My favourite part about the whole “Mary lied to John to keep what a bitch she must DIE” -thing is that Sherlock literally made John watch his own fake suicide, let him believe him dead for 2 years AND THEN when it became apparent that John would remain angry with him he lied to him about their imminent deaths in an exploding train to manipulate forgiveness out of him. How’s THAT for keeping someone from making an informed decision, yet somehow Sherlock still isn’t considered a natural villain.
Very true. There’s also the drugging in Baskervilles. Sherlock is an asshole, but we still root for him. But the moment Mary does something selfish like that, trying to protect the life she built with John after rejecting her past, people label her pure evil. She did a bad thing, yeah. She’s a complex protagonist, like him. That’s good.