John Watson

[Arcadia]

All of us old people are rather irritating, I'm afraid. We've lived so long, we think we're more interesting than we actually are ..... :D

I grew up with a short-tempered, yelling Dad, but he was also the sweetest guy on earth who wouldn't have hurt a fly. Yelling was his way of letting off steam so he wouldn't stay angry, I guess... and yes, it was hard to take, sometimes. The rest of the time, though, he was the best Dad ever, and that's what I learned to hang onto. And John's anger doesn't come even close to being as loud (or as coarse ) as my Dad's, so I guess that's why I don't take it too seriously. He's just blowing off steam, and like a lot of people (most people?) he has trouble doing so without striking out at someone else. Also like my Dad, I think John has a knee-jerk reaction when he thinks his male pride is being threatened. Why that is such an issue for many men I don't know, but I see that it is. And for women too, I venture to guess; we just tend to handle it in a different way.

[Arcadia]

PS -- I doubt if my Dad ever struck anyone in his life, but boys do enjoy a good wrestle, it seems. I can't imagine John ever doing anything that would truly harm Sherlock, and boys appear to mostly take pride in the bumps and bruises they give each other, so ... there you are. To me John and Sherlock act more like my brothers when they were kids, than anything else. Pushing each other down in the dirt was the height of fun, as I recall.

[J.P.]

I don't know. In the Punch-me-in-the-face scene it looked quite serious... 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Like spittin' and scratchin' and cussiin', you mean? No, I don't get that vibe from him either!

 

Hey, has anyone else noticed anything odd about the reply function? Suddenly there's no word wrap, if you know what I mean. Have I accidentally pushed a wrong button?

Yes, that sort of thing -- but even more so, things like a patronizing attitude toward women. And John doesn't strike me as that type at all.

 

I'm currently having no problem with the reply function. Maybe you need to close and reload your browser, or even reboot your computer?

 

In terms of being John's friend, I'm not opposed to his masculinity. I'm more opposed to John's broodiness and yelling. I prefer my company to be mellow and laid-back. Or, barring that, manipulative and clever.

 

Hey, I'd take broody and yelling over manipulative ANY day !!!

 

Since I've always enjoyed things like math and logic that most females aren't interested in (or think they're not "supposed" to be interested in), I've hung out with guys a lot....

 

It's not math and logic that I feel unable to relate to... I'm not good at it, but I like it, I understand the appreciation for it and my parents are both math people. No, it's another aspect of "being very male" that I feel alienated by, but I can't quite lay my finger on it. Whatever it is that makes men interested in sports and cars, for example.

I mentioned math only as the reason that I've spent a lot of time hanging out with men and therefore feel comfortable with them in general (not as anything that I might have in common with John). I don't get sports and cars myself, but I still think I could be at ease with John. Maybe your reservations are based on some sort of personality clash?

 

Mrs Hudson? As sweet as she is - I see Shadow Dwellers point too. She can be irritating as hell.

I agree. She's a sweetheart, and I like her in general -- but she can sometimes be a little too nice.  Take her rather aggressive tolerance of John's supposed gayness, for example.  I don't think I'd be any happier about that sort of attitude than he is.

 

[T.o.b.y]

I agree. She's a sweetheart, and I like her in general -- but she can sometimes be a little too nice.  Take her rather aggressive tolerance of John's supposed gayness, for example.  I don't think I'd be any happier about that sort of attitude than he is.

 

Well, I understand perfectly why John finds that annoying, but personally, I think Mrs Hudson is really cute that way. She is so happy for this opportunity to show off how progressive and open-minded she is, and she gets carried away with the idea to an extent where she's completely blind to reality. And of course she thinks the boys are a lovely "couple" and gets emotionally invested in them together, perhaps for the lack of something similar in her own life. Isn't it sweet that she can be that way and not bitter and resentful after her own husband turned out to be a criminal, and unfaithful to boot, and Mr Chattergee already had two other wives?

 

Mrs Hudson is a really sweet, good person. I love how the boys treat her like a family member even though she is "only" their landlady, and later not even that to John.

 

 

[Shadow Dweller]

~_~ That, and the way Martha Hudson banged tea when John show up in 221 to deliver news about Mary really remind me to the way an acquaintance behaved. She seems nice and bubbly in the surface (especially to men) but scratch a little deeper then you will find a horrid monster who abuse anyone who did not follow her exact personal standard of 'polite behaviour' with passive-aggressive and or violence. My acquaintance deluded herself that she lives to please others and she's a nice person but in reality she's a controlling person without tolerance to other people's life choice who did not fit her idea of good and proper. That person will drill and judge about your life, never mind about boundaries, should you spend more time in her vicinity than enough for the most brief (superficial) friendly exchange. A chronic gossiper who would not hesitate to stab you in the back when she's blabbering in 'I know everything around here' mode. On the other hand, it is really easy to squeeze information out of her. Just get her giddy by applying to her vanity, insert yourself to her good grace but do not in any circumstances let her have any kind of power upon you because she is not to be trusted with your sanity.

[HeroinOrHeroine]

I don't think there's anything wrong with being a yeller as a personality trait. It doesn't make me uncomfortable or intimidate me. My job basically consists of pissing people off, getting yelled at and called names. I want chill people around me when I'm not working. I like John; if he were a real person I'd think he was a very decent human being. But I wouldn't be his friend.

 

(And I prefer clever & manipulation because I'm impressed if someone outwits me).

[Carol the Dabbler]

~_~ That, and the way Martha Hudson banged tea when John show up in 221 to deliver news about Mary really remind me to the way an acquaintance behaved. She seems nice and bubbly in the surface (especially to men) but scratch a little deeper then you will find a horrid monster....

 

Thankfully, Mrs. Hudson does not impress me in that way.  She can be a bit annoying at times, and yes she banged the tea things (because John had been ignoring her for two years), but in general I think she's a real sweetheart -- albeit with nerves of steel.  I don't think we know everything about her yet, not by a long shot.

 

(And I prefer clever & manipulation because I'm impressed if someone outwits me).

 

If I want someone to outwit me, I'll play chess with them.  I don't care at all for people who get their way by tricking me.  I'd far rather they honestly say what they want and then discuss it with me.

[Arcadia]

I don't know. In the Punch-me-in-the-face scene it looked quite serious... 

 

Oh, not to me. I took it as exaggeration for the sake of a laugh. But even if they were playing it straight, as Irene pointed out, John wasn't really trying to hurt Sherlock, just ... express his annoyance, in a very boyish way. To me, Sherlock and John make the most sense if I think of them as 12 and 15, not 30- and 40-somethings ..... :D

 

 

Hey, has anyone else noticed anything odd about the reply function? Suddenly there's no word wrap, if you know what I mean. Have I accidentally pushed a wrong button?

I'm currently having no problem with the reply function. Maybe you need to close and reload your browser, or even reboot your computer?

 

 

Well, I remembered later, I've been testing out Firefox (as I'm still using Vista and I'm tired of all these websites telling me I need to update my browser :( ) -- and it's something to do with that, because the reply function still works fine in Explorer. But in Firefox, the "plain text" mode has no word wrap. Very annoying; there may be a setting I need to adjust but I haven't had time to fool with it yet. Why Microsoft can't make their own browser backwards compatible with their own operating system is beyond me ... :facepalm:

 

Hey, I'd take broody and yelling over manipulative ANY day !!!

 

I think I could take the manipulative depending on how, when and why ... it's the lying lies that get to me. Hard to do the former without the latter, I guess.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Hey, has anyone else noticed anything odd about the reply function? Suddenly there's no word wrap, if you know what I mean. Have I accidentally pushed a wrong button?

I'm currently having no problem with the reply function. Maybe you need to close and reload your browser, or even reboot your computer?

 

Well, I remembered later, I've been testing out Firefox (as I'm still using Vista and I'm tired of all these websites telling me I need to update my browser :( ) -- and it's something to do with that, because the reply function still works fine in Explorer. But in Firefox, the "plain text" mode has no word wrap. Very annoying; there may be a setting I need to adjust but I haven't had time to fool with it yet. Why Microsoft can't make their own browser backwards compatible with their own operating system is beyond me ... :facepalm:

You may be right about some setting, or it may be a compatibility issue.  I recommend that you post this in the "Bugs & Problems" area.  Even though it's presumably nothing to do with the forum per se, someone may be able to point you in the right direction.

 

[T.o.b.y]

To me, Sherlock and John make the most sense if I think of them as 12 and 15, not 30- and 40-somethings ..... :D

 

I guess that is true for most men... :lol:

[HeroinOrHeroine]

 

 

 

(And I prefer clever & manipulation because I'm impressed if someone outwits me).

If I want someone to outwit me, I'll play chess with them. I don't care at all for people who get their way by tricking me. I'd far rather they honestly say what they want and then discuss it with me.

It takes all kinds to make a world.

[Bendydoodle Cantaloupe]

Martin Freeman's acting is just flawless. He turned John into a guy with so much damage and baggage; between the fist-clenching and his smirk, John just seems so real. I wouldn't want to be his friend though. He's so high-strung.

I dunno, it kinda depends. I don't see him as THAT high-strung, at least not as much as I and many other girls are, but you can DEFINITELY sense that sudden (suppressed) burst of emotion from him when he first finds out about Sherlock and Janine. :lol:

[Arcadia]

 

Hey, has anyone else noticed anything odd about the reply function? Suddenly there's no word wrap, if you know what I mean. Have I accidentally pushed a wrong button?

I'm currently having no problem with the reply function. Maybe you need to close and reload your browser, or even reboot your computer?

 

Well, I remembered later, I've been testing out Firefox (as I'm still using Vista and I'm tired of all these websites telling me I need to update my browser :( ) -- and it's something to do with that, because the reply function still works fine in Explorer. But in Firefox, the "plain text" mode has no word wrap. Very annoying; there may be a setting I need to adjust but I haven't had time to fool with it yet. Why Microsoft can't make their own browser backwards compatible with their own operating system is beyond me ... :facepalm:

You may be right about some setting, or it may be a compatibility issue.  I recommend that you post this in the "Bugs & Problems" area.  Even though it's presumably nothing to do with the forum per se, someone may be able to point you in the right direction.

 

Finally got around to researching it; it's Firefox. There's instructions for fixing, but they're well beyond me. I'll try Chrome ... someday.

[SherlockedCAMPer]

I use chrome on a vista computer and rarely have issues. It gives me less issues than John ends up having with Sherlock.

[Arcadia]

I use chrome on a vista computer and rarely have issues. It gives me less issues than John ends up having with Sherlock.

[Bendydoodle Cantaloupe]

Dunno where to put this, but I've just had a thought -- We've all noticed that there's no John construct in Sherlock's mind palace the way there's Mycroft and Molly and Anderson, right? John only appears when Sherlock's aware of him, but there's no separate John-like entity in the mind palace.

 

I think I know why.

 

 

[SherlockedCAMPer]

Interesting idea. Could be, maybe.

[Cumbercowley]

I can't believe it - I just realized we don't have a thread for John. 

 

This is a crime against humanity

[Inge l-w]

Having had almost no girl relations of approximately my own age, and coming from a family with very reserved emotions, bar my wonderful Dad, I had to adapt to boys' interests pretty quickly, basketball and air-gun shooting included, later on going on actual hunts, so my major problem would not be how to relate to Dr Watson, who I think, has ceased being a good friend to Sherlock by S3, and have posted accordingly, but how to approach Planet Sherlock, because observation-wise there would be a clash, and although I love his character in both ACD stories and in the modern version, I would pretty much react like the long-suffering Mrs Hudson of the Brett series: put up with his brilliance and eccentricity, but not without protest in one form or another!

As for manipulative, Sherlock is a babe in the woods compared to my main interests in real life, Cardinal Richelieu and Benjamin Disraeli. Compared to their grand schemes, his attempts are puerile!

[BlackButterfly]

There's a John in the MP , remember the courtroom scene in TSOT? , cuddly cardie John.

[J.P.]

Dunno where to put this, but I've just had a thought -- We've all noticed that there's no John construct in Sherlock's mind palace the way there's Mycroft and Molly and Anderson, right? John only appears when Sherlock's aware of him, but there's no separate John-like entity in the mind palace.

 

I think I know why.

 

 

 

Which can be interpreted in a variety of ways

The other reason might be that John's presence would weaken the impact of Jim's "John is in danger" line.

[T.o.b.y]

Dunno where to put this, but I've just had a thought -- We've all noticed that there's no John construct in Sherlock's mind palace the way there's Mycroft and Molly and Anderson, right? John only appears when Sherlock's aware of him, but there's no separate John-like entity in the mind palace.

 

I think there is one, we just haven't seen it yet. Remember when Sherlock was looking at the skeleton with Molly? He started talking to (well, kind of arguing with) John, who was certainly nowhere near the room, and we heard John's voice.

 

[Caya]

I heard a rather scary theory on that one - because of the environment. Note how that little dank, dark room is similar to the room he was tortured in. Talking to John on his head may have been his survival mechanism against the beatings, sleep deprival and the like.

[SherlockedCAMPer]

Interesting theory Martina. I could see that as a possibility with what we know of Sherlock.