This scene is great for examining the emotional tangle that unites the characters Irene, Sherlock, and John. John is Sherlock's best friend, the person who mediates between Sherlock and reality. And he's the person closest to him, the only person who can really gauge what Sherlock's emotional state is like. Until Irene. Irene is an interloper in John and Sherlock's relationship. She makes Sherlock react in ways John didn't think possible. She texts with Sherlock and John has no idea what it's about. She's almost the "other woman," and she's even more scary because she has a perfect understanding of their relationship. John and Sherlock aren't a couple, obviously, because John doesn't like men and Sherlock doesn't like people. But they also basically ARE a couple. They live together, share friends, share life events, and their primary relationship in the world is with one another. Irene messes with the stable dynamic we saw John and Sherlock develop early on in the episode. And she's also about the only person besides John who can get a reaction out of Sherlock. So when they meet, one on one, there's this weird web of entanglements all culminating in their decision to leave Sherlock on his own to deal with his emotions about Irene.
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.
