“Are you really a doctor?” - TJLC META / Scene Analysis
Today I would like to discuss a scene from Sherlock season 4 that has really stuck with me, because it seemed so unnatural. I am talking about the scene in Culverton’s “favorite room” before Faith appears.
In TJLC, which by the way got basically completely destroyed by season 4, it was believed that John’s profession as an army-doctor stood in as a metaphor for his bisexuality.
Unfortunately I do not recall who first mentioned/developed this theory, but to quickly summarize:
His profession as a doctor is a metaphor for being attracted to women.
His profession as a soldier/army-man is a metaphor for being attracted to men.
But John is an army-doctor, read attracted to both. And we have seen in many scenes that John is only his most authentic self when he can be an army-doctor, not reduced to just one of the two professions. The most memorable scenes to underline this theory are
1) the scene in The Abominable Bride, after John finds Sherlock in 221b.
“You’re not a soldier, you’re a doctor.” – “NO, I’m an army-doctor.”
2) when he tries to appeal to Sarah in The Blind Banker, clearly disregarding the side of him that is attracted to men
“Might be a bit mundane for you. Since you are… a soldier.” – “…And a doctor.”
3) when Sherlock returns for John in the beginning of A Study in Pink
“You’re a doctor… in fact you are an army-doctor.” – “Yes.”
Clearly, John is only his truest self when he can embrace every part of who he is, including his bisexuality and often times, the only person her can be this with is Sherlock.
For our analysis today I will be going off of the belief that the entire episode of The Lying Detective is actually just happening in Sherlock’s (drugged) mind palace, which makes a proper reading of this scene a lot easier.
The scene of course starts off with Culverton, John and Sherlock entering the morgue, and then Culverton and John conversing about Culverton’s crimes, which Sherlock just observes.
It is notable that in Sherlock’s mind, John is figuring out everything that is going on without any help, since Sherlock is just standing off on the side waiting for Faith Smith. This supports the reading that Sherlock clearly sees John as a lot smarter than other people.
But let’s get right into the important stuff: Sherlock of course feels like he has disappointed John, since he couldn’t protect Mary like he had promised. Therefore, in Sherlock’s mind, any chance he could have possibly had to be with John seems to have disappeared. This makes what comes next very blatant.
Looking at Sherlock’s effort from The Six Thatchers to reunite with John; it clearly shows that Sherlock was hoping to continue a life with John. Maybe even now, possibly after a mourning period, he could finally be with John in a romantic way.
But since Sherlock had experienced nothing but rejection after Mary’s death, he now believes in his sub-conscience that all hope is gone and John isn’t (and possibly never has been) in love with him.
Because I go off of a reading where everything in The Lying Detective happens in Sherlock’s head, I read Culverton Smith as the embodiment of everything negative and vile in Sherlock’s head.
Culverton is a murderer, and this is how Sherlock sees himself after shooting Charles Augustus Magnussen. Culverton is witty, clever but also very eccentric. Remind you of someone? But also, since Culverton is very frank and sometimes even intrusive, Sherlock pictures him having a conversation with John the way he never could have, confronting him about his sexuality and his feelings.
The conversation goes as follows:
Culverton: “Let me ask you this… are you really a doctor?”
John answered without a moment’s hesitation. This symbolizes how sure Sherlock is that John isn’t (and possibly never has been) in love with him. While John is answering, his eyes stay on Culverton; in fact he isn’t looking at Sherlock at all throughout the entire conversation. Which is very telling; Sherlock and his feelings obviously get ignored by John.
Culverton: “No a medical doctor. Not […] media studies or anything…”
Culverton mentioning “media studies” is a metaphor for the fact that John and Sherlock just present themselves as “straight” for the public eye. So Culverton is basically accusing John of putting on his straight persona just for the media. Read: “He’s just a doctor in media”. In The Reichenbachfall we have the iconic scene of John reading a newspaper, which names him “a confirmed bachelor”, after which he tells Sherlock that they “need to be more careful”, clearly implying that there is something to hide and they need to change their public image.
Being a “medical doctor” of course has a practical/physical connotation to it, which can be interpreted as “are you also physically straight?”. So Culverton is basically asking John whether he is celebrating his heterosexuality physically (sex, kissing,etc.) or if he is just putting on a “theoretical” act for the media.
John just answers with “I’m a doctor”, after which he nervously laughs.
Sherlock obviously knows who John really is; he has always accepted him as his most authentic bisexual self. But he has also seen John try to convince others of his heterosexuality, which of course isn’t entirely true. This is why Sherlock imagines John to nervously chuckle, afraid that someone could catch his lie. Clearly neither John nor Sherlock are convinced of John being just a doctor.
Culverton: “Are you serious? Are you? Are you ACTUALLY serious?”
Whenever I watch this scene, this is where it always seems so over-the-top for me, almost like they are hitting you over the head with it. They WANT us to question John’s sexuality. Culverton questions his sexuality and therefore, Sherlock does.
Why would they put this scene in, with a character repeatedly asking John if he is serious about being straight, if we aren’t meant to doubt John’s sexuality and attractions?
While Culverton is asking this question, John’s expression changes from a confused one to a sad one.
Firstly, John might be confused because he thought he had already “proven” his sexuality (by marrying a woman and having a child) and therefore there shouldn’t be any doubt. But we all know that John isn’t 100% straight, he HIMSELF knows this, so he is worried/sad that someone could find out about that.
Culverton: “I’ve played along with this joke. It’s not funny anymore.”
…meaning that Culverton (Sherlock) is done trying to keep up a fake public persona (=joke). The whole joking in the earlier seasons of “is he your boyfriend?”, “[…] for you and your date.”, “Will you need two bedrooms?”, “live-in p.a.” is not funny anymore. It’s real, it’s happening. John’s and Sherlock’s feelings for each other are not a joke. And they have both played along with it for too long.
Culverton: “Look at [Sherlock]. Go ahead, look at him Doctor Watson.”
Culverton comically emphasizes on the word “doctor”, once again implying that John isn’t just a doctor. But also, Sherlock wants John to look him in the eye and realize it. And eventually decide – is there really nothing he feels for him?
I wanted to stop my analysis right here, because the rest of the scene is still too hard for me to read, I am working on it though.
The last quote I want to leave you with is the following, where Culverton addresses Sherlock directly (after avoiding him for the entire scene so far):
Culverton: “I think you need to tell your faithful little friend how you’re wasting his time because you’re too high to know what’s real anymore.”
There is two ways I’m reading this quote.
The first way: it’s a fourth-wall break. The writers want to endear us, the audience, with “faithful little friend” and tell us that because Sherlock Holmes is on drugs, we should be questioning what is actually true (in this episode/season) and what isn’t. They don’t want us to waste our time by trying to read these scenes literally; we get encouraged to read between the lines.
The second way, and probably the more likely one, is Sherlock telling himself how much he has wasted their (John & Sherlock) time together. We have seen time and time again how Sherlock tried to cope with/repress his feelings using drugs. If Sherlock would have instead opened up to his “faithful (read: always by his side, believing in Sherlock) little friend” earlier, they could have avoided so many things. They could have avoided John’s heartbreak when Sherlock committed suicide, they could have avoided John’s engagement and marriage to Mary and eventually John’s heartbreak at her loss. If Sherlock wouldn’t have relied on drugs as much as he had, maybe this all would have turned out differently.
But to summarize, John clearly looks miserable in the entire scene. Because both John and Sherlock know that John being a doctor is not his most authentic self. While the part of him that is attracted to women isn’t made up (not “media studies”), it’s not all there is to him. But his attraction to men (soldier) or moreover his attraction to both genders (army-doctor) isn’t mentioned at all in this scene, clearly showing how Sherlock has lost all hope that John could actually still be in love with him after everything that went down.
Thank you all so much for reading. Season 4 has been tough on all of us but this is my attempt on reading this scene. Also as you probably noticed, I am still quite new at writing meta, so please excuse.
If you agree, disagree or have anything to add, let me know.
