A Study In Pink Sets The Stage For All Of Our Future Expectations. Nothing In This Show Is Done By Accident,

A Study in Pink sets the stage for all of our future expectations. Nothing in this show is done by accident, and the way it is all handled is masterful. Seeds are sewn in this first episode that will never cease to matter throughout the duration of the show.

Take the first meal Sherlock and John share together at Angelo’s, where Angelo insists that the pair must have a candle for their table:

It seems like sort of a “joke” in a way–something that could easily be brushed off if we didn’t all know that TJLC is real. And the candle thing continues to be a theme. Illumination itself is a subtle theme throughout the show, with all the color-coded lights and the fact that Sherlock dubs John his “conductor of light” in “The Hounds of Baskerville.”

I noticed something recently when watching what is surely one of the favorite scenes of all Johnlockers: the reunion of Sherlock and John at The Landmark in the episode “The Empty Hearse.” This is the night Sherlock returns, supposedly from the dead, and interrupts John’s (rather lackluster) attempt to propose to his girlfriend Mary in a rather half-hearted effort to, in his own words, “move on” from Sherlock.

Notice anything missing from John and Mary’s table?

There’s a lamp, sure, but no candle. Maybe that isn’t terribly unusual. But look at the other tables in the restaurant:

Most have candles.

It doesn’t stop there. When Sherlock catches his first (heart-stopping; you can clearly see that in his face, just as it has been pointed out that if you isolate certain audio tracks in this part here you can hear Sherlock’s thudding pulse) glimpse of John after two years away…

how does he see him?

There is a candle placed strategically between them, clearly visible from Sherlock’s vantage point.

This isn’t the only throwback to Angelo’s on this night. If more is needed, I’m including this little bonus below. The writers have done this *so many times,* where certain words and phrases come back again. It isn’t an accident and it isn’t lazy writing. We’re talking about the combined efforts of two very good writers here, and though John’s nerves on this night aren’t exactly hard to pick up on, we get this cherry strategically placed on top:

I SUGGEST YOU DON’T MARRY MARY. 

How could you do that? Hmm? ;)

I spend so much time in the tjlc tag that I feel the need to make myself a tin foil hat

Hi, this is a friendly reminder that in HLV Sherlock took off his glove in order to memorize the feeling of John's hand one last time before he dies bye.

couldn’t read this ask sorry what does it say

ITS RIGHT THERE!! Dead girl AGRA FUCK ME @slow-burn-bromance @shag-me-senseless-watson @shawleyleres

…..oh god.

I have a Theory.

What if TLD is going to be like TDD? What if we got a reverse Garridebs? What if Sherlock is the one who gets shot and confesses his love with his dying breath? What if he asks one last favour of John: to share their first and final kiss? What if?

Hi Nonny!

Well, I’ll be honest, I personally think Mofftiss have been putting off garridebs BECAUSE they want John to be hurt and Sherlock to “show his love”. John really hasn’t been seriously physically injured – most of the threats to his life have just been to warn him off from Sherlock or to destroy him mentally – and Mofftiss certainly would not pass up that opportunity to have their hero lose his MIND at the possibility that John may actually be dying for real. I just REALLY feel it in my gut, you know? They’ve PURPOSELY HUMANIZED SHERLOCK for FOUR SEASONS. The fall was not Sherlock’s “low point”. Realizing he is in love and will lose the man he loves WILL BE. They’re going to use the moment to DESTROY the “sad lonely gay” and “kill your gays” trope by making John survive and Sherlock ecstatically happy that John has come back for him, just as he had for John, in a beautiful parallel to HLV.

So I do think Sherlock is ill in TLD, and John’s actions to save him will be related to his immanent downfall that leads into TFP.

Plus, I believe that Mofftiss like to use a “law of parallels” on their show, and John is LONG overdue for his “death”.

As for the kiss, the CPR “kiss of life” is a trope that I am CERTAIN Mofftiss are going to use, but only after the “main” kiss.