BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 » .. the most human... human being that I've ever known

holmes23 · July 21, 2013 1:05 pm

"...you were the best man, the most human... human being that I've ever known"

How can we forget these touching words of John, but one of the main accusations against Sherlock is that he is more inhuman than canon Holmes.

So what must have made John utter these words while Watson just talked of Holmes as "the best and the wisest man whom I have ever known"? John didn't know that Sherlock 'commited suicide' partly for John's sake.

Is it just a part of contemporarisation of canon dialogues?

holmes23 · July 21, 2013 1:34 pm

I always thought Sherlock did that just to get John out of the way. Thanks for the insight Swanpride.

tobeornot221b · July 21, 2013 1:56 pm

Swanpride wrote:
But he knows at this point that the reason Sherlock pretended to be not concerned about Mrs. Hudson was to get him out of the way and to safety.

Did he really? I'm not sure at all. If he wanted John to be safe - and stay safe! - Sherlock would have found ways to make sure John wouldn't come back to Bart's where the sniper was supposed to wait for him.

I believe "the most human human being" to be, yes, a contemporisation of the canon sentence and a bit of transfiguration of Sherlock's character by mournful and deserted John.

July 21, 2013 2:35 pm

tobeornot221b wrote:
Swanpride wrote:
But he knows at this point that the reason Sherlock pretended to be not concerned about Mrs. Hudson was to get him out of the way and to safety.
Did he really? I'm not sure at all. If he wanted John to be safe - and stay safe! - Sherlock would have found ways to make sure John wouldn't come back to Bart's where the sniper was supposed to wait for him.

I believe "the most human human being" to be, yes, a contemporisation of the canon sentence and a bit of transfiguration of Sherlock's character by mournful and deserted John.

I agree. Why would Sherlock invent a dying Mrs Hudson? That is cruel. I can't see that at all. Sherlock could have told John anything from a fake investigation to his wish to be simply left alone. Sherlock was able to navigate John whenever he wanted whereever he wanted without the need to do something like that.

Talking about "the most human ...human being that I've ever known":
I change this sentence in my mind into "the most human Sherlock Holmes I've ever known" because of the last phone call and some little bits of crack in the fassade of cool-Sherlock. On the other hand we know that John is mistaken...

Jacco111 · July 22, 2013 7:40 am

I didn't like that quote so much, reminded me of Spock's funeral...

besleybean · July 22, 2013 8:11 am

One of the most moving lines in BBC Sherlock.

SusiGo · July 22, 2013 9:09 am

I like the line very much. For me it shows John grappling with what Sherlock has been and what he has meant to him. And how difficult it is to describe him in one word. And it also reflects himself calling Sherlock a machine before.

Mary Me · July 22, 2013 10:11 am

Yes, Sherlock appeared to be cold-hearted at times but he always was himself.
And after all, he decided to use all his skills to save human lives, whereas he could have become a criminal as well. For me, that's why he is the most human human being.

SusiGo · July 22, 2013 11:14 am

You're right, Mary. Just take the case of Henry Knight. Sherlock may not have cared for his well-being as such but the result was that Henry finally could come to terms with his father's death and the terrors of his childhood. That's not a bad thing at all (even if there was some collateral damage to John).

besleybean · July 22, 2013 12:10 pm

Oh he soon recovered!

SusiGo · July 22, 2013 12:13 pm

Oh, yes. Breakfast in a purple shirt.

QuiteExtraordinary · July 22, 2013 6:56 pm

"Human" could also mean that Sherlock is always so ... himself. He does weird things, but in the end it's always for a good purpose. Sherlock seems to be a machine sometimes, but that is a part of his personality. He just can't help it, so it's indeed a very "human" thing, and John is one of the few persons (maybe the only one) who can see it that way.

SusiGo · July 22, 2013 7:00 pm

Nice to see you, QE. And I agree with you.

besleybean · July 23, 2013 7:33 am

Quite so.

holmes23 · July 23, 2013 5:19 pm

Thanks to you all I'm enlightened to the point of realising how a silly question it really was

.

sj4iy · July 23, 2013 5:30 pm

He knew In the casebook, he mentions it in his "diary" of sorts- that Sherlock was being forced to say those things.

holmes23 · July 26, 2013 4:15 pm

sj4iy wrote:
He knew In the casebook, he mentions it in his "diary" of sorts- that Sherlock was being forced to say those things.

Sorry, but forced to say what?

besleybean · July 26, 2013 4:49 pm

Forced to make a false confession.

josabby · July 28, 2013 2:28 pm

Jacco111 wrote:
I didn't like that quote so much, reminded me of Spock's funeral...

I kind of liked it. The Kirk-Spock friendship does have some tribute to the Watson/Holmes friend ship. Heck, Spock Prime and Abrams Universe Spock have both quoted Sherlock Holmes. "When you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable must be be the truth" The of course, Sherlock said that in the Hounds of Baskerville episode, and John called him Spock right after that. Like Holmes and Watson, and the way Moffit and his team focus the show on the friendship of Sherlock and John/ Kirk and Spock are two halves of a whole. Each brings out the best in the other. One makes decisions by logic, the other by emotion. They are the mind and the heart. The fact that neither was truly dead makes the tribute that much cooler. Kirk and John both saw the "human" side of Spock and Sherlock that most other people didn't bother to see.

And Martin Freeman is a much better actor than William Shatner so the delivery of the line was much better. But I've never cared for Shatner and I've adored Martin Freeman since The Office, so I'm not the most objective person in this matter.

spanisherlock · October 22, 2013 12:25 am

Swanpride wrote:
I didn't mean that Sherlock invented Mrs. Hudson being shot, but that Sherlock knew very well that Moriarty was luring John away...and John must have realized the moment he saw that Mrs. Hudson was fine, that Sherlock was only acting so unconcerned because he knew that she was fine, and that he didn't tell John because he wanted him away from Moriarty.

WHOA!!! Thanks, now I understand!!!! I can see that Sherlock is the best man of the world, at least he's the best friend anyone can have!!!!! Sherlock loves but in his own way!!!!!