librariesfulloftears submitted to stfu-moffat:
Perhaps this is a little bit silly, given all the other problematic shit Sherlock has, but Sherlocks source of income is never explained. It’s not from solving crimes, I think Sally said once that he wasn’t paid. Also, have you noticed how Watson never works? I wonder how he is able to keep his job at the hospital when he is solving crimes all the time.
Especially as his coat cost £1350 ($2267), one can't help wondering where he finds the money.
Normally I'm fairly relaxed about characters' jobs, because it would be boring to watch them at work (instead of solving crimes), but the audience should be aware of where their money comes from/what their job is.
I thought Watson was a GP, so he wouldn't work at a hospital. I don't know if you have General Practitioners (GPs) elsewhere, but basically when a Brit sees a doctor they go to their local GP, who works at a GP surgery* with other doctors and a nurse or two, who will prescribe medicine if necessary and refer someone to a specialist if they couldn't solve the problem. GPs work normalish hours - my local surgery is open from 8.30am until about 6pm - and are usually closed at weekends. So as long as John kept his investigating to evenings and weekends, it's possible that he could keep his job.
But I have no idea what Sherlock does for money. Even in the UK we don't actually pay people for swanning around and acting like assholes, unless they're politicians. Maybe he takes on some paying clients? I feel that it's a big flaw that this hasn't been mentioned though.
- C
*Where no surgery or other procedures would take place, because British English loves making sense.