John Watson

[Van Buren Supernova]

Mr. Body is a term I give to different thing in my mind. And no, not Sholto.

 

 

Anyway, I read a thing or two about psychosomatic cases, and really wonder about John.

 

To my limited understanding, psychosomatic is caused by something psychological that makes someone believes that they have certain illness and actually experiences the symptoms, eventhough all tests prove that they have nothing wrong physically.

 

The causes are sometimes stress, unconscious desire to get away from something, or burderned and depressed.

 

We are made to believe that John is 'attracted' to danger, or I'd say more like excitement, he 'misses' the war, and enjoys the thrill of chasing criminals with Sherlock.

 

So why would he has psychosomatic limp? Something that dismissed him from duty that he 'enjoys', maybe the only thing mattered in his life before Sherlock and Mary.

It fits only if he was traumatized by war which is not the case.

[Pseudonym]

I always took it as it being due to him being depressed knowing his career and life as he knew it were over due to the bullet wound. When he met Sherlock and 'woke up' again his depression lessened, as did his limp. 

[Carol the Dabbler]

I guess the question is, when did he acquire the limp? If it was when/after he was shipped home, then I'd agree with Pseudo. If it was while still in Afghanistan, then perhaps he really was traumatized by the brutality of the war, even though he misses the excitement.

 

My theory is that what he misses is not the war as such, but rather being an army doctor in a war zone, where he could do something really helpful and meaningful every day. He hates feeling useless.

[Pseudonym]

I'd assume he was fine before being shot, and was then in hospital for an extended period of time whilst undergoing surgeries and recovering from the bullet wound. Whether that hospital would have been in Afghanistan or the UK I don't know, I'd guess they would have stabilised him enough to fly whilst in Afghanistan but the more complex surgeries and recuperation would be in the UK. Assuming he was bed-ridden for a fair chunk of this, I think it was at the point he was allowed out of bed and able to begin physical therapy that the limp manifested. 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Yes, that all makes sense to me. In which case, the cause of the limp is presumably being sent home.

 

Rereading your post above, I see that it's very similar to what I said afterward. He doesn't necessarily miss the war as such, he misses what he was doing there.

[Boton]

I'd assume he was fine before being shot, and was then in hospital for an extended period of time whilst undergoing surgeries and recovering from the bullet wound. Whether that hospital would have been in Afghanistan or the UK I don't know, I'd guess they would have stabilised him enough to fly whilst in Afghanistan but the more complex surgeries and recuperation would be in the UK. Assuming he was bed-ridden for a fair chunk of this, I think it was at the point he was allowed out of bed and able to begin physical therapy that the limp manifested. 

 

 

Yes, that all makes sense to me. In which case, the cause of the limp is presumably being sent home.

 

Rereading your post above, I see that it's very similar to what I said afterward. He doesn't necessarily miss the war as such, he misses what he was doing there.

 

Both of these are pretty much how my head canon runs. In my mind, John likes the adrenaline rush of being useful, of being able to handle a crisis, of being the one that is able to take in the information in a swirl of chaos and use the resources he has at hand to solve the problem.  I think we see a little of that in TSoT when he is helping the soldier who was stabbed; he's shouting commands and doing the medical work and must get quite a rush.

 

In some ways, Sherlock should (or maybe does) appreciate this; John is able to take in a flurry of information and process it quickly, too, but just in a different context.

 

(Now I want a fan fic where Sherlock hasn't had a decent case for weeks and John hasn't had an interesting patient for just as long and John limps up the stairs to find Sherlock taking target practice against the wall, grabs the gun, and joins in to alleviate the boredom.)

[Arcadia]

And have a good giggle about it afterwards. It's been too long since we've seen them giggle together.

[Pseudonym]

I have to admit I love fics that show John as being just as being a little unhinged too, just better at hiding it, or even dangerous and scary but Sherlock being the only one who really sees it (eg the shooting in ASIP). I think John actually has the potential to be incredibly dangerous and just hides it by blending into the crowd and being generally congenial. I don't mean dark fics where he's evil, just fics where he has an edge. so yup, I'd like to see him shooting up the wall :D

[J.P.]

Well, to me even MF's Bilbo has a certain edge.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Something just occurred to me, and I don't recall ever seeing it discussed (or even mentioned) on this forum -- please correct me if I'm wrong about that.

 

Major Sholto was John's commanding officer in Afghanistan, right? But he's best known for leading a group of raw recruits into a battle where they all died. So he's a combat officer, not an army doctor. Surely he wouldn't be assigned to a military hospital. Yet John refers to himself (in the same episode, yet) as a veteran of both Khandahar and another big military hospital. How could Sholto have been his commanding officer?

 

What exactly were John's duties in Afghanistan? We've seen his nightmares, apparently representing the incident where his shoulder was injured. Was he at the front (highly unusual for a doctor, as I understand it), or was he perhaps with a convoy that was attacked in transit?

 

Was John serving as a doctor or was he serving as a soldier -- or did he first serve as a doctor and later as a soldier (during which time he was wounded)? Or what?

[Arcadia]

Well, imo they've always emphasized the soldier part more than the doctor part, which has never made sense to me, but hey.
 
Maybe Sholto wasn't John's direct commanding officer, but was somewhere along the chain? Y'know, sort of like how Nurse Chapel is under Kirk's command, even though she reports to McCoy. Something like that is the only thing I can think of at the moment.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Maybe Sholto wasn't John's direct commanding officer, but was somewhere along the chain?

I have no idea how closely the British and American army structures resemble one another, and I will freely admit that all I know about army hospitals, I learned from watching M*A*S*H, but I don't think that's it.

 

John is a captain, right? And Sholto is a major, which I believe is only one step up. So I'm pretty sure John reported directly to Sholto. Besides, they seem far closer than most people would be with their boss's boss.

[Arcadia]

True.

 

Maybe it's Sholto who changed jobs from medical to combat.

 

And did John ever say Sholto was his commanding officer? Maybe that's just a conclusion that Sherlock leaped to, military command structure being one of the things he's deleted.

 

Maybe they met in basic training? We don't know how long ago they became friends.

 

Or maybe the British army does it different than the US army?

[Carol the Dabbler]

Hmm, I think Mary told Sherlock that Sholto was John's old commanding officer. *off to check* Yup, Mary. But John was right there and did not dispute it, even though he did disagree with her guess that Sholto wouldn't show up.

[Arcadia]

Ah, well maybe it was a conclusion Mary leaped to, and John didn't correct her because he was too busy thinking about getting Sherlock alone so they could snog.

 

Maybe Moftiss knows even less about military hierarchy than we do.

[Pseudonym]

Ah, well maybe it was a conclusion Mary leaped to, and John didn't correct her because he was too busy thinking about getting Sherlock alone so they could snog.

 

Well yea, we all know that is what was really going on. That's the real reason they were heading upstairs to the bedrooms too, Sherlock didn't know anyone had really been stabbed, it was all a ploy. And then s*dding Mary turns up running past them, and turns out Sholto really has been stabbed and it's such a disaster Sherlock ends up leaving sad and alone. :P 

[Arcadia]

Of course, why didn't I realize that sooner!

[Boton]

 

Ah, well maybe it was a conclusion Mary leaped to, and John didn't correct her because he was too busy thinking about getting Sherlock alone so they could snog.

 

Well yea, we all know that is what was really going on. That's the real reason they were heading upstairs to the bedrooms too, Sherlock didn't know anyone had really been stabbed, it was all a ploy. And then s*dding Mary turns up running past them, and turns out Sholto really has been stabbed and it's such a disaster Sherlock ends up leaving sad and alone. :P

 

 

And poor John has no choice but to stuff him self back in the metaphorical closet, even though he is in the presence of both of the men he has loved, and be dragged off into this marriage that he doesn't really want to be in.  

[Pseudonym]

It's all so tragic  :'(

[Arcadia]

You know, you'd think somebody would have noticed the gun Mary was holding on him all during the ceremony.

[Pseudonym]

It was under the table pointed at his family jewels, he didn't dare do anything. And Sherlock was too busy dying inside to be observant. 

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Doesn't this belong on the fan fiction thread? ;)

[Pseudonym]

Nope, because this is 100% fact. 

[Van Buren Supernova]

(See this thread trending on the front page)

Oh, dear. I forgot about our psychosomatic discussion. So I actually have read more and have a convincing theory to discuss about John's psychosomatic limp....

 

Eh.. (look around)

Good god!

 

say something. Say something quick!

 

For further confirmation, don't you guys forget the fact that on that morning Sherlock drank tea (gasp), albeit without biscuit.

 

Over and out.

*shudder*

 

:p

[Carol the Dabbler]

I actually have read more and have a convincing theory to discuss about John's psychosomatic limp....

 

Please! And quickly!