I Get What You Mean. I Wasnt Immediately Hooked On The Podcast When It First Started Mainly Because I

I get what you mean. I wasn’t immediately hooked on the podcast when it first started mainly because I was a bit iffy about this John Watson. I also thought he would be an annoying person to meet irl, but as I’ve continued listening to the episodes I’ve realized that maybe that was the point.

People that come across like John does in the earlier episodes tend to have personal baggage that they aren’t handling well, thus they act out in ways that the rest of us hate. He was NOT in a good place mentally at the beginning. In fact, as the show progresses you understand more and more what led John to being the way that he was in those first few episodes (and to be fair, Sherlock wasn’t making the best first impression as a flatmate). But he grows over time! He’s more sure of himself, 221B starts feeling more like home for him, and eventually he gets moments to remind us that he is a DOCTOR and a smart one at that!

Unfortunately the awkwardness is there to stay, but it almost becomes endearing when it doesn’t come across as him desperately needing people to like him. What I’m saying is that I really like this John Watson because he feels like a full character changing and improving over time instead of just being an observer like in most adaptations. Personally, I say give John Watson a chance.

Listening to Sherlock and Co

It's good, the writing is really solid, the humor is cringe sometimes, but mostly it's John that's cringe

He is such an annoying whiney little bitch sometimes, not a bad written character, just if I knew him in real life I would want to punch him

Anyone else feel this way ??

Oop, sorry my bad! Now that I relistened to it, he didn’t stop stimming after the name drop. That’s on me and my frazzled brain (and the transcripts) but I still stand by my other points! Most likely he’s using a full fake name, but having that professor title could also be a “hidden-in-plain-sight” hint for Sherlock.

Fellow Sherlock and Co fans, I have crazy theory based on what we learned from the latest episode (SPOILERS for Shoscombe Old Place Pt. 2!!)

So three things I loved about the episode:

1. John views Baker Street as home to him more than his actual hometown (just a sweet thing that made my heart gush🥰)

2. Sherlock went on a tangent about how all bodies of water meet their ends, whether it’s a sea, a lake, or a WATERFALL!

3. Professor James Moriarty was canonically mentioned in the show right after the waterfall reference!

BUT, the key thing I’m piecing together is that he is a professor as in someone who would work at a COLLEGE, and I remember that it was mentioned in Gloria Scott that Sherlock exposed a principal at his college for a huge scandal he committed; really important to know that this guy’s life was DESTROYED because of Sherlock’s detective skills.

This may be a huge stretch, but this is what my brain pieced together:

1. The principal’s life was ruined by (mostly himself, but in his mind he would blame) Sherlock. He literally cried in a fetal position in Sherlock’s dorm!

2. Sherlock stops his hand stimming when John mentions Professor James Moriarty in the shoutouts yet says nothing.

3. Why would a random Professor James Moriarty want to mention his full name in the shoutouts, including his job title, and that he’s “listening intently to every word”? Why not just say ‘James’ like every other shoutout name and say that he loves the podcast?

So my crazy theory is this: Professor James Moriarty is actually the PRINCIPAL that Sherlock ruined the life of! Either he’s lying about the professor title or he had to work up to be a professor after he got fired from the college and needed to work up some high title such as being a professor to fix his reputation; it works, considering it’s still in that familiar education field he worked up to. Either way, he’s been listening to the podcast and waited until now to let Sherlock know that he’s there…

What do y’all think? Is this truly crazy brain rot, or do you see the connections?

THIS! This is EXACTLY how I picture them in my head too!🎩🔎

I often see canon Holmes and Watson's default state pictured as

but what I read them as, is rather

and I think that's a lot funnier

No prob!😊

I’m on a HUGE hyperfixation for Sherlock Holmes right now and ended up watching Moffat’s Sherlock just to see if the hype is worth it…it’s not. I barely got through season 1 and it only had THREE episodes! It’s on sight with Moffat.🤬

But yeah, podcast John grows on you over time. He’ll still be awkward, but you almost get used to it. I love that John is aware of Sherlock’s accommodations and the show doesn’t make outdated offensive jokes at the autism community (again Moffat, f*ck you). Greatest part is that John just doesn’t make a big deal about it! As someone with autism I always feel weird about my sensory issues, but I’ll tell my friends and they’re just like “yeah that’s understandable” and then we go on with our hangouts together! So I can imagine how much it means to Sherlock that John is aware of what he can and can’t handle.

Listening to Sherlock and Co

It's good, the writing is really solid, the humor is cringe sometimes, but mostly it's John that's cringe

He is such an annoying whiney little bitch sometimes, not a bad written character, just if I knew him in real life I would want to punch him

Anyone else feel this way ??

Shoscombe Old Place Pt. 3 (SPOILERS)

Just gonna say based on my notes, I LOVED this case!

1. John’s less-than jovial intro and the mention of a ‘medical emergency’ followed by a sigh…I was both stressed and wanting to hug him because dude are you okay?? What’s gonna happen??!

2. GENIUS that this case coincidentally goes alongside John’s personal issues revolving around Carrie and her leaving Archie with him! Especially with John and Carrie’s own argument sneaking into an argument about the case. It was honestly so cathartic hearing John call her out on how shitty she was being about something that SHE did! (And we hear a bit more about the healing process John went through after he got hit with the IED bomb!)

4. God, this podcast is just amazing about monologues!! Monologues are hit-or-miss depending on where you hear them from, but this podcast KNOWS that a good monologue is definitely needed for a Sherlock podcast. The whole time I was just captivated by Robert’s monologue: how his sister’s husband’s family was really well off, how Robert’s family wasn’t (also a nice connection to his and John’s personal struggles with classism), and Robert scrambling to do everything Beatrice wished for when she died while also trying to keep up appearances so he wouldn’t have to give everything back to the Falder family and be left with…nothing. No cars, no fancy house, not even his sister…

5. John getting excited to drive one of the cars was great! “JOHN HAMISH WATSON!” “Don’t you ‘Hamish’ ME!”😂😂 Great way to balance out the somberness of Robert’s dilemma with the comedic nature of the podcast!

6. Love love LOVE when Sherlock adaptations remind us that John is a DOCTOR, and a competent one at that!! Dr. John Watson is honestly my favorite character, and so far THIS John is becoming one of my fave Watsons! I was stressing alongside John during that medical emergency scene😰

7. The ending was honestly so sweet! John going back to the river that was used as an analogy for him and his new life, Sherlock packing everything up for John (which is a difference compared to pt. 1 starting with Sherlock not even getting his own things packed yet), Sherlock also passing on some words of appreciation from Joe that John definitely needed, and some lighthearted comedy sprinkled in to wrap up the whole episode🥰💕.

What. A. Case!! I love the direction this podcast is going when it comes to telling classic Sherlock cases while still making it interesting and exciting! I’m glad they only made a SMALL mention to Moriarty because some adaptations get too eager to introduce him into the story and immediately mess with Sherlock. This podcast made the right decision when introducing Moriarty: he’s there, but only a foreboding threat (as he should be). I already posted about my “who Moriarty really is” theory (I know there’s one error in it, but I’ve since then clarified it) but I’m not in a hurry to have my theory be proven right or wrong. I’m just happy with Sherlock and John solving their cases for now☺️.

Whew! Sorry for all that. Just needed to get it all out of my system. Welp, now I gotta wait patiently until they reveal what their next case will be for next week😬.

The Lion's Mane Pt. 3 (SPOILERS)

Final part notes are here, let’s get to it!

Maude joined Sherlock for rock pooling! 

Sherlock: “She’s rock pooling with me”, aw she certainly is buddy!

Same Mariana, I too would be pointing out all the sea creatures I see 

Maude: “Living in solitude with one another. Dumped in here by the big sea that left them behind”, John: “Uh…it can be difficult to share a flat with somebody” THE WATER-BASED ANALOGIES STRIKE ONCE AGAIN!!

It’s interesting how complex of a situation Maude has put herself in! Her family has secrets that she knows she needs to keep hidden, but she really just wants to figure out how her fiancé died 

The tooth! Sherlock found Harry’s missing tooth (completely normal thing to whip out in a pub Sherlock, SUPER normal)

Balsanna, or ‘death in the soul’ is a really cool phrase to describe the weight an indirect death can have on someone’s mind and soul; you may not have meant for them to die, but you still feel guilty for indirectly killing them

Sherlock: *referring to the listeners* “You are not a priority”, John: *to listeners* “Isn’t he lovely?”, yeah John like a rose with thorns; prickly but lovely

Sherlock’s still on about that submersible, and John is still full on nope-ing on that plan

Aw poor John, why doesn’t anyone wanna hold his hand??

Wow, the Bellamy’s big company secret is revealed! Using growth enhancement chemicals and claiming they’re organic is some shady shit indeed

Bringing in Balsanna is a perfect way to describe this whole situation: the Bellamy family company didn’t directly kill anyone, but their actions still resulted in those deaths

Neat callback to how John is still dealing with that Urea Nitrate fertilizer in his leg!

Sherlock got his submersible!! Poor Mariana is stressing so hard about that fee being paid. Hilarious that Sherlock was so disappointed about not being able to pilot it

The big moment I’ve been waiting for…the reveal…of the LION’S MANE JELLYFISH! Honestly, I think the they did the reveal justice. I felt like I was in the submersible seeing the beautiful scene as well! 

…wow, poor Fitzy. Good on you John for bringing him back home

Aww, now John and Mariana are having their own little moment on the train! And once again John makes fun of Mariana being a Harry Potter nerd (as he should)

Honestly this was a great case! We had the whole gang working together, they got to travel to a small island in Scotland, and there were so many layers to the case that I was intrigued by! I think the podcast itself is getting a lot better about immersive story telling. I’m not gonna say it’s the BEST case (as I imagine there are many more to come) but it was interesting all the way through. I can't wait so hear what they’ll do next…