Episode assessments, theories, subtext, and head canon for John Watson.
Season 1:
Episode 1 – A Study In Pink
- Was a soldier in Afghanistan/Army doctor
- Was close enough to combat to recall it if not directly in it (rare for a medic?)
- Has reoccurring nightmares about combat
- Reluctant to show emotion even when alone (restrains himself from crying after his nightmare)
- Sleeps in depressing little bedsit, single bed, nondescript colours, looks rather like a hospital or institution rather than someone’s flat
- Walks with a limp that requires use of a cane
- RAMC coffee mug, (Royal Army Medical Corps), bearing the latin phrase In Arduis Fidelis', or in English: 'Faithful in Adversity'.
- Eating an apple for breakfast with tea/coffee? (either implying low funds and/or low appetite)
- Keeps gun in desk drawer under laptop and next to spiral notebook
- Has been instructed to write a blog by his therapist but written nothing yet.
- Left hand twitches under emotional stress
- Therapist diagnosis trust issues
- Story takes place not too long after John’s discharged from the army (“it’s going to take you a while to readjust to civilian life”)
- “Nothing happens to me” (implies that John is bored/feeling useless or otherwise unsatisfied)
- Used to work/study at “Barts” with Mike Stamford
- Got shot in Afghanistan
- Using Army pension as the bulk of his income
- Stressed (hand twitching) when Mike mentions that he doesn’t seem like himself
- Dismisses the idea of “Harry” helping out with funds/place to stay with a scornful ‘like that’s going to happen’
- Harry is an alcoholic and recently broke up with their long-term partner, Clara whom John liked
- John’s limp is psychosomatic
- Types using hunt and peck with two fingers
- Walks or takes the tube rather than cabs (saving money?)
- Annoyed with Mrs. Hudson for implying that he’s ‘the sitting down type’
- “Very good” doctor who has seen a lot of injuries
- Very keen to see something exciting and to be useful
- Harry and John never got along
- Harry and Clara got divorced three months previous to episode
- Harriet is John’s lesbian sister
- Winces with the leg when he bends down to look at the body
- Limp more pronounced after he’s ignored/dismissed by the LPD and abandoned at the crime scene by Sherlock
- “I’m nobody” (low sense of self-worth)
- Limp is less pronounced after he’s threatened and kidnapped by Mycroft
- Calm even while being kidnapped and actively provokes Mycroft by being sarcastic
- Stress reaction when Mycroft reveals he knows where John and Sherlock live
- Refuses to spy on Sherlock for money
- Intermittent tremor in left hand
- “You’re not haunted by the war, you miss it.”
- Tries to flirt with Anthea but gives up quickly when she’s obviously not interested
- Disapproves of smoking (good news for breathing)
- Willing to go through with seemingly pointless and ridiculous demands of Sherlock simply because he asks
- Shows concern for Sherlock’s health “you blacked out?”
- Surprises Sherlock by not assuming he’s the murderer
- Has an attraction to dangerous situations/people
- Defensive at being assumed to be gay
- However hastens to reassure Sherlock that having a boyfriend is “fine”
- Confirms that he is unattached
- Forgets his cane when they might be confronting a murderer
- Leg is well enough to leap across cars, across building gaps, run down streets at full speed
- Bubbly and happy after their chase despite not catching a murderer
- Initially refuses to believe that Sherlock is a drug addict
- Winces at hearing about a victim’s stillborn daughter (empathetic)
- John was dying once and his last thoughts were “please God let me live”
- Still willing to do tasks for Sherlock enough when he’s annoyed with him and insulted (carryover from army training, taking orders from commanders)
- Still believes in Sherlock even after Lestrade has given up and packed it in
- Springs into action as soon as he thinks Sherlock’s in danger
- Calls the police but is still actively heading to save Sherlock himself
- Makes an accurate kill shot to the chest through two windows in the next building over
- Crack shot, strong moral principal
- No remorse or personal conflict over killing a murderer to save Sherlock, is even joking about it
- Flirts with Anthea again, gives up when she doesn’t recognize him
- Got shot in the left shoulder
- Increased appetite after rescuing Sherlock
Implication (Headcanon or subtext)
John Watson has a distant relationship with his family, he never got along with his gay sister, the show doesn’t mention his parents at all but either they aren’t alive or they don’t care enough about him to offer their help after he comes home injured. John has trust issues, as diagnosed by his therapist, perhaps his home life is the reason behind these trust issues?
John Watson saw more than the usual amount of combat an army surgeon sees, as they are usually kept well back from the front lines at base camps, although they still are treating gruesome wounds. They usually aren’t as well developed shots. Perhaps John was singled out for special training or perhaps he was used more as a frontline soldier than a doctor.
We know at some point John’s life was threatened enough that he thought he was going to die. This is probably the injury to his shoulder. This injury was not only catastrophic enough to get him invalided out of the army but to cause post-traumatic stress, hand tremors, as well as a psychosomatic limp in an unrelated area of the body. Mycroft mentions that John’s hand is steady when he’s directly threatened and Sherlock confirms that when John needs to kill to protect someone he has no tremors at all, however we do see John’s hand tremor when he is confronted with emotional stress as opposed to physical stress.
When Sherlock “cures” John of his limp, it’s not just the fact that they’re chasing a criminal and in a dangerous situation that does it: after all, John’s in an equally threatening and dangerous situation when he’s kidnapped by Mycroft and yet he still needs the cane in that scene. The difference here, I think, is that John has a comrade, a brother in arms in Sherlock, who he can stride into danger alongside and protect. That’s the part of the war John misses. Not just the danger but in feeling close to the people he is fighting for and with. His happiest moments in this episode were directly after the danger has passed, when the adrenaline is still running high but he’s done his duty and protected a fellow soldier/carried out the mission. It’s then that John Watson feels like most useful, the most alive and contented.
John’s responses when it comes to homosexuality are complicated. On the one hand, he seems very accepting and casual about his lesbian sister and her committed relationship with Clara, and he attempts to reassure Sherlock that having a boyfriend is “fine”. He also mentions “boyfriends” when speaking to Sherlock in the cab as an alternative to arch enemies, whereas many heteronormative people might not even think of that as an option for a man in the first place. However, John also becomes very defensive when people suggest that he might himself be gay (Angelo, Mrs. Hudson, Mycroft) and is quick to protest that he isn’t. Why would someone with an openly gay sister who apparently doesn’t have a moral problem with homosexuality be so very defensive? Perhaps the answer lies in John’s unhappy childhood and estranged family. My theory is that John’s parents might have been abusive and homophobic, leading to Harry’s alcoholism and volatile relationship with John as well as his immediate and vehement denial of any suggestion of homosexuality in himself.
John is incredibly depressed when we are introduced to him. He’s seeing a therapist and yet he doesn’t trust her, nor does he talk to her or open up about his issues and problems. He’s got money problems and lives off an army pension, and has only recently recovered his mobility after his injury. He’s estranged from his family and doesn’t really have friends to rely on that aren’t still in the army and therefore unavailable to help him. His apartment is bare of almost any personality (his RCMA mug the only little clue into what kind of person lives there). His blog contains nothing, his flat contains nothing, and nothing ever happens to John Watson. He is nobody. The gun in his drawer seems to foreshadow John intending to commit suicide and considering the people supposedly committing suicide in the case Sherlock is working, this seems to be a parallel the show wants us to draw.
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