What year do you think John and Sherlock met?

[Artemis 4,058]

The deep blue dressing gown is a very flattering color on him. So why did they ditch it in S3 and put him in that horrid tomato-colored red one? And the baby-poop khaki lab coat did him no favors at all. He should always only wear the blue dressing gown.

I'm actually of the complete opposite opinion on this, lol. The deep red dressing gown (which I would probably call burgundy or maroon) is my favorite on him. I also like the tan one a lot, and the plaid one we see briefly in ASiB. The blue one, while a good color on him, I thought overwhelmed him a bit. It is the most iconic though.

[Carol the Dabbler 14,653]

The green jacket doesn't bug me so much, I actually thought it was a nice color on him. (It didn't look olive to me though; more like a grayish or muted "seafoam" green.) The fit, though, was awful, I agree.

 

Oops, meant to mention the color myself -- certainly better on Summer John than the black jacket.  Mostly it's those ties that bug me -- and the cut / fit of the garment.  Everything besides the color is pretty awful.

[Arcadia 18,586]

 

 

 

By the way, how long before Sherlock met John do you think he was off drugs? I mean, before he turned into a "occasional user" instead.

 

I agree with Arcadia.  There's very little in-universe evidence that he was ever more than an "occasional user," although I think many would argue the point.  I tend to think he's always had it more or less under control, although intelligent minds will differ on the point.  I base my reasoning on the idea that Conan Doyle made his hero an occasional user who partook of then-legal substances, and Moftiss would probably not have deviated that much from the original template, plus just a selfish personal preference that I don't want to believe that Sherlock is struggling with addiction in every scene I watch him in.

 

 

"Sometimes it's *so hard* not smoking . . ."

SH, "Sign of Three"

 

I think when we meet him, SH has weaned himself off whatever he was using (not cigarettes, something stronger) . . but the fact is, he's known to Lestrade as having that history.  ('It stops being pretend if we find anything'.)  Why would Lestrade hit upon the pretext of 'a pretend drugs bust' as a means of getting into Sherlock's home unless there was precedent?  Lestrade is not altogether joking with the 'if they find anything' part.  There is a chance in his mind, based on past history that something illicit might turn up, besides human body parts.  If SH had been a boy scout and had never touched any bad stuff, going through the motions of searching his flat for dope would have been silly.

 

 

Sherlock's past history, one way behind the occasional reccie use, is certainly well known to his brother.  An occasional user doesn't need to make an exhaustive list every time he gets high.  Perhaps the whole arrangement of consulting with Scotland Yard for free was an arrangement worked out by Mycroft--community service as it were, in lieu of a custodial sentence on a drugs charge.  Would not look good for the British government to have a sibling in the joint.

 

 Considering how quickly and completely SH slipped back into usage for the TLD, that wolf is never far from his door, like for any addict.  So I think that a newly clean again SH is now attending NA meetings, and John is going to Narc-Anon for loved ones of addicts. 

 

 

I think I wrote that original post sometime after I had seen HLV, and at that time, I agreed with you that Lestrade thought that using was within the possibility for Sherlock, but that he was actually clean - the Magnussen stuff was a pleasant excuse to go back to a habit he enjoyed.

 

After TAB and TLD, I have to say I think he's a more serious user than that. I've sort of revised to thinking that he believes that this is a habit he can pick up and put down, and that everyone else is horrified because of the social stigma.  

 

 

It's not just a social stigma, though, is it? He could actually do himself real harm. Even Wiggins thought he was taking too much, and he's hardly the one to be worrying about the social stigma, I would think.

 

Oh, wait ... maybe you're saying that Sherlock thinks it's a social stigma, and not an actual danger. If that's the case, er, umm, never mind.  ^_^