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Davina wrote:
Probably wise for Moftiss to avoid it, apart from the implicit scene in ASiP as it might well have stirred up a hornets' nest and detracted from the rest of the series.
I completely agree with this. Leaving his drug history in the past means we can focus on the science.
Otherwise we'd end up with a series like Elementary where "Sherlock"'s drug histoy becomes a reoccuring, tedius thing.
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Sherlock just doesn't need drugs anymore. He has John <3
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I think drugs are used in the series as a link to Arthur Conan Doyle's personal experience with them, as his father was committed for alcoholism. Moffat is probably trying to make another connection to the original story.
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In the original stories SH is addicted to cocaine
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I think all the points made in this thread have also been made in this blog post,"Sherlock Backstory: Still the Addict." But I also think the question the post asked about where Sherlock was before he met John and why he was looking for a flat is important to think about, too. In the Canon, Sherlock already has the flat, he's been living there for a while.
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" In the Canon, Sherlock already has the flat, he's been living there for a while. "
he hasn't, you know. They meet and then go and look at the flat and decide that the rent is reasonable when split between them. And then they both move in-I think Holmes may actually move in after Watson even. He's already living in London, yes, in Montague Street (nr the British Museum) assumedly (mentioned in another story) but he isn't living in Baker Street.
I don't think we have any evidence that Sherlock is financially secure, personally. We are assuming that a. he's old money and b. he's therefore financially provided for. Bearing in mind also that to rent a flat in central London is amazingly expensive, its something like the second most expensive city in the world anyway and Baker Street is an absolutely central location. You'd be looking at around 2k a month minimum even for something a bit dodgy for a 2 bed flat. So even for the deus ex machina that is old money, its a lot. (I mean there's the whole question of John too...).
I've always wondered if Sherlock and Mycroft might actually have been the illegitimate sons of an old money family...but that rather tells against what we see of Holmes Manor.
I suppose the logical possibility is that there is a trust fund of some kind that Mycroft has control over, eithr because of past drug use or because he just does.
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I always thought he had an argument with his landlord at Montague Street and that was why he was forced to move out and look for somewhere new. I realise this is slightly off topic to the drugs thread...
There's two moments that hint about Sherlock's past drug use - the "drugs bust" moment in ASIP and the bit in Scandal where Mrs H and John search Sherlock's sock index and refer to it as a potential "danger night".
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And the cabbie's remark: "Still the addict."
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SusiGo wrote:
And the cabbie's remark: "Still the addict."
Oh yeah. Obviously information he got off Moriarty about Sherlock's history.
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True.
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"There are many examples for contradictions when it comes to Sherlock, and I like to believe that they are written on purpose. The first example that comes to my mind is his sleeping room. Whenever we see the flat, it's a mess, and it's always pointed out that it's not John who's causing this mess. Then we get to see Sherlock's room in SiB and it's like the tidiest place in the entire flat."
I think this is so interesting, and I'd never spotted it but you are right.
I'd love to see Johns room. How tidy is that?
It does tie with his room as a place of retreat, of solitude, and his general disregard for others.
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beekeeper wrote:
I'd love to see Johns room. How tidy is that? =13px
We never see John's room at Baker St., but I don't imagine it would to too terribly different from the one room flat we srr him in at the begining of SIP. That place had the tidiness of military precision. Even the bed had those military corners in the bedding. I'm guessing that Jophn's room is rather like that.
Someone mentioned the scene where John and Mrs. Hudson are looking through Sherlock's things for unmentioned stuff. Mycroft gave Sherlock a ciggerette and he took it to which John exclaims "sh**t" Then in HOB Sherlock goes insane looking for a secret stash of ciggerettes. I know the canon has Sherlock as someone who uses drugs, but in this series I honestly think that a duck is a duck. Sherlock is addicted to nicotine and what they were looking for were ciggerettes.
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We don't "see" it in canon either
But I would not have predicted that Sherlock's room would be tidy. I'm not sure its tidy in canon.
Maybe in fact the mess is at least partly Johns. In the first episode there are magazines spread everywhere that are unlikely to be Sherlocks-they look rather like Zoo and GQ...
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AliceI wrote:
Someone mentioned the scene where John and Mrs. Hudson are looking through Sherlock's things for unmentioned stuff. Mycroft gave Sherlock a ciggerette and he took it to which John exclaims "sh**t" Then in HOB Sherlock goes insane looking for a secret stash of ciggerettes. I know the canon has Sherlock as someone who uses drugs, but in this series I honestly think that a duck is a duck. Sherlock is addicted to nicotine and what they were looking for were ciggerettes.
They seem deeply worried about him that night. Only because of cigarettes?
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Harriet wrote:
They seem deeply worried about him that night. Only because of cigarettes?
There have to be some "herbal soothers" at least!
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LOL. But I don't think they are in the flat. Or that (rather harmless) "herbal soothers" are the issue.
I think the danger is that he might go and get something somewhere.
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but the "herbal soothers"?
I assumed that they were of the highly fragrant type...no? I thought that was what they were hinting?
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AliceI wrote:
Sherlock is addicted to nicotine and what they were looking for were ciggerettes.
But remember the dialogue in ASiP during Lestrade's drugs bust. Sherlock says he is clean, but Lestrade doubts that the flat is. And Sherlock seems to be nervous about the search as well. Then he shows Lestrade his nicotine patches and states he does not even smoke anymore. That does not sound to me as if he's only a nicotine addict.
beekeeper wrote:
I'd love to see Johns room. How tidy is that?
The ultimate proof that Sherlock usually sleeps in John's room - that's where the mess is. No, just kidding.
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beekeeper wrote:
but the "herbal soothers"?
I assumed that they were of the highly fragrant type...no? I thought that was what they were hinting?
To me, "herbal soothers" is an euphemism for something Sherlock would give to Mrs Hudson helping her with her hip pain. Mrs H. perhaps wouldn't use any illegal drugs - so "herbal soother" will sound more harmless (and legal) to her. (Ok, the green amanita is "herbal" as well, but still...)
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one thing bugs me though
Sherlock says to John "you might want to shut up now.".
Why's that then?
Literally the only reason I can think of is that the flat isn't clean and he wants John to stop talking and winding up Lestrade so he can talk himself out of it.
And agree, cigarettes aren't illegal-but I reckon herbal soothers would be. I really think that's a euphamism. I' think she'd do very soft drugs that she could get under the radar (her own as well as the police). She's never been critical of Sherlocks drug habit and she did have a husband killed after all. Medicinal cannabis is the obvious one, I'd say Brits are pretty tolerant of cannabis, certainly medicinally.
Where I am, Cardiff, when Torchwood was being filmed, it was highly usual for old, proper Welsh ladies, who were incredibly proud of Cardiff being on tv, to be standing at bus stops discussing very graphic sex scenes with regard to how well the Castle Arcade came off and whether the characters had taken the most efficient route through the city centre to avoid the sex crazed monster. My kids were very young then and I several times had to move them away from the conversation. British old ladies are anarchists in the main ;-)
Last edited by beekeeper (April 2, 2013 7:50 pm)