Episode 1.2, "The Blind Banker"

[Arcadia]

Daggone it JP, I'm supposed to be paying bills and instead I'm slo-mo'ing TBB! This forum is a menace... :p

 

Noticed something else odd about the "chip and pin" sequence ... almost all the shoppers are men! Or is that normal in London?

[J.P.]

All the female extras run to see Ben fighting at 221B. :P

[Van Buren Supernova]

All the female extras run to see Ben fighting at 221B. :P

Or they are browsing Sherlock's forum.

[Carol the Dabbler]

The grocery-store scene was reportedly filmed inside a Tesco.  I have no idea which one was used, but if their locations are the same in the Sherlock universe as in ours, then the one John actually shops at would have to be their store #44, Marylebone Baker Street Express at 110-112 Baker Street, which you can see near the top-center of this map.

 

Number 221 did not even exist in Conan Doyle's time (Baker Street stopped at #100), nor was his 221 located where the address should be nowadays.  (And of course the show is filmed on North Gower Street.)  But Moftiss clearly have a spot on the real Baker Street in mind, between York Street and Crawford Street, roughly where the Bathstore is on the map.  So Tesco #44 is just up the street from Sherlock and John's flat -- and it's amazing that we can't see it!  ;)

 

[J.P.]

The grocery-store scene was reportedly filmed inside a Tesco.  I have no idea which one was used, but if their locations are the same in the Sherlock universe as in ours, then the one John actually shops at would have to be their store #44, Marylebone Baker Street Express at 110-112 Baker Street, which you can see near the top-center of this map.

 

Number 221 did not even exist in Conan Doyle's time (Baker Street stopped at #100), nor was his 221 located where the address should be nowadays.  (And of course the show is filmed on North Gower Street.)  But Moftiss clearly have a spot on the real Baker Street in mind, between York Street and Crawford Street, roughly where the Bathstore is on the map.  So Tesco #44 is just up the street from Sherlock and John's flat -- and it's amazing that we can't see it!  ;)

 

... or even more amazing: we see it as important and even do a research on it. 

[Arcadia]

Carol, shall I loan you my axe? :D

[Carol the Dabbler]

Why?  Didn't J.P. just compliment my scholarly attitude? 

[Arcadia]

[Van Buren Supernova]

Why?  Didn't J.P. just compliment my scholarly attitude? 

:lol: :lol: :lol:

I can't speak for her,

I think you have excellent memory.

 

..

 

..

 

..

 

Are you Magnussen?

[Carol the Dabbler]

:P

[Arcadia]

Are you sure you don't want my axe?

[T.o.b.y]

The oftener I see this episode, the better I like it. Good old series 1... Still the best (for me).

 

I was just thinking - if they want more women, like they said, why not have Sarah back for an episode or two? I would love to see Sarah and Mary interact. Mary doesn't strike me as the jealous type, so I bet They'd get along fine. I can just imagine them trading funny John stories.

[T.o.b.y]

I've often wondered why John and Sarah didn't last. I mean, she was lovely and easy-going and didn't seem to mind Sherlock at all. Now, after having just seen her again, I have this theory that John dumped her. He probably had some flimsy reason (or blamed it on Sherlock), but the truth of the matter is very likely that she was just too nice and normal for him. Sarah is what John thought he liked or would like to like - Mary is what he's really drawn to.

 

Come to think of it, maybe none of John's failed relationships were really Sherlock's fault.

 

Poor John.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Could be.

 

On the other hand, John's blog says, "Went to see an old mate in New Zealand for a couple of weeks. Sarah came too but we broke up shortly afterwards. Not sure my life with Sherlock is compatible with long-term relationships."

 

Now I've never known a man to say "we broke up" unless he got dumped.  So I'm guessing that either Sherlock finally got to Sarah, or that in New Zealand Sarah saw a side of John she didn't care for.  (Maybe she was turned off by his hobbit feet.)

 

[SherlockedCAMPer]

Maybe she got a little freaked out by the dwarves.

[Boswell]

Could be.

 

On the other hand, John's blog says, "Went to see an old mate in New Zealand for a couple of weeks. Sarah came too but we broke up shortly afterwards. Not sure my life with Sherlock is compatible with long-term relationships."

 

Now I've never known a man to say "we broke up" unless he got dumped.  So I'm guessing that either Sherlock finally got to Sarah, or that in New Zealand Sarah saw a side of John she didn't care for.  (Maybe she was turned off by his hobbit feet.)

 

Is that how they put it on his blog? It sounds so cold and unaffected, he could be talking about the weather in New Zealand! 

 

If he were in the least bit emotionally invested in a relationship with Sarah, wouldn't he more likely say something like "Sarah thinks I spend less time with her than I do with my eccentric flatmate!"? instead of using the words "with Sherlock" as if that was the one unchanging descriptor of his life? I mean, yes that's how it's meant to be but do they have to be so obvious and artless about it?

 

Not a very good choice of words there

[Carol the Dabbler]

John is not the type to air either his dirty laundry or his emotions in public (check out his very terse post when Sherlock "died"), and that seems an adequate explanation of why he's not sounding all heartbroken over Sarah.  Besides, since she's already dumped him, there's no longer a relationship for him to be emotionally invested *in* -- so he's moving toward "it was all for the best" in order to protect his emotions.

 

Whatever really happened, we're not likely to hear about it.

 

[Boswell]

No, we're not likely to hear anything more about it

But then "Not sure my life with Sherlock is compatible with long-term relationships."   goes a little against his policy. To me this is a far more personal statement than the breakup with Sarah. It's a conclusion he seems to have jumped to, shockingly early, and basis just one example so far (i believe Sarah was John's first girlfriend after his moving into 221B).

It is not a natural assumption for a normal person to make that living with his current flatmate is going to be the defining pattern of his life when he can see it is not 'compatible' with having a long-term relationship, and if the thought does occur to John on some level, he certainly wouldn't post it on his blog. 

 

Unless of course he's saying it in a light-hearted joking way, in which case the whole thing really does come across as quite heartless and more typical of Sherlock rather than John who is forever the careful and 'correct' one.

 

[Boton]

Well, just to play devil's advocate a bit, John was writing on his blog, and that would change a person's voice slightly because he would know people were reading his post.  He may feel like exposing normal things makes the pair of them more relatable, just like he told Sherlock that hearing about the cases he doesn't solve makes him seem human.

 

I kind of think that John and Sarah broke up because John kept answering calls and texts from Sherlock at "inopportune" moments, and the stress of that plus the stress of traveling together did them in.  That also could account for John's seemingly out of character self-assessment of his life with Sherlock not working with LT relationships: he could have seen himself basically jump every time Sherlock texted wanting John to pick something up to bring home or wanting John to listen to him blather about a case because the Skull wasn't working for him or wanting John to help him find something that's actually in the flat and not with John on vacation.  

 

And one day, after a million texts that interrupted long walks on the beach and shopping in the quaint little town and having a romantic lunch, John and Sarah go back to the hotel room.  Sarah's at her wits' end with Sherlock's interruptions, but John calms her down and makes his "Three Continents" move on her.  Just then, a text comes in from Sherlock wanting John to mix toothpaste and contact solution and put it in his ear to see if a normal person would develop a rash consistent with one that Sherlock has found on a victim's body, and John breaks away from an embrace with Sarah and actually goes and does it.  And that's Sarah's last straw, leading to John sitting alone in the hotel room updating his blog.

 

At least, that's my story and I'm sticking with it.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Umm, yeah, something like that!  :P

 

To me, that "not compatible with relationships" thing sounds like temporary depression talking (rather than any serious opinion).  And I can't really blame him for feeling a bit frustrated, under the circumstances.

 

[Van Buren Supernova]

Toothpaste and contact solution?
How did I miss this?

Anyway, I rewatch TBB lately (more like rehear), again, I absolutely don't like Sarah. I know majority here adores her but don't kill me just yet. I only try to understand, do a bit of introspection and absolutely.... still don't like her, but narrow it down to three reasons:

 

1. Very invasive.
Very nosy about what someone you have just met who clearly doesn't enjoy your presence is really not good.
2. Pretentious.
I am as flirty as a log, but I read people being flirty very well. And yikes, she comes across almost desperate, very pretentious flirt and too touchy.
3. Whinny.
Almost get killed, I know. But it's over the top, can't stand that. I have feeling I'm being weird not understanding her distress here but time and again, I still maintain she is overreacting, it's really not that bad (I think ). And out of her character.

 

I find these three traits very annoying, maybe because I know people like that in real life and these three things are really high on my pet peeve list.
So enlighten me, we have a lot of time before S4, really, why is she likeable?

 

(One possible answer that I read before, she is smart, she notices Soo Lin's mark, but that is because she is nosy and it does't take a lot of brain to notice something like that )
 

[Amber§]

I too don't like Sarah very much, because I think she isn't very nice and sweet with John, Mary is much better, in my opinion.

[Arcadia]

Toothpaste and contact solution?

How did I miss this?

 

Anyway, I rewatch TBB lately (more like rehear), again, I absolutely don't like Sarah. I know majority here adores her but don't kill me just yet. I only try to understand, do a bit of introspection and absolutely.... still don't like her, but narrow it down to three reasons:

 

1. Very invasive.

Very nosy about what someone you have just met who clearly doesn't enjoy your presence is really not good.

2. Pretentious.

I am as flirty as a log, but I read people being flirty very well. And yikes, she comes across almost desperate, very pretentious flirt and too touchy.

3. Whinny.

Almost get killed, I know. But it's over the top, can't stand that. I have feeling I'm being weird not understanding her distress here but time and again, I still maintain she is overreacting, it's really not that bad (I think ). And out of her character.

 

I find these three traits very annoying, maybe because I know people like that in real life and these three things are really high on my pet peeve list.

So enlighten me, we have a lot of time before S4, really, why is she likeable?

 

(One possible answer that I read before, she is smart, she notices Soo Lin's mark, but that is because she is nosy and it does't take a lot of brain to notice something like that )

 

 

 

I too don't like Sarah very much, because I think she isn't very nice and sweet with John, Mary is much better, in my opinion.

 

I seem to have missed this discussion too, has the thread been hiding from some of us?

 

I don't dislike Sarah, but I think she was a little too perfect and a little too normal for this show. Especially now that they seem to be trying to convince us that John is "addicted to danger", he needs a woman who operates a bit out of the box. Personally, I think an assassin is too far out of the box, but I do like the chemistry between Mary, John & Sherlock better than that between Sarah, John & Sherlock. It's different than you usually see, and that seems right for this show.

[Van Buren Supernova]

It's hidden in twilight zone? 

 

Too perfect...errrr...rrr..... noooooooooooo noooo NO!

 

Too normal.. wait, I think that may be the reason why she is repulsive for me. I am not joking actually. What make me dislike her are very common traits in real life, maybe that's why I am very annoyed because I deal with these people daily.

 

Same with both of you, I also think John, Mary amd Sherlock do have great chemistry.

[Pseudonym]

This must have been discussed earlier (I scanned quite a few of the pages, but with over 20 I might have missed it), but I was wondering what people's opinions were on John correcting Sherlock referring to him a friend by saying he's a colleague. Even if this is fairly early in their relationship it seems a bit harsh, especially when Sherlock seems to be saying friend almost defiantly, as if to point out to Sebastian that he can make friends, and then is completely undermined by John correcting him. Even at this stage John must feel that he and Sherlock are more friends than colleagues, they do live together after all. I really hate Sebastian's smug smile that Sherlock would try to pass off a colleague as a friend, like he is so alien he has no idea of the difference. 

So what does everyone think? Is there a reason behind this I'm missing? Why does John do it?