Spoilers, of course.
You know, John looks as taken aback by the formality of that handshake as I was. Takes him a full eight seconds to reach for it; I’m pretty sure he’d have gone in for the bro-hug, at least. Seems Sherlock’s the one reestablishing the distance here.
Reblogging because I just noticed that in the second gif John does that thing he does when he’s upset or threatened, clenching and working the fingers of his right hand. Owww…
Reblogging because of Prof’s excellent spot there. But also, I wanted to pull out this bit from the end of one of my stupid-long essays and give it a home of its own:
John still believes—has always believed, has not ever discovered any occasion to disbelieve—that Sherlock will always win. He will always find the way through, even if that means faking his own death to do it. John knows that as surely as he knows Sherlock lies sometimes. And just as surely, he knows that Sherlock will always find his way back to John. He’s proven that, too—took his time, but he did.
And maybe, that explains some things about John’s composure at the goodbye. Maybe he has more faith than Sherlock does that this is not goodbye forever.
And if that’s the case, then may I just point out that John was right?