The episode opens with Soo Lin Yao, who over the course of the episode will be established as a stand-in for Sherlock. Andy, accordingly, is a stand-in for John, as are the teapots. I’ll point out the connections as we go, but for now: we see Soo Lin pouring tea with a distinctive water sound, and at the end of the episode we will see Sherlock pour tea from a similarly colored set from a similar height with a similar sound. It is notably not the white teapot we see Sherlock and Mrs. Hudson use in other episodes, and one of the few times we ever see Sherlock prepare tea.The first time we see her, Soo Lin, like Sherlock, is obsessed with her work — in her case, attending to teapots. If we view this only on the literal level, it seems odd that so much time is spent lingering on the teapots, because it’s kind of boring. The camera, however, seems to think they’re incredibly important. Why? Because this is all subtext. The teapots, like John, seem ordinary, but their beauty becomes more obvious the more Soo Lin makes use of them. That’s exactly the path Sherlock will begin to walk of his romantic arc as he realizes John’s usefulness to his work. And just like Soo Lin and her teapots, Sherlock will become increasingly protective of and obsessed with John, even risking his life to attend to him. This also foreshadows how the work and John become inseparable in Sherlock’s mind as the show progresses, with John finally overtaking the work in series three.But so far, that could be a platonic arc too. Here comes Andy, John’s stand-in and someone who is romantically interested in Soo Lin — already a hint — so let’s see what happens.Soo Lin, like Sherlock, is aloof to Andy and his advances. Andy remarks upon Soo Lin’s using antiquities to make tea, and in her response, we get our first blatant hint that Sherlock’s romantic arc is going to be physical: “Some things aren’t supposed to sit behind glass. They’re made to be touched — to be handled.” It’s noteworthy that the script writer here is Thompson: Thompson always includes some kind of romanticized touch between John and Sherlock, and we’ll get our first one later in the episode.Soo Lin goes on to describe the teapots (John): “These pots need attention. The clay is cracking.” Indeed, John is going to be irritated by Sherlock’s lack of attention to him this episode. Andy doesn’t see how making tea will help, and Soo Lin gives us the theme of The Blind Banker: “Sometimes you have to look hard at something to see its value. See? This one shines a little brighter.” And that’s exactly what Sherlock will come to realize about John over the course of the episode: John seems like an ordinary person, but he shines brighter than everyone else. (We’ll see even more of the idea that John is literally physically beautiful in Sherlock’s eyes in series three.)Returning to the Andy-as-John angle, Soo Lin (Sherlock) is ignoring him in favor of her solitary work. Andy doesn’t know what to say in response to the teapots, so he tries being direct and asking her out. What does Soo Lin (Sherlock) say? “You wouldn’t like me all that much.” And we see this idea reinforced in pretty much every episode of the show: Sherlock does not consider himself likable. At the start of A Scandal in Belgravia, Sherlock has never considered that someone could be in love with him. In The Sign of Three, Sherlock outright says in his best man speech that he doesn’t understand how anyone could want to hang out with someone as awful as he is. Sherlock hardly thinks friendships are possible for him, let alone romantic relationships.Andy (John) says, “Couldn’t I maybe decide that for myself?” And Soo Lin (Sherlock) says, “I can’t. I’m sorry.” This mirrors John and Sherlock’s romantic arc as the show goes on: John is the one person who can actually tolerate Sherlock and values him despite his flaws, but Sherlock shuts him down, refusing to acknowledge that’s possible. Sherlock will never internalize that John accepts him as he is until his best man’s speech in The Sign of Three.And in yet another parallel, we see that Soo Lin (Sherlock) could really use someone’s help this episode, but she keeps refusing it and trying to go it alone.Accordingly, the next scene we get is a back and forth of John and Sherlock trying to live separate lives: John is having a row with a chip and pin machine — regular life irritates him — and Sherlock is fighting an Arab stereotype. That diamond case? Turned out to be interesting after all. Sherlock was wrong, reinforcing the pattern of Sherlock underestimating things, just as he’ll underestimate John. ~The Loudest Subtext In Television
