jon-lox:

eurus dressed up like john watson. cane, gun, in need of saving, self-loathing, suicidal. eurus knew it’d catch sherlock’s attention bc john’s all he can think about.

eurus knew that john needed romantic/sexual attention. he wasn’t getting it from mary. he had hoped to get it from sherlock.

regardless of whether the episodes are real, it’s obvious that sherlock and john are only motivated into action by each other.