How do you feel about Mofftiss turning Sherlock into a Bond-style “hero”? We know he’s willing to injure/maim/kill people when on assignment for Mycroft (or himself, eg. the end of ASiB, HLV) and now he’s pretty much owned by the government. Idk, Moffat especially just seems so thrilled by the idea of his show being full of psychopathic “good guys” that it makes me worry we’ll be seeing even more of this in future.

Hahaha, oh man, that’s an excellent question that I have myself pondered.  I have NO IDEA what to make of this whole sequence of events.

I don’t know whether we’re supposed to think Sherlock shooting CAM was heroic.

I don’t know whether Sherlock will continue to work for MI6 next season or if that’s getting dropped as a short-term excuse for keeping him from going to prison.

It bothers me less with Sherlock than with other characters, really.  He is what he has always told people he was (well, to an extent; he really isn’t a psychopath, but he is ruthless, coldly logical, and not what you’d call a ‘hero’ if you were talking to a ten year old kid).  It’s consistent characterization.  We don’t even know that this is the first time he’s ever taken a human life.  He almost certainly has been forced to in self-defense, considering that he deals with people do things like attack him with swords.  And there was that time he brutally assaulted that CIA agent, so it isn’t news that it’s possible to piss him off to the point of effectively torturing somebody (or that John can know he’s going to do it and let him go right on ahead).

I’m a little disturbed by the concept of a human life being taken as a kind of tit-for-tat.  Like, if he killed CAM because he thought he needed to?  Fine.  That’s how blackmailers work.  Or because he really kind of WANTED to, deep in his heart?  Okay, that’s him and probably 50 other people in London alone.  But if he killed CAM primarily because the show wanted to emphasize that he’s just as badass as John and Mary?  That’s creepy, and also pretty childish.  But I mean, how can we tell?

So, uh.  Yeah, I’m just doing a “wait and see” on this one.

The prevelance of psychopaths is misleading, though.  On that front, Mary is an interesting addition because her actual cold, murderous ruthlessness sheds a new light on the other characters.  In comparison to her, even if they’re willing to do some pretty terrible things, they are clearly less hardened than she is.  Even Sherlock.  Though maybe not Mycroft.  He’s pretty damn ruthless, even though he does love his brother.