STFU Moffat

What do you think about Sally Donovan’s character? She is clearly not a hero in the show but she isn’t an outright villain either. Do you think Moffat will explore her potential even if only a little? Personally I think a lot of what is interesting about the character come from Vinette Robinson performance, she lifts the character from just being just a police officer who hates Sherlock to someone who’s motives seem to be equally as complex as the main characters.

Asked by anonymous

I love Sally. She’s a smart, competent police officer who is clearly succeeding in a field dominated by men. A lot of people claim that she’s a villain because she brings her suspicions to Lestrade, and this leads to Sherlock’s eventual downfall, but it’s important to remember the context - she’s been tricked by Moriarty just like everyone else has, and is simply doing her job. Also, she has no real reason to trust Sherlock - he is never seen showing her any respect, and based on her comment that, “he’ll always let you down,” from A Study in Pink, it seems that he lost her trust, rather than never having it at all.

That said, I doubt that we’ll ever see much exploration of Sally, at least from Moffat. The first time we see her, she’s set up as a bitch and a slut in the eyes of Sherlock, and from there she becomes the woman who is partially blamed for the “death” of the great detective. Since Moffat uses Sherlock as a lens, and we never see him have a single positive thought of Sally, I don’t think we’ll ever see very much character growth, at least on the side of writing.

However, I do agree with you that much of Sally’s depth comes from Vinette Robinson’s wonderful performance, and that we could potentially see a lot of Sally’s growth through her acting if not through the writing. She took this character who was written to be little more than an obstacle for Sherlock, and made her really interesting. I really hope that we get to see more of her in coming seasons, and that she gets the opportunity to grow outside of the box that Moffat stuck her in at the beginning of the series.

-Z