APPLICATIONS | 2012; 01

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sherlock holmes | BBC SHERLOCK ☆ ( 2/3 )

[irrigo]

Their first stop is Kitty's house, where they find Moriarty, who has come up with an elaborate and convincing lie to simultaneously protect himself and destroy Sherlock; he claims to be an actor named Richard Brook, hired by Sherlock Holmes; he says that Sherlock's cases are fake, and everything was set up by Sherlock just to make himself look good. He's been selling the story to Kitty, which means it's about to go public. Sherlock catches onto everything that this means, and starts to make plans of his own - he solicits the help of Molly Hooper, the local coroner, and although what exactly he asks of her is unknown, he tells her that he thinks he's going to die.

He meets up with Moriarty on a rooftop, where the story Moriarty has been writing is to end once and for all, and Moriarty's perfect ending is for Sherlock, disgraced, to commit suicide - unless he wants John, Mrs. Hudson and Lestrade to all be killed. (Hostage count: 3.) The exchange flips around a bit; Moriarty begins as the victor, and then Sherlock believes he has the upper hand, but Moriarty reveals that his "advantage" was just a trick; Sherlock then realises that his friends are safe as long as Moriarty is still alive, to which Moriarty promptly responds by shooting himself in the head. With no other choice, Sherlock calls John, gives his final words, says that "Richard Brook" was telling the truth about him being a fake, and jumps. He leaves John to wonder, despite the overwhelming evidence, whether Sherlock Holmes is really dead.

Of course he's not really dead he's Sherlock Holmes.

Personality:

Well, for a start, he's Sherlock Holmes, and he's kind of a genius.

Sherlock comes off as an utter bastard at first. He flaunts his intelligence and talents, he's incredibly rude and blunt, and he has absolutely no regard for social etiquette or personal boundaries. He is logical, analytical, and observant to the point that it becomes disturbing or unnerving. When others call him a psychopath, he corrects them and he defines himself as a "high-functioning sociopath" - but it should definitely be noted that while he displays lapses in conscience or morals, as well as antisocial behaviours, he is not actually a sociopath, because he shows clear and strong emotions a lot, and obviously understands morals, and has some level of conscience. What should be taken away from his reference to himself as a sociopath is that it is what he sees himself as, apparently, or at least what he calls himself.

He does often appear, from a surface level, to be a sociopath or emotionless due to generally separating himself from people and feelings, though, and he is especially apathetic to anything he deems uninteresting, he is horribly selfish and self-centred, and incredibly thoughtless; he's often snide or antagonistic, particularly towards people in authority, and he's also frequently insulting - however, it's a half-half when it comes to whether he is intentionally insulting or not, because while he does have a sharp tongue and insults anyone who annoys him or deserves it, he's also just generally careless and tends to say insulting things without realising or thinking about it (for example, pretty much everything he ever says to Molly).

When it comes to social cues and such, there are generally two possibilities to explain Sherlock's utter disregard for them - either he is oblivious to the strange or disturbing nature of an action, or he honestly doesn't care how other people see it. He's not completely clueless, because he does interact with people and some things are obvious, but there are instances in which he really doesn't see what's wrong with what he's doing. This would be because he only pays attention to and stores knowledge that he considers to be useful; what is and is not a faux pas isn't something he would think important at all, so he doesn't distinguish between "acceptable", "weird" and "unacceptable", and wouldn't keep check on his actions in the situations where he did know. (Pointing out when he's doing something unacceptable might surprise him, but ultimately wouldn't do much good, considering his lack of caring.)

It's fairly obvious that he doesn't care what other people think of him from that, but his apathy extends to the point that he doesn't even begin to care when the media takes an interest in him; as long as he's still getting cases, he couldn't care less what the public thinks about him. He doesn't care any more or less whether people think well or badly of him, and he seems to be accustomed to the more negative side without dwelling on it too much. He does, however, enjoy getting complimented on his intellect and brilliance - he says that it's a rare surprise when John does it for the first time, so it begins as a pleasant sort of change from the hostility he usually gets - and it does annoy and provoke him when people underestimate or undermine him to his face. An insult to his capability or challenging his genius will instantly get to him, and he'll be compelled to prove himself in some way.

This would be, of course, connected to his total superiority complex! Sherlock believes in himself and his own mind above all else, which is all well and good, but it crosses the line of self-confidence and enters the realm of infuriating arrogance, which is not pleasant on top of him being both egotistical and narcissistic. He thinks that he's right 100% of the time, and refuses to accept any other possible outcome; while this is all well and good most of the time, considering he is very almost always right, it doesn't do much good when he ends up stuck in a situation where he is wrong - for example, it led to his freak-out in The Hounds of Baskerville because he experienced doubt in himself, his perception and his knowledge. It also sucks for anyone who tires to reason with him, argue with him or present an alternative.

His apathy certainly doesn't lead him to being lethargic or unmotivated, though; rather, he feels the need to be constantly stimulated and motivated. He is an incredibly driven person who has to be in motion at all times lest he become agitated, and once he does have something to work on, he's completely focused and dedicated to his work. As much as he throws things around left and right, and gets bored easily, if something manages to catch his attention it will hold it until he is thoroughly finished with it.

His focus, drive and determination stack up with a number of other factors - his egotism, arrogance, his disregard for "acceptable" behaviour - and amount to his notable and absolute refusal to lose. He will not allow someone else to defeat him, and he won't admit when he has lost, even if it's in the most minor of things. He puts his life in danger to prove that he's smart. He nearly plays the cabbie's suicide game in A Study in Pink just because he has to know whether he was right or not, and whether he won. As John puts it, "he will outlive God trying to have the last word". He definitely lacks morals, or at least lacks any particular care for most of them, so in combination with his need to win, his tendency to look down on people and his constant forward motion, this means he can often be very manipulative and underhanded; he'll lie or put on an act to get what he wants from someone, and generally doesn't care what happens after he's gotten it.

Do not think that Sherlock Holmes is an all-around mature man, though. He is, in fact, ridiculously childish. He's bratty, with a tendency to throw fits or tantrums and complain about everything, and he has an immature streak a mile wide. He shoots holes in the walls of his flat because he's bored, starts shouting about it to John when he gets scolded for the destruction, and then proceeds to sulk quite furiously; he snaps at people and uses his deductive skills cruelly against them when he gets grumpy and starts to throw insults all over the place more than usual. He also appears to be able to hold a rather fierce grudge, because he and Mycroft seem to have been on bad terms for a while - and although the original reason for their split is possibly less bratty than their interactions throughout the series, Sherlock does seem to do things purely to make his brother's life miserable, and turns down his help no matter how incredibly useful it might be because of a childish feud. He makes fun of Mycroft's weight a lot, too, which should tell you something about just how mature he really is.

Sherlock is extremely eccentric in a way that is hard to describe, but obvious from his various mannerisms and other personality traits. He does weird things like write up blog posts about over 200 different kinds of tobacco ash, and gets upset when nobody else reads or understands them. He just comes off as a really strange person, with leaps of logic that are usually inexplicable to other people and the tendency to be wildly dramatic sometimes. None of this is helped by his aforementioned desperate need to prevent boredom and stay motivated by work; he's generally picky with what cases he takes, but if he becomes desperate enough, he'll take anything, and he can resort to a lot of strange things to keep himself entertained or otherwise occupied between cases. He seems fairly crazy, to be perfectly honest. He doesn't make much sense at all to people who aren't Sherlock Holmes himself. (Something he prides himself on, really.)

He's either the worst or the best kind of unpredictable, depending on who you ask. He comes off as fairly bipolar sometimes; he can have huge mood swings in a matter of seconds, going from angrily ranting at high speeds to lying face-down on the lounge to dashing about excitedly. He reacts to things fast, and although he does think everything through, it's occasionally worth wondering how exactly his mind works, because he can at times appear extremely impulsive; he reacts immediately, and he acts fast, and he tends to make up his mind in a split second without actually telling anyone about what's going on, like suddenly jumping up and chasing a taxi across London without saying so much as a word to John.

Despite all of this and how horrible he appears initially, Sherlock is still a human, albeit a human who thinks himself above other humans and aspires to be God. He shows what is very likely loneliness after years of being hated and rejected by others - he is pleasantly surprised when John compliments his genius, and says that no one ever really compliments him; they generally react with hostility, and Sebastian remarks that everyone at the university hated him, which Sherlock appears a little desolate about it - and he also appears to have a terribly addictive personality, what with his history with drug abuse, and having outright begged John for a cigarette once when he was suffering from a stimulation withdrawal. Sherlock's entire life is run the way it is to fuel his addictions, whether they be traditional, or of the intellectual sort.

He also shows genuine compassion and emotion for people close to him on rare occasions. Even though he's usually socially incompetent, when he insults Molly particularly badly on Christmas, he apologises very humbly and properly, and even kisses her on the cheek, an incredibly intimate and meaningful gesture from someone like Sherlock, and proof that he knows how to act decently despite appearances. Sherlock is loyal and very protective of his friends and those he becomes close to, shown by his surveillance of John, the effort he went to to save Irene Adler, his fury when Mrs. Hudson is hurt, keeping John out of more dangerous crime scenes, his panic whenever his friends are threatened - he cares a lot, or he wouldn't have even gone through the danger of pretending to commit suicide to save them. He doesn't need friends, but he would obviously like to keep the ones he has. He's not sentimental, but he does clearly have a healthy amount of feelings for his friends, and he shows through Mrs. Hudson that he's not above affection either. His companionship with John is a whole 'nother, long story, too.

Overall, he's a man who's less godly and more human than he would really like.

First Person (entry type):

John's out and I'm bored. He told me to "live blog" the next time I watch any of the rubbish that airs on television. I'm waiting for the results of an experiment, so I may as well occupy myself.

11:40
Tacky opening sequence. The first character died within the ten minutes pre-sequence; predictable and boring. No mystery to speak of.

11:53
Yawn.

11:55
Main characters are boring and tiresome, not to mention their stupidity. Are the three shirts necessary? Honestly.

12:01
Idiots, she's clearly the monster you’re hunting. Look at her flat; not a sign of night activity within the house. Unless she's going out every night - which she isn't, her make-up is enough of an indication of that - she's probably the mysterious creature that operates in her area, a creature that isn't mysterious at all if you just had the mental capacity to pay attention.

12:05
Their initial suspect is dead and now they're confused. SIMPLETONS.

12:12
Experiment is going well. It's congealing faster than expected.

12:13
Oh, the show? I don't know what's happening now. Pointless drama.

12:17
I don't understand. She's the monster, not to mention guilty of several charges of murder. They've confirmed this, and they're not killing her. Your weapon is right there. If you already know the thing's weakness and it's vulnerable, why not kill it?

12:18
John has informed me that it's sentiment-related and that I should just take it as it is.

12:22
Good, that's good, they're finally killing her. Well, I'm glad that tedious situation is wrapped up. Oh, the older one is crying about it. Senseless. Not particularly realistic either, although I suppose I shouldn't have expected any semblance of sense or realism from this tripe.

Bored again. Tell me something interesting to keep me occupied, or I'll have to resort to more drastic forms of entertainment and John will have something else to complain about.