Sherlock, 1x01 "A Study In Pink"

The very first episode of Sherlock called A Study in Pink, a BBC TV production that aired first in 2010, follows the pattern of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's original story A Study in Scarlet and starts with Dr John Watson and the traumatic experiences he made in Afghanistan where he served as a military doctor. After a severe injury, he returns to London, visits a therapist and is in search of a flatmate. His former classmate at Barts, Mike Stamford, introduces him to Sherlock Holmes, an eccentric self-claimed consulting detective who occasionally visits the medical and forensic facilities of Barts in order to broaden his knowledge in "The Science of Deduction". From the moment John Watson enters the medical laboratory, Holmes deduces all important information such as his prior occupation in Afghanistan and that he has got a brother with alcohol problems. Dazzled by what he has witnessed, Watson agrees on sharing a flat with the weird but also fascinating detective and moves house to 221B Baker Street in London, the British capital the series is set in as is the original story. Shortly, Holmes is asked for help by Scotland Yard's detective inspector Lestrade in a complicated case, a "serial suicide" he has already poked his nose into before officially being called by the police, and offers Watson to accompany and even assist him at the scene of crime. For Holmes, there is no doubt that it must be a serial murder instead of suicide and he bursts into joy while connecting the clues, much to the scepticism and annoyance of Donovan and Anderson, two fellow inspectors of Lestrade. In the course of the episode, Holmes seeks for the pink thread through the case, namely the scarlet thread in the original A Study in Scarlet, investigates on his own and makes Watson do the dull work that is too much of a nuisance to him. He gets into trouble with the police for withholding evidence but, finally, he draws the correct conclusions, follows the murderer and reveals the entire case.

"... somebody who we trust even if we don't know him ..."

"... somebody who passes unnoticed wherever he goes ..."

"... somebody who hunts in the middle of a crowd ..."

About Sherlock Holmes:

Sherlock Holmes, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, has his first appearance in the BBC series during a press conference held by inspector Lestrade and Donovan, however, he is not physically present. While reporters ask questions about the recent "serial suicide" incident Holmes sends text messages to all attendants that reveal the untruth of Lestrade's statements. We as viewers as well as the reporters are confused of the mysterious person that manages to secretly send messages to mobile phones he cannot know the phone number of but at the same time we are impressed by his ability of interceding in police affairs without being present at all, an ability that can be found in the Holmes canon as well. It also shows how extensive his sources and ranges of information are, so he does not even have to leave his appartment or be at the place of events to barge in. Modern technologies help him to put out his feelers in all directions of London and stabilise his network of information, so he does not lose sight of any difficult murder case and criminological riddle that takes place in the British capital. Of course, the original Sherlock Holmes is a modern man for Victorian standards as well, uses the latest inventions and tries to develop them even further, so it is only natural that also his contemporary incarnation uses many available facilities to assuage his thirst of intellectual satisfaction. Difficult cases are games and adventures for Sherlock, even if there is the danger of risking his life (Watson: "That's how you get your kicks, isn't it? You risk your life to prove you're clever."), and he errupts into joy the more difficult and complex a case becomes, a strange behaviour that evokes suspicion and confusion in the people dealing with him. Not knowing if he is right or wrong as well as not knowing the whereabouts of a murder frustrate him to the highest. Boredom is a state Sherlock seeks to avoid by any means, it is unbearable to him and a complete waste of time and brain efficiency. Therefore, in order to keep himself occupied, he occasionally does experiments at the mortuary of Barts university in London such as hitting a fresh corpse with a riding crop to study the emergence of bruises and their form within twenty minutes, hence, proving a suspect's alibi of another investigation he is involved in. Not only do those experiments serve his investigations but also do they broaden his knowledge which he publishes on his website called "The Science of Deduction", which is a series of articles he publishes in a British newspaper in Doyle's original stories as well. He is a self-taught master of observation and deduction what he proves as John Watson enters the laboratory he is working in, accompanying Mike Stamford. Sherlock immediately deduces that Watson used to be in military service, either Iraq or Afghanistan, and has a brother with alcohol issues as well as John's limp must be psychosomatic. Despite his unchallenged cleverness, Holmes is an immensely untidy and messy person what emphasizes the fact that he does not have any sense for spatial but mental order. Anything that does not challenge his brain is a dull nuisance to him and does not deserve his attention, a distinctive treat that can be seen as arrogance. There are numerous other occasions where Sherlock's arrogance is unsheathed, especially towards other people who cannot compete with his intelligence. He constantly bullies Anderson (e.g. "Anderson, don't talk out loud. You lower the IQ of the whole street."), repeatedly shows his antipathy towards him and Donovan and utters his thoughts concerning the stupidity of the people he has to deal with (e.g. "Dear God, what is it like in your funny little brains? It must be so boring." or "There are clear signs, even you lot couldn't miss them."), including Lestrade and even Watson who he values nonetheless.

"Look at you lot. You are all so vacant. Is it nice not being me? It must be so relaxing."

Not only does this line represent Sherlock's arrogance but also envy towards "normal" people to some extent. A genius can never rest since his brain occupies him twenty-four hours a day and never stops working. Instead of consuming drugs such as Doyle's Sherlock Holmes does, the BBC incarnation uses nicotine patches to stimulate his mind since it is "impossible to sustain a smoking habit in London these days. Bad news for brain work." The number of patches attached to his arm is proportional to the severity of a problem he has to think of. Sherlock calls himself a high-functioning sociopath, a term he must have researched in bygone years alongside the term psychopath the inspectors Donovan and Anderson fancy to use for him and surely have not been the only ones calling him so. Donovan is so suspicious of Sherlock's enthusiasm for weird crimes that she is quite sure that he will construct his own crimes and murders one day just for the fun, hence, she tries to warn Watson to stay away from him. The only person who has known him for a few years and has a more positive and optimistic position towards Sherlock is inspector Lestrade who, besides regarding Sherlock as a child, thinks that he "is a great man. And I [Lestrade] think one day, if we're very, very lucky, he might even be a good one." His sociopathy becomes apparent in his inability to conform to usual social behaviour and patterns as well, e.g. Holmes cannot understand why the latest victim of murder would have thought of her stillborn daughter in her last moments of life and found the strength to scratch her name into the wooden floor while dying. Actions driven by emotions are not rational to him and that is why he also misinterprets Molly Hooper's attempts to approach him. Molly, a shy forensic assistant at Barts, is quite interested in Sherlock and therefore helps him with his research at the mortuary but her trial to wear lipstick in order to attract the detective fails badly as well as the trial to ask him out for coffee. Holmes is incapable of interpreting her romantic feelings, in fact, he is not interested in love matters as he considers himself married to his work. Human relationships are dull and boring to Sherlock, especially love relationships, consequently, he is not interested in women nor men at all. However, even the relation to his brother Mycroft Holmes is troubled as well as they often get into brotherly quarrels both regard as a childish feud but do not prohibit it. To be more precise, Sherlock regards his brother as his archenemy although Mycroft is concerned about his brother's being, at least he purports so. Usually, Sherlock Holmes eschews too much social contact to other people and fancies talking to a skull, an old friend of his he keeps as if it is the most common and normal thing in the world, however, he also puts up with John Watson to talk the case through since Mrs Hudson has taken the skull at one point of the episode and Sherlock likes to talk aloud to organise his thoughts, even in public but a skull would look weird there.

About John Watson:

As mentioned before, Dr John Watson, played by Martin Freeman in the BBC adaptation, has served as a military doctor in Afghanistan before the actual plot starts but has been shot into the left shoulder. His traumatic experiences still haunt him at night and bother him with nightmares. He visits a therapist who recommends him to use an online blog to cope with his nightmares, however, it is useless to Watson since nothing ever happens to him he could write about. It is clear right from the beginning that he suffers from depression, a severe mental disease that derives from his trauma and the monotonous and mundane life he has to fulfill. He has trust issues to other people as well, also to his therapist, thus, he cannot talk about his true feelings and thoughts. Those psychological disorders are newly added attributes that do not show up in the Holmes canon. Although the original Dr John Watson mentions that he is quickly exhausted and tired, he never visits a psychologist or shows any distinctive symptoms of mental disorders. In fact, he diagnoses his physical weakness as being the aftermath of what he experienced in war but seems to be mentally fit after all. After the meeting with the psychologist, Watson accidentally meets Mike Stamford, an old fellow student from Barts who is teaching at said university, during his lunch break. John receives army pension, therefore he cannot afford a living in London unless he shares a flat. Stamford introduces him to Sherlock Holmes who often visits the medical department and mortuary of Barts and who is looking for a flatmate. Despite all character differences, John accepts to share a flat with the self-claimed consulting detective and although he still suffers from his experiences in Afghanistan and saw terrible deaths he willingly accompanies Sherlock when he is called into the investigation on the serial suicide case. It is remarkable that Watson has trust issues towards his therapist and does not seem to be the kind to make friends easily but seems to trust Holmes right from the beginning, a conclusion Sherlock's brother Mycroft also draws after 'kidnapping' John and requesting the retired doctor to deliver him information about Sherlock's being. Besides the limp in his right leg, Mycroft diagnoses that Watson's intermittent tremor is not a post-traumatic stress disorder as the therapist stated but also an expression of his body, showing that he "is not haunted by the war, he misses it." A supportive aspect is the fact that he still keeps a gun in his desk's drawer, ostensibly a 'souvenir' from Afghanistan. Obviously, John is fascinated by Sherlock's brilliant nature and is highly interested in his adventurous life, showing his inner urge for action and distraction in his dull life. He wants to break out of the monotonous prison he has built up himself right after returning from Afghanistan, he wants to be of any use again and puts all his hopes into Sherlock Holmes. Prove to this assumption is the fact that Watson completely forgets his psychosomatic limp when he runs off with Holmes, chasing a cab through the streets of London and only realises what has happened when the owner of the Italian restaurant they visited before brings the crutch he left there in a rush. Additionally, he comes back to their shared flat as soon as possible from the other side of London in the prospect of a possible danger when being texted by Sherlock but in reality he only wants Watson to do the dull work of investigating such as sending a text message to the murderer in suspicion.