I had actually noticed that before, but I never thought much of it, just a change in Martin's hair or the stylist's preference or something.  The change in point of view is an interesting take on it.

Vhanja wrote:

Ok, so always get more small questions when rewatching an episode. HoB this time:

1. Why does John cave in and hand Sherlock the cigarettes? For the puppy dog look?
2. Why does Sherlock says he will only send John to Dartmoor only to say he will come after all five seconds later?
3. While sitting outside talking to Fletcher about "the bet", Sherlock seems to be drinking beer and John a glass of coke - but Sherlock is the one driving straight after. Just seemed a bit odd. (Or perhaps you are allowed to drive in the UK after one beer, I don't know).

Quoting myself on this one. Rewatching S2 and I might have found a possible explanation for question 1 and 2:

My feeling now while watching HoB was that Sherlock was using the hiding place of the cigarettes as a pressure point towards John. "If you don't tell me where the cigarettes are, I will have you go alone to Dartmoor." I got that from John's resigned "Ah, ok!" after Sherlock going on about how "busy" he was. He goes to get the cigarettes, Sherlock tosses them away but immediately agrees to go to Dartmoor.

Dunno, just made sense when I saw it. What do you guys think?

Also, I think it's reference to the original story, where Watson goes off without Sherlock. 

As for drinking, yes, I'd think that the average man could drink a pint of beer and be under the drink/drive limit.   A lot of people do it regularly.   (There isn't a set amount of units that is allowed - your blood/breath/urine have to be under certain limits). 

I get the reference, but if that was all it was, it was done in a really weird way. "Sorry, can't got. Oh, yes, I can" - in the same scene.

As for the third question in my quote, I think it was established that Sherlock picked a half-finished glass from another table as a prop.

Another thing from TRF. Mycroft says that nothing could make Moriarty talk, except Mycroft himself, when he talked about Sherlock.

However, all we see of this so-called secret government torture is a few slaps to the face. Something most people would be able to endure. Of course, you could say that this show has a rating to adher to, and can't be too graphic. But the torture we see being done to Sherlock in TEH (and what is implied) is much, MUCH worse than the few slaps in the face that Moriarty is subjected to.

And quite possibly they don't really want to suggest that the British government tortures people. 

Well, this is the second time torture is mentioned in the hand of the British government (first time being Mycroft to Irene).

As for Mycroft enjoying it, that's Sherlock's assessment, and we have a thread of it's own for that argument.

Vhanja wrote:

Another thing from TRF. Mycroft says that nothing could make Moriarty talk, except Mycroft himself, when he talked about Sherlock.

However, all we see of this so-called secret government torture is a few slaps to the face. Something most people would be able to endure. Of course, you could say that this show has a rating to adher to, and can't be too graphic. But the torture we see being done to Sherlock in TEH (and what is implied) is much, MUCH worse than the few slaps in the face that Moriarty is subjected to.

I always understood this in the way that Moriarty didn't really need any convincing to talk when the topic was Sherlock. I imagine he told Mycroft exactly the things he wanted to tell him, nothing more.
 

I may be remembering this completely wrong...but I see to remember there being an Anderson in Horowitz's The House of Silk, No I think it was his ' Moriarty'! But of course that was released after Sherlock, anyway.

The way I mentally justify that observation is as follows:

Taking a pulse is one way to "collect data" when trying to determine if a person is dead or alive.  This data is used to help when coming to a conclusion one way or the other.

It's fairly obvious that Moriarty putting a gun in his mouth and pulling the trigger would make him dead.  The conclusion was already quite clear to Sherlock - therefore, there was no need to collect more data in that instance.  Therefore, Sherlock did not bother to check his pulse.

So why did Sherlock [seemingly] take precautions against John checking for his pulse?

Because oftentimes, Sherlock seems to apply inductive reasoning - he assumes he's clever enough that the probable outcome of his observation is the actual outcome (and he is often right).  John, on the other hand, as a doctor, is trained to check for a pulse just to make absolutely certain.  (And also, even if John "knows" that Sherlock could not have survived, might have checked regardless if he were in a state of denial.)

This is just one possible explanation.