Davina wrote:

Ah but he didn't necessarily intend Sherlock to get more drunk. He couldn't remember which drink he had put the extra shot in! He was trying to get himself more drunk. Remember the sneaky extra shot he also drank?

 
Yes; in England getting drunk on your Stag Night is a rite of passage, and medical students are notoriously even keener on pub crawls than other students. I don't think John has changed much from his earlier life.

I adore it; it is as if Mofftiss decided to do the funniest stag night ever written, with the unique take on choosing the route to commemorate murders they had investigated. 

Do you remember that we were kind of annoyed when Sherlock walked in into a crime scene without protection, gloves, shoes and a labcoat? e.g. in the bedroom in TRF when he looked at the footprints?
And now when he was drunk he even vomitted on the floor.
Don't compromise the crime scene.

Sometimes John tries to get the upper hand or annoy Sherlock e.g. by spoiling his drinking experiment or looking into his bedroom after Sherlock told him not to.
I really like to see them playing with each other. I think maybe Sherlock told John not to look into the bedroom knowing that John would do exactly that because he wanted to know what was in there. And of course John would find Janine.

I think both of them disliked the aftermath and the hangover.

They aren't quite as wrecked as in The Game of Shadows! 

Yeah! 'I've just had a fight.' 

I didn't remember until later: isn't Harry's drinking a cause of estrangement between her and John? Which implies he has a problem with drinking, or at least, is concerned about the effects of it.

And I also didn't think of it before but: after all of that trouble Moriarty went to to undermine Sherlock's reputation...and just when it's been restored...what if those clients he had on the "stag party night" spread the word? He'll get a reputation for being drunk on the job. Not the same thing Moriarty was trying to make him look like, but he didn't come off as particularly competent detective. And customers do talk...

In canon, Sherlock Holmes sometimes used cocaine (it wasn't illegal then) as a substitute for mental stimulation when he didn't have a case. He would never have allowed any kind of substance to interfere with his mental sharpness when on a case. It was the major thing Watson argued with him about, and perhaps the only area where Watson felt he knew better than Holmes.

SherlocklivesinOH, I dunno, but we're talking about a stag night here. Don't get me wrong, I think stag nights are a pretty stupid 'invention'.
But in this case I don't think you can compare John's drinking on that evening with the habitual drinking of his sister. And yes, if the word about drunk Sherlock gets out, some potential clients might be put off, but I don't really think that it would damage his reputation in the long-run.

I don't know if too many people have become alcoholics because getting drunk once, at a party, got them hooked. Seems like it's a risk, though, especially for those kind of prone to addiction (and I think some counselors and such say someone who has one addiction is prone to others. That's why I don't like it when getting drunk is treated as just fun with no consequences (although people drunk can certainly be funny to watch.)) And John by this time probably really does think Sherlock is indestructible. Actually, they were almost nicer people drunk.

But there's one difference between nicotine and other substances that would be important to Sherlock: nicotine has some serious potential long-term health effects, but it doesn't, in the short term, affect someone's mood or thinking the way alcohol and many other drugs do. Alcohol obviously interferes with the deduction abilities of even the great Sherlock Holmes.

I love this sequence and how Sherlock loses himself to it. I get the impression that he doesn't drink beer often, but that he does have it sometimes because he's drinking it so easily. I like how they get back to Baker Street and move onto the hard liquor while playing the game. We already know from Baskerville that Sherlock does consume the occasional whisky, so I'm guessing he's one who likes the odd drink but not to the point of drunkedness.

The drunk deductions kill me every time (egg? chair? sitty thing? sleeeeeeeeeeep). The vomiting scene, while revolting, gets a chuckle for the prim way Sherlock wipes his mouth after. And it's probably clear from my signature that clueing for looks is my new favourite expression. Another one I like is Sherlock apologizing for his "thing", which was Benedict forgetting his line while staying in character and the director making the smart decision to keep the line in the show!

I also have to comment on Mrs. Hudson the next morning after as she reveals that she made the boys their favourite breakfast for their hangover. John's is a standard English breakfast. As for Sherlock, his is a little surprising: egg, ham, pineapple, and chips. *blinks*

(This sequence brings back fun memories of the pub crawl to end all pub crawls on Edinburgh's Royal Mile. No matter how you can plan to just get buzzed, there gets a point where you're buzzed enough for all bets to be off. I still can't believe I didn't wake up in jail!)

Mary

Last edited by maryagrawatson (May 10, 2014 5:38 pm)