The Case of the Missing Blue Shirt and Why Janine is a stand in for John in the reunion Kiss
I know my meta series in three parts is over but a small deduction meta on why I think Janine is a make do for Sherlock in the kissing scene or the absent reunion KISS. BC’s brilliant gesture touch on his lips in the TEH started this whole meta series. But what matured it and made it span over three parts is the constant emphasis on the white shirt he wore for John in TEH. The transition to the HLV through this white shirt is not a coincidence, the Moftisson universe is rarely so lazy, if not never.
What planted the idea of Janine as a stand in, make do, in the kiss is John’s missing blue shirt that we saw in the studio promo photos but never once on the show. In the photos BC wears his white seduction shirt and MF a light blue one. I watched closely, and if I am not mistaken, John is never seen wearing it on the show. Why dress him in it if it is not relevant to the show? All his fellow actors BC, AB wear their character costumes. MF wears all the other costumes in the photos but not the blue shirt.
Do you know who wears a light blue shirt on Sherlock? Janine. She comes from Sherlock’s bed in it and goes to take bath with him in it. It is the ultimate sex shirt but I strongly believe that it is MF’s shirt from the promos. The script constantly gets our attention to the shirts. “What do you think of this shirt?”, folded shirts of flight risk John etc.
Moffat and Gatiss planted the clues of the invisible reunion kiss in the white and the blue shirts. That is why Janine parades in it for a long time. For me it is the strongest evidence that Sherlock imagined John in his brief kiss with Janine.
For those who don’t know the meta series you can see them here.