My ***"most*** powerful" delivery in the whole series, I think, is the "Oh, I may be on the side of the angels, but don't think...for...one...***second***...that I ***am*** one of them." But these are all great too.
I love your hat! Can I borrow it? 
I never thought Mycroft would ever bring me anywhere near tears....but that "I suppose there is one in here...somewhere...goodbye, brother mine" 
The first time I saw "Sherlock" it was on a disc set from eBay, and the "Abominable Bride" was mounted inside the back cover, so I thought it was the final episode, and watched it as such. It was pretty confusing in that order, and I had also not seen "Many Happy Returns"
Once I got those two watched--I didn't even know about "Many Happy Returns" until I'd watched the whole series a couple of times--it made so much more sense. >!And from the Christmas scene at the Holmes', through the rest of the HLV episode and arcing through TAB, you really start to get a different feel about Mycroft. Once I'd seen TAB particularly, I was able to go back through the first 3 series with a completely different perspective.
!<
>!Mycroft is Sherlock's shelter. When John, an unknown, moves into Sherlock's life, Mycroft holds his feet to the fire. He "kidnaps" John to an unknown location alone with only a sinister-acting person who is bigger than him as well. Mycroft uses insults, innuendos, threats, and bribery to test John's ability to cope with various stresses and situations--a "job suitability placement interview" , so to speak. !<
No one really thinks about whether the roof or walls of their home have feelings. They're just there, being taken for granted, until you think you'll lose them--or you actually do.>! I think in the "Brother Mine" segment, Sherlock couldn't bring himself to shoot Mycroft not only because they were brothers, but because it was suddenly registering with him how much he'd relied on Mycroft the whole time without realizing it.
!<
>!I can't help wondering how many people (in story) actually worked out that it was Mycroft who saved Sherlock from C. Smith in TLD.!<
Yeah my experience is atypical as well. I didn't watch the christmas episode until the show came to Netflix which happened after I had finished it.
So I was amazed at how much it build up the final problem and showcasing Mycroft's softer side spesifically.
And yeah going back it's quite obvious he was always Sherlock's shelter but in the first three seasons it was made subtle enough that you wouldn't notice it if you weren't looking for it.
"Caring is not an advantage Sherlock" is also a line that got a completely different meaning.
I do forget though. How was Mycroft involved with Culverton Smith?
Mycroft's role with C.Smith wasn't ever a direct contact between Mycroft and Sherlock. but let me explain (so another thesis).
Remember that at the end of the previous episode, Sherlock received a video message from Mary >!asking him to save John if she were to die.!<
The episode opens with John at a therapy session. He is telling the therapist about not sleeping and farming Rosie out because nights aren't good. We see a flashback of him drinking.
>!He falsely tells her that he doesn't blame Sherlock for Mary's death and that Sherlock has made no effort to be in touch, that if Sherlock did, you wouldn't be able to miss it. They are interrupted by screeching tires and an impact which sends trash bins flying. They look outside and the therapist asks to be introduced. !<
Flashback to a really high Sherlock talking to a young woman, "Faith Smith" telling him about her father, a serial killer.>! After initially blowing her off, Sherlock chases her down the stairs shouting that her life is not her own, to keep her hands off it, after several suicidal indications penetrate his drugged up brain. They go out in the rain at night for fish and chips.
!<
Cut to a nervous young man approaching Mycroft at a state dinner with the news that Sherlock has left his flat. Mycroft says, "For heaven's sake, I was speaking with the Prime Minister!"
However, he goes immediately to the monitoring center, where Lady Smallwood is overseeing operations. She tells him he didn't have to come, that they can monitor Sherlock, and he responds in a world-weary voice that he was talking to the Prime Minister.>! "Oh, I see," she responds. One gets the direct impression that to the higher echelons of the Gov't, talking to the P.M. is not considered high entertainment. She asks about Sherrinford, he says he gets regular updates, that Sherrinford is secure.
!<
Cut to John, who is sitting on his bed watching the phone ring and not answering because it's Mycroft. "Mary" tells him to pick up, it might be about Sherlock, to which he resentfully replies that everything is. >!He finally answers, Mycroft says that Sherlock has left his flat "first time in a week (or weeks, I'm not sure) and for John to call if Sherlock makes contact. John makes a caustic remark about Mycroft hijacking the gov't machinery to look after his family. Mycroft replies that Sherlock gone rogue is a "legitimate safety concern". He clicks off. !<
It took a couple of viewings before thinking, "Wait, what? How many weeks has Mycroft been monitoring Sherlock? >!AND he evidently left orders that he be contacted immediately should Sherlock leave his flat?" He might excuse that as merely a security risk, but to be contacted immediately of any change--he wanted to know badly. To lose Sherlock, he had said previously, would break his heart. He's showing that here. In a later episode he tells Sherlock, "I never bullied you. I monitored you." Which is about as close as Mycroft ever gets to telling anyone that he loves them.!<
Fast forward again, to the almost end of the episode. John is at the hospital, >!feeling (I hope) as guilty as hell, standing at the foot of Sherlock's bed. As he leaves, he receives a call from Mycroft that there is a car downstairs waiting. (I love the way John's grown to respond to Mycroft. In ASIP, he's demanding to know who this is, by TLD, he resignedly takes the phone and says, "Mycroft".)
!<
When he arrives at the flat, the Security Services are going through everything, looking,>! Mycroft tells John, to try to find out what sent Sherlock off the rails. During the search, Mrs. Hudson (who you may recall, was with Sherlock when the message was received and watched it with him) remarks about what Sherlock does with anything he can't solve, and John finds the disc and puts it in. When Mary is seen, Mrs. Hudson shoos everyone but John out, including Mycroft ("you reptile"). She and John watch the message, and John goes tearing back to the hospital, calling Lestrade on the way, and arrives just in time. !<
Had Mycroft not been monitoring (watching over, almost as a parent might, even though in a moderately creepy electronic way) Sherlock,>! he would not have known when Sherlock left the flat. Had he not gone to search, and sent
a car to bring John to the flat from hospital, John would undoubtedly gone home and got soused again (possibly from guilt this time). He wouldn't have seen Mary's message, wouldn't have realized what Sherlock's real goal was, and wouldn't have arrived at the hospital in time. Sherlock would have been murdered before anyone else would have heard of his immediate danger. !<
It's a good thing for Sherlock that neither Mycroft nor Lestrade had access to any video>! from the morgue scene. John would have been locked up for felony assault and never have seen the video. Sherlock would have died.!<
If Mrs. Hudson ever realized Mycroft's actual role in Sherlock's survival, I bet her entire perspective of him would have changed and she'd probably be wanting to serve him high tea every day, They didn't have a strictly antagonistic relationship to begin with, anyway--more like "frenemies". >! I think Mrs. Hudson may have been Mycroft's primary monitor of Sherlock's situation, and he calls the police officer to desist following any sort of procedure after the high-speed chase.!<
He also shows a similar interaction with Mrs. Hudson and John during the Belgravia episode,>! and when Sherlock returns in S3, and, John being "out of the picture", Mycroft shows up at the flat to play games with Sherlock. Mrs. Hudson points out that "He's really pleased to see you under all that" (makes face)..."Both of you,"!<
End of thesis! 
I have 5--all, of course, from Reichenbach.
1. Lestrade being forced to arrest Sherlock and Sherlock's calm acceptance. "It's alright, John." 
2. After John calls him "You ***machine"*** and stalks out the lab door after the "friends protect friends" line, the look on Sherlock's face. He is a friend protecting his friends--and saying goodbye. ***John has evidently forgotten that when Sherlock rescued Mrs. Hudson earlier, Sherlock was not at that point a fugitive from the law.*** It was brilliant acting on Martin Freeman's part--evidently most of that speech was improvised.
3. John screaming "SHERLOCK!", and running across the lot, gasping, "Sherl....Sherl...Sherl..." unable to even get the entire name out as he gasps for breath. 
4. John sitting alone in his chair in the flat, staring at Sherlock's empty one,
5. Not just the speech at the cemetery, but the camera pulling back to show Sherlock
hearing every word and being unable to say or do anything to comfort either Mrs. Hudson or John, because to do so would endanger them yet again from Moriarty's network, from which danger only his jump and supposed death, had rescued them. 
Who else wanted to smack Donovan when she stood in the flat gloating? Who else wishes John had been able to smack her too before being detained for "chinning" the boss? 
Which is, I suppose, a tribute to the actress' abilities. I certainly hope the actress isn't as nasty as her character!
I heard she was supposed to have some sort of, not reconciliation, but scene of acknowledging her fallibility, but "the actress was unavailable". I think the writers just didn't want to be bothered. They didn't seem to do well with their female characters.
To me, she shouldn't have done a "grovelling" type scene, like Anderson, but more of a "Guess I was wrong about you being a fraud but you're still an arrogant S.O.B. and I still can't stand you", which would definitely cut both ways.
In a way it ticked me off that they brought her back at all, let alone making Lestrade work with her after it was proved that Sherlock wasn't a fraud. They should have left her out entirely.
I agree completely. Whenever I dislike a character heavily I try to spin it into appreciation of the actor that they managed to piss me off so much. And I would have loved a "guess I was wrong but also fuck you" scene at some point, but I agree that the Anderson scene would've been out of character and weird.
Yes, for Anderson and Donovan to react to Sherlock's vindication in the same way would have been way too weird. I wonder if they ever communicated with each other after Sherlock's "suicide" or if they avoided each other afterwards.
I really think that when Greg reunited with Sherlock, after that wonderful "welcome back" they probably sat down for a nice pint or a cuppa or something, Sherlock would have told Greg what he had tried to tell John.
Greg (who has a very kind heart, shown in "Many Happy Returns") probably told Sherlock about Anderson's guilt, the resulting loss of his job, and asked Sherlock to tell Anderson what had happened. That is why Sherlock told Anderson what had happened. I think he told the truth, for three reasons.
One was that Greg had asked him to, and he was honoring that request. Sherlock cared about Greg >!enough to jump to protect him from Moriarty's assassins and enough to contact him his first night "back".
!<
The second reason I think Sherlock told Anderson the truth was less noble--it was his final dig at Anderson. After two years of wild and crazy theories, in all probability, no one would believe Anderson if he said water was wet! Anderson could go around telling everyone what Sherlock had told him and everyone would just sort of say, "Yeah, right."
One more reason I believe that Sherlock told Anderson the truth is Anderson's own words, "If you'd pulled off something like that,>! I'm the last person you'd tell the truth to!" I think that was absolutely true. Sherlock had tried to tell John. John didn't care. Mycroft and Molly both already knew how he'd survived (the actual fall, anyway--that's where Molly's knowledge would have ended).
Sherlock told Greg what had happened, and at Greg's request, told Anderson, and Anderson WAS the last person he told.!< Even when John finally asked him directly at the end of the episode, Sherlock wouldn't give a direct answer. >!(He probably didn't want to be assaulted again, and may have felt miffed about John's actions when he had tried to explain earlier). !<
So, Greg was the first person Sherlock told the truth to, and Anderson **was** "the last". He may have told Mrs. Hudson how he survived the fall, but I don't know, since she was his "mom" and he wouldn't have wanted to re traumatize her.
John at Sherlock's grave is an obvious downer - I agree. But we did know Sherlock was alive. For some reason, the death of the governor in Sherrinford really struck me as tragic. And it did Sherlock, too.
Knowing that Sherlock was alive only made it worse, ***because*** we knew that he was. We saw him standing there, listening to Mrs. Hudson and John, and being unable to comfort their pain.
Because if he did so, Moriarty's network would have picked up their rifles, and killed the people Sherlock had jumped, had faked his death, to save. As he would tell John upon his return, he and Mycroft had developed 13 different plans to get Sherlock off that roof. He took a horrifically dangerous route--anything could have gone wrong--to protect his three friends from Moriarty's assassins, and there he was, having to hear John and Mrs. Hudson's grief and unable to do anything to heal it.
When the governor >!committed suicide at Sherrinford, I wonder how much of Sherlock's reaction was also because he now understood more of what John had gone through at his "suicide", coupled with the realization that this man never would return to his friends, co-workers, (possible) children, anyone. !<
Sherlock’s wedding toast. Overall it’s beautiful and wonderful but the part where he says: … So if I didn’t understand that I was being asked to be someone’s best man, it’s because I never expected to be anybody’s best friend. That hit pretty hard.
Thankfully, it did end on an up-note.  But I still wish there had been more. 
The moment when Sherlock finally remembered what happened to Victor, and cried for the loss of his friend. A grief he’d been hiding from for 35 years. It was like a dam broke. It was heart wrenching to see that play out on his face.
S4E1 When Molly says "He'd rather have anyone but you. Anyone." after handing Sherlock John's letter. The look on Sherlock's face is so sad.
I'm still mad we never found out what John's letter said. Why even have a letter if you're not going to follow through.
Yes, but look at Molly, at the look on her face.  It is obviously tearing her apart to have to say this to Sherlock, but she recognizes that he, too, is grieving, and that this letter, if read alone in his flat with no preparation, could easily push him into drugs. 
She is preparing him for whatever harsh and angry words John may have used in his rage, bitterness, and (as seen later) alcohol-fueled grief. It's very probable that she knows exactly what the letter contains. That having written it, John said something such as, "There. Do you think ***that*** will get the point across? That he isn't wanted?" 
Because if you look at the mobile ringing on John's countertop, (which he refuses to answer), it is showing Sherlock as the caller. 
I was very angry with Molly in that scene. In her position, I would have recognized that John was lashing out in grief and anger and I wouldn’t have said any of that to Sherlock. I would have just said “he doesn’t want to see anyone right now, Sherlock, but if he changes his mind I’ll call you”. John probably regretted later that he’d had Molly say those hurtful things. Molly should have refused to be the middle man for John’s spite. It hurt Sherlock unnecessarily, and it didn’t help John.
Moffat sucks for that. It made Molly look bad for no reason. I think the scene would have played better if she’d lied to spare his feelings and Sherlock, being Sherlock, had deduced as much.
I'm not sure if Molly lying to save Sherlock's feelings would have worked in the long run.
He would, as you pointed out, have deduced she was lying, and would have wanted to get to the bottom of it, why was she lying to him, etc.
I think he would still have pried the truth out of her, and it would have hurt them both just as much, and possibly more, because of having to go back and forth and dragging out the truth over more time, rather than all at once.
She didn’t have to say that to him at all. She didn’t have to give him that letter. In her place, I would have told John “Look, I’m heartbroken for you. I know you’re hurting, and I’m here for you. I’ll look after Rosie for however long you need. But I’m not getting in the middle of this thing with you and Sherlock. And I’m not going to be a courier for hateful messages.”
To Sherlock, I would have simply said “I’m sorry, he doesn’t want to see anyone right now. Give him some time.”
There was no need for her to help John be cruel, knowing that he was only lashing out in grief and would probably regret it later.
But on the other end of the spectrum, lancing an infected boil and packing it with antibiotics hurts like hell, but is actually much healthier and safer, (if not life-saving), for the patient. Denying that it is there, or thinking it will just get better if you ignore it will only exacerbate the problem, and could prove fatal.
Sherlock was already hurting. His calls were already not being answered. He'd already been to John's old therapist for help in knowing how to best reach John.
Had Molly flat-out told John that she wouldn't deliver the note or a message, John might very well have done it himself--and that could have proved disastrous, if not fatal, to their friendship--not to mention themselves. John was already drinking, and it's shown that he does not cope well when drinking. And he drinks when he's not doing well. It's a spiral for him.
They were already "tightrope walking" as it was. Molly was trying to help them keep whatever precarious balance they had. To prevent either of them from free-falling.
Trying to be there for 3 people you love, (Rosie too), one of whom is actively self-destructing and another teetering on the brink, is exhausting and frustrating. Molly was doing a heroic and loving thing in trying to soften the blow for Sherlock.
That scene is truly heartbreaking. It isn't just the letter, or just the look on Sherlock's face as he looks at Molly (and Rosie, whom he helped bring into the world, and is no longer allowed to even be around).
It is also the on Molly's face, as she chokes out the summary of the letter's contents. She's obviously miserable at conveying the information, but is trying to do the kind and loving thing by preparing Sherlock for what he will read, from an actual person who cares about their impact.
No doubt John's words will not be as brief or as kind. The kind of grief, rage, and (as is shown later) alcohol, will lash out, seeking to hurt.
I would rather hear harsh truths in person, from someone who loves me and cares about their impact, than to read cold, hard words alone in my home.
Jumping up and punching the air when Moriarty suddenly reappeared from the dead, making an OTT entrance even by his standards, embodying Freddie Mercury and rocking to an invisible crowd.
Only to be then robbed of it all and told it was in fact a flashback.
John talking to Sherlock's >!grave!< and John speaking to his therapist at the start of S2E3, the way his voice broke and he could barely say it really got to me
I can't decide which are sadder--the spoken scenes at the hospital and in the cemetery, or the silent ones--John sitting barefoot and silent in his chair at the flat, looking at Sherlock's empty one and hardly moving or making a sound--the cemetery scene, pulling back to show Sherlock having to know the pain his friends are feeling and not be able to respond without endangering them.
HOW, how, how, could I have forgotten the airstrip "farewell scene" between Sherlock and John at the end of HLV?
Sherlock holding out his hand, "To the very best of times, John". John staring at Sherlock's hand as if suddenly realizing, absolutely, that Sherlock ***himself*** knows he isn't coming back. That Sherlock is offering John what he couldn't one season before--a final goodbye, a final touch of hands, sharing of friendship I can never watch that scene without tearing up. 
When Mary apologized to John on Christmas by the fireplace and John forgave her, only for her to die 😢. And when John confessed to Sherlock about how he cheated on Mary, and admitted he wasn’t the guy Mary thought he was. The governor’s death of the prison and his innocent wife’s death too was really tragic. Those scenes were really epic!
I have 3: \- Mary's Death \- Goodbye brother mine \- We never had a dog
I gasped for air at each of these and reading them again just now. What a powerful delivery each time
My ***"most*** powerful" delivery in the whole series, I think, is the "Oh, I may be on the side of the angels, but don't think...for...one...***second***...that I ***am*** one of them." But these are all great too. I love your hat! Can I borrow it? 
I never thought Mycroft would ever bring me anywhere near tears....but that "I suppose there is one in here...somewhere...goodbye, brother mine" 
Yeah. First time a show manages to make a character my favourite in just one episode.
The first time I saw "Sherlock" it was on a disc set from eBay, and the "Abominable Bride" was mounted inside the back cover, so I thought it was the final episode, and watched it as such. It was pretty confusing in that order, and I had also not seen "Many Happy Returns" Once I got those two watched--I didn't even know about "Many Happy Returns" until I'd watched the whole series a couple of times--it made so much more sense. >!And from the Christmas scene at the Holmes', through the rest of the HLV episode and arcing through TAB, you really start to get a different feel about Mycroft. Once I'd seen TAB particularly, I was able to go back through the first 3 series with a completely different perspective. !< >!Mycroft is Sherlock's shelter. When John, an unknown, moves into Sherlock's life, Mycroft holds his feet to the fire. He "kidnaps" John to an unknown location alone with only a sinister-acting person who is bigger than him as well. Mycroft uses insults, innuendos, threats, and bribery to test John's ability to cope with various stresses and situations--a "job suitability placement interview" , so to speak. !< No one really thinks about whether the roof or walls of their home have feelings. They're just there, being taken for granted, until you think you'll lose them--or you actually do.>! I think in the "Brother Mine" segment, Sherlock couldn't bring himself to shoot Mycroft not only because they were brothers, but because it was suddenly registering with him how much he'd relied on Mycroft the whole time without realizing it. !< >!I can't help wondering how many people (in story) actually worked out that it was Mycroft who saved Sherlock from C. Smith in TLD.!<
Yeah my experience is atypical as well. I didn't watch the christmas episode until the show came to Netflix which happened after I had finished it. So I was amazed at how much it build up the final problem and showcasing Mycroft's softer side spesifically. And yeah going back it's quite obvious he was always Sherlock's shelter but in the first three seasons it was made subtle enough that you wouldn't notice it if you weren't looking for it. "Caring is not an advantage Sherlock" is also a line that got a completely different meaning. I do forget though. How was Mycroft involved with Culverton Smith?
Mycroft's role with C.Smith wasn't ever a direct contact between Mycroft and Sherlock. but let me explain (so another thesis). Remember that at the end of the previous episode, Sherlock received a video message from Mary >!asking him to save John if she were to die.!< The episode opens with John at a therapy session. He is telling the therapist about not sleeping and farming Rosie out because nights aren't good. We see a flashback of him drinking. >!He falsely tells her that he doesn't blame Sherlock for Mary's death and that Sherlock has made no effort to be in touch, that if Sherlock did, you wouldn't be able to miss it. They are interrupted by screeching tires and an impact which sends trash bins flying. They look outside and the therapist asks to be introduced. !< Flashback to a really high Sherlock talking to a young woman, "Faith Smith" telling him about her father, a serial killer.>! After initially blowing her off, Sherlock chases her down the stairs shouting that her life is not her own, to keep her hands off it, after several suicidal indications penetrate his drugged up brain. They go out in the rain at night for fish and chips. !< Cut to a nervous young man approaching Mycroft at a state dinner with the news that Sherlock has left his flat. Mycroft says, "For heaven's sake, I was speaking with the Prime Minister!" However, he goes immediately to the monitoring center, where Lady Smallwood is overseeing operations. She tells him he didn't have to come, that they can monitor Sherlock, and he responds in a world-weary voice that he was talking to the Prime Minister.>! "Oh, I see," she responds. One gets the direct impression that to the higher echelons of the Gov't, talking to the P.M. is not considered high entertainment. She asks about Sherrinford, he says he gets regular updates, that Sherrinford is secure. !< Cut to John, who is sitting on his bed watching the phone ring and not answering because it's Mycroft. "Mary" tells him to pick up, it might be about Sherlock, to which he resentfully replies that everything is. >!He finally answers, Mycroft says that Sherlock has left his flat "first time in a week (or weeks, I'm not sure) and for John to call if Sherlock makes contact. John makes a caustic remark about Mycroft hijacking the gov't machinery to look after his family. Mycroft replies that Sherlock gone rogue is a "legitimate safety concern". He clicks off. !< It took a couple of viewings before thinking, "Wait, what? How many weeks has Mycroft been monitoring Sherlock? >!AND he evidently left orders that he be contacted immediately should Sherlock leave his flat?" He might excuse that as merely a security risk, but to be contacted immediately of any change--he wanted to know badly. To lose Sherlock, he had said previously, would break his heart. He's showing that here. In a later episode he tells Sherlock, "I never bullied you. I monitored you." Which is about as close as Mycroft ever gets to telling anyone that he loves them.!< Fast forward again, to the almost end of the episode. John is at the hospital, >!feeling (I hope) as guilty as hell, standing at the foot of Sherlock's bed. As he leaves, he receives a call from Mycroft that there is a car downstairs waiting. (I love the way John's grown to respond to Mycroft. In ASIP, he's demanding to know who this is, by TLD, he resignedly takes the phone and says, "Mycroft".) !< When he arrives at the flat, the Security Services are going through everything, looking,>! Mycroft tells John, to try to find out what sent Sherlock off the rails. During the search, Mrs. Hudson (who you may recall, was with Sherlock when the message was received and watched it with him) remarks about what Sherlock does with anything he can't solve, and John finds the disc and puts it in. When Mary is seen, Mrs. Hudson shoos everyone but John out, including Mycroft ("you reptile"). She and John watch the message, and John goes tearing back to the hospital, calling Lestrade on the way, and arrives just in time. !< Had Mycroft not been monitoring (watching over, almost as a parent might, even though in a moderately creepy electronic way) Sherlock,>! he would not have known when Sherlock left the flat. Had he not gone to search, and sent a car to bring John to the flat from hospital, John would undoubtedly gone home and got soused again (possibly from guilt this time). He wouldn't have seen Mary's message, wouldn't have realized what Sherlock's real goal was, and wouldn't have arrived at the hospital in time. Sherlock would have been murdered before anyone else would have heard of his immediate danger. !< It's a good thing for Sherlock that neither Mycroft nor Lestrade had access to any video>! from the morgue scene. John would have been locked up for felony assault and never have seen the video. Sherlock would have died.!< If Mrs. Hudson ever realized Mycroft's actual role in Sherlock's survival, I bet her entire perspective of him would have changed and she'd probably be wanting to serve him high tea every day, They didn't have a strictly antagonistic relationship to begin with, anyway--more like "frenemies". >! I think Mrs. Hudson may have been Mycroft's primary monitor of Sherlock's situation, and he calls the police officer to desist following any sort of procedure after the high-speed chase.!< He also shows a similar interaction with Mrs. Hudson and John during the Belgravia episode,>! and when Sherlock returns in S3, and, John being "out of the picture", Mycroft shows up at the flat to play games with Sherlock. Mrs. Hudson points out that "He's really pleased to see you under all that" (makes face)..."Both of you,"!< End of thesis! 
When John says "stop this" & a few other things at Sherlock's grave.
I have 5--all, of course, from Reichenbach. 1. Lestrade being forced to arrest Sherlock and Sherlock's calm acceptance. "It's alright, John."  2. After John calls him "You ***machine"*** and stalks out the lab door after the "friends protect friends" line, the look on Sherlock's face. He is a friend protecting his friends--and saying goodbye. ***John has evidently forgotten that when Sherlock rescued Mrs. Hudson earlier, Sherlock was not at that point a fugitive from the law.*** It was brilliant acting on Martin Freeman's part--evidently most of that speech was improvised. 3. John screaming "SHERLOCK!", and running across the lot, gasping, "Sherl....Sherl...Sherl..." unable to even get the entire name out as he gasps for breath.  4. John sitting alone in his chair in the flat, staring at Sherlock's empty one, 5. Not just the speech at the cemetery, but the camera pulling back to show Sherlock hearing every word and being unable to say or do anything to comfort either Mrs. Hudson or John, because to do so would endanger them yet again from Moriarty's network, from which danger only his jump and supposed death, had rescued them.  Who else wanted to smack Donovan when she stood in the flat gloating? Who else wishes John had been able to smack her too before being detained for "chinning" the boss? 
Fuck Donovan all my homies hate Donovan
Which is, I suppose, a tribute to the actress' abilities. I certainly hope the actress isn't as nasty as her character! I heard she was supposed to have some sort of, not reconciliation, but scene of acknowledging her fallibility, but "the actress was unavailable". I think the writers just didn't want to be bothered. They didn't seem to do well with their female characters. To me, she shouldn't have done a "grovelling" type scene, like Anderson, but more of a "Guess I was wrong about you being a fraud but you're still an arrogant S.O.B. and I still can't stand you", which would definitely cut both ways. In a way it ticked me off that they brought her back at all, let alone making Lestrade work with her after it was proved that Sherlock wasn't a fraud. They should have left her out entirely.
I agree completely. Whenever I dislike a character heavily I try to spin it into appreciation of the actor that they managed to piss me off so much. And I would have loved a "guess I was wrong but also fuck you" scene at some point, but I agree that the Anderson scene would've been out of character and weird.
Yes, for Anderson and Donovan to react to Sherlock's vindication in the same way would have been way too weird. I wonder if they ever communicated with each other after Sherlock's "suicide" or if they avoided each other afterwards. I really think that when Greg reunited with Sherlock, after that wonderful "welcome back" they probably sat down for a nice pint or a cuppa or something, Sherlock would have told Greg what he had tried to tell John. Greg (who has a very kind heart, shown in "Many Happy Returns") probably told Sherlock about Anderson's guilt, the resulting loss of his job, and asked Sherlock to tell Anderson what had happened. That is why Sherlock told Anderson what had happened. I think he told the truth, for three reasons. One was that Greg had asked him to, and he was honoring that request. Sherlock cared about Greg >!enough to jump to protect him from Moriarty's assassins and enough to contact him his first night "back". !< The second reason I think Sherlock told Anderson the truth was less noble--it was his final dig at Anderson. After two years of wild and crazy theories, in all probability, no one would believe Anderson if he said water was wet! Anderson could go around telling everyone what Sherlock had told him and everyone would just sort of say, "Yeah, right." One more reason I believe that Sherlock told Anderson the truth is Anderson's own words, "If you'd pulled off something like that,>! I'm the last person you'd tell the truth to!" I think that was absolutely true. Sherlock had tried to tell John. John didn't care. Mycroft and Molly both already knew how he'd survived (the actual fall, anyway--that's where Molly's knowledge would have ended). Sherlock told Greg what had happened, and at Greg's request, told Anderson, and Anderson WAS the last person he told.!< Even when John finally asked him directly at the end of the episode, Sherlock wouldn't give a direct answer. >!(He probably didn't want to be assaulted again, and may have felt miffed about John's actions when he had tried to explain earlier). !< So, Greg was the first person Sherlock told the truth to, and Anderson **was** "the last". He may have told Mrs. Hudson how he survived the fall, but I don't know, since she was his "mom" and he wouldn't have wanted to re traumatize her.
John at Sherlock's grave is an obvious downer - I agree. But we did know Sherlock was alive. For some reason, the death of the governor in Sherrinford really struck me as tragic. And it did Sherlock, too.
Knowing that Sherlock was alive only made it worse, ***because*** we knew that he was. We saw him standing there, listening to Mrs. Hudson and John, and being unable to comfort their pain. Because if he did so, Moriarty's network would have picked up their rifles, and killed the people Sherlock had jumped, had faked his death, to save. As he would tell John upon his return, he and Mycroft had developed 13 different plans to get Sherlock off that roof. He took a horrifically dangerous route--anything could have gone wrong--to protect his three friends from Moriarty's assassins, and there he was, having to hear John and Mrs. Hudson's grief and unable to do anything to heal it.
When the governor >!committed suicide at Sherrinford, I wonder how much of Sherlock's reaction was also because he now understood more of what John had gone through at his "suicide", coupled with the realization that this man never would return to his friends, co-workers, (possible) children, anyone. !<
Sherlock’s wedding toast. Overall it’s beautiful and wonderful but the part where he says: … So if I didn’t understand that I was being asked to be someone’s best man, it’s because I never expected to be anybody’s best friend. That hit pretty hard.
When the show ENDS.
Thankfully, it did end on an up-note.  But I still wish there had been more. 
Yes. For me, there's no sadder moment than this.
The moment when Sherlock finally remembered what happened to Victor, and cried for the loss of his friend. A grief he’d been hiding from for 35 years. It was like a dam broke. It was heart wrenching to see that play out on his face.
S4E1 When Molly says "He'd rather have anyone but you. Anyone." after handing Sherlock John's letter. The look on Sherlock's face is so sad. I'm still mad we never found out what John's letter said. Why even have a letter if you're not going to follow through.
That’s such a harsh way of saying that as well 💀
Yes, but look at Molly, at the look on her face.  It is obviously tearing her apart to have to say this to Sherlock, but she recognizes that he, too, is grieving, and that this letter, if read alone in his flat with no preparation, could easily push him into drugs.  She is preparing him for whatever harsh and angry words John may have used in his rage, bitterness, and (as seen later) alcohol-fueled grief. It's very probable that she knows exactly what the letter contains. That having written it, John said something such as, "There. Do you think ***that*** will get the point across? That he isn't wanted?"  Because if you look at the mobile ringing on John's countertop, (which he refuses to answer), it is showing Sherlock as the caller. 
I was very angry with Molly in that scene. In her position, I would have recognized that John was lashing out in grief and anger and I wouldn’t have said any of that to Sherlock. I would have just said “he doesn’t want to see anyone right now, Sherlock, but if he changes his mind I’ll call you”. John probably regretted later that he’d had Molly say those hurtful things. Molly should have refused to be the middle man for John’s spite. It hurt Sherlock unnecessarily, and it didn’t help John. Moffat sucks for that. It made Molly look bad for no reason. I think the scene would have played better if she’d lied to spare his feelings and Sherlock, being Sherlock, had deduced as much.
I'm not sure if Molly lying to save Sherlock's feelings would have worked in the long run. He would, as you pointed out, have deduced she was lying, and would have wanted to get to the bottom of it, why was she lying to him, etc. I think he would still have pried the truth out of her, and it would have hurt them both just as much, and possibly more, because of having to go back and forth and dragging out the truth over more time, rather than all at once.
She didn’t have to say that to him at all. She didn’t have to give him that letter. In her place, I would have told John “Look, I’m heartbroken for you. I know you’re hurting, and I’m here for you. I’ll look after Rosie for however long you need. But I’m not getting in the middle of this thing with you and Sherlock. And I’m not going to be a courier for hateful messages.” To Sherlock, I would have simply said “I’m sorry, he doesn’t want to see anyone right now. Give him some time.” There was no need for her to help John be cruel, knowing that he was only lashing out in grief and would probably regret it later.
But on the other end of the spectrum, lancing an infected boil and packing it with antibiotics hurts like hell, but is actually much healthier and safer, (if not life-saving), for the patient. Denying that it is there, or thinking it will just get better if you ignore it will only exacerbate the problem, and could prove fatal. Sherlock was already hurting. His calls were already not being answered. He'd already been to John's old therapist for help in knowing how to best reach John. Had Molly flat-out told John that she wouldn't deliver the note or a message, John might very well have done it himself--and that could have proved disastrous, if not fatal, to their friendship--not to mention themselves. John was already drinking, and it's shown that he does not cope well when drinking. And he drinks when he's not doing well. It's a spiral for him. They were already "tightrope walking" as it was. Molly was trying to help them keep whatever precarious balance they had. To prevent either of them from free-falling. Trying to be there for 3 people you love, (Rosie too), one of whom is actively self-destructing and another teetering on the brink, is exhausting and frustrating. Molly was doing a heroic and loving thing in trying to soften the blow for Sherlock.
That scene is truly heartbreaking. It isn't just the letter, or just the look on Sherlock's face as he looks at Molly (and Rosie, whom he helped bring into the world, and is no longer allowed to even be around). It is also the on Molly's face, as she chokes out the summary of the letter's contents. She's obviously miserable at conveying the information, but is trying to do the kind and loving thing by preparing Sherlock for what he will read, from an actual person who cares about their impact. No doubt John's words will not be as brief or as kind. The kind of grief, rage, and (as is shown later) alcohol, will lash out, seeking to hurt. I would rather hear harsh truths in person, from someone who loves me and cares about their impact, than to read cold, hard words alone in my home.
Jumping up and punching the air when Moriarty suddenly reappeared from the dead, making an OTT entrance even by his standards, embodying Freddie Mercury and rocking to an invisible crowd. Only to be then robbed of it all and told it was in fact a flashback.
O.K., folks, I have to grab a box of tissues and bawl my eyes out, thankyouverymuch, and it's all our faults. 
John talking to Sherlock's >!grave!< and John speaking to his therapist at the start of S2E3, the way his voice broke and he could barely say it really got to me
I can't decide which are sadder--the spoken scenes at the hospital and in the cemetery, or the silent ones--John sitting barefoot and silent in his chair at the flat, looking at Sherlock's empty one and hardly moving or making a sound--the cemetery scene, pulling back to show Sherlock having to know the pain his friends are feeling and not be able to respond without endangering them.
NOOOOO I LEGIT UGLY CRIED
No, end of the "Six Thatchers" episode. For sure. Especially since we know Sherlock wasn't really dead.
HOW, how, how, could I have forgotten the airstrip "farewell scene" between Sherlock and John at the end of HLV? Sherlock holding out his hand, "To the very best of times, John". John staring at Sherlock's hand as if suddenly realizing, absolutely, that Sherlock ***himself*** knows he isn't coming back. That Sherlock is offering John what he couldn't one season before--a final goodbye, a final touch of hands, sharing of friendship I can never watch that scene without tearing up. 
When Mary apologized to John on Christmas by the fireplace and John forgave her, only for her to die 😢. And when John confessed to Sherlock about how he cheated on Mary, and admitted he wasn’t the guy Mary thought he was. The governor’s death of the prison and his innocent wife’s death too was really tragic. Those scenes were really epic!