and lo, fandom delivered

[selenak]

Considering I finished The Reichenbach Fall with my immediate reaction neither being "aw, John" (I did feel sorry for him, but that wasn't the first thing I thought of), nor "aw, Sherlock" (though this season finally made me care for him, and thus I felt for him, too - but again, not the first consideration), but "ZOMG MOLLY HOOPER I LOVE YOU", I

Comments

[ponygirl2000]

Molly was so great! And yes, how awesome that they showed her greatness through established traits and not through some sudden reveal. As I've said, I think that talk in the lab with Molly was Sherlock's best moment, his most human, because he's thrown off balance not only by Molly's observation, but also that she's able make the emotional leap that's beyond him at this point to go from observation to understanding to compassion. When he says "what would I need from you" it's a callback to the same line in "Scandal" (I do think Moffat had quite a hand in this script, there are so many echoes of "Scandal" but not "Hounds"), but a genuine question for him - what does he need from other people? It's a mark of his growth that he's able to understand that what she's offering is important, thus the fumbling exchange about crisps, even if he doesn't know what to do with it yet.

[airie_fairy]

I mean, I do have a lot of thoughts and feelings on the episode, but mostly I kept yelling MOLLY all day after watching it, so yeah. And I really did love the way she was developed. Standing up for herself while still being vulnerable in the first episode, which turned her lovelorn attitude of the previous season into a more serious, layered matter and revealed that she wasn't just sweetly hopeless but that there is a backbone in there that has enabled her to put up with all the treatment she gets in return, and then in this episode, going further and showing just how aware she is of the treatment she's received and it's that that makes her sad more than any lack of reciprocated romantic feelings, and that that sadness and those feelings both come with wisdom. ON TOP OF WHICH is the promise, potentially, of an even more growing role next series, based on Sherlock letting her in and her involvement in his plan. I read "ten teasers" for the episode before watching it, and one of them was "there's more to Molly Hooper than meets the eye