I was wondering about it, too.
Don't have any idea why he suddenly does so. Maybe because John is around and he finally learned something?   

He does the same thing with Mrs Hudson in Scandal, after headbutting the American guy...

kittykat wrote:

He does the same thing with Mrs Hudson in Scandal, after headbutting the American guy...

Yes, that's true. But Mrs Hudson is not a stranger to him. She's part of his life in her own way.

But someone in a life or death situation isn't going to "remember" to be sociable.  It's simply a normal reaction to the situation at hand.

I was thinking about this after watching the episode again tonight.  John, as usual, makes a joke (about the next date not being like this).  Sherlock does come across as caring and compassionate.  It's quite touching. 

Earlier on, he also seemed to be concerned when Soo Lin was crying whilst telling him her story.   Did anyone else feel that, or am I imagining it? 

Or does it have to do with the fact that Sarah was observant enough to notice translated words on John´s photograph, while Sherlock, the most observant man on the planet, just sat by it for hours and didn´t notice a thing?

Yes, I liked the character too.  She could fight and solve puzzles - she could have been one of the team!  I suppose that she sensibly didn't want a second date. 

I suppose Sherlock knew that Shan thought John was him, and that she was threatening Sarah to get to him.  So maybe he felt a little responsible too.   (Actually, I thought it was a bit of a stupid set-up, because once Sarah was dead, which was going to be quite quickly, Shan wouldn't have her as a bargaining tool  And why didn't Sarah tip her chair over?  Or Sherlock knock it over or shout to her to do it?). 

Yes, I could understand Sarah being frozen by fear, but either Sherlock or John could have suggested it to her at some point.  And if Sherlock had taken a second to move the chair even a few inches, he'd have had all the time in the world to get the bonds off. Even when he was fighting it looked like he could have knocked it.   It was just so obvious!  I first watched it with somebody else, and we couldn't understand how it wasn't explained - maybe the chair was fixed in position and we couldn't see that, but the characters could?  (I also wasn't convinced that John could have changed the path of the spear so accurately as it was firing ... but I'll accept it).  I really need to stop bothering about these things and just enjoy it!

I did love this little insight into Sherlock's caring side. 

Last edited by Liberty (August 6, 2014 8:42 am)

nakahara wrote:

I guess the authors just wanted that John does something heroic in this scene. Saving your girlfriend and your best friend in one go while you are all tied up is waaay better than just watching the proceedings helplessly.

That makes more sense than John's behaviour in the previous fight: Sherlock's on the ground, hurt, and badly winded. A bad guy takes a swing at him and John takes a swing at the bad guy, then runs off. Another bad guy goes to deal Sherlock a fatal blow and enter Sarah! Where did John go?!

Sarah's behaviour in that final scene in the chair doesn't fit the woman who saved Sherlock earlier in the episode, either. Sloppy writers!

Mary

Just having finished this episode I realized this different voice during this moment, too. To me, it feels like instict: speaking to someone sitting on a chair, bonded, facing death. It's just natural to say some soothing words with a soft voice. Nevertheless I agree, that Sherlock respects Sarah so it's maybe kind of "easier" for him to talk this way.