Subversion and Sherlock: A Study in Pink

 (Sherlock Meta by Loudest Subtext In Television)

[...] A Study in Pink is where it all begins, and accordingly, this is the episode where the building blocks of John and Sherlock’s romantic arc are put in place. We won’t start getting more compelling evidence until later episodes — callbacks are the strongest subtext, in my opinion, and you can’t have callbacks until you have more episodes — but we still have everything we need to get started.

What this episode establishes:

- John and Sherlock’s life or death reliance on one another; general suicide theme.
- Sherlock’s lack of friends, general loneliness, abrasiveness.
- John’s relative lack of friends, need for danger, abrasiveness.
- John’s unwillingness to talk about or even express his feelings.
- Sherlock’s unwillingness to talk about much of anything private and his denial that he even has feelings.
- Sherlock’s obliviousness to women, his lack of interest in women, and his inability to recognize when a woman is hitting on him.
- Sherlock’s psychological insight into John, and his willingness to make accommodations for John but no one else.
- Sherlock’s tendency to try and fix John’s life, and the warmth he feels when he’s successful.
- John’s immediate obsession with Sherlock and willingness to disregard Sherlock’s many awful qualities.
- Sherlock’s immediate and uncharacteristic inclusion of John into his life.
- Sherlock’s surprise that someone (John) actually seems to like him.
- Sherlock does not recognize homosexuality if it isn’t obvious; he assumes people are heterosexual.
- John hits on dangerous people.
- How quickly John tries to feel people out romantically, and how quickly he backs down when rejected.
- Neither John nor Sherlock close the door on homosexuality.
- John’s uncertainty about Sherlock’s sexual orientation, and his getting multiple messages that Sherlock might be gay.
- John hears Sherlock repeatedly insult the intelligence of people in general, and John in particular.
- John hears people, including Sherlock, insist that Sherlock is a psychopath or sociopath.
- Sherlock treats crime scenes rather like dates, and the show keeps this metaphor strong.
- John likes Sherlock’s inappropriate sense of humor.
- Visuals suggestive of the idea that epiphanies are like orgasms for Sherlock — and John tends to trigger these.
- The idea of Sherlock transitioning from a great man to a good one.
- Sherlock’s utter fascination with Captain John Watson, and his appreciation that John pushes back.
- John will try one more time even if he’s been rejected before, but no more than that.
- Camera work suggestive of romance.
- Moriarty.

Now into the episode proper. Refer to the clips as needed. (Please alert me if these quit working.)

"Nightmares": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5zevt7czxo
"John is alone": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IGpm1ePufM

It starts out depressing: John has nightmares about Afghanistan, and wakes up in a dark little bedsit with barely any signs of personal possessions. Even John’s theme sounds lost and pensive.

"Still has trust issues": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRdwqdl91f8

John can remove one of two noteworthy items from his drawer: a gun, or his laptop. He chooses the laptop.

While we are literally being alerted to the fact that John has a gun, and is the kind of person to keep a gun, this is all visually suggestive of suicide, which is indeed the theme of the episode. The gun could have been presented in different ways to avoid the suggestion of suicide — John could have simply retrieved it later — but instead the gun was deliberately presented as an alternative John keeps tucked away and looks at sometimes, and it was presented moments before we see John in therapy.

This is important, because we learn immediately that John is absolutely not the kind of person who would just let us know if he were feeling suicidal: we transition from a blank blog entry directly to John deflecting questions from his therapist. He can’t write about his feelings, and he can’t speak them.

We’re not even two minutes into the episode, and we know that if we want to understand John, we have to really think about John. If John is upset, he won’t say anything and he’ll act mostly normal. We’re going to have to infer John’s feelings from his actions, whatever bleeds into his speech, and whatever the score and camera tell us.

Luckily for us, unlike the characters, the score and camera don’t lie.

What we know about John so far is that he’s in a bad place psychologically. For now, he’s choosing to do the things he’s supposed to do to be healthy, but he doesn’t seem to have any faith these things will work. Meanwhile, the gun is always there.

We’re left with John grimly telling his therapist, “Nothing ever happens to me.” His life is boring, and it depresses him.

In keeping with the suicide theme of the episode, we’re then given a montage of people killing themselves.

"I got shot": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyqwgqIUCqA

When we return to John, he’s grudgingly roped into a conversation with Mike Stamford. John is clearly is not in a sociable mood: his voice and expressions are tight, and his side of the conversation is terse. He seems self-conscious about his leg and military history.

"Not the John Watson you know": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnwSk7DAavs

He looks around a lot, and rarely looks at Mike. It is a struggle for John to act normal, and though John knows it and resents it, he tries. John’s still rude, however, and it isn’t lost on Mike, who remains sympathetic.

When John asks Mike, “Who’d want me for a flatmate?” we’re transitioned to our first glimpse of Sherlock — who’s being rude and unusual.

"Sherlock with Molly": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y0NdXySWlw

What is immediately established about Sherlock? He’s oblivious to a woman who is clearly flirting with him. He notices the literal outward signs as he notices all details, but he doesn’t put the dots together. He is genuinely puzzled that Molly has put on lipstick, and thinks she is literally offering to make him coffee instead of asking him on a date. The shots are composed to highlight distance, not romance. Sherlock doesn’t quite turn to fully face Molly, and is focused on writing his notes.

This is both odd behavior for Sherlock, and odd behavior for the camera, if we’re to believe Sherlock is heterosexual. Even if Sherlock were simply not attracted to Molly in particular, surely someone who has heterosexual interest in women would recognize the signs of attraction from Molly.

Everything in this scene conveys the idea that Sherlock is not heterosexual. He might be gay, or he might be entirely indifferent to sex — at this point, who knows. But our very first introduction to Sherlock is deliberately and heavily coded against the idea of heterosexuality. From the start, we have to fight an uphill battle if we want to read heterosexuality into Sherlock’s character.

In the next scene, John and Sherlock finally meet. We find out later that Sherlock knew John was a prospective flatmate from first glance, but this is from John’s perspective. Sherlock approaches John and stands by him, then tests John by asking to borrow his phone.

"First meeting, Molly's part": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxnJB5dheMU

Almost immediately, Molly comes in with coffee for Sherlock, and John witnesses how Sherlock treats her. Sherlock had approached John and stood next to him, but about as soon as Molly hands him his coffee, he turns his back on her and walks away. He verbally reinforces that he does not understand why she put on, or took off, her lipstick, and says her lips look too small now. This is the first suggestion John gets in this episode that Sherlock might be gay, and it’s not near the last.

Sherlock doesn’t so much as look at Molly after turning his back on her. But once Molly leaves? Sherlock looks back toward that part of the room again, at John.

Again: what everything — Sherlock and the camera itself — is conveying is a complete lack of heterosexuality. Sherlock is choreographed to appear as almost physically repelled by Molly, and even makes a face of distaste when trying the coffee she’s brought him. The visuals as a whole convey the impression that women aren’t his taste.

"Charm on Full Blast": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JosIvjek6js

John, for the most part, is carefully blank during their first meeting, save for a slight smile and looking away when he hands Sherlock his phone. Once Sherlock starts deducing him, John adopts an understated off-kilter expression, with a bit of bewildered irritation mixed in. Sherlock gets physically closer to John, then turns on the charm full-blast and exits on the exciting notes of his “The Game is On” theme, leaving John standing there blinking at the door.

John is definitely intrigued. He describes it this way on his blog: “Ella thought keeping a blog would help but it hasn’t because nothing ever happens to me. But today, something did. Something happened.” Sherlock is exactly what John has been waiting for:something noteworthy and fascinating in the grey malaise of John’s life. He goes on to describe him as arrogant and rude, but lists these as if they’re no big deal, and concludes with “strangely likable” and “charming.”

We later learn with the introduction of Major Sholto in The Sign of Three that John is predisposed to like unsociable people, so we’re to infer that from the start Sherlock reminds John of a man he admired.

One would think it’s particularly odd that someone like John, who does not express his feelings, would like someone like Sherlock, who just deduced much of John’s private life in a single glance. But as the episode progresses, we begin to see that this is probably one reason John likes Sherlock: Sherlock acknowledges the things John is ashamed of so John doesn’t have to talk about them, and despite knowing these things about John, Sherlock isn’t deterred from being flatmates. John doesn’t have to pretend to be normal around Sherlock, and indeed, he actually can’t hide much from him if he tried. As the show goes on, we’ll get more and more evidence that John finds this aspect of Sherlock rather freeing. John is in a constant battle with the messed up side of himself, and he feels he’s losing. Sherlock is John’s introduction to the idea that maybe he doesn’t have to bother with all that, and he can simply be happy as he is.

We’ll also continue to see evidence that Sherlock notices little things about John’s psychology as the show progresses — here, a psychosomatic limp — and that Sherlock does make an effort to make John comfortable or happy in light of what he notices. Even from the first episode, it’s not that Sherlock is completely clueless about how other people work, it’s just that he rarely cares how anyone works except John, and hardly ever makes accommodations for anyone else. For whatever reason, perhaps initially simply because Sherlock is desperate for a flatmate and assistant, John is an exception.

This becomes important because a lot of people, including Sherlock, are going to refer to Sherlock as a sociopath from now on. We start to see evidence that Sherlock simply does not like indulging in sentiment, though, and arranges his life so that he hardly ever has to do it. That’s quite different from being incapable of feeling sentiment, and raises the question of what exactly it is about sentiment that makes Sherlock so uncomfortable.

Just like John, from the first episode we know that if we’ll have little luck understanding Sherlock if we wait for him to confess things to us. He won’t. We’re going to have to infer Sherlock’s feelings from his actions, whatever bleeds into his speech, and whatever the score and camera tell us.

Both John and Sherlock, by merit of their characterization, will rely on subtext to reveal their motivations and struggles. They will not voice anything emotional that happens between them.

"Spark of Obsession": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQImAoZkkTc

In contrast to his earlier disinterest in people, John goes home and is still thinking about Sherlock. Sherlock’s exciting theme fades away to leave John with absolute silence. John sits on his bed with a thoughtful expression, then checks his phone and reads the text Sherlock sent on it. He gets up and does a web search for Sherlock’s name and reads his website.

We know John becomes pretty much obsessed with Sherlock, but sometimes we forget how quickly it happened, and how single-minded John is shown to be. However, it’s normal to look up a prospective flatmate, of course, so let’s see where this goes.

We’re then shown another suicide scene.

Then we get our first look at 221B.

John immediately likes 221B, which is a big contrast to his bedsit: it’s warm and inviting, and absolutely filled with stuff — Sherlock’s stuff. When John remarks on all the mess, Sherlock immediately and uncharacteristically offers to clean up a bit — making John an exception, at least long enough for him to move in.

What’s interesting is we know that 221B only ever gets somewhat tidier, and John mostly doesn’t seem to be bothered by this as long as body parts aren’t involved. As far as we can ever discern, John only moves in his gun, laptop, and clothes. He is content to let Sherlock’s life subsume his own from the start.

A few more important things happen within their first minute in 221B: Sherlock refers to his skull as, “A friend of mine. Well, I say friend.” One of many nods this episode to his loneliness, and his reticence to speak on it.

"If you'll be needing two bedrooms": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBYbUhfdeYY

Then John gets his second hint, much stronger than the first, that Sherlock is gay, from Mrs. Hudson, someone who Sherlock has known for years and John may expect to know such things:

Mrs. Hudson: “There’s another bedroom upstairs if you’ll be needing two bedrooms.”

John: (puzzled) “Of course we’ll be needing two.”

Mrs. Hudson: (undeterred) “Oh don’t worry, there’s all sorts around here. Mrs. Turner next door has got married ones.”

John immediately looks to Sherlock, who says absolutely nothing in refutation of any of this. John, and the audience, is beginning to get outright gay vibes from Sherlock, but perhaps it’s still mere indifference to relationships. Sherlock, for his part, certainly doesn’t seem to mind that people think John is his boyfriend, and for the next two series he never says a word against it when people make the assumption. Ever. It could be that Sherlock finds it pointless, or it makes things easier for Sherlock if people think he’s attached. But it’s odd behavior if we’re supposed to believe Sherlock is interested in heterosexual relationships, or a relationship with anyone other than John.

We’re only fifteen minutes into the first episode and Sherlock is reading as almost certainly not heterosexual. He seems possibly homosexual or asexual.

John, notably, makes no move to assure Sherlock or Mrs. Hudson that he’s not attracted to men; he’s only implied he’s not in a relationship with Sherlock, which he isn’t. His responses so far aren’t inconsistent with what a bisexual man would say in John’s position. They’re also not inconsistent with what a heterosexual man might say, though they’re quite mild in that regard.

"Damn my leg": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CbWvoINMm0

Lestrade comes and tells Sherlock about the case. Sherlock leaves, excited, and again uncharacteristically thoughtful as regards John: “Have a cup of tea, make yourself at home.” Mrs. Hudson then again suggests John and Sherlock are a couple — “My husband was just the same,” to which John says nothing.

John’s only visibly upset when Mrs. Hudson tells him to rest his leg: he yells, “Damn my leg!” and startles her. He looks at the article about the suicides in the paper, already wishing he could chase after Sherlock.

Sherlock hears John yell and comes back up the stairs.

"Oh God Yes": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJi29tEGPiA

As soon as Sherlock speaks, John gets to his feet. John does not take his eyes off Sherlock, which is rather intense for a friendly conversation. Sherlock gets closer and closer into John’s space, closer than most people would find comfortable, and John just lets him: he doesn’t budge at all. Sherlock tempts John with the promise of danger, evidence that he’s actually quite keyed in to how John works psychologically, despite not yet having witnessed John in a dangerous situation. John sounds turned on when he says, “Oh god, yes,” a line which is suggestive of sex even absent John’s inflection. The whole conversation between them is in a low, vaguely sensual tone.

The simplest way to read this scene is that John is attracted to Sherlock, and he sounds turned on because he is. The queer reading doesn’t wave anything away, it’s simply exactly what it looks like. It’s the heteronormative reading that has to explain why John didn’t act more casual, why the actors were directed into each other’s physical space instead of Sherlock staying nearer the door or simply not getting so close to John, why the shots are composed to emphasize their physical closeness, why the writers chose to have John say, “Oh god, yes,” instead of something not so suggestive, and why Freeman delivered the line in such a sexualized way instead of sounding merely happy or intrigued or relieved.

To look at it another way, if it were a woman in this scene instead of John, no one would dismiss the sexual vibe.

They go off in the cab together and we get to see their first meeting from Sherlock’s perspective when he answers John’s questions.

"First Meeting, Sherlock's Perspective": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnrAO-iNu4g

We’ll see Sherlock’s deductions for the rest of the show, butnone of them look like this. Typically, whenever Sherlock describes a detail, the camera zooms in on it and avoids the person’s face unless it’s part of the deduction. It will tend to zip around visually, mimicking Sherlock’s perspective, and not look at anything longer than it needs to: Sherlock takes in details and moves on in a second.

That isn’t really what we get when he deduces John.

What do we get instead? Shots of John and Sherlock staring intensely at each other. Even when the camera, as Sherlock’s perspective, zooms in on a detail, it immediately goes back to John’s face, staring intensely at Sherlock. We get repeated shots of Sherlock staring intensely at John, then back and forth, even though we don’t need more than one of those; it’s not like we’ve forgotten who’s doing the deduction, Sherlock is doing the voice-over. The camera is suggestive of love-at-first-sight like you’d see in a romance movie, not a platonic relationship.

The simplest reading, again, is that it looks gay and romantic because it’s intended to look gay and romantic. If we’re to believe it’s not, then the heteronormative reading has to explain why they were directed to stare intensely at each other — surely John doesn’t need to stare at Sherlock? it’s Sherlock doing the deduction — why Sherlock keeps taking in John’s face between the small details, and why we’re treated to a whole sequence of just the back of forth of intense staring between them when they could have filled the shots with something more rational and scientific and zippy. Why such a heavy vibe to this scene if it’s just intended to be a happy epic bromance?

Again, if one of them in this scene were a woman, people would get inklings of a future romantic arc, and they would not dismiss the idea out of hand.

Would Sherlock as a character be that drawn to John overall from this first moment? Well, Sherlock tells us in The Sign of Three that “Beauty is a construct based entirely on childhood impressions, influences and role models.” In The Empty Hearse and His Last Vow, we see Sherlock’s father wearing almost exactly what John is wearing in this scene. Sherlock then goes on to be charming, show off, and make all kinds of exceptions for John we never see him make for other people.

It’s a mystery.

Sherlock goes through his deduction of John’s phone and we learn something very important about Sherlock: his deductions are as heteronormative as you’d expect for someone who has to rely on the balance of probability. He assumes Harry Watson is a man, not a lesbian. But that’s not always how the world works.

This is the first of a few hints we’ll get that Sherlock doesn’t realize someone is gay unless it’s obvious. If someone seems straight enough, he assumes they’re straight.

"Piss Off": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZWMKXSK_24

John, despite being a private person and clearly not an effusive person, is floored by Sherlock’s explanation and can’t help but admit it.

Sherlock is visibly surprised, then a bit pleased. We get yet another nod to the idea that people do not generally like Sherlock when he says people usually say, “Piss off.”

And we’re immediately hit by another example when Sally Donovan greets Sherlock with, “Hello, freak.” When Sherlock introduces John as a colleague, she says, “A colleague? How did you get a colleague?” and asks John, “Did he follow you home?” Sally thinks of Sherlock as lonely and socially pathetic; Sherlock doesn’t like a lot of people and they don’t like him, so John is something special.

Sherlock then holds the crime scene tape up for John, again uncharacteristically considerate. Sherlock will go on to hold crime scene tape up for John repeatedly over the course of the show. In keeping with Sherlock’s treating crime solving like dates, which will be in the text of The Blind Banker, it’s a bit like holding the door open for John.

Sherlock has an unpleasant run-in with Anderson, and they enter Lauriston Gardens. Sherlock is rude to Lestrade, telling him it’s annoying when Lestrade thinks, one of many dings against the intelligence of others that John will come to witness. John and Lestrade watch Sherlock deduce Jennifer Wilson’s body: no intense, repetitive staring here, just looking for clues. Anderson comes in and Sherlock shuts the door in his face — another ding against the intelligence of others — while John mildly looks on, eyes focused on Sherlock.

Sherlock asks John for his medical opinion, and Lestrade leaves. John asks why he’s there when he’s supposed to be helping Sherlock pay rent, and Sherlock tells him this is more “fun.” John objects to this on the grounds that someone is dead, but Sherlock dismisses this and John tells him his medical opinion anyway.

Lestrade returns, and Sherlock starts going through his deductions. John stares at him and says, “Brilliant.” Sherlock says something is “obvious,” to which John responds, “It’s not obvious to me,” and Sherlock says, “Dear god, what it is like in your funny little brains?” Another ding against the intelligence of others, this time including John specifically.

Sherlock continues on, and John says, “Fantastic.” Sherlock says, “Do you know you do that out loud?” John says, “Sorry, I’ll shut up,” but Sherlock looks slightly pleased and says, “No, it’s… fine.”

Then Sherlock sarcastically responds to Lestrade, another ding against the intelligence of others. When Lestrade tells Sherlock there’s no suitcase, he sets off down the stairs, deducing aloud.

"Epiphany": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0av2m_-WZuY

And here’s the first time it happens, John’s introduction as what Sherlock will refer to as his “conductor of light” in The Hounds of Baskerville: John says something, and while it isn’t correct, it nevertheless sparks an epiphany for Sherlock. And Sherlock’s epiphanies, visually and aurally, are a bit orgasmic.

So continues the metaphor of crime-scene-as-date.

Which is immediately reinforced by Sally Donovan, when she tells John Sherlock “gets off on it.”

She also says that John isn’t Sherlock’s friend because Sherlock doesn’t have friends, that Sherlock is a psychopath who’s going to kill someone some day because psychopaths get bored, and that John should stay away from Sherlock.

We’ll see later in the episode that Donovan’s words stick with John. And why wouldn’t they? He has, after all, just been abandoned by Sherlock, and he knows that Sherlock is quite rude and considers everyone beneath him. Sherlock didn’t seem to care at all that Jennifer Wilson was dead.

For the moment, however, John has to get home: as soon as Sherlock left and John found himself alone outside, John’s lost-and-pensive theme started playing. But Mycroft has other plans. John seems on-guard, but not scared, when Mycroft rings all the phones in his path, moves the CCTV cameras around, and orders him into a car. John makes an attempt at asking Anthea what’s going on, but she doesn’t explain anything.

When John meets Mycroft, he immediately sasses him. And does not stop sassing him. And pretty much will never stop sassing him for the rest of the show. Still, it’s especially impressive in this instant, because he has no idea that Mycroft is just Sherlock’s brother.

John gets yet another suggestion that Sherlock might be gay, from Mycroft, who knows Sherlock better than anyone: “Since yesterday you’ve moved in with him and now you’re solving crimes together. Might we expect a happy announcement by the end of the week?” Since Mycroft is established as the person who knows the most of anyone on the show, it might be meaningful that he’s suggesting not only that Sherlock is gay, but also that John is motivated by an attraction to Sherlock. It would certainly be a stronger explanation than platonic fascination for John’s sudden obsession and loyalty in the face of all sanity. We have it confirmed in His Last Vow that John is sexually attracted to dangerous people and aware of it, but we don’t even need to wait that long: we’re going to get a nod to that in this very episode soon enough.

But Mycroft is, of course, purposely trying to put John off Sherlock, so perhaps it’s nothing. Through Mycroft’s actions, we learn a lot about Sherlock: Mycroft worries about Sherlock, worries about Sherlock getting attached to people, worries about those people leaving Sherlock. Mycroft goes to great lengths to vet Sherlock’s potential friends, and does not want Sherlock to know about it. Mycroft wants Sherlock’s potential friends to understand Sherlock’s life is dangerous from the get-go, so they don’t stick around for Sherlock to get attached before realizing they’re in over their head. This all suggests that Sherlock is not as cold and rational as he appears to be: losing people must devastate Sherlock, or else Mycroft wouldn’t care to test their loyalty.

Mycroft goes about testing John’s loyalty immediately. He emphasizes to John that Sherlock doesn’t have friends, only enemies. Sherlock texts John, and John silently reads it. Mycroft asks if John is going to continue his association with Sherlock, and John says it’s none of Mycroft’s business. Mycroft then offers him money to spy on Sherlock, which John refuses. John starts to look outright angry when Mycroft tries to persuade him, perhaps because Mycroft’s assurance that the information he wants is “nothing indiscreet, nothing you’d feel… uncomfortable with” carries some sexual connotations — it’s hard to imagine what else Mycroft could mean by this. (Thanks anon for catching this.) Sherlock texts John again. John reads it, and tells Mycroft, “No.”

Mycroft outright laughs and says, “You’re very loyal, very quickly.” John says, somewhat irritated, “No, I’m not, I’m just— not interested.” Mycroft then reveals he’s gotten ahold of John’s therapist’s notes: “Trust issues.” John is visibly pissed off and tries to contain it. Mycroft continues, “Could it be that you’ve decided to trust Sherlock Holmes of all people?” John says, “Who says I trust him?” Mycroft goes on to say that John is not the kind of person to make friends easily, and John turns to leave.

If Mycroft genuinely does suspect John is motivated by an attraction to Sherlock, you could hardly blame him. John’s behavior is very odd.

Mycroft stops John by pointing out that John’s hand tremor is absent despite the fact he’s under stress. John misses the war, and when he’s with Sherlock, he sees the battlefield again. Mycroft leaves, saying, “Time to choose a side, Dr. Watson.”

Oddly, this conversation with Mycroft seems to have sealed John’s loyalty to Sherlock. John gets one last text: “Could be dangerous. -SH” Anthea says she’s to take John “home,” and John directs her to 221B Baker Street — but stops off at his bedsit for his gun first, already willing to kill someone for Sherlock if need be, or perhaps just kill someone in self-defense if that’s the hazard of hanging out with Sherlock. Either way, he’s decided Sherlock is worth the danger.

Is John sexually attracted to dangerous people? Well, after meeting Mycroft and inferring how dangerous he is, John suddenly decides it’s a good idea to hit on his assistant:

"Anthea Strike 1": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8qtP9q_oQo

Pay attention to how John goes about doing it: he says something innocuous, then something considerably more pointed while still allowing for plausible deniability: “Do you get any free time?” He waits for a positive or negative signal. As soon as he gets the negative signal, he drops it altogether.

We’re going to see this again very soon.

Note that we don’t get a fraction of the romantic cues from the camera here as we do when John and Sherlock have “platonic” interactions. Neither John nor Anthea ever says anything about dating or sex, and neither proclaims their sexual orientation. But no one doubts that John is indeed hitting on Anthea in this scene. No one says, “Oh, you’re reading too much into it, John didn’t mean that.” Why? Heteronormativity.

"Three Patch Problem": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDKH0bBVOvE

John goes up the stairs to 221B and we’re given another sexually-charged sequence of Sherlock, this time with his nicotine patches. Even Sherlock’s breathing is suggestive. This serves two purposes: it reinforces the idea that thinking, for Sherlock, has analogues to sex, and Sherlock is cast in this light even when John is the only one around to see it.

It’s interesting that as the show progresses, John is one of the few people Sherlock ever willingly talks over his deductions with.

John takes the sight of Sherlock in, then looks briefly at the windows, as if checking for danger. He asks Sherlock what he was texting about, and Sherlock goes from being sexualized to looking more like a child — another thing that will recur throughout the show and isn’t resolved until The Sign of Three. Sherlock tells John he wanted him to send a text, and John is visibly irritated.

John looks out the windows again, which prompts Sherlock to ask, “What’s wrong?” John says he met a friend of Sherlock’s, which surprises and appalls Sherlock. John then says it was an enemy, and Sherlock relaxes and says, “Oh. Which one?” Sherlock tells John he should have accepted the money to spy on him because they could have split it, and then refuses to actually explain who Mycroft is.

This is a recurring thing with Sherlock: he hardly ever discusses his past or himself at all, really. This means both John and the audience have to puzzle over what’s going through Sherlock’s head at any given time. It also raises the question of why Sherlock keeps himself so hidden, but we already have a lot of clues: people don’t generally like Sherlock, and Mycroft doesn’t want Sherlock to get attached to people. Sherlock apparently doesn’t handle rejection well, and so avoids putting himself in position to be rejected.

Sherlock commands John to send the text, and though Sherlock is being bossy and John is irritated, John still does it. Sherlock retrieves the pink suitcase. John realizes what it is, and Sherlock sarcastically says he supposes he should explain he didn’t kill Jennifer Wilson. John asks, “Do people usually assume you’re the murderer?” — harkening back to Donovan’s words earlier. Sherlock smiles and says, “Now and then, yes.”

Sherlock explains why and how he found the case. John says, “Why didn’t I think of that,” to which Sherlock says mildly, “Because you’re an idiot.” John looks briefly pissed off and stricken, but Sherlock just says, “Don’t look like that, practically everyone is.” John still looks a bit mad but lets go of it quickly. Still, though, Sherlock has insulted John’s intelligence and it stung. John would never show it, but we can bet this would stick with a person.

Especially with how often Sherlock will go on to reinforce it.

Sherlock explains a bit more and the cabbie calls John’s phone. Sherlock leaps up to head off to Angelo’s.

"I said dangerous and here you are": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7X0VeRBH-s

John asks if Sherlock has talked to the police, but Sherlock says there isn’t time. John asks, “Why are you talking to me?” Sherlock explains that John is filling in for his skull, which Mrs. Hudson has taken. The whole time Sherlock watches John as if he already knows John wants to come along, and prompts him. John says, “What, you want me to come with you?” Sherlock says he likes company when he goes out, and he thinks better when he talks aloud. He jokes, “The skull just attracts attention,” and John seems to find that genuinely funny. We’ll learn in later blog entries that John really likes the charming, funny side of Sherlock.

Still, John doesn’t move. “Problem?” Sherlock asks, and John says that Donovan said “you get off on this.” Sherlock responds, “And I said dangerous, and here you are.”

If the solving-crimes-as-date metaphor wasn’t blatant before, it is now. Sherlock invites John to “get off on” itwith him, and John follows after him to do so.

"I'm not his date": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZIXCHgn2oA

…Follows him right to a rather romantic Italian restaurant. John gets yet another hint that Sherlock might be gay, from yet another person who has known Sherlock for a while: Angelo tells Sherlock anything is free “for you or your date.” And Sherlock never says a word to refute it. John says, “I’m not his date,” which he isn’t. Note that John doesn’t say he’s not gay, which is a bit odd if he’s heterosexual, because yet again Sherlock seems to be going along with it.

It makes perfect sense if John is bisexual and doesn’t want to shut down the possibility, however.

Speaking of which, remember how John hit on Anthea?

"Girlfriends, boyfriends": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KW9o4uu5kw

As soon as Angelo leaves, John starts trying to suss out Sherlock’s sexual orientation, even though as far as John knows, he’s probably gay. He starts in with something innocuous, just like he did with Anthea. And just like he did with Anthea, he quickly moves on to something considerably more pointed while still allowing plausible deniability: “…girlfriends, boyfriends…” Sherlock says that’s dull.

"Unattached, just like me": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jXoHqflGtA

"You don’t have a girlfriend, then?"

Now John needs a signal.

"Girlfriend? No. Not really my area," Sherlock says.

This gets John’s attention. He looks very slightly pleased and goes in for the kill. “Oh right. Do you have a boyfriend then?” But then the signals get a bit muddier: Sherlock casts John an unreadable look, and John adds, “Which is fine, by the way.” Sherlock says, “I know it’s fine.”

When taken in contrast to Sherlock’s girlfriend statement, that sounds like a confirmation of homosexuality: back to positive signals, John smiles. “So you’ve got a boyfriend?” “No,” Sherlock says immediately. “Right, okay,” John says, with a bit of a nervous laugh and smile. John licks his lips and Sherlock narrows his eyes. John continues, “You’re unattached. Like me. Fine. Good.”

This is an incredibly odd thing for a heterosexual man to say to a man who, by all accounts, is assumed to be gay by his close acquaintances (who refuse to be convinced otherwise!), appears to have just denied being heterosexual, and has allowed two people to believe John is his boyfriend. This is the point where even a non-homophobic man would politely note his heterosexuality.

That’s what a heterosexual man would do, but what does John Watson do? John Watson makes clear he’s single. John Watson says it’s good that they’re both single.

That is the behavior of a bisexual man. It is the simplest, clearest reading, and doesn’t have to explain away anything. To read heterosexuality alone into John’s orientation requires explaining away quite a lot.

"Married to my work": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJicHzA6fgE

And it is so blatantly a come-on that even Sherlock picks up on it: “John, um. I think you should know that I consider myself married to my work, and while I’m flattered by your interest…” Sherlock doesn’t even consider relationships, which makes sense for someone who can’t handle sentiment and doesn’t set himself up to be rejected. We’ll also come to see soon that Sherlock likes to keep expectations low, and we’ll see over and over that he can’t even imagine why someone would want to be his friend because he’s no good at it.

Upon hearing this, this is truly the point, the absolute point, where a heterosexual man would just say he’s not gay. It’s unambiguous, and it’s the least awkward thing John could say now. John Watson is never terribly awkward over the entirety of the show. He’s rather direct, really.

But right now, John Watson just goes back to the plausible deniability he left open earlier: “No. I’m not asking. No.” And rather than say it’s cool if Sherlock’s gay but he’s not attracted to men, John Watson says, “I’m just saying: it’s all fine.”

"Good," Sherlock says. "Thank you."

Having received an unambiguous negative signal, John immediately drops the topic altogether, just like he did with Anthea.

This is way more loaded than John’s conversation with Anthea, and more romance is suggested by the camera and setting and context. It’s also an incredibly odd choice on the part of the writers to leave homosexuality open for both characters from the first episode if we’re to believe they’re heterosexual. If the writers merely wanted to make a joke of people thinking John and Sherlock are a couple, they don’t need to have John and Sherlock be confused about each other’s sexuality. It would be funnier if we got to watch Sherlock deny it to other people too, but we never do. Even if the writers just wanted this one conversation to go as awkwardly as possible, John and Sherlock don’t need to be forever confused about one another’s orientations after living together for years. Unresolved questions exist to be resolved. The only real reason to leave it unresolved that long is that it’s a romantic obstacle to be overcome.

And that’s exactly what it is. From this point, a back and forth of confusion starts that lasts for the first three series. Their romantic arc begins in earnest here.

Right now, John believes the following: Sherlock is probably gay, but Sherlock is not attracted to John — probably because he thinks John is an idiot, and possibly also because he’s a sociopath. Most importantly, Sherlock seems to really dislike the idea of John having feelings for him and has outright unambiguously rejected John.

Sherlock believes that maybe John wasn’t hitting on him after all, and will later believe John’s straight once he has a girlfriend; aside from this blip, John won’t do anything that reads as obviously gay to Sherlock.

And that’s intentional on John’s part, since Sherlock seems so put off by the idea. John may have additional motivations for presenting himself as heterosexual that we’re not yet aware of, but there’s enough from the first episode alone for his actions to make sense: remember, John was in a dark enough place that he’s willing to kill for Sherlock just to stay near him. Hiding his sexuality to avoid putting Sherlock off is nothing compared to that.

One last note on this scene before we chase a cab: Sherlock goes to dinner with John even though he isn’t hungry. It will happen over and over as the show continues, and it makes its way into the text of the show as Irene Adler’s euphemism for sex in A Scandal in Belgravia.

Sherlock spots the cab and John goes after him, leaving his cane behind. We realize later that Sherlock expected as much, but for now, Sherlock leads them both on a chase. He even stops to wait for John in the middle of it, which is rather remarkable: even though Sherlock just professed to be married to his work, we see that from the beginning that Sherlock is willing to make sacrifices to the work if it allows room for John in his life.

"Welcome to London": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1-KzEIBsXM

Good thing, too: when the chase is over, we see John happy for the first time ever, laughing at something Sherlock said. Sherlock looks surprised at first, then tentatively happy too.

They run off together, back to 221B, where they’re effusively happy. Giggling, even.

"You invided Afghanistan": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBbAr-hIJsI

They could have chosen any camera angle for this, several of which would have been more natural. John and Sherlock could have leaned their arms against the wall facing one another, or they could have leaned on their own knees, or on the stairs or the railing, like normal people. All of those would have been plenty heterosexual.

Instead, we get the unusual choice of a backs-against-the-wall angle with John and Sherlock panting and happy, reminiscent of the stereotypical “just had sex” visual coding you see on a general audiences sitcom when a couple collapses that way onto a bed.

Which, curiously — or not so curiously — is in keeping with the crime-solving-as-date metaphor: dinner, crime solving, and ending up in bed. In this case, one kind of adrenaline rush (running from the police) is visually substituted for another (sex).

A lot of things happen here. It’s worth noting that it’s Sherlock’s black sense of humor that sends John giggling. John doesn’t have to pretend to be normal around him, and Sherlock doesn’t have to be someone else around John either. AndSherlock, cold-hearted bastard that eschews all sentiment, smiles warmly at John several times, especially when he sees John’s reaction to having his limp cured.

From the very beginning, Sherlock has demonstrated a desire to try to fix John’s life, and seems to feel good when he’s successful and observes John’s happiness. This will become more pronounced in series three.

When Mrs. Hudson alerts them to the trouble upstairs, John follows Sherlock two stairs at a time. John had major insecurities and depression regarding his limp, and Sherlock just got rid of it.

"It's a Drugs Bust": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QB24Ap5Ms3Q

Accordingly, John won’t hear a word against Sherlock when Lestrade announces the drugs bust, and proceeds to backtalk the Detective Inspector on Sherlock’s behalf.

Yet again, Sherlock steps right into John’s personal space and John lets him — and this is closer than even before, close enough that they could kiss. And indeed, the camera work is highly suggestive of an impending kiss, right down to the angle that makes their mouths look closer together, the intense staring into one another’s eyes, and John briefly glancing down and back up.

And yet again: the simplest, clearest reading of this scene is that John looks like he wants to kiss Sherlock because he wants to kiss Sherlock. It makes sense that John would want to, because Sherlock seems beyond amazing to him right now. It’s the heteronormative reading that has to explain away why the actors were directed to stand that close together and stare intensely into one another’s eyes when they could have easily stood further apart, why the choice was made to go with romantically coded shot compositions and sequences instead of something more platonic, and so forth. ‘It looks gay because it is’ doesn’t have to explain away anything.

But don’t despair for John’s heterosexual side, because on top the revelation of Sherlock’s drug problem, John’s about to be bombarded by a LOT of “Sherlock is a sociopath” and “Sherlock thinks I’m stupid.”

"High functioning sociopath": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSAceP_ml08

Anderson calls Sherlock a psychopath, and Sherlock proclaims himself to be a “high-functioning sociopath.” Coming from other people that’s one thing, but coming from Sherlock himself, that has to give John pause.

As the show goes on, it will become clear that Sherlock says this as a way of managing others’ expectations and freeing himself from having to change his behavior. Worse than that, though, by series three we see that Sherlock may actually believe he’s as terrible as people seem to think. We know Sherlock isn’t actually a sociopath, but people believe him to be, and he says he is.

And he’s effectively indistinguishable from one much of the time: Lestrade says that Rachel is dead, and Sherlock says, “Excellent!” John makes a concerned face upon hearing this.

"Sociopath, I'm seeing it now": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNXJM4g8XJU

Sherlock then goes on to not understand why someone would scratch the name of their stillborn daughter on the floor with their dying breath. Anderson calls Sherlock a sociopath again and John makes a thoughtful face.

"Bit not good": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqpDoQAj0bc

John tries to suggest the murderer used the idea to upset her, and Sherlock says, “But that was ages ago! Why would she still be upset?” John, along with everyone else, just stares at him. Sherlock picks up on this and asks, “Not good?” John confirms, rather patiently, “A bit not good, yeah.”

"Please God let me live": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyxcQxYd0qA

Sherlock moves forward into John’s personal space again, asking him what he would say if he were dying. John says, “Please god let me live.” Sherlock, exasperated, says, “Oh, use your imagination!” But when John says, “I don’t have to,” Sherlock visibly seems to understand what he’s done wrong: he makes a regretful face, shifts a bit, and softens his voice. Not very sociopathic, but of course Sherlock doesn’t apologize either and digs the hole deeper by implying John is stupid: “Yeah, but if you were clever, really clever.”

John, understandably, makes a perturbed duck-lips face. Then Sherlock barks at Mrs. Hudson to go away. Then he yells for everyone to shut up and Anderson to turn away because his face puts Sherlock off. Sherlock goes on to say, “She was cleverer than you lot, and she’s dead,” then, “You’re all so vacant. Is it nice not being me? It must besorelaxing.” John looks exhausted with Sherlock’s shit and snaps at him to just explain what Rachel is. Sherlock does, and despite everything, John obediently helps him by reading the luggage tag aloud. Then Sherlock tells Anderson not to speak again because he lowers the IQ of the whole street. He snaps at Mrs. Hudson to take her evening soother.

However attracted John might be, Sherlock isn’t looking like a feasible relationship option.

John focuses on the case instead and helps track the phone. Sherlock leaves in a daze when he realizes it must be the cabbie. John notices Sherlock is acting oddly and asks if he’s alright, but Sherlock dismisses him. Concerned, John watches Sherlock from the window and sees him get into the cab.

Sherlock’s interaction with the cabbie reveals more of Sherlock’s psychology:Sherlock cares less about justice than proving himself clever, for one thing. Thenwhile Sherlock isn’t exactly suicidal, he doesn’t care if he dies, which is plenty bleak. (This is eventually confirmed in the text in The Sign of Three.) He gets bored constantly, and will do any reckless thing to alleviate it. Right now, Sherlock doesn’t live for anything except the hope of an exciting case, and he’ll admit in His Last Vow that he just does it to keep himself off drugs.

This will change drastically in series three, when Sherlock’s sole reason for living is John. He’ll go back to drugs after losing John, despite having his most hated adversary yet to occupy his time. Enjoy Sherlock’s single-minded devotion to the work while you can.

We also find out from the cabbie that Moriarty is obsessed with Sherlock and has been following him for some time. Moriarty is going to play a huge part in John and Sherlock’s romantic arc by picking up on their feelings and toying with them both.

"He Might Even Be a Good One": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gle0SU1_p7Y

We cut back to John and Lestrade discussing how impossible Sherlock is. Lestrade tells John that he’s known Sherlock for five years and doesn’t know him any better than John does, which John takes in. John then asks why Lestrade puts up with him. Lestrade at first says it’s because he’s desperate — which parallels John at this moment — but then says Sherlock is a great man, and he hopes he will become a good one.

That’s what the entire arc of the show is about: Sherlock’s transition from a great man, to a good one. As we go through the episodes, we’ll see it’s primarily John that’s responsible for the transformation: Sherlock’s tendency to make exceptions for John and to try to make John comfortable, the warmth Sherlock feels when he makes John happy, and Sherlock’s compulsion to keep John by his side, mean that Sherlock sands away some of his rough edges to make more and more room for John in his life.

Meanwhile, the idea that Sherlock, despite all appearances, might be more than a sociopath sticks with — and torments — John until His Last Vow.

While John may be certain Sherlock isn’t into him right now, that’s not going to stop John from tracking Sherlock across town and later shooting a man to death for him. John Watson’s a gentleman like that.

Meanwhile, at Roland-Kerr Further Education College, Sherlock says something insightful to the cabbie: “Bitterness is a paralytic. Love is a much more vicious motivator.” And sure enough, the first time we see Sherlock Holmes kill someone will be in His Last Vow, and he does it out of love for John — not, as Donovan suggests in this episode, because he’s a psychopath.

Meanwhile, John frantically checks all the rooms until he sees Sherlock is in the building opposite, about to take the pill. Just as Sherlock has metaphorically saved John from suicide by curing his limp and making his life exciting again, here John literally saves Sherlock from suicide by shooting the cabbie.

Sherlock, rather than showing any concern for the man dying in front of him, or even distaste at the gore, demands the cabbie tell him if he picked the right pill or not. When the cabbie won’t do that, Sherlock instead demands the name of his “fan.” The cabbie says no, and Sherlock says something important that we must remember about him: “You’re dying, but there’s still time to hurt you.” Sherlock may not be an actual sociopath, but he does have a particular moral compass that makes him far from a hero or angel. Sherlock has no qualms about people’s pain if they’re bad guys, and we’ll see this reinforced time and time again. What’s curious is that’s not too far from most people’s moral compass, really — how many viewers feel very bad for the cabbie? — Sherlock just doesn’t pretend.

Sherlock, no angel, steps on the cabbie’s wound and makes him scream: “Moriarty!” As soon as Sherlock hears it, it’s like there’s no one else in the room with him: he takes his foot off the cabbie, stares about distantly, and mouths the name to himself, fascinated.

We cut to Sherlock in a shock blanket, answering Lestrade’s questions. Who could have shot the cabbie? Well, he’d have to be a little something like…

"Strong moral principle": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBjtbCqnVfI

Their eyes meet across the crime scene tape and Sherlock sees, really sees, Captain John Watson for the first time.

"Captain John Watson's magnetic sexuality": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_E5jDLI62U

And Sherlock starts moving toward him as if drawn. Lestrade tries to stop him, and Sherlock is visibly frustrated: he’s snappish, reluctant to so much as look away from John, and tries to escape to get to John sooner.

Sherlock really, really likes Captain John Watson. We’re going to see this again and again as the show progresses. We’re also going to see that Sherlock must deduce himself into every big romantic realization he has — this was the first of a few.

Sherlock even turns his coat collar up to look cool, something John will alert us to in The Hounds of Baskerville. Ladies and gentlemen: Sherlock Holmes, consulting peacock. (Thank you anon for pointing this out.)

"Good Shot": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5SMeNJIeAg

Once he gets to John, Sherlock can’t take his eyes off him. He just stares.

"Bloody awful cabbie": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93tbdR8Y6uQ

On top of the soldier angle, John has absolutely surprised Sherlock: he was not only clever enough and brave enough to track Sherlock down, but he killed a man for Sherlock too, and seems okay about it. John’s moral compass aligns with Sherlock’s: it might look nicer if John felt any remorse whatsoever, but he doesn’t, and he doesn’t have to hide that in front of Sherlock.

Accordingly, they both make inappropriate jokes and walk off giggling.

"Dinner": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pB8NSMChp4o

John then asserts that Sherlock was going to take the pill, and smacks away Sherlock’s denials. John calls Sherlock an idiot — and Sherlock genuinely smiles as if he can’t help himself, then asks him to dinner. Everyone else either hates Sherlock or fawns all over him, but John pushes back. Sherlock loves how commanding John can be, and we’ll see that reinforced again and again.

Mycroft shows up and reiterates the idea that, to Mycroft’s regret, Sherlock doesn’t solve crimes out of a sense of public-spiritedness. John seems almost disappointed to find out that Mycroft isn’t a criminal mastermind — and so commences his long-suffering disbelief at the childishness of the Holmes brothers.

But there’s just one more thing.

"Anthea Strike 2": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEVOkMdhJSM

We see that even if John was rejected before, sometimes he gives it another shot. John tries it on with Anthea one more time, immediately drops it when she won’t talk about it, and never tries it again.

He’ll do the same thing with Sherlock in A Scandal in Belgravia.

John follows after Sherlock, and the two of them walk away, now standing close enough that they could hold hands. John asks Sherlock what he’s so happy about, and Sherlock responds, “Moriarty.” John doesn’t know it yet, but he’s in for a world of jealousy. Meanwhile, Sherlock found a best friend and archenemy in one night. It is like Christmas!

As they walk off into the night, Mycroft, resident omniscient character and occasional mouthpiece for the writers, remarks, “Interesting, that soldier fellow. He could be the making of my brother, or make him worse than ever.”