BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 » When John starts to ask Sherlock for a loan...what do you think?

kgreen20 · August 17, 2016 1:27 am

When John comments that he needs to get a job, Sherlock has just one word to say a response: "Dull." He doesn't even look at John when he says that. However, he does hear him, as is evident in his retort. At that point, John starts to ask Sherlock to loan him some money; because Sherlock doesn't seem to be paying him any attention, he cuts short his request to ask if Sherlock is listening. At that point, Sherlock says, "I need to go to the bank."

The reason isn't immediately evident to John, but it is to us. An old college classmate has emailed Sherlock, asking him to investigate a problem at the bank, and at the point I mention above, Sherlock suddenly decides to go to the bank to find out about it. He doesn't even seem to be listening to John when he starts to make his request, nor does he give John a real chance to finish it. He just suddenly decides to go to the bank to learn about the case that he's being offered. So one of 2 things is happening: either Sherlock is being obtuse towards John, not showing any inclination to even listen to him, let alone give him a loan, or else Sherlock makes this sudden decision to find out about this case because he knows that John needs a chance to earn some money, since he's broke.

What do you all think? Which do you think Sherlock is doing? I prefer to think that he's giving John a chance to make some money by working with him on a case, seeing as he makes this decision right when John is needing some money, but the question is, is that actually his motivation?

Last edited by kgreen20 (August 17, 2016 1:29 am)

Liberty · August 17, 2016 6:38 am

Given his history with Sebastian, he could also have thought just then about bringing his friend along, to show that he's less socially inept than he used to be. Which sadly, John spoils.

But yes, I think it could be his way of giving John some money without actually giving him it directly (which would be awkward). Didn't Holmes buy a practice or something for Watson, without telling him?

besleybean · August 17, 2016 4:08 pm

Well he got a cousin to buy up the practice, yes...just reading about that today!

kgreen20 · August 17, 2016 4:53 pm

In canon, he did, yes. A cousin of Sherlock Holmes bought Dr. Watson's practice from him after Holmses's return from his hiatus, so that he could quit his job and return to Baker Street (since his wife was dead by then, he was free to do so). How Dr., Watson got a practice to begin with, after he was married, Doyle didn't say.

Last edited by kgreen20 (August 17, 2016 4:56 pm)

besleybean · August 17, 2016 4:54 pm

Why, weren't married men allowed to practise?!

kgreen20 · August 17, 2016 4:58 pm

LOL! Read again what I said above; we don't know how Dr. Watson got a practice. There was no NHS back in Victorian times, so he would have had to buy one. That would have cost money which he didn't have. He couldn't afford to buy a practice when he was invalided out, and there's no reason to believe that had changed when he married Mary Morstan. Again, Doyle didn't say, so we're left to guess where he came up with the money. (There's an idea for a fanfiction, huh?!)

Last edited by kgreen20 (August 17, 2016 5:00 pm)

SusiGo · August 17, 2016 5:38 pm

Just as an aside: I love how casual Sherlock treats John's financial problems in TBB. "Take my card." Just like that. Of course this is needed for the mix-up with Shan later on, but still, a lovely sign of immediate trust.

Liberty · August 17, 2016 6:10 pm

Agreed. I think that trust in each other is one of the lovely things about their relationship.

SusiGo · August 17, 2016 7:32 pm

So I read this up on Ariane's page and came up with this conclusion:
Sherlock dislikes Sebastian. The mail does not sound promising. So there is actually no reason for him to take the case - except that he spontaneously decides to go the moment John has told him of his financial difficulties. Therefore I would suppose that Sherlock does this exclusively or at least partly to let John earn some money.

kgreen20 · August 17, 2016 7:46 pm

Me, too! That's what I want to believe, at any rate, and it may well be true. In that case, Sherlock may well have decided to forego the case if he hadn't known that John was in financial trouble. (Sherlock obviously isn't; he's in good shape, financially.)

Last edited by kgreen20 (August 17, 2016 8:01 pm)

SusiGo · August 17, 2016 7:58 pm

I would go even further. Maybe Sherlock is not really keen on John getting a job other than solving crimes with him.

besleybean · August 17, 2016 7:59 pm

Of course.
He needs his little helper.

kgreen20 · August 17, 2016 8:00 pm

Hmm. That's certainly possible. Of course, it doesn't work out that way; John gets a locum job at that clinic which Sarah runs.

kgreen20 · August 17, 2016 8:08 pm

BTW, here's a great fanfiction story on the subject written by Rose de Sharon: "Breakfast, acronyms and brotherhood." I'd love to think that Sherlock divided his fee with John in the way described in this story!

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6922265/1/Breakfast-acronyms-and-brotherhood

Last edited by kgreen20 (August 17, 2016 10:03 pm)

SusiGo · August 17, 2016 8:30 pm

kgreen20 wrote:
Hmm. That's certainly possible. Of course, it doesn't work out that way; John gets a locum job at that clinic which Sarah runs.

True, but not for very long if I remember correctly. At least we do not see him there after TBB. And his relationship with Sarah ends early in TGG according to John's blog. I think after that we never see John work as a doctor until TEH. Being with Sherlock seems to be incompatible with both having a girlfriend and having a medical job.

kgreen20 · August 17, 2016 10:01 pm

According to John's blog, after the events in TGG, he and Sarah travel to New Zealand to visit an old mate of his for 2 weeks, and shortly afterward, they break up. He has a few more girlfriends after that, one of them being Jeanette in ASIB. But, yes, his life with Sherlock does appear to be incompatible with having girlfriends, at least, and quite possibly with working as a doctor as well. But if John's no longer doing locum work, that can only mean that Sherlock is sharing his fees with him, since he can't help to pay the rent otherwise.

Last edited by kgreen20 (November 24, 2017 1:54 am)

SusiGo · August 18, 2016 6:53 am

Exactly. This is how I picture their life after Jeanette: no girlfriends, no locum job, working together and sharing fees with Sherlock. Sigh. Those were the times.

kgreen20 · August 18, 2016 3:55 pm

But then, during the haitus, John meets and falls in love with Mary Morstan. =) And he decides that he wants to marry her.

And he gets a job working as a general practitioner at a clinic. (He has to get a job at that point, since Sherlock is not around, and he continues to work there after Sherlock's return, so that he can support his future wife and, in due time, his soon-to-be family.)

Last edited by kgreen20 (November 24, 2017 1:55 am)

KeepersPrice · August 18, 2016 4:31 pm

Sherlock should share his fees with John as it seems that it's John's blog that is bringing in the clients.
Somewhere doesn't John say that the blog is Sherlock's "bread and butter" rather than his treatises on ash on his Science of Deduction website?

Liberty · August 18, 2016 4:54 pm

Good point.   I suppose ACD's Watson would have earned some money from the books (just as ACD did!), but there's no income from the blog - just free publicity.

I don't think the blog is up to much though, not enough up dates, not a terribly engaging style, etc.   It's more like a personal blog than for publicity, but I suppose that was originally the point (for John).

But yes, I think the archetypal Holmes and Watson, how we imagine them, is sharing the flat, working together, and not really having much room left for other people.   Hopefully we'll see that again soon.