Episode 1.1, "A Study In Pink"

[Carol the Dabbler]

2 hours ago, Arcadia said:

It's taken me awhile, but I finally started reading the Sherlock scripts that are available here and there. Starting with ASIP, natch.

This one says it's a "final shooting script - green amended". Does anyone know what that means? Because there's like 3-4 lines of dialogue at the very end that are printed in green, and that's all. Wonder if that means that's the only thing that changed from previous versions.

I would guess so.

My only previous knowledge in this area comes from reading about the filming of Star Trek.  The first "final draft" was printed on white paper.  The page numbers stayed the same from then on, even if stuff was added or deleted -- you'd then get Page 29A, B, etc., or a page saying nothing but "page omitted."  In each revised version, each page with any new changes on it was printed on a different color of paper.  I don't recall the official sequence, but there was a standard order of colors, so you could tell which changes were older or newer than others.  Apparently some scripts became quite a rainbow by the time filming was done!

The PDF versions may have used green ink instead of green paper.  Dunno.

[Pseudonym]

I quite like the sound of that scene on the roof, and that even if Sherlock isn't thinking of doing anything Lestrade knows his self-destructive tendencies well enough to be a bit wary. 

[Arcadia]

Self-destructive ... that's the word I was looking for. 

I do wish we had gotten a little more interaction between Lestrade and Sherlock, a little more of their background together. I think it could be an interesting dynamic. 

[Pseudonym]

I'd like to know how they met and started working together, though I accept what seems to be a fairly general head cannon that a young, high Sherlock wandered onto a crime scene, blew Lestrade away by knowing everything, got himself put in the frame as a suspect, and was eventually proved to be innocent but a genius. Lestrade helped him get clean by promising more work if he sorted himself out. 

[Arcadia]

Yeah, I think along similar lines. In spite of how Sherlock is, Lestrade seems to adore him, and Sherlock trusts Greg; it'd be fun to see how that relationship came about, I think. The interchange between them during the "drugs bust" is one of my favorite scenes, because of the way it hints at a past between them.

I just had a thought ... all of Sherlock's friends adore him, don't you think? Except John; John competes with him; at least, at the beginning. I wonder if that's part of their affinity, the competitiveness. Same reason Sherlock was attracted to Moriarty? As I said, just a thought.

[Pseudonym]

I think the thing with Sherlock is that he comes across as an arrogant uncaring prick, so at first you hate him, but as you get to know him a bit better you come to realise that some of it is an act and some of it is him genuinely not realising how harsh he's being. Not all the time, there are plenty of times he's being a dick and he means to be, but I think those flashes beneath the facade mean those people close enough to him come to understand him and cut him a bit more slack.

I think when he was younger, and Greg met him, he would have been how he is in season one but more so. Razor sharp, but brittle. Vulnerable and less skilled at hiding it. I can imagine him being blindingly cutting to try to hide the fact he's shaking because of the drugs, and it's enough to make less observant people back off, but someone like Greg can see what he's trying to distract from.

What way do you think John competes with him? Not in crime scenes, not in dating...?

[Hikari]

1 hour ago, Arcadia said:

Yeah, I think along similar lines. In spite of how Sherlock is, Lestrade seems to adore him, and Sherlock trusts Greg; it'd be fun to see how that relationship came about, I think. The interchange between them during the "drugs bust" is one of my favorite scenes, because of the way it hints at a past between them.

I just had a thought ... all of Sherlock's friends adore him, don't you think? Except John; John competes with him; at least, at the beginning. I wonder if that's part of their affinity, the competiveness. Same reason Sherlock was attracted to Moriarty? As I said, just a thought.

All of Sherl's friends adore him in their own ways, some forms of adoration being less squidgy than others.  I would call it 'benign tolerance mixed with affection' on the part of Mrs. Hudson; 'benign tolerance mixed with affection, respect and a sort of brotherly concern' on the part of Lestrade . . not that Lestrade would put himself on the level of Sherlock's real Big Brother, but Greg is sufficiently older than Sherl that there's a sort of that kind of energy between them.  Greg is in a bit of an awkward position re. Sherlock.  As the designated official of the institutional law enforcement structure in this setting, a seasoned experienced senior detective, and senior to Sherlock in age, Greg has a natural authority, and yet he puts himself into a subordinate, vulnerable role whenever he goes to Sherlock for help in doing his job.    I think he does regard Sherl as a friend (though apparently not close enough to warrant an invitation to John's stag night, something which still smarts), but their shared past history stands between them becoming drinking buddies on an equal footing.

We all know how much Molly adores Sherlock.

For my part, I don't believe that there is anyone on the planet who adores Sherlock Holmes more than John Watson, in Canon or here.  For a manly, self-sufficient guy like Watson, who has a plethora of skills in his own right as a surgeon-soldier, it rubs his ego raw at times to be deemed the junior partner in this partnership (or at least often treated as such).  What you see as competitiveness, I think is just Watson trying to assert his own masculinity in this equation.   He's strong-willed enough to want to be an entity separate from Holmes and stand as his own man, and yet, submitting to command from a more domineering personality comes very naturally to John from his soldiering days.  Men who are too iconoclastic to take orders from superior individuals either do not last long in the military or they don't seek it out in the first place.  John's gifts are complementary to Sherlock's.  He's got the emotional intelligence to smooth over Sherl's rough edges and be the more 'human' face of the partnership.  His gifts for administration shine when he keeps the case files, does the PR for the agency and takes charge of the accounts payable.  Sherlock doesn't care about money and he wouldn't collect his payments owed if Watson weren't by his side to gratefully take charge of the checks.  John's competition with Sherl is more on the domestic front, battling for equal space in their shared digs, or for SH to respect the privacy of John's things and time.  Professionally I don't sense competition between them.  Now, Anderson on the other hand, that's a bald-faced professional rivalry there because SH is treading on Anderson's own area of expertise.

Anderson is a friend now, of course.  Hero-worship variant.

[Arcadia]

10 hours ago, Pseudonym said:

I think when he was younger, and Greg met him, he would have been how he is in season one but more so. Razor sharp, but brittle. Vulnerable and less skilled at hiding it. I can imagine him being blindingly cutting to try to hide the fact he's shaking because of the drugs, and it's enough to make less observant people back off, but someone like Greg can see what he's trying to distract from.

I like this idea. And I like the idea that Greg is secure enough in his own self that he can respect what Sherlock has to offer, instead of resenting it.

Quote

What way do you think John competes with him? Not in crime scenes, not in dating...?

I was reading the script for TBB at the time, and I was reacting to how many times John is one step ahead of Sherlock in that episode. And also some of the directions, for example (emphasis mine):

Quote

 

SEB: You’re doing that thing. (To John) We were at Uni together, and this guy here - he had this trick he used to do.

SHERLOCK: It’s not a trick.

SEB: He could look at you and tell your whole life story.

JOHN: Yes, I’ve seen him do it.

SEB: Put the wind up everyone. We hated him.

 John quietly delighted with this.

 

But thinking back on it, I'm not sure that's how it ended up being played in the actual episode. Did John look quietly delighted, or was he slightly uncomfortable on Sherlock's behalf? At any rate, I think Hikari's on the right track on this matter (again, emphasis mine):

9 hours ago, Hikari said:

For my part, I don't believe that there is anyone on the planet who adores Sherlock Holmes more than John Watson, in Canon or here.  For a manly, self-sufficient guy like Watson, who has a plethora of skills in his own right as a surgeon-soldier, it rubs his ego raw at times to be deemed the junior partner in this partnership (or at least often treated as such).  What you see as competitiveness, I think is just Watson trying to assert his own masculinity in this equation.   He's strong-willed enough to want to be an entity separate from Holmes and stand as his own man, and yet, submitting to command from a more domineering personality comes very naturally to John from his soldiering days. 

Yeah, I think that's a better interpretation than mine. In the ASIP script, there's several references to John feeling "humiliation", then in TBB, we have him described as "catching on right away" (or something like that) and actually beating Sherlock to the draw a couple of times. But yeah, that's more like John just proving he's not simply a replacement for Billy the Skull, innit?

I'm now reading the TGG script. This is fun! Sometimes you read pages and the episode just plays in your head, at other points you notice where the actor found a different interpretation, or the director a different staging. I've read scripts before, but never of something where I'm so familiar with the end product. It's cool.

[Pseudonym]

John being delighted that everyone hated Sherlock is so sad. I don't think it was played that way either, which I'm glad of. 

[T.o.b.y]

Me neither. But I think it would be understandable there because Sherlock is being particularly acerbic and impossible at the beginning of The Blind Banker and John is the main sufferer. He doesn't know Sherlock well enough yet to see or understand the sad side of his personality, for all he knows, Sherlock is brilliant but a gigantic jerk. I don't blame him for feeling happy that he isn't the only one who gets terribly annoyed with him. 

Also, I doubt John thinks Sebastian is talking about actual, serious hatred. 

I don't actually think Sherlock was bullied or ostracized much at uni, I think he was just a genius weirdo who mostly did his own thing, rubbed everyone the wrong way and didn't make friends. 

[Pseudonym]

I can never make my mind up whether Sherlock was bullied in uni and school or not. I can see it going either way. 

Something else I always thought was a bit odd was the line where John asks Sally where he can get a taxi and says 'only... my leg.' John strikes me as the kind of bullheaded guy who would never draw attention to his weaknesses like that. It would have been better replaced with one of those MF looks that says he's thinking about his leg but isn't about to say it. 

The other odd line is John asking Sherlock if he can possibly borrow some money at the beginning of TBB. Maybe I'm just bringing my own issues into it, but I'd literally rather stop eating for a few weeks than ask a friend for money, especially a new potential friend I barely know and am not even sure I completely like. But then I know most people aren't as militant about it as I am, I hate having people pay for things for me, though I have had to give in and let my parents in the past when things have gotten dire. I think Sherlock deals with it brilliantly, not embarrassing John by addressing the question but instead immediately taking a high-paying case they can both work on... and letting John be the one who deals with the cheque. 

[gerry]

Why is that sad?  I’d be surprised more people wouldn’t feel the same give what a prick Sherlock is to everyone including those he’s supposed to consider a friend.  There can be a eye for an eye sense of satisfaction knowing Sherlock got a taste of his own medicine especially when he likely didn’t give anyone a reason to care otherwise.  I’m sure Sherlock would be hated by most in real life too based on his treatment of others.

[Pseudonym]

Again I don't think we'll agree, but I would feel sad for anyone if I heard that everyone hated them. I certainly wouldn't feel gleeful if I heard everyone hated one of my friends - they might not quite be friends at this point, but clearly they're on their way. 

[Hikari]

14 hours ago, Arcadia said:

I like this idea. And I like the idea that Greg is secure enough in his own self that he can respect what Sherlock has to offer, instead of resenting it.

I was reading the script for TBB at the time, and I was reacting to how many times John is one step ahead of Sherlock in that episode. And also some of the directions, for example (emphasis mine):

But thinking back on it, I'm not sure that's how it ended up being played in the actual episode. Did John look quietly delighted, or was he slightly uncomfortable on Sherlock's behalf? At any rate, I think Hikari's on the right track on this matter (again, emphasis mine):

Yeah, I think that's a better interpretation than mine. In the ASIP script, there's several references to John feeling "humiliation", then in TBB, we have him described as "catching on right away" (or something like that) and actually beating Sherlock to the draw a couple of times. But yeah, that's more like John just proving he's not simply a replacement for Billy the Skull, innit?

I'm now reading the TGG script. This is fun! Sometimes you read pages and the episode just plays in your head, at other points you notice where the actor found a different interpretation, or the director a different staging. I've read scripts before, but never of something where I'm so familiar with the end product. It's cool.

Must go back and watch my Blind Baker episode.  There are so many layers of subtext going on even in the brief scene at the bank with Seb (and a more obnoxious tool it'd be hard to find).  Just prior, while Sherlock has been battling a mysterious, homicidal acrobatic gentleman in the sitting room in Baker Street, John's having his row with the chip and PIN machine.  The machine has smugly told him that there's not enough money in his account for this shopping, so he has fresh humiliation in store when he has to ask Sherl for a loan.  By this point the duo have been living together for a month or two, so they have developed a level of familiarity with each other that is not there in the first episode.  It sucks to have to ask your flatmate for money, but it becomes more of a domestic investment that a personal loan (because John was attempting to buy groceries for the both of them.)  Sherlock Holmes has many faults, but he's very generous with money, seeing as he seems to have plenty of it.  He trusts John implicitly, even with their brief cohabitation, and demonstrates this by offering John full access to his entire bank account.  ('Use my card.')

Then it's off to see Seb, and the whole 'This is my friend, John Watson.'  'Colleague'. exchange.  After the admission that he's skint and unable to buy even a roll of toilet paper at the moment, John is already feeling vulnerable about his role in the partnership and tries to bolster his own image in Seb's eyes (and his own, probably) by emphasizing that he's there in a professional capacity, not simply that Sherl was having his own version of 'Bring Your Broke, Unemployed Friend to Work Day.'  Of course, Sherl was keen to emphasize to this knobhead he knew at school that Sherlock Holmes can so make a friend--and here he is!    The first layer I picked up on, though, given the whole 'I'm Not His Date!' scene the episode prior, and Seb's knowing little smirk when he says, 'Friend, right' is that Sherlock means boyfriend.  Not an assumption John is keen to promote . . then or ever. 

I just call the skull 'Skully'.  Like the X-Files.

[gerry]

2 hours ago, Pseudonym said:

Again I don't think we'll agree, but I would feel sad for anyone if I heard that everyone hated them. I certainly wouldn't feel gleeful if I heard everyone hated one of my friends - they might not quite be friends at this point, but clearly they're on their way. 

Even if they were friends I could see it because Sherlock is a prick to his friends too.  Sherlock would not be an easy person to be around friend or not.  I imagine you’d be exasperated often.

[T.o.b.y]

It's not really clear from the script that Arcadia quoted whether John is really delighted with the fact that Seb and his buddies hated Sherlock or that Sherlock saw through them and pissed them off all the time. Perhaps it's the latter. 

[Pseudonym]

I hadn't thought of it that way, I hope so. I don't like the idea of anyone being delighted at someone else possibly being bullied. 

[gerry]

I’m surprised you dislike that so much but have little trouble with Sherlock berating the school headmistress in TRF.  Was it you or someone else that thought it was funny?

[Pseudonym]

I didn't think it was funny but I don't have a problem with it. I don't have a problem with most of what Sherlock does, I wouldn't watch the show if I did.

[gerry]

It’s strange to me to feel sorry for Sherlock but not the people he’s a prick to.

[Pseudonym]

I can understand that. But I see a huge difference between him being briefly but deeply unpleasant to someone who is never going to see him again, and a younger version of him having to deal with a large group of people being unpleasant to him day in day out for years. If he's living in halls and going to the same classes there's no escape. So yea, the idea of him being bullied, if he was, bothers me a lot more. 

I can relate to Sherlock a lot, I understand him, and I just plain like him. So yes, I probably do cut him more slack. He's the hero of the show. And in that particular interaction I'm definitely on his side rather than Seb's, who's hardly presented as likeable and seems like the quintessential slimy City boy. 

But we've had this conversation before, about what is acceptable and what isn't, and it seems likely we're never going to agree on it. I find most of what Sherlock says and does fine, you've said before you take issue with it. Each to their own, the world would be a very boring place if everyone had the same opinions. 

[Hikari]

1 hour ago, Pseudonym said:

I hadn't thought of it that way, I hope so. I don't like the idea of anyone being delighted at someone else possibly being bullied. 

I'm surprised the stage directions actually said 'John is delighted at (hearing that Sherlock was universally hated in school).  If that was Steve Thompson via Mofftiss's actual intention . .well, that sounds like a fairly sadistic writers' room.  Also, such schadenfreude by Dr. Watson toward the youthful shunning of a man he has come to admire and be extremely loyal to in a short time does not feel in character for our Doctor, who is a man of integrity who would, I think, despise bullies in any form.

IIRC, Martin kind of looks up at the ceiling with a grin at that remark of Seb's, one of his patented adorable MF faces.  I did not take it as 'Watson rejoicing that SH has always been friendless'.  More like, "I'm not surprised!  Pegged that in one."  More an acknowledgement of existing facts, rather than taking happiness from Sherl's friendless youth.  More like internally pleased with himself for deducing that Sherl's adult patterns have been around a long time.  And perhaps pleased that Seb has just confirmed that the 'Best Friend of Sherlock Holmes' field is wide open for himself, with no competition.  There's a difference, I think . . even if Watson's face does say 'pleased'.  It's the emphasis over what he's pleased about that matters. 

[Arcadia]

Okay, so I made the big sacrifice and watched that scene. Guess what? We don't see John's reaction to that line at all. What we see instead is Sherlock glancing down and away with a hurt look (forever cementing his place in the hearts of his fans along the way .... )

A couple lines later John does kind of smile knowingly when Seb is making fun of Sherlock's deductive abilities, but it's not clear to me whether he's laughing at Sherlock along with Seb, or just acknowledging to himself that he recognizes the behavior. Given his later remarks about Seb being heartless (or whatever) I think it's safe to say that John is definitely NOT on Seb's side.

So, we are left to wonder what might have been if the director had chosen to slavishly follow the script..... or if BC hadn't delivered such a perfect reaction shot that they couldn't resist using it....  

[Arcadia]

58 minutes ago, gerry said:

It’s strange to me to feel sorry for Sherlock but not the people he’s a prick to.

I think it's pretty common, actually, for people to empathize with the main character in a story. That's kind of the point in most stories, isn't it? For myself, I know I can't even watch/read a story unless I do ... why spend time with someone I don't feel some connection to? (It's hard enough spending time with people I DO feel a connection to! ) Would I give a person who behaved the same way in real life a pass? Don't know, actually ... if I adored him/her as much as I adore Sherlock, I might. I'm that pathetic.

At any rate, it doesn't preclude me from also having sympathy for other characters. But my loyalty is to Sherlock. So if I had to choose between one or the other, or defending one over another .... yep, pretty sure I'd choose Sherlock.

[Pseudonym]

 

41 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

Okay, so I made the big sacrifice and watched that scene. Guess what? We don't see John's reaction to that line at all. What we see instead is Sherlock glancing down and away with a hurt look (forever cementing his place in the hearts of his fans along the way .... )

Wub.