So I think a lot of people aren’t really in the right frame of mind right now to think about the fallout of this episode outside of John and Sherlock and how long this wait is going to be, but there are some interesting implications of all of this.

Mostly implications for Lestrade, one of Sherlock’s only friends and a man who, there is no doubt in my mind, still trusts him despite everything that has happened.

What Moriarty did, to discredit Sherlock, did not just ruin Sherlock’s reputation. It ruined Lestrade’s, too. Every case that Sherlock ever helped with is going to be discredited. They will probably have to re-try every single one. This will cost not only a lot of time and money, it will also, very likely, let a lot of very guilty people go free. How can they hold a case up without all the evidence Sherlock personally handled? Personally brought to light? And Lestrade let him in, asked for his help. He is personally responsible for the legal quagmire that comes with finding out that your ace in the hole is, apparently and self-admittedly, the man behind most of the crimes that he “solved”. I have no doubt his superiors will let him shoulder the blame, alone.

Greg Lestrade will not have a job by the time this is done. His reputation will be ruined, his record so tarnished that his word will mean nothing. Everything he’s ever done will discredited and dismissed. He will be made a mockery.

So then, where does that leave us? What does a man who is so, at his very core, a copper do when he cannot do the job he was born for? How does he keep his life together then his actions come under public scrutiny, when his cases and his marriage and his life become the stuff of gossip?

There are possibilities. Maybe he will become a detective. Maybe he will go work with Mycroft. Whatever he does, I just really hope that the show addresses that there are serious implications that come with dragging Sherlock’s name through the mud that effect more than just Sherlock and John.