The adults who encouraged this need to take some responsibility right now. I donât doubt it when there are fans who say theyâre feel on the brink of harming themselves, because Iâve been watching TJLC build them up for this for literally years.
When Moffat and Gatiss said in interviews they would not write a Johnlock ending, I saw TJLC kids having their âdoubtsâ, and I thought, good, best they have them before the show airs and it really knocks them for six. But then I saw twenty-somethings and thirty-somethings telling them never to doubt, that they could absolutely afford to invest all hope in this because there was no way it wasnât happening.
And these same older fans created an environment where anyone who couldnât see the inevitable Johnlock ending ahead was at best foolish, at worst actively homophobic. There was no middle ground - there was only âyouâre right or youâre wrong, and youâre going to feel so stupid when John and Sherlock kiss and you were wrong the whole time.â
And whilst claiming this ethical high ground, these adults claimed that all academia was behind this ONE reading of this ONE show. For a kid who hasnât engaged in critical analysis and academia, this becomes pretty convincing when youâve heard it enough.
These adults knew they were dealing with queer kids, many of whom had mental illnesses, and they not only watched these kids lay all their hopes and happiness on the uncertain future of a TV show, but actively encouraged it because of their own inability to admit they might possibly be wrong.
But now they want to blame the resulting carnage on the writers? The writers who have always, always, always said they were never going to write Johnlock? Anyone remember this interview?
â[âŠ] There is no hidden or exposed agenda. Weâre not trying to fuck with peopleâs heads. Not trying to insult anybody or make any kind of issue out of it, thereâs nothing there. Itâs just our show and thatâs what these characters are like. If people want to do that on websites absolutely fine. But thereâs nothing there.â (x) Mark Gatiss, 2016
I remember when this interview came out, because it caused a hell of a lot of backlash. And I remember exactly the blogs that led the way in insisting that Moffat and Gatiss were âlying liars who lieâ and nothing they ever said could possibly be true and everyone should continue in their blind doubt. This wouldâve been an excellent opportunity for a lot of TJLCers to start rationing their hopes for a Johnlock ending, but the opportunity wasnât taken because for a group of grown women, it was more important that they were fucking right.
Even when The Six Thatchers came out, we started seeing theories that it wasnât even a real episode - hell, weâre getting those theories NOW about The Final Problem. Theyâre not reasonable, and theyâre doing damage to people who cannot afford to invest anymore hope in this. If you are an influential TJLC blogger who has advocated blind belief in this theory, you now owe it to your followers to get a grip.
Iâve sympathy for those who are feeling hurt and disappointed right now, and I have endless sympathy for the desire to see LGBT+ representation on television, but BBC Sherlock was clearly not the basket for your eggs. Yet TJLC has been shrouded in cult-like denial for years and this was always going to be the result.
I donât think it is productive to try and lay the blame at anyoneâs feet in particular, but to acknowledge WHY these kids are feeling the way they are, and the fact that it is NOT because two writers, who none of you know personally, and who have always denied they would write the ending you thought they would, eventually didnât write the ending you thought they would.
