That John is brave is a given, although Mycroft characterises it as the nicest word for stupidity, and that John is capable of psychological analysis is also shown to us (for example, in TGG, when he is trying to figure out why Sherlock and Mycroft interact the way they do and he says something along the lines of, "Sibling rivalry, OK, now we're getting somewhere". However, he doesn't seem keen, or easily able, to face his own fears and conflicts directly. He isn't open with his therapist, doesn't write in his blog until he meets Sherlock, has a psychosomatic limp and nightmares. He seems to prefer to act than to reflect and it seems that meeting Sherlock not only allows him to act vigorously and with purpose again, but encourages him to reflect because Sherlock is always doing it.

After thinking for a long time how I could explain to myself what was going on with the character development and Sherlock and John's interactions in THoB, I decided that one thing was that John was becoming more aware of some of the matters he was conflicted about, thus the outburst about cheekbones and looking mysterious. It's been affecting him and he makes an attempt to communicate it. It's more of an outburst than a reflection, but it is a beginning. That was why I had him attempt to analyse what happened to them in Baskerville after he wrote up the case for his blog and tried to show how it did not come easily. I see John as being aware that this is one of his shortcomings, but when he perceived that his failure to acknowledge his emotions could harm Sherlock (and he has been seeing himself in the role of protecting Sherlock), then his courageous side propels him towards facing his desires and their possible consequences.

Even so, I pictured him needing a little help on the way from Sherlock, but it needed to be fairly subtle because my view was that Sherlock realised that John needed to be the one to decide to act.