fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2015 ]

[ SECRET POST #2015 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2015 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 04 pages, 085 secrets from Secret Submission Post #288.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

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Has any other Watson incarnation been stripped of his medical license?

Not that I've heard of (though there have been a few unconventional Watsons, including a few who weren't doctors at all).

Wasn't even frickin' mouse Watson a doctor?

Yep. He was also a veteran, for that matter.

...Thank you for that information. I'm off to beat some writers with a baseball bat now. Back in a minute.

Hee...

In fairness, my info comes from the Disney movie The Great Mouse Detective; I'm never read the Basil of Baker Street books.

Taking away Watson's medical license and military service is like taking away the whole character. It's an insult. It's like taking away Wonder Woman's powers and Amazon-badassitude.

OH WAIT they did that once and people fucking hated it.

Hee. I can imagine.. ~_~

The sixties were a hard time on everyone. Even comic books couldn't escape.

Perhaps we should concur on your alibi first?

"I couldn't of done it, officer. I'm a woman, and everyone knows women can't be angry people with awful life experiences that don't involve sexual abuse."

Ah, you've got it covered! How unfeminine of you!

Edited 2012-07-09 23:54 (UTC)

You know, I just realized that they might explain away her Watson-Is-Just-As-Crazy-As-Holmes-Has-Anyone-Else-Noticed-That?-ness by making her a survivor of sexual assault, instead of a war vet.

Because that hasn't become a tired, sexist trope, or anything.

I thought that too but didn't want to jinx it!

/Is anyone else getting the vibe this is just another serious Psych knockoff e.g. (The Mentalist) and isn't really getting where the Holmes flavor comes in?

No, I'm getting that vibe too!

And yeah, I think we should be prepared for it. I'll watch the premiere, hoping for the best, because I rather like Lucy Liu, but damn, if they say it, I will change the channel so fucking fast.

Re: Sorry, but everything 'Watson' has been stripped

anonymouslyyours - 2012-07-10 00:05 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Sorry, but everything 'Watson' has been stripped

habilelapin - 2012-07-10 00:06 (UTC) - Expand

But aren’t Psych and The Mentalist knockoffs of Sherlock Holmes themselves? Psych is more obvious about it and The Mentalist kind of round robin’s all of the CBI agents as Watson, at times, although usually it’s Lisbon as a combination of Watson and Lestrade. Honestly, the argument that it’s based on/influenced by/inspired by Sherlock Holmes could be made for any detective/cop/investigative show where one of the leads is very obviously smarter than most people. Person of Interest, White Collar, Numb3rs, Due South all have the underpinnings. Shows like The Dead Zone and Medium where the leads are actual psychics which means they literally see things others can’t. Hell, Eureka kind of does it in reverse, with the everyman, Watson-ish character in the lead, using his common sense and knowledge of people to spark the aha moments for all the Sherlocks in town.

Re: Sorry, but everything 'Watson' has been stripped

anonymouslyyours - 2012-07-10 02:04 (UTC) - Expand

So Liu!Watson's defining characteristics so far is girl and incompetent?

Pretty much, yeah.

Apparently.

Um. No.

Much like the Watson in the original stories, she's someone who is currently purposeless in her life and finds herself caught up in Sherlock's mysteries and world.

But why can't she just be Watson and do that?

Correct me if I'm wrong but that can be achieved without "lol you suck at your job" unless they're going to spin it as her medical license was revoked for doing the right thing.

Also, the same effect could be accomplished the way it always has before... with her as a returning veteran. She wasn't even discharged or anything, that just got handwaved away apparently.

Even people who are great at their job can make a mistake. I think that it's going to turn out that Joan made a mistake that cost a patient his or her life (despite being a generally competent doctor) and that will also give her something that haunts her instead of PTSD from being in a war or something like that.

This is a different take on the story while still keeping the themes intact. I mean, she's still basically the same person and will have the same dynamic with Sherlock, as far as I can tell. I really don't think it's a huge deal for the specific circumstances to have changed.

Except it is. Being a soldier in a war makes for an entirely different person. Personally, I believed it was what gave Watson what was needed to deal with Sherlock, who is not the easiest person to like. War breaks you down and rebuilds you into someone sharper, and that person dealt with Sherlock because he'd already dealt with the worst the world had to offer. Even Sherlock in hos worst temper can't compete with that.

I felt like it gave him the strength to fight with Sherlock when needed too, because unlike everyone else, his intellect didn't frighten him. And he defended him, when need be, because he'd been trained to know how. He was Sherlock's compliment.

There's no reason to change a backstory that defined him, unless you don't really want Watson.

I also think Watson's war experience is what allows him to deal with some of the harrowing things he has to deal with while working on cases with Holmes.

Re: Sorry, but everything 'Watson' has been stripped

habilelapin - 2012-07-10 00:42 (UTC) - Expand

Everything you said and I'm having a hard time how seeing what fauxkaren described as being the same kind of motivator as PTSD/being addicted to the adrenaline or whatever your interpretation to forming a bond with someone like Holmes.

And it's impossible that a surgeon (especially a woc) has dealt with the kinds of things that can ~break you down~ and ~rebuild you into someone sharper~? There aren't other kinds of experiences that can do that? Trauma isn't unique to war. I'm sorry, I guess I just don't get the obsession fandom has with Watson being a veteran. Watson is a personality, not just a collection of labels.

For me, the joy of Holmes adaptations is seeing how the essence of the characters gets carried through into new settings, how the character we know would have turned out had this and this happened instead of that and that. And tbh? the mainstream Holmes adaptations just haven't been cutting it for me. no t no shade, but it seems almost lazy to me at this point to explain away Watson's neuroses as a result of the war.

I'm excited to see a Watson who's been taken from point A to point B by a different set of circumstances; I get that Elementary isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea, but I can't stand the preemptive hate... especially since BBC Sherlock got its fair share of hate when it was first announced.

As someone who has actually seen the pilot: No. Not at all. I'm not entirely sure why they changed her backstory, but she is still highly competent in (to echo a comparison from above) a bit of a Pepper Potts type way. AND she shows some talent at deduction already.

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