thestudyintime:

‘What if I was to shoot you now? Right now?’
‘Then you could cherish the look of surprise on my face.’

petrichoriousparalian:

This scene hurts me in a special way.

Whenever I watch Reichenbach I get the distinct sense that for most of it, John is just absolutely shaking with rage but he does his best to keep a lid on it for Sherlock’s sake. He cannot stand the slander, the lies, but he knows he needs to keep his chin up for Sherlock because he’s all the man’s got. When he decks the chief of police, he’s getting his frustrations out as a means of representing Sherlock … 

But when John Watson has Mycroft Holmes behind closed doors, alone, it’s all for him. When Mycroft enters the room and sees John waiting for him, you can see the fear in his eyes. Maybe he’s underestimated the doctor. He knows he has no means of controlling the situation, and so all he can do is placate John as best he can.

I honestly would not put it past John Watson to kill someone if he were to find enough fault with them. He’s killed people before, we know he has a very defined and sound morality in terms of who it’s okay to kill … And John is ready to tear Mycroft limb from fucking limb, but he won’t. He won’t let emotion cloud his judgment that way. He won’t even raise his voice, because he knows that Mycroft can recognize how strong John is (physically as well as mentally), how capable he is, and that there is no way out of that room without confronting him. They are the two people who know Sherlock best — there is no facade to maintain here, there’s no contention. They are not discussing a legend, or a superhuman; they’re talking about a man who is in trouble. John talks to Mycroft as if he’s a child to whom he has to explain what he did wrong, because it allows him to create distance … for John to distance himself from the fact that he is possibly more concerned about Sherlock’s well-being than his own flesh and blood.

And Mycroft is devastated. He knows he fucked up, he knows that it all rests on him, but he takes the beating he knows he deserves because he doesn’t know how else to show that he loves Sherlock.  He knows John won’t believe his apology but he still says it anyways, because he figures that if he can try to show concern or emotion like a normal person it might hold more weight. He’s wrong, of course, but he is terrified for Sherlock and for himself. He needs John to know how he feels, but he doesn’t know how to articulate it in a way John will understand.

Both of these men are falling apart at the seams and the only thing holding them together, the only thing keeping John from beating Mycroft bloody, is their mutual love for Sherlock. They’re both being selfish and a little immature and they know it, but they don’t know any other way to react to what’s unfolding around them. Mycroft is unsure whether everything will work the way it’s supposed to, and John is terrified because he doesn’t know what’s going to happen. They both have blind spots that drag them down and make them a little more vulnerable than usual and neither of them is used to that. They’re powerful men, each in their own right. They don’t do tears, they don’t do confessions. 

And when everything is done with, Mycroft can let go of that tension because he knows the truth. John can’t, because he doesn’t. It breaks him down and he can’t even rely on Mycroft, because he’s exerted power over him and now their dynamic has changed.

So John is left entirely on his own.

(Source: two-harts)

deducingtheheartofthedetective:

“No, friends protect people!”

(via martincumberpatch)