Themes and Through-lines

[Arcadia]

And look at how he was with Henry Knight. He's often very perceptive about human nature (except when he isn't! ) I'm not even sure emotions are that opaque to him? It's more that he's normally good at setting emotions aside, and doesn't understand (or doesn't want to understand) why other people don't simply do the same. Something like that.

[Carol the Dabbler]

... they took quite some screen time hammering into our heads what an adrenaline junkie John is and how unfit for "ordinary life". And by the way, when we meet him in A Study in Pink, he has no thought of getting settled as a doctor. He's living on his pension and seeing a useless therapist (because he won't make use of her)....

... in ASiP it was said that John missed the war - not that he was always thrill-seeking....

Yes, so far we've heard that sort of thing from Mycroft, Sherlock, and Mary. As has been noted, each of them can sometimes be very insightful, but I personally would not base my analysis of John on what they say. They see his behavior and presumably interpret it by asking themselves, "What would cause ME to behave in that way?" I do the same thing myself of course, and come up with a very different answer (that he sees a job to be done and does it, in spite of the danger, not because of it). Just once, I'd really love to hear John's answer to that question!

 

Obviously John could be an exception, but in real life, I don't think someone who's more interested in warrior aspect of war would make a good doctor. And John says he's a very good doctor.

 

Also: I assume John was on the front lines (or why else was he in a position to get shot?) Frontline doctors are more likely to be in emergency medicine than general practice. So why is John now dispensing pills in an office? Get thee to a job in the emergency room, man, that's where your skill set is! Yeesh. (Or does Britain not have emergency rooms? Or perhaps highly qualified emergency docs are so plentiful that there's no jobs available?)

 

Finally, if he was out in the field with the soldiers, wouldn't he be a medic, not a doctor?

Yes, John seems to self-identify as a doctor far more (and more often) than as a soldier.

 

In "Sign of Three," he called himself a veteran of Kandahar and Helmand, presumably referring to the big military hospitals in those locations. So he was apparently not a front-line doctor (and I think you're right -- front-line work is more often done by medics, just as civilian ambulances are staffed by paramedics). But danger is everywhere in a war zone, not just at the front lines.

 

As for why he's not working in an emergency room (which does seem like a natural fit), his specialty appears to be general practice. While I imagine that his cases in Afghanistan were often more "interesting" than what he sees in London, he is not a surgeon or a trauma specialist.

 

For a far more knowledgeable analysis of all this, see the metas written by Wellingtongoose, a British medical student (or perhaps a doctor by now).

[sherlockandjohn]

 

... they took quite some screen time hammering into our heads what an adrenaline junkie John is and how unfit for "ordinary life". And by the way, when we meet him in A Study in Pink, he has no thought of getting settled as a doctor. He's living on his pension and seeing a useless therapist (because he won't make use of her)....

... in ASiP it was said that John missed the war - not that he was always thrill-seeking....

Yes, so far we've heard that sort of thing from Mycroft, Sherlock, and Mary. As has been noted, each of them can sometimes be very insightful, but I personally would not base my analysis of John on what they say. They see his behavior and presumably interpret it by asking themselves, "What would cause ME to behave in that way?" I do the same thing myself of course, and come up with a very different answer (that he sees a job to be done and does it, in spite of the danger, not because of it). Just once, I'd really love to hear John's answer to that question!

 

 

True, it is never John who says (at least not in so many words) that he himself is addicted to danger. However, I must admit I interpret some of his actions and words to mean that. Like the tone of his voice, when he accepts Sherlock's invitation to come along on the first case. "Wanna see some more (trouble)?" "Oh, God, yes." Both the invitation and the answer sound just a tad mischiveous, or at least more excited than one should be about seeing a dead body. But then they arrive at the crime scene, and John's reaction is also clear by the way he recoils: He is repulsed. I think we see the combination of the thrill-seeker and the caring doctor.

 

If John was to answer the question, why he is working with Sherlock, I'm wondering if we could trust him to tell the truth. He doesn't seem to want to face his addiction to danger - not entirely. But I would still like to hear his answer.

 

 

[Arcadia]

...They see his behavior and presumably interpret it by asking themselves, "What would cause ME to behave in that way?" I do the same thing myself of course, and come up with a very different answer (that he sees a job to be done and does it, in spite of the danger, not because of it). ...

That's more or less the answer I come up with as well, but I do also see that he gets a kick out of working with Sherlock. It's the "addiction" part I have trouble seeing.

 

Yes, John seems to self-identify as a doctor far more (and more often) than as a soldier.

 

In "Sign of Three," he called himself a veteran of Kandahar and Helmand, presumably referring to the big military hospitals in those locations. So he was apparently not a front-line doctor (and I think you're right -- front-line work is more often done by medics, just as civilian ambulances are staffed by paramedics). But danger is everywhere in a war zone, not just at the front lines.

 

As for why he's not working in an emergency room (which does seem like a natural fit), his specialty appears to be general practice. While I imagine that his cases in Afghanistan were often more "interesting" than what he sees in London, he is not a surgeon or a trauma specialist.

Well, I was going by the opening scene in ASiP, where it's implied John was not at a base hospital, but in a battle zone. Where it makes no sense for a GP to be. And a GP in the army is going to be treating pretty much the same things as GPs everywhere; fevers, aches and STDs; nothing particularly "exciting". Really, none of it makes sense to me. But I still luv ya, John!

[Carol the Dabbler]

True, it is never John who says (at least not in so many words) that he himself is addicted to danger. However, I must admit I interpret some of his actions and words to mean that. Like the tone of his voice, when he accepts Sherlock's invitation to come along on the first case. "Wanna see some more (trouble)?" "Oh, God, yes." Both the invitation and the answer sound just a tad mischiveous, or at least more excited than one should be about seeing a dead body. But then they arrive at the crime scene, and John's reaction is also clear by the way he recoils: He is repulsed. I think we see the combination of the thrill-seeker and the caring doctor.

I'm not entirely certain about him being a "thrill-seeker," unless that's just another way of saying that he doesn't like being bored, which I would agree with. At the beginning of ASiP, it seems to me that he's feeling useless, rejected, and bored out of his skull. (So if we are to believe Sally's definition, maybe John really is a psychopath    because "psychopaths get bored.")

 

I was going by the opening scene in ASiP, where it's implied John was not at a base hospital, but in a battle zone. Where it makes no sense for a GP to be. And a GP in the army is going to be treating pretty much the same things as GPs everywhere; fevers, aches and STDs; nothing particularly "exciting". Really, none of it makes sense to me. But I still luv ya, John!

That opening scene is apparently John's nightmare, so it may not be a realistic representation of his daily routine in Afghanistan. He may have been in such a situation occasionally, or he may be imagining what his patients described. The actual footage is reportedly from a documentary, so it's even possible that John had seen that.

 

And yes, I think you're right about GPs treating pretty much the same sorts of conditions anywhere, and I'm sure that John saw a fair number of common colds and scraped knees in Afghanistan. But he might also have provided treatment for minor injuries sustained in battle, and most of his patients were soldiers rather than accountants. Also, I know that when I've been under heavy stress, a doctor has often been a source of great comfort to me, even if all they could offer was sympathy, and I suspect that -- just by being himself -- John helped a great many people deal with life in a war zone. All of that is what I meant by "more interesting."

 

[Arcadia]

We really need a Moftiss dictionary! "Definiton of psychopath ... someone who gets bored." Now it all makes sense; everyone John meets really IS a psychopath!

 

I really think it's just that Moftiss is more interested in the soldier part of John because, let's face it, that's what most little boys like -- action figures, not Nurse Nelly. That's fine, I just (being an icky girl an' all) find it confusing. So what else is new? I will settle for the theory that John is simply unique!

[T.o.b.y]

That opening scene is apparently John's nightmare, so it may not be a realistic representation of his daily routine in Afghanistan. He may have been in such a situation occasionally, or he may be imagining what his patients described. The actual footage is reportedly from a documentary, so it's even possible that John had seen that.

 

And yes, I think you're right about GPs treating pretty much the same sorts of conditions anywhere, and I'm sure that John saw a fair number of common colds and scraped knees in Afghanistan. But he might also have provided treatment for minor injuries sustained in battle, and most of his patients were soldiers rather than accountants. Also, I know that when I've been under heavy stress, a doctor has often been a source of great comfort to me, even if all they could offer was sympathy, and I suspect that -- just by being himself -- John helped a great many people deal with life in a war zone. All of that is what I meant by "more interesting."

 

Sounds very plausible, but in A Scandal in Belgravia, John says "I was a soldier, I killed people". I am afraid that this is one of the instances where Sherlock world rules don't quite coincide with real world rules...

 

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

There are a number of conjectures about that line -- such as:

 

1.  John was in the military as a soldier rather than as a doctor -- but that was pretty much refuted by his references to Helmand and Kandahar, I think.

 

2.  His reference to "bad days" meant that he (like Elementary's Joan Watson) is haunted by the memory of patients who have died.  Possible, I suppose, but John doesn't strike me as the guilt-ridden type.

 

3.  As a military doctor in an active war zone, he was given firearm training (which was obviously very successful), and did occasionally need to defend himself from terrorist attacks.  This is my favorite.

 

[Arcadia]

4. Moftiss thought of a good laugh line and put it in.

 

Really, I don't take that line seriously at all, if I have to look at it "in show", I take it to mean John was just trying to intimidate Sherlock. Men do stuff like that. Hormones, or something.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Hormones?  You mean, men have hormones too? 

[Arcadia]

Oh, no, of course not, that would be unmanly of them....

[Carol the Dabbler]

Yeah, then they might have mood swings or something silly like that.

 

[Arcadia]

And as we all know, that NEVER happens....

 

PROFESSOR HIGGINS:

Why can't a woman be more like a man?

Men are so honest, so thoroughly square;

Eternally noble, historically fair.

Who, when you win, will always give your back a pat.

Why can't a woman be like that?

Why does every one do what the others do?

Can't a woman learn to use her head?

Why do they do everything their mothers do?

Why don't they grow up, well, like their father instead?

 

Why can't a woman take after a man?

Men are so pleasant, so easy to please.

Whenever you're with them, you're always at ease.

 

Would you be slighted if I didn't speak for hours?

 

COLONEL PICKERING:

Of course not.

 

PROFESSOR HIGGINS:

Would you be livid if I had a drink or two?

 

COLONEL PICKERING:

Nonsense.

 

PROFESSOR HIGGINS:

Would you be wounded if I never sent you flowers?

 

COLONEL PICKERING:

Never.

 

PROFESSOR HIGGINS:

Well, why can't a woman be like you?

 

One man in a million may shout a bit.

Now and then, there's one with slight defects.

One perhaps whose truthfulness you doubt a bit,

But by and large we are a marvelous sex!

 

Why can't a woman take after a man?

'Cause men are so friendly, good-natured and kind.

A better companion you never will find.

 

If I were hours late for dinner would you bellow?

 

COLONEL PICKERING:

Of course not.

 

PROFESSOR HIGGINS:

If I forgot your silly birthday, would you fuss?

 

COLONEL PICKERING:

Nonsense.

 

PROFESSOR HIGGINS:

Would you complain if I took out another fellow?

 

Pickering

Never.

 

PROFESSOR HIGGINS:

Why can't a woman be like us?

 

 

Why can't a woman be more like a man?

Men are so decent, such regular chaps;

Ready to help you through any mishaps;

Ready to buck you up whenever you're glum.

Why can't a woman be a chum?

 

Why is thinking something women never do?

And why is logic never even tried?

Straightening up their hair is all they ever do.

Why don't they straighten up the mess that's inside?

 

Why can't a woman behave like a man?

If I was a woman who'd been to a ball,

Been hailed as a princess by one and by all;

Would I start weeping like a bathtub overflowing,

Or carry on as if my home were in a tree?

Would I run off and never tell me where I'm going?

Why can't a woman be like me?

From "My Fair Lady"

music by Frederick Loewe; lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner

[Boton]

 

 

Sounds very plausible, but in A Scandal in Belgravia, John says "I was a soldier, I killed people". I am afraid that this is one of the instances where Sherlock world rules don't quite coincide with real world rules...

 

While I think it's relatively unlikely that John saw actual front-line combat on a daily basis, my hazy head canon on the subject says that he could have gotten into a situation in which he had gone to the front lines and had to shoot, or an aid station or hospital in which he was working was attacked, or the like.  So I hold out the idea that he could have killed people in battle, although I would say that I expect it to be in the single digits rather than thinking he was mowing down the enemy from a tank or a machine gun or something.

 

But yeah, I also think the writers needed a funny line.....

[SherlockedCAMPer]

Just now thinking/remembering that in Sherlock: the network, John is mentioned as being a junior surgeon at Bart's. So it's possible that he was part of a MASH type unit in Afghanistan and decided to do more GP stuff back at home possibly being trained for both as many surgeon still have some sort of office practice mostly to consult/prep for surgery & for post op check-ups.

[Slithytove]

There is a chapter on John's medical training at http://archiveofourown.org/works/1235479/chapters/2559208 in the excellent meta by cookieswillcrumble. As John was serving in a war zone, he was probably a surgeon, so the question of why he is working in a GP practice and not in a hospital is a valid one. If he is addicted to dangerous situations, he's going to encounter considerably less in general practice than in surgery, particularly if he chose to work in A&E.

 

Of course, ACD's Dr Watson sets up in private practice after returning from the war, but the Victorian health system in England was nothing like the modern one - no NHS, for a start. I am doubtful that many GP partnership's would be that keen to recruit John, given that his experience is more suited to a hospital than dealing with the day to day problems seen by a family doctor.

[SherlockedCAMPer]

Moftiss probably kept with canon in having Watson do GP even though he had served during wartime.  I dare say that during the Victorian error, many doctors were probably inter-disciplinary unlike today's practice of specialization.

[Slithytove]

Also, there as several references to Watson leaving his practice in the hands of a locum whilst he goes off on an adventure with Holmes. It would be more difficult - in modern times, anyway - to do that, if he worked in a hospital.

 

I wouldn't have wanted Watson as my GP, as he was clearly more interested in running around with Holmes, chasing criminals, than looking after his unfortunate patients!

[Carol the Dabbler]

As John was serving in a war zone, he was probably a surgeon, so the question of why he is working in a GP practice and not in a hospital is a valid one.

There most assuredly were British military surgeons working in Afghanistan at that time, but as I understand it, the Kandahar hospital is a huge facility, treating not only soldiers wounded in action but also soldiers with more everyday sorts of injuries and ailments. So they need plenty of GPs as well as surgeons.

 

John's CV (shown in "Blind Banker") shows that he's had some training in surgery, but according to wellingtongoose's meta on that, not enough to qualify as a surgeon:

 

Just because he’s done a year in Trauma and Orthopaedics does not mean John is actually an orthopaedic surgeon. You need to train for six to eight years in that particularly speciality to qualify as an orthopaedic surgeon. In reality John’s job would have been looking after patients on the ward after surgery and being a general paper-monkey.

So although John apparently aspires to be a surgeon, the only specialty that he's (so far) fully trained in is General Practice (which is a specialty in its own right).

[Slithytove]

Hmm......beats me how he managed to get shot, and why he seems to have scary dreams of being on the battlefield, not to mention a psychosomatic limp.

[SherlockedCAMPer]

There's always a possibility of a stray bullet.  A friend of mine used to do humanitarian work over there before 9/11 and she described hearing gunfire as a common occurrence. So a stray bullet is not completely unlikely. And the battles were not just in 1 place, they were all over the country.

[Arcadia]

That's always been my presumption, he got shot while buying fruit in the marketplace or something. Poor John, I don't mean to poke fun at him like that, but it's so obvious Moftiss are more interested in his warrior credentials than his healing credentials. Boys will be boys!

 

I saw one fanfic where the author suggested something like this: John WAS a surgeon, but the bullet wound permanently damaged his motor skills in that arm, so he can no longer do surgery. That could be a lovely explanation, as it would fit in with the implication that John is bored by GP work. I don't know how believeable it is, given how spry he seems to be on all other counts.

 

Also, it might explain why the army pensioned him off; if he was still capable of being a doctor, why did the army retire him just because he was injured? But if he was a surgeon, but couldn't be one anymore, then it would make more sense. I think. I confess I have no idea how stuff like that works.

[SherlockedCAMPer]

That's a fairly reasonable plausible explanation.  John also showed some signs of PTSD with that psychosomatic limp so that could be another reason for pensioning.

[T.o.b.y]

That's always been my presumption, he got shot while buying fruit in the marketplace or something. Poor John, I don't mean to poke fun at him like that, but it's so obvious Moftiss are more interested in his warrior credentials than his healing credentials. Boys will be boys!

 

Yes, and they have him say quite clearly "I was a soldier, I killed people". That is pretty clear to me, and I don't think they meant that to be a lie on John's part. I'm afraid we will just have to accept that John's career makes as little sense in a real-world context as his carrying a gun does.

 

I actually prefer it when they keep Conan Doyle elements like that, even if it doesn't completely fit with the modernization. I value "canon loyalty" over realism, it seems.

 

[T.o.b.y]

One subject that comes up regularly seems to be "Sherlock is (not) a sociopath". And that still hasn't really been decided on. I mean, they seem to delight in seemingly humanizing him, just to then make him do something insane and cruel and laugh in our faces for being so gullible. This sounds like me complaining, but in truth, I love it.

 

In case you have no idea what I mean:

 

 - In series 1, we learn that Sherlock has a heart and cares for other people's lives, after all. Well, at least one life. Which he then proceeds to threaten along with his own when the series ends with him pointing a gun at explosives.

 

- In series 2, Sherlock falls in love - only to renounce love as a "chemical defect" and throw the woman who won his admiration to the wolves. Okay, he does save her later, but still. Then, in the next episode he admits that John is his (at that time only) friend. Within an hour, we learn that he used said friend for a cruel experiment that might have sent him straight back to his therapist for all the war flashbacks it could have triggered, involving an unknown and very dangerous drug. All this just to test the effect of said drug on "an ordinary mind". Finally, to top that off, he makes his friend a witness to his supposed suicide, tearful last phone call and blood and gore included. We are left thinking that he had no other choice and was devastated about the whole thing, but...

 

- Series 3 opens with us finding out that Sherlock thought the whole act plus a two-year absence being officially dead was a hilarious joke. He does gradually understand he did something wrong, though, and apologizes beautifully - or seems to, until he breaks out in a big fit of giggles and admits this was just another brilliant bit of fun, making John think he was about to die included. Then comes The Sign of Three. And now it seems he's really thawed and softening up, finally. But this episode ends with our hero leaving the goldfish to hop around in their tank with his coat collar turned up, and the next time we see him, he's on drugs, has seduced and proposed to a woman just to get into her boss's office, and finally guns down said boss while shouting "Merry Christmas".

 

 

I'm not saying Sherlock doesn't have a heart and soul. He does. He's not Moriarty, thank goodness, because that would be so boring. But he's still not anywhere near that "good man" Lestrade hopes for. I doubt he ever will be. But he always manages to make us believe he's that close - which makes his "relapses" unexpected, although they occur with clockwork regularity.