Here’s my review along with all my feelings about this episode, especially Sherlock’s relationship with John, John’s confused feelings towards him, and also his relationship with Irene in a non-romantic way. 

Making it clear from the beginning, I read the original version, “A Scandal in Bohemia”, a long time before I watched this episode. I’m going to separate this in topics, because it feels more right to do so, I also feel more organized this way.

• Irene Adler and the Sherlock/Irene relationship as not romantic

Her character was portrayed in a very unique way, I thought the acting was brilliant. She was convincing, strong, and flawless. Highlighting on the Sherlock/Irene parallels, I found them very interesting and well played; they meant to show that Irene was the same level as Sherlock, prepared with the same intellectualism to not be looked down upon. She was shown in the episode as trying to seduce Sherlock and showing herself as seduced by him, even though most of it was an act, in the end she fell for him a little, while he didn’t fall for her. The whole point of Irene’s character is not to show her as a love-interest for Sherlock, because that’s not what exactly her character is, and disagreeing with what most people thought, I think that it was shown in the episode in an amazing way. 

“To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman. I have seldom heard him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a lover he would have placed himself in a false position.” - A Scandal in Bohemia

In the book, she fled with her husband, and Holmes kept to himself the “photograph”, this was represented in the episode as the cellphone, which Sherlock kept as a token. It’s not that he is in love with her, their relationship is exactly like described in the book, it’s not about love, it’s about his admiration for her and the whole challenge she represented. Sherlock, both in the book and in the series, sees in her a hypothetical partner, an “if” situation, that concludes and finishes off to the fact that he had no romantic feelings towards her. It was shown the entire episode how he was not interested in her romantically, by how he refused her “dinner” invitations all the time, by the way he touched her pulse and observed her pupils, movements that were extremely cold and calculated. Just like John said, Sherlock always replies to everything. His reply to her feelings were that. 

•  Sherlock/John and Sexuality

This episode made my fangirl heart scream, but I’ll try to be realistic here. The whole Sherlock/John dynamic was mostly one-sided, except when we see Sherlock panicking when John was threatened, or the little moments they had laughing together. We get to see Sherlock interested in Irene, a mystery he had to crack, and John spending the whole episode clearly bothered by it. I’m kind of speechless right here, because there were so much references of them as a couple, and that’s so strange when they’re not actually canon. It feels like as if the writers are just playing with us or giving us what we want. 

As said before, John spent the entire episode bothered with Irene flirting with Sherlock and their relationship through the story, and it made me surprised at how obvious they made it. I mean, for God’s sake, he counted how many messages she sent to Sherlock.

This episode highlighted developments for each character. For Sherlock, it was the softness and loving he developed, when he cared for Mrs. Hudson and Molly. For John, it was revealing how important Sherlock actually was for him, about how he turned Sherlock into his top priority. 

Now, this is one of the points I want to talk about. About how many gay references that were in this episode, that’s just unbelievable. John was dumped by his girlfriend because she claimed that he was Sherlock’s boyfriend, not hers. He asked Mrs Hudson about Sherlock ever having a relationship, and touching the fact that Sherlock might be gay. But saying this and his own girlfriend dumping him for his unusual relationship with a man wasn’t enough. It was also made clear that Irene Adler was in fact gay by the start of the episode, when we see her with the whip and the woman in her bed. Now, this turns interesting when John goes to talk to her, mistaking her with Mycroft. He is irritated by the fact that she was alive, that she flirted with Sherlock and that she was playing with his best friend’s feelings, whatever they were.

The scenario, however, plays itself differently. One would expect it to be revealing how badly she was “breaking Sherlock’s heart”, but the conversation did not go that way. John was worried about Sherlock’s feelings, yes, because he didn’t know how or what Sherlock felt. She, on the other hand, was pretty upfront in her opinions. The conversation was more-like two rivals in love talking than a best friend convincing the other’s girlfriend. 

John: You… flirted with Sherlock Holmes?
Irene: At him. He never replies.
John: Sherlock always replies. To… Everything. (…) He’d outlive god trying to have the last word. 
Irene: Does that make me special?
John: I don’t know, maybe. 
Irene: Are you jealous?
John: We are not a couple.
Irene: Yes you are.
(…)
John: Who… Who the hell knows about Sherlock Holmes, but, for the record, if any one out there still cares, I’m not actually gay. 
Irene: Well… I am. Look at us both. 

Only rewatching I grasped the meaning of this scene - the first time I watched, I didn’t understand her last line after “I am” -. By the end of the episode, we realize that Irene did had romantic feelings towards Sherlock, and this scene was a reflection of that revelation. Even though her character was gay, she had feelings for Sherlock. And that was what she was trying to say in this scene: she could have romantic feelings towards a man even though she liked women. She was trying saying to John that he felt the same way too.

I tried really hard to try and see it differently, but all that kept spamming in my head was that John was becoming aware of Sherlock and their relationship. That this episode wanted to show how John reacted to it. And John was not convincing it all, they literally threw on our faces John’s feelings, whatever they are, romantic or not, about how important Sherlock is to him. It’s like a post I saw today on tumblr: “If a consulting detective, the British Government, Scotland Yard, a gay dominatrix, and the greatest criminal mind think you’re gay… Then you’re probably gay.”(x) With the joking aside, this was just to show how much they’re exposing the Sherlock/John relationship in a homosexual way, because this much reference isn’t normal in a TV series that has had only four episodes. 

Irene: Somebody loves you. If I had to punch you in the face I’d avoid your nose and teeth, too.
John: Could you put something on, please? Anything at all. A napkin.
Irene: Why? Are you feeling exposed?

Janette: You are a great boyfriend.
John: Okay, that’s good. I always thought I was great…
Janette: And Sherlock Holmes is a very lucky man.

John: Why did your phone make that noise?
Sherlock: What noise?
John: That noise. The one it just made.
Sherlock: It means I got a text. 
John: Hm. Your text doesn’t usually make that noise. 
(…)
John: So I’m wondering who could’ve got hold of your phone, because it would’ve been in your coat, wouldn’t it?
Sherlock: I’ll leave you to your deductions.
John: …I’m not stupid, you know.  

John: Listen, has he ever had any kind of… Girlfriend, boyfriend…?

I’m not saying that they’re canon now, that it’s confirmed and that it’ll happen. But I really wish they were. I really wish that this episode was meant to be the start of John’s struggle with his feelings, that after this we see Sherlock in a similar situation as John, you know, debating with himself of how much John means to him. I can’t exactly picture Sherlock/John happening, but I think as a fangirl, I’d like to see strong hints of it until the end. I’d like to see that even if they go different ways - like if they decide to put Mary in the story, which I really hope they don’t -, that their relationship with each other is way more important than any other relationship in the show

These are my thoughts about this episode, because I can’t get this out of my head without sharing it to the rest of the world that might also think the same.
I could talk more about it, about how Mycroft developed and his relationship with Sherlock, but these are the only things I actually want to say about this episode. Thank you for reading this far. 

(Source: ivydurden)