The Almost-Manifesto of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson
I've been holding in my love for the BBC's Sherlock, mostly because last week's episode wasn't so bright and shiny as the first, so I wanted to wait and see what the final part of this mini series would be like before I would explode about it. And let me tell you, it delivered. I could go on about plot all day, but there's a million places for that. Instead I want to concentrate on the slash, on Sherlock/John, because I haven't read meta or got into discussions about the pairing itself, so I'll just unleash my current thoughts on the matter and see what others think. Also, I'm not going to be super intelligent on this matter, so expect casual language and flailing with no structure. As if I already don't do that often enough.
Warning: spoilers for all three parts.
I admit that I am prone to listening to hype. I got on board Supernatural, Merlin, Star Trek, and now Sherlock because my f-list exploded with positive reviews at their outsets. Basically, if there's epic slash to be had, I'm lining up to at least try it. Now, I've always liked the character of Sherlock Holmes and I like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle a great deal. I also liked the 2009 movie a lot, and I do admit that it's slashy as hell, but it wasn't slashy in a way that drew me in. I don't know what elements made it this way, but it definitely felt more bromantic than romantic. However, this reincarnation of Holmes has made me sit up and take notice. Hell, I just started reading "A Study in Scarlet" and have read a ton of fan fic in the past week. What makes me love this show more than other versions?
A good part of it is that it's set in the modern day. I didn't even know it was set in the modern day before I started watching it, but it definitely made it a thousand times more interesting because it opened up so many possibilities. What would a modern Sherlock look like? How would he operate? Is he pro-technology or anti-technology? How would the modern world react to his eccentric brilliance? Even the tiny detail that he prefers to text is titillating to me. Not only is the physical world updated for these characters, but their traits are updated. Sherlock self-identifies as a high-functioning sociopath. John has a psychosomatic limp. They call each other John and Sherlock instead of the antiquated tradition of using surnames.
Another part of the appeal is entirely based on casting and character type. Benedict Cumberbatch is a perfect choice for Sherlock. RDJ did a good job and all, but I never looked at his Sherlock and thought that he didn't care about people. He obviously wanted Watson back, and he visibly cared about Irene being safe. Now, it could be this way because this Sherlock is older, but the styles are just different. Not only is it highly believable that Cumberbatch's Sherlock may not give two shits about anyone, but this Sherlock has this dangerous trait and there's that term "sociopath". Donovan warns John about Sherlock, that he's a psychopath and that one day there will be a body on the ground and Sherlock will put it there because he'll get bored. Hell, just look at him stepping on the gun wound of the taxi driver and torturing him for a name. Sherlock is a sort of anti-hero, and even though I don't care for Moriarty at all, I like that the writers tried to show what Sherlock could become if he felt inclined. And of course I am in love with a highly intelligent man. It's a weakness of mine.
The last and most important part is the relationship. The 2009 movie has a strike against it because it begins with Holmes and Watson as friends who have fallen out with the other. We don't get to see their relationship start out or grow. In this version we get the building blocks, get to see John's life before Sherlock and we get a glimpse of what Sherlock's life is like before John, based entirely on what other characters and Sherlock himself says about Sherlock ("A friend?!" "An enemy." "Oh. Which one?") The first episode sets us up, the third one knocks us down (and we remain there until they HURRY UP AND FILM ANOTHER SERIES, DAMN IT.) As a person who has only read a couple of Sherlock stories and who barely remembers them, it's even harder to get on board the slash boat with the 2009 version because I just can't see what their relationship was like beforehand. I think only a little was resolved between them in the movie, and so who knows, they probably drifted apart more. Besides, there's Mary the fiance and I really like Irene, so I'm almost more on the het side, and that's a scary thought when you're a career slasher. :P
It may sound stupid, but as I watch these episodes, I sometimes have the nonsensical thought, "Not John." Sherlock doesn't have feelings, doesn't care about others, EXCEPT when it concerns John. Sherlock is quick to lump John in with the rest of the slow minds around him, but John possesses qualities that fascinate Sherlock. There's John's enthusiasm to see more action ("oh god yes.) There's John's praise of Sherlock's abilities (even in the third episode when they've known each other a while), which is probably the quickest way to Sherlock's egotistical little black heart, complimenting him. And according to Sherlock, no one EXCEPT John responds to Sherlock's genius like that ("what do they usually say?" "Piss off.") Sherlock is shown with plenty of other characters, but not once do they make him laugh...EXCEPT John, who makes him laugh a lot, actually ("stop giggling, it's a crime scene.")
The third episode just fucking cemented that little phrase of "not John" in my head. The whole damn episode makes my pet phrase a god damn plot focus. Sherlock must figure out clues to save the lives of hostages a la "Die Hard with a Vengeance." Sherlock is so immersed in the game that he doesn't seem to notice that actual people are about to die or that one does die ("I'm on fire!", he enthuses at one point.) Sherlock notices that John is disappointed and angry about Sherlock's attitude, and they even have a whole conversation in which Sherlock points out that caring about the hostages and victims won't save their lives. Then, oh then, the episode does exactly what I was hoping for the entire time: Moriarty puts John in the same shoes as all the other victims, strapping him to explosives. The result of this is more than this slasher could have hoped for. First there's Sherlock's stricken expression and his horrified and astonished "John." Then he's cool as a cucumber though the villain reveal, and what's notable about that is when Sherlock says that he has no heart and Moriarty insists that he does, and the implication is that Sherlock's heart is standing right there. When Moriarty leaves, Sherlocks drops the act, drops down to the floor, hurriedly unfastens the cloak and asks in a shockingly frantic and worried voice, "Are you all right?" That right there is the sentence that could launch a thousand slash ships. Sherlock Holmes, who up until that point had never shown true concern for someone else's well-being on screen, is not only concerned about John but is downright panicked. If that's not romantic, I don't know what is.
Basically, John and Sherlock work well together. John brings the humanity out of Sherlock, and Sherlock brings the crazy out of John. John is an ex-veteran who is shown in a small, barren apartment/hotel room at the beginning of the show and who tells his therapist that nothing happens to him. He has a psychosomatic limp, and it's Sherlock who proves that John doesn't need his cane. The cane is a metaphor for the effect Sherlock has on John's life. The cane is his old, boring life. Without the cane, John can run and go on an adventure, chasing the bad guy through the streets of London at night. With Sherlock, John has a purpose. Sure John complains about his methods and doesn't understand how someone that brilliant doesn't know that the Earth revolves around the sun, but it's obvious that John respects Sherlock and finds him to be an intriguing puzzle that will likely never be solved. I love how, in the last episode, John knew that the dead woman was on television and points out that Sherlock would have figured out that the portrait was a fake had he known more about the solar system. Sherlock is undoubtedly brilliant and smarter than pretty much everyone, but for once John gets to be the knowledgeable one. Their relationship is the perfect partnership, their weaknesses compensated by the other's strengths.
Warning: spoilers for all three parts.
I admit that I am prone to listening to hype. I got on board Supernatural, Merlin, Star Trek, and now Sherlock because my f-list exploded with positive reviews at their outsets. Basically, if there's epic slash to be had, I'm lining up to at least try it. Now, I've always liked the character of Sherlock Holmes and I like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle a great deal. I also liked the 2009 movie a lot, and I do admit that it's slashy as hell, but it wasn't slashy in a way that drew me in. I don't know what elements made it this way, but it definitely felt more bromantic than romantic. However, this reincarnation of Holmes has made me sit up and take notice. Hell, I just started reading "A Study in Scarlet" and have read a ton of fan fic in the past week. What makes me love this show more than other versions?
A good part of it is that it's set in the modern day. I didn't even know it was set in the modern day before I started watching it, but it definitely made it a thousand times more interesting because it opened up so many possibilities. What would a modern Sherlock look like? How would he operate? Is he pro-technology or anti-technology? How would the modern world react to his eccentric brilliance? Even the tiny detail that he prefers to text is titillating to me. Not only is the physical world updated for these characters, but their traits are updated. Sherlock self-identifies as a high-functioning sociopath. John has a psychosomatic limp. They call each other John and Sherlock instead of the antiquated tradition of using surnames.
Another part of the appeal is entirely based on casting and character type. Benedict Cumberbatch is a perfect choice for Sherlock. RDJ did a good job and all, but I never looked at his Sherlock and thought that he didn't care about people. He obviously wanted Watson back, and he visibly cared about Irene being safe. Now, it could be this way because this Sherlock is older, but the styles are just different. Not only is it highly believable that Cumberbatch's Sherlock may not give two shits about anyone, but this Sherlock has this dangerous trait and there's that term "sociopath". Donovan warns John about Sherlock, that he's a psychopath and that one day there will be a body on the ground and Sherlock will put it there because he'll get bored. Hell, just look at him stepping on the gun wound of the taxi driver and torturing him for a name. Sherlock is a sort of anti-hero, and even though I don't care for Moriarty at all, I like that the writers tried to show what Sherlock could become if he felt inclined. And of course I am in love with a highly intelligent man. It's a weakness of mine.
The last and most important part is the relationship. The 2009 movie has a strike against it because it begins with Holmes and Watson as friends who have fallen out with the other. We don't get to see their relationship start out or grow. In this version we get the building blocks, get to see John's life before Sherlock and we get a glimpse of what Sherlock's life is like before John, based entirely on what other characters and Sherlock himself says about Sherlock ("A friend?!" "An enemy." "Oh. Which one?") The first episode sets us up, the third one knocks us down (and we remain there until they HURRY UP AND FILM ANOTHER SERIES, DAMN IT.) As a person who has only read a couple of Sherlock stories and who barely remembers them, it's even harder to get on board the slash boat with the 2009 version because I just can't see what their relationship was like beforehand. I think only a little was resolved between them in the movie, and so who knows, they probably drifted apart more. Besides, there's Mary the fiance and I really like Irene, so I'm almost more on the het side, and that's a scary thought when you're a career slasher. :P
It may sound stupid, but as I watch these episodes, I sometimes have the nonsensical thought, "Not John." Sherlock doesn't have feelings, doesn't care about others, EXCEPT when it concerns John. Sherlock is quick to lump John in with the rest of the slow minds around him, but John possesses qualities that fascinate Sherlock. There's John's enthusiasm to see more action ("oh god yes.) There's John's praise of Sherlock's abilities (even in the third episode when they've known each other a while), which is probably the quickest way to Sherlock's egotistical little black heart, complimenting him. And according to Sherlock, no one EXCEPT John responds to Sherlock's genius like that ("what do they usually say?" "Piss off.") Sherlock is shown with plenty of other characters, but not once do they make him laugh...EXCEPT John, who makes him laugh a lot, actually ("stop giggling, it's a crime scene.")
The third episode just fucking cemented that little phrase of "not John" in my head. The whole damn episode makes my pet phrase a god damn plot focus. Sherlock must figure out clues to save the lives of hostages a la "Die Hard with a Vengeance." Sherlock is so immersed in the game that he doesn't seem to notice that actual people are about to die or that one does die ("I'm on fire!", he enthuses at one point.) Sherlock notices that John is disappointed and angry about Sherlock's attitude, and they even have a whole conversation in which Sherlock points out that caring about the hostages and victims won't save their lives. Then, oh then, the episode does exactly what I was hoping for the entire time: Moriarty puts John in the same shoes as all the other victims, strapping him to explosives. The result of this is more than this slasher could have hoped for. First there's Sherlock's stricken expression and his horrified and astonished "John." Then he's cool as a cucumber though the villain reveal, and what's notable about that is when Sherlock says that he has no heart and Moriarty insists that he does, and the implication is that Sherlock's heart is standing right there. When Moriarty leaves, Sherlocks drops the act, drops down to the floor, hurriedly unfastens the cloak and asks in a shockingly frantic and worried voice, "Are you all right?" That right there is the sentence that could launch a thousand slash ships. Sherlock Holmes, who up until that point had never shown true concern for someone else's well-being on screen, is not only concerned about John but is downright panicked. If that's not romantic, I don't know what is.
Basically, John and Sherlock work well together. John brings the humanity out of Sherlock, and Sherlock brings the crazy out of John. John is an ex-veteran who is shown in a small, barren apartment/hotel room at the beginning of the show and who tells his therapist that nothing happens to him. He has a psychosomatic limp, and it's Sherlock who proves that John doesn't need his cane. The cane is a metaphor for the effect Sherlock has on John's life. The cane is his old, boring life. Without the cane, John can run and go on an adventure, chasing the bad guy through the streets of London at night. With Sherlock, John has a purpose. Sure John complains about his methods and doesn't understand how someone that brilliant doesn't know that the Earth revolves around the sun, but it's obvious that John respects Sherlock and finds him to be an intriguing puzzle that will likely never be solved. I love how, in the last episode, John knew that the dead woman was on television and points out that Sherlock would have figured out that the portrait was a fake had he known more about the solar system. Sherlock is undoubtedly brilliant and smarter than pretty much everyone, but for once John gets to be the knowledgeable one. Their relationship is the perfect partnership, their weaknesses compensated by the other's strengths.