{"id":108530,"date":"2016-03-23T21:04:45","date_gmt":"2016-03-23T21:04:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2016\/03\/23\/friend-vs-colleague\/"},"modified":"2016-03-23T21:04:45","modified_gmt":"2016-03-23T21:04:45","slug":"friend-vs-colleague","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2016\/03\/23\/friend-vs-colleague\/","title":{"rendered":"Friend vs. Colleague"},"content":{"rendered":"

hudders-and-hiddles<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

ladymacphisto<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

I\u2019ve been reading through\u00a0\u201cBetween Each Beat Are Words Unsaid\u201d<\/a> and when I read chapters 10 & 11 it reminded me of how my interpretation of that scene is often a bit different than the rest of the fandom. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Ok so I know the scene in \u201cThe Blind Banker\u201d where John corrects Sherlock about being his \u201cColleague\u201d instead of his \u201cFriend\u201d gets a lot of mileage, and this idea has probably been posted before, but most of the time I see it from the \u201cPoor Sherlock\u201d standpoint. \u00a0<\/p>\n

I feel sad for BOTH of them in this scene. \u00a0They are still trying to figure each other out, and as the show will establish, they are both absolute SHIT at feelings. \u00a0Remember what happened right before this scene, John ran out of money at the market, and had to ask Sherlock for money. \u00a0He\u2019s embarrassed and wrong-footed. \u00a0<\/p>\n

They hardly know each other at this point. \u00a0A month, maybe two. \u00a0(Just checked John\u2019s blog, only two months.) They haven\u2019t \u201cworked\u201d together much if you go with the assumption that John would have blogged about it. (He had only blogged about \u201cA Study in Pink\u201d and a few other random things at this point)<\/p>\n

One interesting thing I noticed is that during his write-up of ASiP he says:<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cWe arrived in \u2593\u2593\u2593\u2593\u2593\u2593\u2593 where, to my surprise, he introduced me as his colleague. The police seemed surprised by this as well I get the impression he\u2019d not had \u2018colleagues\u2019 before.\u201d <\/b><\/p>\n

That is such a loaded statement. \u00a0John is surprised that Sherlock views him as a colleague and that is important to John. \u00a0We know this now because John skips so many details when writing up the cases, and the ones that make it are the ones that stick in HIS mind. \u00a0<\/p>\n

I created gifs of the scene and let me tell you, when you are advancing frame by frame to get the clips correct, these scenes are PAINFUL.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

This introduction as \u201ccolleague\u201d showed John that Sherlock wanted John to be viewed as an equal from the start. \u00a0That would be VERY important to someone like John. (He hasn\u2019t yet secured the job at the clinic at this point in the show, and he is very low on money, he is an injured army doctor\u2026he has no PLACE, but he wants it desperately to be with Sherlock) <\/p>\n

Also, something I never noticed before, Sherlock introduces Sally as his friend. \u00a0And John observes how Sherlock treats his\u00a0\u201cfriends\u201d at this crime scene. \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

BUT given Sally\u2019s reaction to the introduction John can\u2019t help but notice that Sherlock catches the police off-guard with the use of \u201ccolleague\u201d so he assumes it means he doesn\u2019t have any\/many. \u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

In John\u2019s mind I think he makes the connection that \u201ccolleague\u201d is an important word to Sherlock, and \u201cfriend\u201d is not, so he choses to use it from then on. \u00a0He wants to show Sherlock that he is paying attention.<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n
<\/figure>\n

We have to remember that everyone who had met John up to the scene with Sebastian has assumed that he is sleeping with Sherlock, and it\u2019s OBVIOUSLY a sensitive subject for John, so if you look at Sebastian\u2019s creepy\/knowing glance at Sherlock after \u201cfriend\u201d you can understand why John reinforces it with \u201ccolleague.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

I think part of it is to counter the look Sebastian gave Sherlock and reinforce the whole \u201cit\u2019s all fine\u201d vibe he is trying to solidify, and also to show he was paying attention on the last case, and using the word Sherlock picked for them.<\/b><\/p>\n

See how he smiles at Sebastian in the gif above, and then glances at Sherlock for approval in the gif below. \u00a0(It happens so fast that I didn\u2019t see it until I was going frame by frame for these gifs.<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

John can IMMEDIATELY tell he has done the wrong thing, and you can see if on both their faces in the gif below.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

This is why my heart breaks for both of them in this scene. \u00a0They are both trying so hard to figure each other out and prove that they can be what the other needs, but they just aren\u2019t quite<\/b> there yet.<\/p>\n

So I don\u2019t think John was being deliberately mean, I think he was just caught off-guard that Sherlock had friends in uni, (because he determined he didn\u2019t have a lot of friends in ASiP) and as he was processing that, he belatedly heard the intro and corrected Sherlock to show he was paying attention on the last case and that he is WORKING with Sherlock. <\/p>\n

(We\u2019ve all done it in our lives. \u00a0Those cringe-worthy moments where you had the best of intentions but fell embarrassingly flat\u2026)<\/i><\/p>\n

I think he realizes his mistake in the last gif, but it\u2019s too late to recover because Sherlock and Sebastian have moved on. \u00a0<\/p>\n

The whole scene reminds me of the scene at Angelo\u2019s. \u00a0John is trying SO hard to make a good impression on Sherlock that it makes him awkward at times. \u00a0<\/p>\n

I feel bad for both of them in this scene. \u00a0Mostly Sherlock, because he had more to lose, but John also because he isn\u2019t sure of his place by Sherlock\u2019s side yet.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I really dig this interpretation of the scene. I\u2019ve never seen John\u2019s use of\u00a0\u201ccolleague\u201d as mean-spirited in any way\u2013it\u2019s a knee-jerk reaction for sure, but it\u2019s not like he was trying to put Sherlock down by calling himself a colleague rather than a friend\u2013and I like this explanation for why he does that. When you try to assimilate into a new culture, which is essentially what John is doing here as he tries to find his place in Sherlock\u2019s world, you pick up and use the language that already exists there, and along the way, you\u2019re bound to make some mistakes. It\u2019s like learning a foreign language or even like joining a fandom. You try to copy the things you see others doing, use the words they\u2019re using, and sometimes you might not get it quite right because you don\u2019t have the full context and history and connotation associated with it, but at least you\u2019re trying. And I agree with you that I think that\u2019s what John is doing here.<\/p>\n

This also fits so well thematically with tbb anyway. The episode is about them finding their groove, figuring out how they work together, how they live together, and how those two halves of their relationship fit with each other. At home, we\u2019ve got Sherlock telling John they\u2019re going out in the evening when John already has plans and Sherlock showing up on John\u2019s date and John not knowing how he\u2019s going to pay his half of the bills. And then for the work, we\u2019ve got John leaving Soo Lin\u2019s side in the museum and Sherlock sneaking into Soo Lin\u2019s flat without John <\/p>\n

and John not knowing to run when the cops come for Raz <\/p>\n

and Sherlock not realizing John was smart enough to have taken a photo of the cipher. There\u2019s conflict and miscommunication and a sense of feeling each other out in every aspect of their lives because they aren\u2019t in sync yet. And this is another of those places. Sherlock considers them friends, and he wants to show that off to Sebastian. And John doesn\u2019t realize the significance of that term being applied to him here\u2013for all the reasons you mention above. Essentially, he hasn\u2019t learned yet to play along with Sherlock in front of others. He\u2019s learned this by the next episode\u2013he doesn\u2019t call Sherlock out about not having a case in front of Mycroft, waiting instead until Mycroft leaves to say anything about it\u2013but here he doesn\u2019t know yet that part of his role is to play along with what Sherlock says. That\u2019s not to say that he never disagrees with Sherlock, obviously, but that is part of their dynamic that is shown repeatedly throughout the series. Later, John recognizes when Sherlock is either trying to save face or is playing a role for a case and therefore knows to keep his mouth shut, but in tbb he hasn\u2019t learned that yet.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

hudders-and-hiddles: ladymacphisto: I\u2019ve been reading through\u00a0\u201cBetween Each Beat Are Words Unsaid\u201d and when I read chapters 10 & 11 it reminded me of how my interpretation of that scene is often a bit different than the rest of the fandom. \u00a0 Ok so I know the scene in \u201cThe Blind Banker\u201d where John corrects Sherlock … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Friend vs. Colleague”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[16,15,1810,4],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108530"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108530\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}