I think that Sherlock likes having John around for two reasons:

1. "That's the frailty of genius, John- it needs an audience."  John's probably the first person to ever be in awe of him instead of thinking he's a freakish stalker.  But, at the same time...

2. John can see through Sherlock's bulls**t immediately.  He says:
"That's how you get your kicks, isn't it?  You risk your life to prove you're clever."
"Why would I do that?"
"Because you're an idiot." 
 

besleybean wrote:

I really don't think Sherlock does risk his life, to prove he's clever.I think he risks his life when he feels he has to and that it's the right thing to do.

But he didn't have to with the pill- he had already beaten the cabbie at his own game.  He only went back because the cabbie was like "are you smarter than me?"  Sherlock just wants to play the game until he meets Moriarty.  Sherlock thinks he's like Moriarty, and could be Moriarty (and Moriarty wants him to be), but Sherlock cares too much about John at that point.  To me, that's really when Sherlock truly learns right from wrong.  The Reichenbach Fall is when Sherlock finally learns about sacrificing himself to save the people he loves.  The writers have done an excellent job of showing the journey from a "great man" to a "good man", as Lestrade puts it.

Davina wrote:

Sherlock is not risk averse. He also assesses risks and takes what he sees as acceptable risks. How much he actually puts his life at risk is a moot point.

Very much this.  The question is, how good is his perception? lol

Perception or calculation?

I would say that Sherlock found the person he can't calculate in Moriarty.

Moriarty's sucide or his own?

Ah.  I sorta think that he was depending on Moriarty to kill himself, so he knew how to make him do it.

Well, that's the fun of it- we're all guessing until we see it ;)

besleybean wrote:

I really don't think Sherlock does risk his life, to prove he's clever.I think he risks his life when he feels he has to and that it's the right thing to do.

 I don´t think he´s believing to do the right thing when taking the pill. It´s also not necessary to do that. For me the whole scene shows one aspect of Sherlock´s addictive personality (cabbie: "still the addict"). The cabbie nearly got him, but John rescues his life (Sherlock: "It´s chance. A 50:50 chance"), which is the start of a wonderful friendship .

Last edited by anjaH_alias (June 17, 2013 11:17 am)

I've always assumed he told Lestrade "I need an assistant" as an excuse to bring John along with him.

I like to think he had already planned to take John with him, not because he really needs him though. I think it does that at first because he kind of already like John (above all at this point because John admires him, unlike Anderson and Donovan, for example), possibly thinks that a bit of "spice" in John's life would only do him good, and maybe also to annoy Anderson.

Later, he'll say "You've never been the most luminous of people, but as a conductor of light you are unbeatable" but he wasn"t aware of this yet at in ASIP.

Apparently, he has already often worked with Anderson before ASIP, so why would he suddenly tell Lestrade that it bothered him? Once again, I think that's because he had already planned to bring John with him and John being a doctor obviously make things easier. I can't really imagine Sherlock tell Lestrade on the crime scene "Well, this is John Watson, he's a social worker/a teacher/a hairdresser/a cooker... whatever/ and I need his opinion on the victim's body"