"Get Your Wife Under Control."

[besleybean]

The best way!

[Arcadia]

Yeah, he does have SOME social skills. Except when he doesn't.

[Janie]

I didn't get upset about that outrageous little comment of Sherlock's at all. I love it, it's so Sherlock, and besides, it's just as I would have expected him to think about John's wife, as if she were some kind of luxury item John insisted on keeping and that was making noise.

 

I just have a thing for the "sociopath" act, and it's becoming more and more rare. I have to treasure the moments I get...

 

Yeah, I've never even thought about this remark as upsetting. For me it's actually very funny especially the way he says it

[jesskayding]

I still don't see that remark as sociopathic?? So throughout time until the mid 1900's the vast majority of men were sociopaths?

 

I'm just trying to understand how this is connected to that? Now if he had turrets...

[Arcadia]

LOL!

 

Think it's time we retired the "sociopath" term, myself. I know it's used jokingly but I prefer to think of Sherlock as charmingly eccentric, not mentally ill. Even mild mental illness is neither fun nor funny, it's pretty shattering, really.

[jesskayding]

Hay. It seems he embraces it. Remember the movie A Beautiful Mind?

[Arcadia]

Dimly. Is there a connnection? Er, connection?

 

He may embrace it, but it's not what he is.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

No he isn't. It's just part of the armor he has constructed to protect his bruised and battered emotions. Something to keep people at arm's length. Like the lines of an old song goes, "If I never loved, I never would have cried.......a rock feels no pain...and an island never cries."

[jesskayding]

I do think he's a little autistic though.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Well there was that little word that John used to Lestrade in "The Hound".....Aspergers.  Which is on the Autistic Spectrum.

[Arcadia]

That was a joke, tho, yeah? Sherlock doesn't behave like anyone with autism/Asperger's that I've ever met. He's perfectly capable of "natural" behaviour when he wants to be. Autistics, wherever they are on the spectrum, can't turn it off and on like that.

 

The most accurate "diagnosis" of Sherlock I've seen yet is one of the earliest; he's Byronic. Mycroft knows.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Why would they be joking about something like that?  Sherlock had claimed to be a high functioning Sociopath....not an autistic.

[Carol the Dabbler]

I don't think John was joking -- but when he said "Asperger's?" it was in a questioning tone.  That's not his specialty, so it wasn't a diagnosis.  I assume he just meant that Sherlock's behavior was sometimes reminiscent of someone with Asperger's.  Surely it's possible for someone to have tendencies in that direction without actually having the syndrome.

 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Ooohhhh...okay, that does make sense....I thought he was just providing the answer to Lestrade's fishing for the appropriate word at the time.

[Arcadia]

Why would they be joking about something like that?  Sherlock had claimed to be a high functioning Sociopath....not an autistic.

For the same reason they joke about Sherlock and John "living together", or about Mycroft having weight problems, or about Sherlock not knowing Lestrade's first name. They're taking bits of "canon" and imagining how they might look to present day sensibilities, and having boatloads of laughs in the process. They are nothing if not irreverent! A team who thinks it's funny to label their hero a "sociopath" is hardly going to balk at having a giggle over diagnosing him with Asperger's.

 

Oh, wait, I see .... you thought I meant John was making the joke. Ummmmm ..... Carol's interpretation is probably better, in that case. Although I do think John (or really, Martin Freeman) was trying to be funny and serious at the same time. But what I really meant was that Moftiss was making a joke. Sorry, stepped away from being "in universe" for a moment there.

[Arcadia]

I don't think John was joking -- but when he said "Asperger's?" it was in a questioning tone.  That's not his specialty, so it wasn't a diagnosis.  I assume he just meant that Sherlock's behavior was sometimes reminiscent of someone with Asperger's.  Surely it's possible for someone to have tendencies in that direction without actually having the syndrome.

 

Yes, and they're called Byronic!    Or a drama queen, altho I think that's a bit harsh for Sherlock. He's too cool under pressure, for one thing. Except when he isn't.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

No, I understood.....but maybe I was just overreacting. I have worked with Autistic kids and I find it difficult that even Mofftiss would joke about something like that. Or....it could have been a nod to Jeremy Brett....he seemed to have interpreted his Sherlock as being on the spectrum.

[T.o.b.y]

For the same reason they joke about Sherlock and John "living together", or about Mycroft having weight problems, or about Sherlock not knowing Lestrade's first name. They're taking bits of "canon" and imagining how they might look to present day sensibilities, and having boatloads of laughs in the process.

 

Not just them. I am having boatloads of laughs myself with the result.

 

Irreverent is just fine for me, as long as it is lovingly so. And I do think a lot of genuine affection comes through in Sherlock for the source material. Watching it feels like stroking the cover of my Complete Sherlock Holmes while giggling at Dr Watson's flowery descriptions, and the pseudo-logic behind most of the cases, the cheesy melodrama of backstorys and the many inconsistencies. And then picking up the book again, and reading something, and falling in love with Mr Holmes all over again, and settling into my chair with a contented smile.

 

 

[Arcadia]

Exactly! And I really doubt there's any topic Moftiss wouldn't make a joke of! Affectionately, of course.

[jesskayding]

There's a teen I used to mentor with Aspergers. There have been several thongs he's done that reminds me if her. Like not understanding timing, tact, & taking a response literally. She cries, Sherlock becomes insulting.

[Arcadia]

No, I understood.....but maybe I was just overreacting. I have worked with Autistic kids and I find it difficult that even Mofftiss would joke about something like that. Or....it could have been a nod to Jeremy Brett....he seemed to have interpreted his Sherlock as being on the spectrum.

Well, if it helps, I don't think the joke was about those with Asperger's ... the joke is about how everyone tries to diagnose Sherlock Holmes.

 

I read somewhere (wish I knew where) that BC once asked why Sherlock is the way he is. And Moffat just responded, "because he's a genius!" As if anti-social tendencies and genius go hand in hand. As maybe they do; not being a genius, or ever having met a genius, I wouldn't know.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

 

I read somewhere (wish I knew where) that BC once asked why Sherlock is the way he is. And Moffat just responded, "because he's a genius!" As if anti-social tendencies and genius go hand in hand. As maybe they do; not being a genius, or ever having met a genius, I wouldn't know.

 

 

 

Hhmmm...seems Mr. Brett made such a comment too. I'll hit the internet and see if I can scare anything up.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/mat-greenfield/sherlock-not-autistic_b_4548520.htmlv

 

 

  This is a very updated blog on BBC Sherlock

[Arcadia]

I pretty much agree with Mr. Greenfield. That kind of joke can only go so far. I note there weren't any autism jokes in S3; now if they'd just drop the psychopath/sociopath lines, I could die happy. Preferably after S5 airs, however.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

At least BC took steps to try to tone it done some.