I can't believe I found this video after all this time! It feels like bumping into an old friend at the supermarket. I haven't finished the video yet, but had to say hello! Edit: Okay, I finished the video and I want to say that the literary analysis skills that I was introduced to and learnt from TJLC led me to take literature classes in high school and ultimately choose to major in English Literature for my BA. TJLC wan't just about the end-result and theorising how Sherlock would end, but it was the journey. And that journey was worth so much for so many people.

I disagree with first comment from @---ut6fk

Revisiting this because you explain these concepts so well, and the examples are indelible. <3 rebs, you continue to make us better

I've been binge watching your videos and I abolutely love you analysis. Thanks for your hard work. I really miss this show... TnT

Personally, I’d say that interpreting the term ‘romanticism’ as referring to something that’s happening between the two main characters, rather than the overall tinge of that story written by Watson, is absolutely wrong. There seems to be a constant desire here to prove a romantic relationship between the two which, in all the circumstances, is really right out there on the absolute fringe of possibilities. And just a reflection of modern sensibilities & trends, rather than being based on anything factual in the books themselves…

A very entertaining film by Billy Wilder for aficionados of Holmes, but I’d disagree on your interpretations: • Watson was NOT comfortable dancing with male dancers. • He was just totally carried away with the occasion • And his exuberance and/or amazement at being able to dance unabashed with so many attractive young women • As soon as he (eventually) looked round and saw he was now arm-in-arm with men instead, he immediately disengaged from them • He went back to those attractive young women to try to resume the celebrations, but was rebuffed • And when the situation was revealed to him, he needed a stiff drink to recover from the shock of it • His concern about his reputation would have been shared 100% by all other straight men in those times • And was not a result of any ‘guilty’ secret instead This whole scenario, of course, being as far as Wilder had dared to go with his (stated) ultimate aim, back in 1970. Holmes was indeed an asexual ‘thinking machine’ as made clear by the Conan Doyle books and, personally, I’m glad the film went that far, but no further…

Hi Rebekah, I just want you to know that I really appreciated this video and your work throughout the years. I'm by no means a Johnlock shipper, in fact I always identified with Molly and loved Sherlock through her, nevertheless my mystery-loving, overanalyzing ass always appreciated TJLC theories. The community was sometimes aggressive towards people like me, and that definitely spiralled into resentment on my part. I apologize. It wasn't hard for people like me to see how important the show was for young queer people, but some of us in some very low moments decided to look away. I still enjoy watching Sherlock and I have a lot of love for the writers, cast and crew, and I made great friends (most of whom are TJLCers) thanks to it. ❤

I'm currently rewatching this after all these years and it's making me fall in love with Sherlock all over again. Your work is amazing and I hope you are doing well! Thank you for helping us heal after series 4

One day before the mock exam that could practically affect my future life,yet here I am watching TJLC videos

"grumpy bisexual persion" Guys I think Mark means John

**hugs** Hope you are well:) Great video, BTW.

I may be wrong but I swear the French subtitles actually translated the term "meat dagger" to "penis" or smth

You’re absolutely brilliant. Didn’t know about TJLC until I stumbled upon your channel last week. I’ve always loved Sherlock Holmes stories and I loved this show and just thought it jumped the shark a bit. Rewatched it recently and I noticed the subtext more than when I was young and felt quite disappointed and confused with the last series. Did some research and opened the giant can that is TJLC. It’s been extremely interesting to learn about and I think you have approached this analysis in an incredibly mature and loving way. I didn’t experience the emotional weight of what happened but I’ve got to say that as an outsider I can understand the massive appeal that analyzing this show has. It is really fun to run with all the symbols and they made it extremely easy to do that. Whatever they intended, the ideas that you came up with in this retrospective are so interesting and imaginative that it has entertained my bored adhd brain to no end. Now I’m writing fan fiction for the first time and really enjoying diving into this story. I think it’s really cool that you reframed it all into something that should be fun and unifying. You have a real gift in making stories feel larger than life and I can see you being a very successful and adored professor or writer. Thank you for sharing your story so vulnerably and I am really happy you found a way to continue doing what you love.

Ok, not to sound weird or anything but did you do a video talking about "the hat" at some point? I feel like I had seen it but I can't remember which video it was. If you could let me know which video it was, that would be great. Thanks and love the videos.

*insert very loud sigh...* Time to watch all these episodes in 2024 while scrolling through comments from 5-8+ years ago...

26:03 I just realized that our first look at Mary is when she’s wearing a blue scarf, a long coat, and dark “hair” (hat). Lmaooo they’re not subtle. 😭

Hello, I don't know if you still read the comments but I wanted to tell you that your tjlc videos made the series even more beloved to me; I watched the entire series and after feeling that John Sherlocks were made for each other from the first episode, I found your videos and you convinced me.

I know I'm incredibly late but in one of the episodes John Watson mentions or notices a book in his and Sherlock's flat. I can't remember what season this small bit is from and if it was before or after he finds Mary. (I believe it was before...) Watson doesn't mention the title of the book itself but says that it was written by Oscar Wilde and that he highly enjoyed reading it. Thinking back I'm fairly certain it was either episode 2 of season one, as they're sorting through the books to decipher the code or some time during season 2 before The Reichenbach Fall. This one line moment almost fits in as foreshadowing to Sherlock's "death" and the connection Watson and Sherlock had.

12:02 personal timestamp

The GregxMolly writes itself like us figuring out things too early. Like, you're not even aware of how right you were... Not nearly aware enough

I recently fell in love with the Sherlock Holmes stories as a whole and discovered a few of these videos from 8 Years ago. Only after a few days of watching them and going to the channel page did I realize that TJLC and this channel is dedicated specifically to Sherlock and not queer representation as a whole. I am amazed at the dedication and in love with the analysis! Thank you for appearing on my home feed🙏

Why did this show up in my recommends.

i thought irene being attracted to sherlock but still being lesbian was supposed to parallel john being attracted to him while being straight. your interpretation actually makes a lot more sense, especially with the time frame.

guys... what if you stuck the principal actors from sherlock in a room, made them watch these, and got their reactions/interrogated them about these?

20:50 the scene where John is about to propose to Mary and Sherlock appears to meet again, the song that plays where Yolanda is, I listened to it in full is a love song and not only" did he look for you and I didn't find you" that we heard in the scene but continues and says "your eyes looked at me your lips kissed me the light of your gaze the fire of your lips arrowed my chest and I fell in love with you

Your work was not a mistake at all. Just because it didn’t explicitly happen in the series as you predicted doesn’t mean you were wrong. I discovered your channel today and really enjoyed your reading of the show even knowing the outcome and, actually, I think you were right on most things.

Hey! Late to the video (sorry)! I'm so, so glad to hear about everything you're doing and that it seems to be going well! I watched your lecture on the inversion of hope and sin recently and absolutely loved it! It was brilliant! A couple of years ago, we had a brief chat on tumblr and I told you about how much your videos and TJLC had impacted me, and that I was in college studying English Literature (I'm brazillian), and I just wanted to tell you (because I thought you'd maybe enjoy knowing) that I'm writing my thesis on the queer interpretation of Holmes and how I believe BBC Sherlock endeavored to engage with it. So thank you. I don't think I would had ever had the strenght to start a conversation with the professor whom I wanted to be my advisor if you hadn't helped me realize that none of us were crazy after all. Thank you. I hope you know about the positive impact you've had. On my life, at least. So thank you. I'm going to go read your fic, like, right now. So excited!

Ok wow why did this end up in my recommended 8 years later

Just finished your series! It's great you've re-connected with Sherlock. Personally I couldn't disagree more with all your takes, sadly, TJLC (among others) taught me that things you legitimately enjoy can be terribly written by unpleasant people. It's true the criticism Moftiss received was harsh because the anonymity of the internet made it easy for the fandom to lash out, but I think that it was also easy for Moftiss to write the stories they did to a camera rather than to the face of a desperate queer kid. I don't love that people like Moffat and Gatiss keep getting blank checks and free reign - could that money not go to new voices and new stories? I think that a lot of the repeating themes you talk about are repetitive because the writers are too enamored with their own ideas and don't have the skill or creativity to try anything new very often. Life and media have taught me to never assume malice or benevolence where ignorance will do. I don't think Moftiss intended to hurt, because I don't think they even thought about their audience much except to be annoyed they were too intense. At best it was a very misguided attempt at making sherlock gay but keeping sherlock and john best friends in that weird way that men insist that men being best friends is progressive, and at worst it really was just gay jokes and gay baiting because they'd seen the media they enjoyed did it and mimicked it. That said, I am genuinely happy that the TJLC community is in better shape than it once was. The one thing I do agree with is that TJLCers were right to read into things - it was super gay and viewers trying to solve a mystery in the show wasn't absurd. I just wish the show had been good enough to live up to our expectations.

Small observation: I like my pet theory of John shaving and the amount of emphasis on that as being a play on getting rid of his “beard”.

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You introduced me to TJLC all those years ago! I never got all that invested so I was just disappointment when things went south (and concerned for the wellbeing of the TJLC creators, so glad to see you're okay these days). It's hard to tell if TJLC made my opinion of Sherlock worse than it would have been. It's great you're coming to terms with it and I can see you have a lot more videos on your channel to catch up with, but thus far I don't think I'm going to be swayed into having a good opinion on Sherlock ever again. Certainly I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive Steven Moffat for his television crimes. I'm glad TJLC encouraged me to look into the sherlock holmes books and other media, and frankly I'm glad that in the end it made me move on from BBC Sherlock.

Watched the entire retrospective and I feel confident in revisiting this show now. I also thought I had a good grasp of media literacy but it pales in comparison to yours lol very intelligent and succinct, well done!

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I am quite young, and somehow join fandoms that were in their prime when I was around 4-5. BBC Sherlock was one of them, in fact, it began before I was born (I am 13 currently). So I was never in TJLC because it never existed while I was in the fandom (I say was, I am). Because I am a queer teen (I’m aroace), I think I would have been a part of it if I had been around when it was. But I’m glad I joined late, because if series 5 happens, it will soon, and if the fandom restarts, I can join it with an open mind

I genuinely think something was changed at the last moment because those interviews did not at all correlate to the episode Either that or there’s going to be a series 5…

Maybe the extended hiatus is just another instance of making audiences wait Idk I’m desperate for Series 5

I was never able to watch S4 again after it first aired. And after just watching your “we told you, but did you listen” video I realised how deeply I am still hurt. I think the show they made ripped a part of my heart out that might never heal. But I just read a comment here that said “the show they didn’t make was a masterpiece!” and that is and will forever be true! I am so deeply sorry you felt ashamed after S4 for your amazing work. To me you were and still are one of the best and most wonderful “things” around the show. Mofftiss didn’t deserve the dedication and true love you and the whole Johnlock fandoms showed their show. But John & Sherlock do.

This is why there is so little emotional interactions between straight men today. Because we all know that men cant be friends right they haaaave to be gay if they show a little sentiment or connection. You are part of the problem idiots.

I... Don't think sherlock is for kids 😂

just rewatched the pilot and in comparison to asip john’s feelings over sherlock are waaaay too obvious. asip john is more reserved and depressed which is caused by his trauma 😢

What does the acronym TJLC mean?

it’s 2024 and I still believe there is literally no explanation for this show outside of tjlc (and s4 included if you consider garkgatiss’s blog theory)

Another connection!! At 20:41 he says the violin is a Stradivarius and then the woman talks about having a relationship. Euros in the BBC version offers Sherlock a Stradivarius and then asks if he’s has any relations. I always thought that was an odd thing to ask about, but it’s probably a reference to the other scene!