SuperWhoLOCK

The third piece of this SuperwhoLock puzzle is the 2010 BBC adaptation of Sherlock Holmes starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. First of all I'd like to say how dare Netflix for not having this available to stream anymore and how dare the universe for not telling me that in order to do this rewatch I’d have to buy it…utter bullshit. Anyway as I rewatch Sherlock I have to both appreciate and curse the formatting, hour and a half episodes are great, only having three of them however sucks ass. Even if you broke that into normal episode length that only gives you between 5 and 6 episodes…god dammit BBC.

A Study in Pink is our first episode and the BBC cast this so so perfectly, SuperWhoLockians are definitely drawn to the snarky, brilliant asshole (i.e. the Doctor, most of his companions, Dean Winchester, Crowly and really most of the angels/demons on Supernatural and quite frankly both of our leading men in Sherlock).

I also forgot how much I love Molly and kind of really hate how Sherlock treats her. Pointing out how her lips look smaller without lipstick was so Sherlock but rude.

The first interaction between Sherlock and John is so funny, “Potential flatmates should know the worst about each other” Sherlock, my love staying silent for days and playing the violin are not the worst parts of living with you…Sherlock looks so offended when John pauses before telling him what he thinks of his blog. But of course their personality types immediately click, Sherlock’s desire to be correct and admired and John’s desire to be needed work very well together.

Mrs. Hudson is just my favorite “I’m your landlady dear, not your housekeeper”, she does so much for these boys it's adorable.

I like that the beginning of their partnership is a slow burn, it takes the whole first episode for John to kind of come around to working with Sherlock. He's very cautious and skeptical. But we start to see the appeal of their partnership. Just like in the other shows we’ve discussed so far there is a balance. All three points of SuperWhoLock feature the act now, think later character and the willing partner that tries to hold them back or at the very least tries to get them to think rationally.

It's also after realizing that John is the one that saved him that Sherlock basically decided that they are best friends now. One of my favorite scenes of all time is John finding out that Sherlock’s arch enemy is his brother.

Also I love this show and how each episode is like it's own self contained movie but each season also has a bigger overarching plot. Even with drastically different structures all the shows in SuperWhoLock share the same formula.

By the second episode John starts kind of translating for Sherlock, filling in the blanks for all the mortals that can’t keep up with his thought process. One of my favorite things that exist in their relationship is that Sherlock doesn’t even really notice when John is gone for an extended period of time. And that really implies that he just talks to himself all day and thinks nothing of getting no response because he wasn’t listening anyway.

Our second episode, The Blind Banker, features a very small moment that I love. When they are in the alley and discover that the graffiti has been painted over, Sherlock starts panicking. Not in a normal person way but in his own unique brand of freaking out he tries to get John to remember all the images that he saw. And John basically tells him to chill, because he took a picture. Something Sherlock never would have thought of. We start to see how well they balance each other out. We have Sherlock who is book smart about just about every subject under the sun. And we have John who has all the practical combat experience, emotional intelligence and common sense.

The beginning of the third episode starts with an explosion on Baker street that John is absent for but as soon as he hears about it he rushes home, extremely worried about Sherlock. Shortly after Lestrat calls him in and he asks John if he’s coming, followed by “I’d be lost without my blogger” they are the cutest best friends ever. The fact that Sherlock doesn’t communicate in full sentences yet John is able to understand what he’s saying they are like a married couple.

The final episode of the season John and Sherlock really come to an understanding. At the beginning of it John is astonished that Sherlock doesn’t understand what seems like basic information. Like the fact that the earth revolves around the sun. And Sherlock explains to him that it doesn’t matter, there are more important things being contained in his brain. And as the episode evolves and Moriarty puts increasingly more pressure on Sherlock I think it becomes more evident to John how Sherlock’s brain works as well as Sherlock understanding that the knowledge that John has is also beneficial for solving cases so they come to kind of this mutual understanding that they need each other. That really ties them together and puts them on the same level of Sam and Dean and Doctor and Companion.