Favorite Quotes (All Series)

[T.o.b.y]

Ahhhh, we're back to the big Sherlock riddle: Fake or real, and I am not speaking about his deductive powers, obviously. I think that is what makes the character eternally interesting, on the show as well as in Doyle's world: You never can be sure with him whether he is really opening a window to his soul or just pulling your leg (again). In that graveyard scene, I always assumed he was being very sincere - but maybe you're right and I'm just doing a Watson and being a total sucker. We'll never find out. Oh, how I love to keep wondering...

[Carol the Dabbler]

In that graveyard scene, I always assumed he was being very sincere - but maybe you're right and I'm just doing a Watson and being a total sucker.

 

As noted by someone recently, this incarnation of John Watson rarely "does a Watson," and this scene is a perfect example of his skepticism.

 

[T.o.b.y]

You think he didn't buy it? I always interpreted his reaction as John-ish embarrassment when confronted with naked heart-felt affection, but maybe I got it wrong. Oh, good excuse to watch The Hounds of Baskerville again! Now, where is that DVD...?

[Carol the Dabbler]

I've never interpreted John's behavior here as embarrassment -- still annoyed, more than anything -- and perhaps wants to let Sherlock live with the effects of his temper tantrum a little longer, hoping it'll teach him a lesson.

 

[sherlockandjohn]

Interesting! Never thought there would be a discussion from that quote; it always seemed straightforward to me... but I can see now that that was narrowminded.

 

The way I see it is that Sherlock is indeed sincere about John being his closest friend (no one can doubt that), but that he might be wording it to "just got one" in order to get back in John's good books. Whether he actually feels that John is his only friend, is unclear to me. I'm sure he would consider at least Mrs. Hudson a friend, too, but then again she is more like a mother figure.

 

Even though his words are sincere, I believe Sherlock is only expressing his feelings in this scene in order to make peace with John again. It is very deliberate, as is everything Sherlock does. What's so fascinating about it is, as has also been brought up in this thread, that John is often gullible when it comes to Sherlock's schemes. He forgets (as do I!) that Sherlock does everything - or very nearly everything - with a purpose. This is evident very quickly afterwards, when Sherlock makes John coffee, and John thinks the man is still apologising I keep smiling at that scene.

 

When John walks away after Sherlock has said "I've just got one", I interpret it as being his way of making Sherlock suffer just a little longer for what he did.

[T.o.b.y]

Whether he actually feels that John is his only friend, is unclear to me. I'm sure he would consider at least Mrs. Hudson a friend, too, but then again she is more like a mother figure.

 

Well, not very long before he said indignantly that he didn't have any friends at all. That exchange:

.

"I don't have friends" - "Yeah, I wonder why"

 

is one of my favorites. I love how Sherlock says "friends" as if the word was an insult.

 

Now, do you think he was being sincere there, at least? After all, his nerves were pretty shaken. If it was sincere, then he simply didn't realize yet what the people around him meant to him. He only gradually wakes up to that. And why should the first penny not have dropped shortly before that conversation in the graveyard?

[sherlockandjohn]

Yes, that's a very emotional exchange they have there. When Sherlock first says, "I don't have friends", I've always assumed it is because he generally frowns upon emotional attachment, and doesn't want to recognise it in his own life. As viewers, though, we know of Sherlock's emotional attachment to certain people.

The next day, at the graveyard, he has realised that his words must have hurt John, and the need to rectify the situation (make John happy, get himself out of the woods, keep John as his friend) has exceeded the need to distance himself from feelings, and/or maintain his pride.

[T.o.b.y]

he generally frowns upon emotional attachment, and doesn't want to recognise it in his own life. As viewers, though, we know of Sherlock's emotional attachment to certain people

 

I share your impression there. We do know more about him in that respect than he does (did?) about himself. I wonder whether the next step of character development will be him being forced to wonder about other people's emotional attachment to himself. So far, he seems to have taken that pretty much for granted.

 

I do love all of Sherlock's bitter remarks on love and sentiment in A Scandal in Belgravia, especially

 

"sentiment is a chemical defect found on the losing side"

 

I wonder whose brain I have to thank for that line?

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

I suspect Conan Doyle is behind it somewhere.  No idea how far behind, though.

 

[T.o.b.y]

Well, I haven't come across a line remotely like that in the stories (yet)...

 

John has some really nice lines as well, doesn't he? I really like "I always hear 'punch me in the face' when you talk, but it's usually subtext".

[sherlockandjohn]

 

 

I wonder whether the next step of character development will be him being forced to wonder about other people's emotional attachment to himself. So far, he seems to have taken that pretty much for granted.

 

 

Sounds very possible. Perhaps in the wake of his return, if his friends don't take too kindly to his "stunt". (I hope they won't at first)

[sherlockandjohn]

 

John has some really nice lines as well, doesn't he? I really like "I always hear 'punch me in the face' when you talk, but it's usually subtext".

 

A definite favorite of mine! Oh, the writers of Sherlock are so brilliant!

 

Another John-line (well, followed by one of Sherlock's):

 

Sherlock: "I'm not the Commonwealth".

John: "And that's as modest as he gets".

[BlueTiger]

John has some really nice lines as well, doesn't he? I really like "I always hear 'punch me in the face' when you talk, but it's usually subtext".

 

That was a good one! The writers do a great job of making John a fairly clever bloke while still letting him be dwarfed by Sherlock's brilliance. I'm not that familiar with other adaptations, but I gather Watson is sometimes portrayed as a dunce. That seems like a real disservice to the character - he is a doctor, after all! I like that this version of John is really pretty quick-witted - with some good lines to show for it. Sherlock just happens to be operating on a whole other level.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Watson is apparently kind of a comic-relief dunce in the Rathbone-and-Bruce movies (but it's been so long since I saw any of them that I'm really not able to give my own impression).

 

In the adaptations that I am currently familiar with, he (or occasionally she) is much truer to Conan Doyle's original.  In addition to Martin Freeman's interpretation, I especially like the performances by David Burke and Edward Hardwicke with Jeremy Brett's Holmes.

 

[T.o.b.y]

 I gather Watson is sometimes portrayed as a dunce. That seems like a real disservice to the character

 

... and it's not very complimentary towards Holmes, either! What kind of a genius would need an idiot to look smart? It makes no sense that a man like Sherlock Holmes would tolerate anybody who didn't have sterling qualities of his own.

 

Another favorite John quote of mine:

"There is a mute button and I will use it"

 

[T.o.b.y]

Okay, I've got a new one for the favorite quotes - a very new one, so I'll put it in a spoiler box:

 

 

 

"What life? I've been away!"

 

 

 

I do hope they actually used that in the episode's dialogue!

[sherlockandjohn]

Sounds like Sherlock, alright 

[sherlockandjohn]

Okay, I've got a new one for the favorite quotes - a very new one, so I'll put it in a spoiler box:

 

 

 

"What life? I've been away!"

 

 

 

I do hope they actually used that in the episode's dialogue!

 

Okay, at first I thought you came up with that one Hadn't seen the trailer until now. That is an awesome line!

[Janie]

I love that line! It seems that Sherlock hasn't changed much

[sherlockandjohn]

A great one of Mycroft's that I've been thinking of lately:

 

"The promise of love, the pain of loss, the joy of redemption. Then give him a puzzle and watch him dance". And then Sherlock's response: "Don't be absurd".

 

The interaction between the two brothers in this scene is intense. We get a rare insight into a vulnerable part of each of their personalities. When Mycroft reproaches his brother, I think Sherlock is genuinely caught by surprise, doesn't want to acknowledge the truth, and yet to some degree is aware that Mycroft is right.

 

However, lately I have thought of those words, "the pain of loss, the joy of redemption", in connection with John's emotional journey - the one he's had since Sherlock's death, and the one he is about to have...

[Carol the Dabbler]

Most things in this show do seem to fit together very nicely.  Sometimes I wonder whether that's because Moftiss plan two or three series ahead -- or simply because it's all "true" in some basic Sherlockian way.

 

[T.o.b.y]

Most things in this show do seem to fit together very nicely.  Sometimes I wonder whether that's because Moftiss plan two or three series ahead -- or simply because it's all "true" in some basic Sherlockian way.

 

Probably both. Although I often suspect my own brain of simply making (sometimes forcing) connections between quotes and plot elements because it's so satisfying to feel it all making sense.

 

I do love that Mycroft quote, too. Some of the lines they write for the Holmes brothers are almost poetic. Like "every quiver of it's beating heart", even if I do not know how one could breathe those in, Sherlock...

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

I often suspect my own brain of simply making (sometimes forcing) connections between quotes and plot elements because it's so satisfying to feel it all making sense.

 

Yes, there does seem to be a basic human need to connect the dots!

 

[sherlockandjohn]

Another quote I love from the new series:

 

 

The thrill of the chase, the blood pumping through your veins. Just the two of us against the rest of the world

 

 

Now, how can you resist that?

[T.o.b.y]

Yes, that's another brush with poetry. I'm looking forward to finding out what the context is in the series.