Random Thoughts of a Muddled Mind

September 4, 2014

Why John’s reconciliation with Mary was not a lie
I’ve seen a lot of meta about the infamous “Is Mrs Watson good enough for you?” scene. A lot of people seem to think John has faked his forgiveness and is in fact lying to Mary; and that this is part of a large long-term plan to bring her down quietly behind her back.
There’s certainly some ambiguity in that scene: how Mary doesn’t outright ask for forgiveness; how John still looks angry and sullen; how he says “these are prepared words”.
However, I’ve always thought that scene was more about showing how difficult it is for John to speak out about his feelings. That’s why he explains that his words were “prepared”: he’s not usually able to come up with a confident, nicely worded speech like he did.
However, it’s these two scenes that clinch it for me:
“Did you just drug my pregnant wife?”
He doesn’t call her Mary. He calls her his pregnant wife. Despite the seperation, and despite the awkward forgiveness scene, John still considers Mary to be his wife and mother of his unborn child. Furthermore, he’s angry that Sherlock has apparently done something to her to make her faint.
“Do you want your wife to be safe?”
“Yeah of course I do.”
This time it’s Sherlock referring to Mary as John’s wife. Why would he keep calling her that if he secretly planned on taking her down?
Also John’s response. “Of course I do.” John has said he’s still pissed off at Mary. He’s still hurt and betrayed. But does he want her to be safe? Of course. He says it instantly. Not even a second thought about it.
If Sherlock and John really had been scheming to remove Mary all this time, why would they keep up the pretence once she’s drugged and unconscious? Why would both of them keep calling her John’s wife? Why would John so obviously still care about her?
You can speculate a million things about this episode. And who the hell knows about Sherlock and Mycroft who are capable of extreme subterfuge and deception. But I think it’s clear that the showmakers and script writers intended for John and Mary to have honestly reconciled. We can take it at face value. John has been away from home, sulking, but the forgiveness scene at Christmas is intended to be interpreted as what it is: an awkward, but honest, forgiveness scene.