Moreover, we get a similar visual indicator of John’s sexuality during the aforementioned pub crawl, which makes heavy use of overlapping pink, blue, and purple i.e.
The theme? Having a drink on every street that they’ve found a corpse. Combined with the colours of the LGBT Pride flag, this subconsciously suggests a connection between Sherlock’s morbid sense of romance and his sexuality. Molly also comes to this realisation via a literal “lightbulb” moment, as indicated by the not-so-subtle bright light and placement of rainbow lights over her head. This is most obvious in the scene where Sherlock talks about relationships with Molly Hooper after asking for her help planning a themed pub crawl for John.
There are numerous instances in which a rainbow spectrum of light, matching the colours of the LGBT Pride flag, flare across Sherlock’s image onscreen. Although queer subtext is found in the narrative from episode one, keen-eyed viewers have also discovered the subtextual use of light and colour to visually suggest a character’s sexuality from episode three and onwards. That being said, it should come as no surprise that a series based on the famous detective would have a fanbase with observation skills that attempt to rival his own.
