BBC Sherlock--the CV (resumé) revealed!!

[trishkafibble]

Wow, am I really posting twice in one day? Incredible!! I got hit with a sudden brainstorm, though (inspired by the genius work of wellingtongoose, found in this post), and decided to try my hand at making a transcript of Dr. John Watson's resumé (or CV, as the Brits like to call it) as it appears in the episode The Blind Banker.

Update: Now available on A03 (

Comments

[trishkafibble]

Somewhere else someone commented on this. I'm sure that the actual explanation is simply human error--somebody made a miscalculation and didn't catch it (or copy/pasted and then neglected to edit the dates properly?). Of course, it's all canon now, errors or no!

I figure a really picky fan could reconcile the info somehow, to her own liking. John making multiple typos on the CV? (Maybe Sherlock was being particularly distracting that day!) A childhood illness that kept John out of school for several years early on, so that he was consistently much older than his classmates? Who knows?

The info (such as the newspaper article) that makes him out to be older is clearly correct, or more nearly so. I have no beef with an actor born in 1971 playing one who was born two years later, but ten years?? I don't buy it at all.

...Er, I do feel I have to add a caveat here, though. If canon were ever to claim that Sherlock is actually ten years (or nearly so) younger than Benedict, I'd happily believe it. He is deliberately styled (the haircut, the dramatic wardrobe) and played (the physical exuberance, the childish petulance) very, very young. I don't doubt that there is intended to be a discrepancy there--a suggestion that he's less mature than he ought to be--but still, Sherlock could fall almost anywhere between 24 and 34 (Benedict's age, I think, at the start of the show) without losing any credibility. John, to reiterate, could _not_.

[azriona]

Benedict could...but I'm not sure that Mark Gatiss could, and it's both show and ACD canon that Mycroft is seven years older. I'm not entirely sure that I'd believe that Mycroft is in his early thirties - that's a bit of a stretch.

I agree, it's more than likely human error, and whoever typed it up (and then OK'd it for use) either didn't realize that the CV would actually show up on screen, or that there would be legions of fans inspecting every line for clues. (Well, maybe they hoped for the latter, and were counting on not having the former!)

I think there are more discrepancies with John's backstory than with any other character on the show - particularly when it comes to his backstory. You've seen the posts about his medical background and being an Army doctor, right? It's practically impossible to fit John Watson into a real-world scenario and still have all his pieces fit; the discrepancies with his CV seem to be just another piece of an extremely complicated puzzle.

(That said, I forgot to say that I agree, the CV as you've recreated is gorgeous. It must have taken hours to match everything up! I haven't seen this anywhere else, you should make sure it's linked on some of the comms.)

[trishkafibble]

Absolutely, the discrepancies in John's backstory are pretty overwhelming, especially under scrutiny. Have you seen these posts?

http://wellingtongoose.livejournal.com/7505.html
http://wellingtongoose.livejournal.com/7885.html
http://wellingtongoose.livejournal.com/8054.html

She discusses in some depth how the British system which produces doctors works, as well as how the military recruits and deploys them, all with a view toward somehow reconciling our beloved BAMF!doctor with some version of reality. Really fascinating stuff, and the first installment is what prompted me to make the CV transcript image.

Thank you so much for your kind words regarding the CV! It probably did take hours, now that I think about it, but compared with the artwork that I usually do (which is almost entirely photomanipulation, and generally involves juggling maybe a dozen images and a hundred or so layers), this project was totally easy-peasy! I was working from fantabulous HD screencaps, and really, only a few portions of the page were significantly blurry in all the shots. I probably spent more time trying to get MS Word to format it all properly for me than I did in actually puzzling it out and making it pretty!

I actually am quite chuffed with it, so if you'd like to pimp it here and there, feel free. I'm not sure how to go about it myself, but if you know of any sites that might appreciate the link, please let me know. Thanks again for your encouragement!!

[trishkafibble]

Oh, and I very much see your point about Mycroft, azriona! His age as portrayed by Gatiss definitely limits the range which could be attributed to Sherlock. Of course, Mycroft could be an opposite case to his brother, deliberately enhancing his appearance of maturity beyond his calendar years for the authority it lends...but even in such a case, I agree that Gatiss' Mycroft would have to be at least closely approaching forty. It's certainly more likely, though, that Sherlock's age more or less matches Cumberbatch's, so that Gatiss is only playing a scant few years younger than his own age.

[azriona]

I read the first two but not the third - those are actually those posts to which I was referring before. I've also since seen a good meta on AO3 about the same subject.

I'd start off with linking at sherlockbbc - there's a tag for meta and this would probably fall under that. (Might be another type of tag, too, you'll have to look when you get that far.)

[trishkafibble]

Oh, duh and double duh! I didn't realize you'd already referenced those posts, and of course, that's a great idea, to post a link at sherlockbbc! Thanks for pointing it out--I'm a bit addle-pated, so I always appreciate a nudge to the noggin! ^^

[azriona]

No problem, happy to spread word. And I saw it linked on Holmesian News, too, and I can't think of where else to put it, unless you have an account at AO3.

[trishkafibble]

O_O *blinks at you in mute awe* Well, yes I do. I do have an AO3 account!! I mainly post my (few and far-between) artworks at deviantArt, but AO3 would be more accessible to this fandom, I'm sure. (Plus, I wouldn't feel as though I were trying to claim this piece as actual art.) Bless you for your clear thinking!

[azriona]

Dude, you wrestled with MSWord, which is SO WELL KNOWN for its ease of use, for how long? I'd say there's a certain level of artiness going on here. :)

[trishkafibble]

lol. *my blushes*