Two damn years of waiting from the audience, two years of grief and recovery for Watson, and now here we are. At the big reunion. The expectations here were high, and they were met and then exceeded beyond anyone's dreams. The depth of the relationship at play, the pain embedded in it, were all on display in every single shot. First, there was Sherlock. He literally tried to walk up to John and say "Surprise!" He was super impressed with himself, and thought John would be too. As astute as Sherlock can be at understanding and observing human behavior, he can still be a complete idiot when it comes to human emotions. Then he actually, finally, manages to catch John's attention. And John practically has a heart attack (in original, he fainted like a woman. Literally: that was something shocked women "did" at the time). We can see acres of emotion bubbling up in John's face as he looks at Sherlock, as he tries to wrap his head around what is both impossible and what he's wished for more than anything. Meanwhile, Sherlock babbles on about disguises and how he may have misjudged how funny this whole plan was. Mark Gatiss said he could watch the reunion scene forever, and I appreciate that he tried to write it that way. Three restaurants, a cut lip, and a bloody nose later, the scene finally ended. John all too often had to take the sidekick role in their relationship, and bashing Sherlock's nose in probably did wonders for his self-esteem. The relationship was both re-established and changed forever.
Rebecca Kulik lives in Iowa, reads an obsence amount, watches way too much television, and occasionally studies for her BA in History. Come by her personal pop culture blog at tyrannyofthepetticoat.wordpress.com and her reading blog at journalofimaginarypeople.wordpress.com.
