the fan works can be everything from PG handholding to XXX vore. (If someone ships Kylo Ren/Rey it means they like to think of them in a romantic/sexual relationship.) The pairing itself is called a ship. * Shipwar - When shippers of two different ships attack each other over their ships. * Wank - common fandom term for drama * Antis - People who invest energy in attacking shippers of a particular ship, and employ arguments of morality of social justice to do so. * Fandom in this case refers to a particular subset of fandom that is traditionally female oriented, focuses a lot of male/male pairings, and often chooses fanfiction as its primary output. There are 2 big things to remember as you read this. 1) Some people are SUPER SERIOUS about fictional characters getting it on together, and 2) they will use any means at their disposal to stop people from doing it wrong. Imagine the ridiculousness of PS vs. Nintendo fanboys ratcheted up to 11 and you get an idea of how some fans approach shipping. Generic ship wars have been happening for a very long time. If you thought Harry Potter deserved to fall in love with Draco Malfoy and Ginny was the devil you were in good company and would gather together to get those dirty Ginny fans run out of the internet. Bad actors have always been around to exploit this, either to troll, or to worm their way into popular or rarefied circles. [The Ms. Scribe Story](http://web.archive.org/web/20140401225619/http://www.peeep.us/0418dc98) is a good example of what the old school shipwars could produce as far as wank was concerned. And in it you see the seed of what would become the modern "Anti" mentality, which is framing yourself as a victim of bigots to win sympathy points, all for the purpose of forwarding your preference of who bangs who. This portion of fandom has always been closely linked with genre fiction, since many people in the latter are engaged in the former. Genre fiction had and still has some issues concerning race, sexism, and homophobia, which is par for the course in almost all media everywhere. In 2009 those issues came into contact with some MASSIVE WANKERS, leading to what continues to be known as [Race Fail '09](https://fanlore.org/wiki/RaceFail_%2709). A lot of people don't know this, but the term Social Justice Warrior started to pick up usage around this time, to define some very particular, very caustic people who were destroying communities by claiming the moral high ground and attacking anyone who had an opinion even slightly different from them. A few of them are listed at that link. It quickly became apparent that pointing the finger and claiming -ism! was an efficient method of silencing certain people. Fandom, however, remained relatively insulated from this fail, which was spreading mostly in certain websites and in professional circles at the time. In '09 the internet was still relatively decentralized, and fandom was dispersed among various livejournals, archives, webforums, and so on. This limited the damage one movement could do, because just because Winterfox was shitting up one site didn't mean there was another that hadn't escaped unscathed. Enter web 2.0, and specifically, Tumblr. As the internet began to coalesce into platforms that aimed to monopolize user engagement, the separation between communities grew more and more difficult. Before, if you wanted to see Kylo Ren and General Hux having kinky tentacle sex you went to a community specifically for that and didn't have to worry about those people who had their own community for Rey and Finn. But now, all the shippers were converging into a single pot, a pot that had no filters, no privacy functions, and actively wanted everything to be shared as widely as possible. Another massive change that happened about this time is that the attitude towards kids in fandom had shifted. Back in the good old days a 13 year old understood that lying about their age was the price you paid to get your porn. The kids these days no longer have that mentality. They don't think twice about declaring themselves children on the internet. This will come into play later. Ok, as we near the present here's a quick review. * Ship wars are serious business to some people. * Screaming about social justice is a proven method of getting people to shut up. * There are some crazy people out there who will do anything to manipulate themselves into a position of infamy. * Everyone has slowly been squeezed into the same fandom spaces, adding pressure. * Children are fucking everywhere. When you combine all those elements what you get is this, some really loud ass motherfuckers who think that whoever can claim oppression and bigotry the loudest is the one who deserves to ship things the way they want, and there can be only one. There have been some reaaaaaallly bad fandoms for this, but since the OP is specifically about the age issue, I'm going to stick to that and not get into some of the ridiculous racism angles this has also taken. A lot of shows that fans like to ship for are cartoons, or shows that are ostensibly aimed towards younger audiences, but adults often are a big portion of the fandom. Ponybros are the more infamous version of this, but they are a bit of an outlier as they don't run in the same fandom circles as the old lj>tumblr fandom that is the source of this particular wank. Big targets of these conflicts include Welcome to Nightvale, Homestuck, Steven Universe, and the new Voltron series. When Voltron came out it got super popular among fandom. A lot of fic was written, and a lot of art was drawn. Since it's a show with a team cast, people were shipping a lot of pairings that shared a member, which is often where the worst of the ship wars happen. For example, two of the biggest ships were Shiro/Keith, and Keith/Lance. Now if you're a kid who ships Keith/Lance and haaaates Shiro/Keith, and you need to stop people from producing things involving Shiro/Keith, and you know accusing people of moral crimes is an effective tactic for this, it turns out your best option is to use pedophilia as a weapon. So people started insisting that Shiro had to be at least 20, and Keith had to be a minor, and shipping these two meant that you were a pedophile. No, it doesn't make any sense, but the people who do this are dead serious about this. They called themselves anti-Sheith (the pairing's "smushname") and went so far as harassing the showrunners for the exact ages of all the characters and tattling on professional artists for indicating a fondness for the ship to their employers. And if people push back and say you're being an idiot, you can throw that back in their face by saying that they are adults abusing minors while simultaneously endorsing abuse and pedophilia! 20 year olds started calling themselves children so they could position themselves in a place to abuse 22 year olds. Teens started declaring 30 the age in which all women should get off the internet and stop having hobbies. And all this was done because they didn't like a fictional pairing. This is by far not the only instance in which pedophilia was brought up as a massive reach to support attacking shippers of the wrong ship. One of the most absurd instances was spearheaded by a 30-something woman named graceebooks, a member of The Johnlock Conspiracy (another very deep rabbit hole) who actually harassed a rape survivor to tears, in public, because she preferred to have Sherlock topping John rather than John topping Sherlock, and even though these people share the same ship, and the SAME FICTIONAL CHARACTERS ARE INVOLVED, the TJLCers actually had the balls to make the claim that Sherlock topping John = pedophilia because John was being infantalized or something, IDEK. Both Voltron fandom and TJLC share this absurd notion that their "gay babies" will become a canon couple too. That's a whoooole other ball of crazy, but it explains why some people go insane over this. They genuinely believe that if they fight off the rival ships in fandom space the showrunners will reward them by making their faves kiss on the show. So that's the context. What then happened is that these idiotic arguments that were being used for ship wars were then adopted by young, stupid children who did not understand or care about the context, and saw only the arguments themselves, and took them as reasonable and good arguments, and believe in them completely. While most of the initial wankers were just cynically throwing shit at the wall and hoping something stuck to drive out rival ships, there are now a large number of people who believe in a moral code that came out of that. It's like watching a religion form sometimes. The end result is OP, who has bought into a convoluted logic process developed to legitimize the harassment of shippers, and is now trying to apply it to the actual real world, with predictable results. Soucrce: Redditor shares a detailed explanation of how Tumblr's fandom culture formed into the mess it is today, complete with examples. https://www.reddit.com/r/bestof/comments/6b5ke3/redditor_shares_a_detailed_explanation_of_how/