Sherlock brought the Great Detective and the most notable characters from Arthur Conan Doyle’s books to the modern day, and of course, that included John Watson (Martin Freeman). At the beginning of Sherlock, Watson was dealing with an injury from the war, which was so inconsistent that it almost created a plot hole, but there’s an interesting reason behind it. Sherlock Holmes has been adapted to all types of media for over a century, and one of the most recent and successful adaptations was the BBC’s Sherlock, a modern re-imagining of the famous detective and his most notable cases.
Sherlock brought the title character (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) to modern-day London, so Sherlock was seen using technology to his favor, but that didn’t change his unbelievable deduction skills and knowledge of a variety of topics. Accompanying Sherlock was Dr. John Watson, who had just returned from Afghanistan and was looking for a place to stay, so he went from being Sherlock’s roommate to his best friend and partner in all his cases from that moment on. John had his own struggles throughout Sherlock, and one seemingly unimportant detail about him was very inconsistent: his injury, and that’s because of the source material for the series.
Watson’s Inconsistent Injury In Sherlock Is A Reference To The Books
At the beginning of Sherlock, John had just returned to London after serving with the Royal Army Medical Corps in the Afghanistan war, and he was honorably discharged as a captain. When the audience met John, he walked with the aid of a cane as he had a couple of medical issues as a result of the war, such as a limp on his right leg, a bullet wound in his left shoulder, and an “intermittent tremor” in his left hand. The limp was explained in the series to be psychosomatic, but it’s strange that he was shot in the shoulder yet the most damage seemed to be on his leg. John’s physical issues disappeared quickly, and his limp returned after Sherlock’s supposed death in “The Reichenbach Fall”, but more than a psychosomatic condition, John’s inconsistent injury was another reference to Conan Doyle’s books.
In the books, Dr. Watson also joined the British army and was wounded at the Battle of Maiwand by a jezail bullet, and after suffering enteric fever, he was sent back to England. However, Watson’s injury was inconsistent throughout the books, as it was located in his leg and his shoulder, depending on the story. Sherlock cleverly referenced this by giving Freeman’s John Watson a leg and shoulder injury and continued the tradition of them being inconsistent by having them appear and disappear.
How Different Is Sherlock’s Watson To The Books’ Version?
Sherlock made significant changes to the Great Detective that ultimately hurt the character in the series’ final episodes, such as Sherlock being a drug addict and how rude and offensive he was to those around him, but the differences between Sherlock’s John Watson and the book version are less drastic. Sherlock’s John was given a similar backstory to his book version, and the biggest difference between them is that Watson in the books was in constant awe of Holmes’ skills and was always respectful and polite to his friend, while Sherlock’s version was often indifferent to them, he had to be harsh with Sherlock sometimes and even punched him at some point. Still, Sherlock made a great adaptation of the unforgettable Dr. John Watson, and details like his inconsistent injury and other book references make it even better.