I really love BBC Sherlock. And Martin Freeman. And Johnlock. I have a lot of headcanons - not all of them agree with each other. "Our sofa is squishy, maybe too squishy; it's hard to get up sometimes"
New Sherlock Holmes adaptation idea: Watsondoes a voiceover narration of the story and it frequently contradicts what’s happening onscreen. Sometimes it’s literally just blatant lies. Watson also frequently looks into the camera like he’s on the office. It’s set in the original Victorian era so this should not be possible. He’s the only character who does this.
one day they're gonna make a sherlock show where the obvious gay subtext actually becomes text and sherlock delays a case because he's too busy exploring 140 years of neglected homoerotic tension
New Sherlock Holmes adaptation idea: Watsondoes a voiceover narration of the story and it frequently contradicts what’s happening onscreen. Sometimes it’s literally just blatant lies. Watson also frequently looks into the camera like he’s on the office. It’s set in the original Victorian era so this should not be possible. He’s the only character who does this.
i feel like the fandom really brushes past the wedding between john and mary and just dismiss it as sherlock pining for john, and, not wrong (i will write a 10 page essay handwritten about how incredibly sherlock is yearning and 8 of them would just focus on the speech) but also we’re missing the key point to the wedding.
sherlock is lonely. he’s so alone because the only person he thinks he has is john, and john is now married to mary and wouldn’t spend as much time with him anymore. he’s so alone and that used to be what protected him but once he had a taste of companionship, being alone turned into being lonely. he looks around the crowd and he finds no one.
that’s a lie, he finds one person. and yet that one person is dancing with his wife to the melody sherlock constructing, dipping her down and kissing her, and sherlock can only watch.
Making my heart break even more. Like that last scene of the episode where he looks around the room and no one really focuses on him, hes completely isolated in a room full of people that are supposed to be his friends that they dont even notice when he leaves.
And next time we see him hes relapsed and high on drugs. You cant tell me that was just for a case. I bet he immediately went from the wedding to shoot up somewhere because no one seemed to care about him completely alone 😭 especially coming back from 2 years of torture alone that must have hurt so bad
Do y'all want to hear about how much TSOT is not cute, it's not romantic, it's a sign that Sherlock needs some actual therapy yesterday?
Probably not, but when has that ever stopped me.
Let's recap, shall we?
I'm not even going to get into Mycroft with this, because the Holmes Brothers are a whole suitcase to unpack on its own.
Molly was the only one to notice Sherlock knew where this train was heading in TRF. She's the only one who checks on him. She helps him fake his death, hide, and keeps his silence even when Anderson gets suspended because he's so fucking upset. She is a ride or die bestie. Yeah, she's got this crush going and it's awkward, I get that, but she is still in for all Sherlock's shenanigans at St. Bart's and beyond.
Mrs. Hudson very clearly loves Sherlock like an adult son. He is closer to her than he is his actual mother.
Mary shooting Sherlock during the Magnussen break-in makes no sense (why tf wasn't she wearing a mask) so I, personally, grade Mary on the "it's not you, it's your writing" curve. But before and after that whatever-the-fuck section of the narrative, Mary adores her third wheel. She does the wedding planning John isn't interested in... with Sherlock. When John is talking to other people at the wedding, Mary hangs out with Sherlock. She wants John to work cases with Sherlock. She wants to help them work cases. She wants to take the third wheel out herself and go work cases. She has zero problem with Sherlock coparenting Rosie. Sherlock is in the CAR for the DELIVERY of her DAUGHTER. Mary is the one who convinces John to take Sherlock back after the Fall in the first place. Like, as far as Mary is concerned, Sherlock is a feature that comes with John, not a bug.
(Honestly, if I had been doing the "Mary as an assassin" angle, I would have done the same thing with John Watson that Person of Interest did with Harold Finch: "clearly, I have accidentally started a half-way house for damaged sociopaths, so I am going to give them crimes for environmental enrichment, a therapy dog for companionship, and facilitate their reintegration into human society." But I digress.)
Lestrade. When we first meet Lestrade, Sherlock asks "who is on forensics?" and responds to finding out it's Anderson with, "Anderson won't work with me." This, combined with Lestrade's reaction to Sherlock "running off on his own" implies that Sherlock partnered with NSY staff prior to meeting John. This is further supported with Sherlock using a combination of Lestrade, Molly, and working solo in John's absence. Even without that inference, Lestrade has, canonically: 1) chosen to take time out of Christmas with his wife to go to Sherlock's Christmas party; 2) extends his vacation to check on Sherlock during Baskerville; 3) accepts Sherlock's word about his wife's affair with no anger at Sherlock; 4) spent at least three years and possibly as many as seven working cases with Sherlock without getting clearance from the Chief Superintendent (even though it could get him fired), and convinced other detectives to do so; 5) greets Sherlock's return from the dead with a hug; 6) cannot stop smiling for three seconds while working his first case with Sherlock after he's back from the dead; 7) interrupts Sherlock's best man speech with a tangental question regarding how Sherlock solved the referenced case; 8) scowls during Sherlock's best man speech where he negatively compares himself to John; 9) drops a case he has been working on for a year in a blatant over-reaction to Sherlock asking for help; 10) chases Sherlock from London (possibly to Sherrinford) to Musgrave (that is, across England's entire length and possibly its entire breadth and that of Wales). Lestrade is, canonically, as ride-or-die for Sherlock as Sherlock is for John.
Anderson is so upset at Sherlock's death he gets suspended because he can't deal. He is as helpful a voice in Sherlock's head as Molly. He is the confidant Sherlock trusts and uses to lure Mary. He is the first to figure out Sherlock is still alive.
Sherlock is NOT, in any way, shape or form, "alone without John." (Arguably, the reverse is true: besides Mary, John's entire social circle are people who were Sherlock's friends first.) Sherlock just won't take "yes" for an answer from anyone else other than John.
Furthermore, Lestrade and Mrs. Hudson grieved Sherlock's loss after the fall. Mrs. Hudson is sobbing at his grave, and Lestrade's scene with Anderson is heartbreaking. Yet, while Sherlock is suicidally spiraling in TLD trying to get John's attention (which by his own admission John wasn't willing to grant until dead!Mary emotionally blackmailed him into it), Sherlock gives absolutely no thought to the fact he is inflicting his SECOND death on Mrs. Hudson and Lestrade, and his first REAL death on Molly and Anderson. If John doesn't want him, life isn't worth living, and fuck everyone else who is going to have to grieve him because John didn't want him.
That isn't healthy. That isn't romantic. Sherlock needs therapy.
i DO think you’re right. i think you’re right about sherlock not being alone, his dependency on john, his utter fucked up relationship with john in fact. but what i believe you’re missing is sherlock not being alone, but feeling lonely. he doesn’t believe he has anybody but john, not really. that’s what factors into the whole ‘suicidal so john saves him’ thing. he doesn’t even think of the fact that fact that there are other people who would mourn him. his single minded focus on john is destructive for both themselves and the people around them. it isn’t romantic, it’s so fucked up but in a way it’s them.
@ineffably-chloe Did I not say, "Sherlock needs therapy," twice? And "Sherlock won't take 'yes' for an answer from anyone else"?
Just because it is what canon gave us does not make it "good," in either the sense of "healthy" nor "well-written." If Sherlock damning all his friends to enduring his suicide is "fucked up, but in a way it's them" then "it's them" is fundamentally toxic and irredeemable.
But then, the latter seasons, Season 4 in particular, are too busy being a hate-letter to the Johnlock shippers to be anything approaching cogent storytelling. John Watson's entire characterizations -- in both the ACD canon and S1&2 of BBC Sherlock -- are sacrificed to that goal.
“Tumblr age verification will not be needed,” tumblr staff states upon confirming every single blog on the site is more than 10 years old.
“If you were literate enough to be posting about Johnlock in 2015 we can kind of just assume you’re good,” staff elaborated even though we did not ask them to.
Seriously.
People John has been demonstrably jealous of so far:
Jim from IT
Moriarty (yes, separate listings!)
Irene
Janine
John even gets tetchy about the fact that Sherlock said Mary’s name when he first revived in the hospital. Just. Kiss. Him.
Like yes ofc it means John loves Sherlock, but it’s not just that though is it? Because it’s one thing to love or care about someone, but it’s a whole other thing to be so pissed off when he sees Sherlock with someone else. Does it imply John subconsciously feel a sense of ownership over Sherlock? If that’s the case, is that really a good or “endearing” thing? Or is it quite toxic in a way?
I’m a johnlock shipper all the way, but the comparison with John’s lack of jealousy towards David made me think of this. Let’s take the situation out of bbc Sherlock or johnlock context first. I’m not debating about johnlock being canon or not, I’m just comparing relationship dynamics.
A bride, a groom, and a bride’s ex. If the groom doesn’t feel jealous of the ex, isn’t that an indicator that the relationship between the groom and bride is healthy and strong and that they trust each other. (Again: I’m not talking about John, Mary or David. I know for their case there are other things to consider etc etc) I only point this out because of its stark contrast to John’s extreme jealousy towards anyone who gets close to Sherlock. Which leads me back to my original question: is John’s jealousy “endearing” or rather toxic?
This is so true and I love that someone pointed it out. All the “jealousy” jlock shippers fawn over, in canon, has never once had anything to do with romantic feelings or John being attracted to Sherlock.
A main theme throughout the whole show is John not seeing Sherlock as entirely human- doubting his motivations, being shocked at his emotions, completely misunderstanding him as a person because he’s looking at him through the lens of him being a machine. Part of that phenomenon is John not really seeing Sherlock as an individual capable of having a social life and human connections outside of John (even though literally everyone in the show was friends with Sherlock first, but that just proves my point about John’s first impression bias).
It’s not just potential romantic partners of Sherlock’s that John is visibly annoyed by- it’s also acquaintances, friends, business contacts. Part of this is because John doesn’t like having his established viewpoint challenged- that Sherlock doesn’t have people- and part of it is because John relies so heavily on being the “normal” one is their relationship. He’s the one that’s morally superior, he’s the one that’s socially capable, he’s the one that has normal human networking skills. It gives him a little edge over Sherlock to balance out Sherlock having an edge over him intellectually. So naturally, when Sherlock acts in any way that disproves that rule, that shows that he can be human too (whether it’s him having personal connections, him openly feeling things, him competently navigating interpersonal situations, etc), John bristles.
Because as I alluded to earlier, John based his entire perception of and dynamic with Sherlock on his very first meeting with him- Sherlock is an aloof and apathetic robot with superhuman intelligence who’s never wrong and John is the normal guy who keeps him in check. And he staunchly refuses to let anything change that perception, because then the foundation of their friendship would crumble on John’s end and John’s self esteem would take a massive hit.
[id: graffiti on the base of a concrete overpass where previous grafiti has been covered over with gray paint multiple times. In black all-caps handwriting, it reads: "What kind of paint are you using to paint over this? Because if it is latex, its probably way too cold for it, you want good adhesion, you need like at least 40°-45°. Maybe wait till it warms up a little, I mean what's the big rush? Like, I'm in a rush now but our situations are different" /end id]
Just started reading Sherlock Holmes and all the adaptations are wrong. This man is a delight. He gets excited about hemoglobin and is ecstatic at the thought of Watson as a roommate. He purposefully forgets how the solar system works so he has more room in his brain for crime. He shows Watson the dirt stains on his trousers and he can tell what part of London they come from based on color and consistency. (As far as i can tell Watson didn't ask, Sherlock just gets back from walks and tells Watson about the stains unprompted.) The text specifically says "Holmes was certainly not a difficult man to live with." Why does every adaptation make him unpleasant and rude, he's literally just eccentric. He's such a goober, I love him.
you have to really care about someone’s love life if you’re willing to kidnap a tiny angry bisexual army doctor approximately 32 hours after he loans his alcoholic lesbian sister’s phone to your nerdy sad gay little brother so he can send a text about green ladders to a silver fox copper whom you’ve resolutely decided is not a goldfish
the reason mycroft’s so neurotic about having his brother watched is because the first time he babysat sherlock he LOST THE ENTIRE TODDLER AND SHERLOCK ALMOST ATE A FROG
Mycroft is neurotic about having his brother watched, yes. But then I think of ASIP adult Sherlock seen through Mycroft’s POV. He keeps hard drugs somewhere in his flat, runs around the city after criminals and collides with cars, gets into the cab of a serial killer, lets himself be manipulated into swallowing a pill that has a 50% chance of being poisonous. Mycroft probably doesn’t feel that his little brother’s sense of self-preservation has improved since his toddler years. And he loves him and wants to keep him alive.
(Mycroft probably has a good deal of responsibility that they’re in such a situation. Sherlock’s recklessness results at least partly from the fact that he has always lived with the safety net that is his brother. And by treating his adult brother like a child, Mycroft encourages him to remain as childish as he likes … not to mention that this also causes Sherlock to feel belittled and be resentful, and thus unlikely to calmly listen to anything Mycroft has to say about his lifestyle.)
And don’t forget Eurus wanted to kill Sherlock. Mycroft was probably the only one who took that risk seriously at first. That’s a very traumatic experience…
Also, the safety net that might have started at first as an Eurus-precaution, continuously grew bigger and served to keep Sherlock from all kinds of harm/severe consequences of his own actions, therefore NOT letting Sherlock face those consequences and kind of “get serious”.
I think that their post-s4 dynamic needs to reflect on that: “oh, so you /did/ have a reason to keep an eye on me for all of my life”. But they also should talk about it and decide what to do from now on.
I’ve always been curious as to whether Sherlock’s unaired pilot had a title before being ditched and reworked into ‘A Study in Pink’.
Turns out, it did: ‘A Touch of Pink’.
Sources:
∙ The current official Facebook page for BBC’s Sherlock : [x]
∙ The former official Facebook page for A Touch of Pink : [x]
∙ The CV of the pilot’s costume designer, Ray Holman (archived from May 2009) : [x]
∙ Sherlock’s Wikipedia article history (archived from Dec 2009) : [x]
I would like to read some in-show newspaper articles:
1) The article Kitty Reilly wrote after interviewing Richard Brooke/ Moriarty. It contains the lie that Sherlock’s deductions are just a scam, but also a lot of true information about Sherlock’s background that Mycroft told Moriarty about. I tried to pause on the article once and it just contains a few sentences that are repeated over and over again. I would like someone to elaborate on that.
2) The articles and interviews about Sherlock’s amorous activities with Janine.
(Since they shed a pretty heterosexual light on Sherlock’s (assumed) love life, I suppose John is pretty happy that those were published just around the time when “confirmed bachelor John Watson” left his wife shortly after the wedding and moved in with Sherlock again. That certainly prevented new, embarrassing rumours…)
On the discussion of book accurate depictions of Sherlock Holmes, one thing I really want is accurate Mycroft. In the books Sherlock is very… autistically coded. At least to me, an autistic person. And Sherlock basically states that Mycroft has more “severe” autism. Sherlock says his brother is more brilliant than he is but absolutely cannot function in society and hates social interaction so much he founded a society for the purpose of minimizing it as much as possible. In addition it’s implied he becomes overstimulated so easily he has to curate his environment to be devoid of disturbance and noise.
Give me the autistic brothers but one has it much much worse
Enough of this Mycroft as the more sociable of the two who is a powerful politician. This man would have a meltdown if he had to be that social!!!
Mycroft goes one (1) place and then goes home, at the same time every day, and does not talk to anyone if he can avoid it, and is really good with facts and figures. Given the state of mental health research in the late 1800s, Mycroft is possibly the most autistic a character could be. And he's HAPPY - do you know how rare that is in fiction about autistic people? Sherlock is super clear about this: Mycroft does his Mycroft things, and has no desire to do any other things, and everyone is super grateful for him being himself and sorting out all their facts for them.
Obviously we only meet him in the stories when he's been forced to Get Up And Go Do Something because of circumstances (that's how adventure stories work, after all) but the majority of the time, Mycroft is having a great time looking out the window and not talking to anyone. Good for him, I say
Remember that one story where Mycroft actually dropped by Sherlock's place to ask his help and Sherlock was like "holy fuck, Mycroft choosing to go to a new location? Is the world ending?"
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