BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 » Where did John go?

James Norrington · August 26, 2015 12:02 pm

I do not think this is any important, it's just a question that suddenly crossed my mind (as parts of my brain seem to be working on Sherlock stuff all the time and then provide me out of nothing with all those little questions...).

I started to wonder, where did John go after the process, after he'd phoned Sherlock that Moriarty would of course be coming after him after he had being released? Of course I understand that John isn't supposed to be in the tea party scene which followed, but to distract us from waiting, can you come up with a place John would be heading to apart from 221b, where he knew something would be about to happen?

Last edited by James Norrington (August 26, 2015 12:02 pm)

tonnaree · August 26, 2015 12:18 pm

He went to Tesco for milk and biscuits.

Lilythiell · August 26, 2015 12:49 pm

Because they'd run out once again. And one cannot drink tea without having biscuits. "One" meaning "Sherlock" obviously.
As for the milk...well, they need milk, don't they? Especially John.

mrshouse · August 26, 2015 12:54 pm

Now seriously.
The tea party is within a matter of moments after they talked on the phone. I wouldn't know about the distances between the court and the flat but could it be it just took John that long to get back to Baker street?

Dorothy83 · August 26, 2015 1:17 pm

I always wondered about this as well. Of course I understand him not turning up right away was needed so that Sherlock and Moriarty could have their little chat, but if we want to be realistic - where did John go? He just warned Sherlock over the phone that Moriarty was going to go after him....and then he goes off looking for hobknobs and leaves Sherlock alone???

James Norrington · August 26, 2015 1:33 pm

Milk and biscuits sound logical. As he knew Sherlock would probably be busy and would not text him in the middle of a little shopping trip. ;)

No, seriously, I also thought about the distance, but as Moriarty was the accused in the process and was in prison for about 6 weeks prior to the trial, wouldn't you think there would be some sort of administration work that would be necessary before they finally release him? John on the other hand was only there for visiting the process and could leave the building shortly after the process has ended, so I do not think Moriarty would have been at Baker Street before John, if John would have wanted to go there.

Last edited by James Norrington (August 26, 2015 1:33 pm)

Lilythiell · August 26, 2015 1:38 pm

Assuming he'd taken the Tube and went down at Baker St. (and not North Gower St.), the journey would have taken him about 15 minutes, while taking a cab would have taken him about half an hour.
Now, the sensible thing would have been him taking the Tube because it would have been faster (as well as cheaper than a cab). I don't know whether he'd have needed time to cool down after the verdict, but in that case he'd have taken a cab, I suppose. And traffic being what it is, we can suppose that the journey took him a tad longer and missed that gorgeous (hahem) tea party.

Needing time to cool down is the only logical reason I can think of for which John would not have gone to Sherlock straight away.

Lilythiell · August 26, 2015 1:40 pm

James Norrington wrote:
No, seriously, I also thought about the distance, but as Moriarty was the accused in the process and was in prison for about 6 weeks prior to the trial, wouldn't you think there would be some sort of administration work that would be necessary before they finally release him? John on the other hand was only there for visiting the process and could leave the building shortly after the process has ended, so I do not think Moriarty would have been at Baker Street before John, if John would have wanted to go there.

Yes, good point, James!
Some sort of ellipsis, then?

Yitzock · August 26, 2015 8:03 pm

I'm just going by memory here, there's nowhere that we see John going after the trial before we next see him at Baker Street, correct? In that case, either he took a cab because that's what he's used to doing with Sherlock, or perhaps he walked. Isn't there some part where he's walking on the street? Or is that from before the trial? The possibility of him needing to cool his head could mean he either took a cab (slower than other transit options) or he walked (which does help clear your head and work out your thoughts). So maybe he walked and tha'ts why he wasn't there?

Either that or the tea party is a different day, or several hours later and John has since been to Baker Street and then gone somewhere, if he may have have to either run errands or go to work later in the day. Not certain of any of this, but I guess it's possible. I've never thought about this before.

tobeornot221b · August 26, 2015 9:01 pm

Where did John go after the process?
To 221B, as fast as his legs carried him.
But - in order not to disturb the tea party - he was stopped by Gatiss and Thompson.

James Norrington · August 26, 2015 9:48 pm

Yitzock wrote:
I'm just going by memory here, there's nowhere that we see John going after the trial before we next see him at Baker Street, correct? In that case, either he took a cab because that's what he's used to doing with Sherlock, or perhaps he walked. Isn't there some part where he's walking on the street? Or is that from before the trial? The possibility of him needing to cool his head could mean he either took a cab (slower than other transit options) or he walked (which does help clear your head and work out your thoughts). So maybe he walked and tha'ts why he wasn't there?

Either that or the tea party is a different day, or several hours later and John has since been to Baker Street and then gone somewhere, if he may have have to either run errands or go to work later in the day. Not certain of any of this, but I guess it's possible. I've never thought about this before.

Well, we see John on the street talking to Sherlock to tell him how the process had ended and that Moriarty would probably coming after Sherlock. Sherlock interrupts him by hanging up which leaves John a bit upset as it seems. And that's what made me initally wonder why he didn't come to 221 b as quick as possible (no idea what the quickest way would be) and that he, because he had already left the building, would be there faster than Moriarty who at that point would still be inside the building.
But I like the point that John needed to cool down, maybe he didn't think that Moriarty would go 'visiting' Sherlock that soon after and therefore took his time.

We do not see John arrive at Baker Street because after the tea party (which I am sure happened shortly after the process, not only because Moriarty would not wear the same suit he'd worn at the day of the process) there's a cut and the next thing happens two months later.

REReader · August 27, 2015 3:04 am

tobeornot221b wrote:
Where did John go after the process?
To 221B, as fast as his legs carried him.
But - in order not to disturb the tea party - he was stopped by Gatiss and Thompson.

Well put!

Schmiezi · August 27, 2015 4:10 am

He fell into a plot hole. It took him hours to climb out again.

tobeornot221b · August 27, 2015 4:38 am

Schmiezi wrote:
He fell into a plot hole. It took him hours to climb out again.

This!
It kind of happened before when John went back to 221B after his conversation with Irene. He wasn't meant to interfere with Sherlock saving Mrs Hudson.

James Norrington · August 27, 2015 6:33 am

Or he went to Mycroft to have an equally nice chat as Sherlock had with Moriarty. ;)

But it's more likely a plot hole but it could be explained with the one given above that he simply needed some fresh air after that and had to think about the British Law System or something like that...

Last edited by James Norrington (August 27, 2015 6:38 am)

Russell · August 27, 2015 7:20 pm

Schmiezi wrote:
He fell into a plot hole. It took him hours to climb out again.

I've been enjoying this topic but didn't really have anything to add, agreeing he probably needed some time to 'walk it off' (always interesting hashing out odd details the writers probably didn't intend! [or simply skipped over, as in the case of the Mary/Mycroft discussion]). This comment, however, made me laugh out loud… hee, thanks for the mental image!
*John's concerned about Sherlock overhearing conversation with Irene, hurries home, falls in a plot hole long enough to not interfere with Sherlock's fight* *some months later, hurries home from the courthouse, falls into another, cursing like a soldier. 'bloody h*ll, again?!'*

Schmiezi · August 28, 2015 4:28 am

nakahara · August 28, 2015 6:57 am

Actually, the whole scene of Moriarty´s and Sherlock´s solitary chat (with John conspiciously missing) is a direct reference to Basil Rathbone´s Sherlock Holmes movie "Woman in Green". In the movie, Dr. Watson is lured out of Baker Street by false summoning to an ill woman´s aid and while he is out and Sherlock plays violin in their room, Moriarty enters. He climbs the stairs accompanied by Sherlock´s music, but stops almost at the top of it when the music dies out:

He moves only after Sherlock resumes playing and enters the room.

And then they chat in a vaguely threatening manner:

So John had to be out for this scene, because he would have spoilt it if he was present. I guess he was lured somewhere by Moriarty´s cronies in "BBC Sherlock" too. A beautiful, busty female tourist (Moriarty´s agent in disguise) asked him where is the Regent´s Park, pretended that she didn´t understand the directions and when he led her there, invited him to some flirt and drink....

Last edited by nakahara (August 28, 2015 7:34 am)

Lilythiell · August 29, 2015 11:41 pm

Schmiezi wrote:
He fell into a plot hole. It took him hours to climb out again.

Russell wrote:
bloody h*ll, again?!

Why do I have a mental image of a flower pot falling and thinking "oh no, not again"?
Not saying John's a flowerpot. He's an adorable hedgehog.

I will get onto Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes once I'm finished with Brett's. Not long, now.
God, I can't wait.

Yitzock · August 30, 2015 5:49 pm

I knew the scene was an homage to the one in that film, although to be honest I hadn't thought of that as an explanation in itself. Perhaps from a writing standpoint it is, but it's still fun to think of possible explanations as to why John wasn't there. He had to be somewhere.