DVD Commentary: Pseudoscience
A section of Pseudoscience chosen by the lovely nox_candida
I have not, in fact, done this before, so here's hoping I'm doing it right.
“So they grabbed you thinking there was something inhumanly… something... about your brains? Your ability to figure everything out? Or do you happen to sparkle in sunlight?”
Let's be fair: if you were already convinced there were supernatural things out there, and you ran into Sherlock, you'd probably think he wasn't human too.
“Why on earth would I sparkle, John?”
I am weak against Twilight references, really.
John sighed. This was his ‘you’ve missed a cultural reference’ sigh. It was a bit terrifying to realise how quickly Sherlock had acquired a miniature catalogue of them. “Right, no sparkles, of course not, never mind.”
“I’ve still no idea why they’d have grabbed you, though. You seem entirely ordinary… I don’t mean that as an insult, for being ordinary you’re rather extraordinary, it’s just…” Sherlock trailed off as he realised he had no idea what he was actually trying to say. “They don’t seem nearly scientific enough for a control.”
Foreshadowing! Also, Sherlock is bad at expressing things!
Now he could hear the shrug in John’s voice. “Wish I could tell you, mate.”
More foreshadowing!
“They seem to think I’ve got some sort of psychic abilities, they were trying to have me deduce things by touch or with these little cards with triangles and wavy lines on them.”
“How’d you do?”
“Perfect score after the twenty-three seconds it took to learn her tells.”
Ghostbusters reference, though of course the cards they're using are used by actual paranormal researchers.
John giggled, and Sherlock laughed as well, feeling an unaccountable warmth in his chest. “Remind me never to play poker with you, mate.”
“I look forward to learning all of your tells, John Watson.”
Inadvertent flirting! In my head, he's also saying this in an inadvertently sexy voice.
John went silent, and Sherlock was suddenly terrified he’d said something… not good.
“That’s… ah, yes,” John finally responded. “Should be interesting.”
Headcanon: John just had to adjust himself.
There was silence again, until John, in what was clearly an attempt to divert the conversation, admitted, “I’ve… they may be under the impression I can’t stand silver.”
“What on earth for?” Sherlock asked.
“Because it stops them trying something else that would actually injure me!” John said, almost yelling. “You hardly have to be something inhuman to fear fire or them working their way any further through the bloody Malleus Maleficarum on my arse.” He took several deep breaths. “Sorry, sorry. It’s too quiet here, and too small, and it smells, and it’s getting to me. A bit.”
My undergraduate university has a copy of the MM in their rare book collection, I saw it once whilst sitting in on a lecture on witchcraft. As one does.
“That’s… rather clever, John.”
John, of course, is clever. He's not Sherlock, but he's of above average intelligence and skills.
And John didn’t know Sherlock, not really, and didn’t get that Sherlock never complimented anyone, didn’t know that no one liked Sherlock; he just knew that Sherlock was smart and he thought Sherlock was brilliant and Sherlock wanted to know if John would still actually want to talk to him if they hadn’t been trapped here together with no one else.
...and here we have their entire relationship in this fic in a nutshell. They're both in this completely abnormal setting removed from any external references, their only contact is through talking. And despite or because of this, they're forming a connection.
“I must confess I’m rather looking forward to what my brother will do once he gets his hands on our captors.” Not for his own sake, the abduction made a bit of a change of pace and it had been a very slow Thursday, but they’d apparently put John in some distress, and that was unacceptable.
Then again, he’d not have met John if they’d not been kidnapped.
Once he and John had escaped and Mycroft had imprisoned their entire organisation in some sort of government bunker that didn’t officially exist, perhaps he would send flowers.
Are you allowed to be amused by your own stuff? Because I get a kick out of that line.
“Your brother?” John asked, clearly having grasped the least important part.
“Works for the government. Well, when I say works for…”
“Guessing not, say, a postman, though.”
Oh, but that was a lovely mental image. “Not as such, no.”
General notes: I have a soft spot for John getting one over on Sherlock, and for any fics that showcase what makes him such an interesting character in his own right. And then nox_candida said wingfic... Throw in some Being Human (UK version) and Supernatural, and you have this story.
Additionally, lareinenoire and I have done a short commentary on A Spell of Deduction over at her journal.