THE HEART OF DEDUCTION
A Study in the Elements of a Timeless Partnership
In which a pseudo-scientific method is employed in investigating the curious and complex relationship of the best and wisest men we have ever known. Only instead of allowing logic to fully dictate the study, we have permitted another procedure to surface: we let ourselves be guided by methods of the heart.
PART TEN
The Power
John may not be the one to provide Sherlock with the puzzles he craves,the intellectual stimulation and work he needsmore than breathing. But John can give him something better: deep, sincere, heartfelt admiration. It's not merely respect for the work Sherlock does and its impact on other people's lives and the city's safety and security, although it is partly that. It's not even merely the recognition of Sherlock's singularity, of the knowledge that witnessing the brilliant way his mind works is nearly tantamount to witnessing an honest-to-Godmiracle, although it's partly that as well. Because Sherlock, being the narcissistic and arrogant geniusthat he is, already knows all of that.
But what John has been able to show him is the surprising revelation that perhaps it's not so wrong to be so different. That he's not just a freak, not just an abomination or an accident of nature, not just someone that everyone ends up hating because he can't helpbut see and learn and know everything. John has shown him real, pure, unabashed admiration not just for what he does or what he's capable of, but simply for who he is. He doesn't have to change, doesn't have to conform, doesn't even have to pretend. And John, dear Dr. Watson, actually loves him all the more for it. Whenever people start to doubt Sherlock, and that fire in his brilliant mind begins to flicker and wane, it's John's honest belief and deep-rooted faith in him that keeps Sherlock going. And nothing, not even the most riveting and tantalizing of puzzles, can fuel his fire more strongly than John breathlessly uttering the words fantastic, brilliant, amazing…and actuallymeaningthem. John may not have that ability to create that spark in Sherlock's beautiful brain, the one that illuminates all the dark corners shadowed by Moriarty's handiwork. But John can keep that fire burning.
John is not in a position of power and authority to make the rest of the world bend to his will, and he cannot ensure that Sherlock will be protected from the world or that the world will be protected from Sherlock. But John can do better: he can insulate Sherlock's fire by making him stop through his own choice. John is the only one brave and honest enough to tell Sherlock when he's being an idiot and prove to him that sometimes he can be wrong. He questions Sherlock's judgment, convinces him to rethink solutions and makes him reevaluate the consequences of his actions. He is Sherlock's moral compass not just in the way he proves that ethics and empathy dogo hand in hand with reason and logic, but also in the way that John respects the detective's pride: John never orders him or directs him, but simply guidesSherlock into making the right choices by connecting the decisions of his mind with the decisions of his heart. And he reminds Sherlock that he may be the only consulting detective in the world, but he's not the only person inthe world; he reminds Sherlock that he cannot act as selfishly as he would have liked, not just because he should care for other people, but because there are people who actually get hurt as well whenever he hurts himself—because people do care for him too. When John makes Sherlock stop, John doesn't just make him think; John makes him feel.
It is this bittersweet irony which makes John a threat to Sherlock even more than Moriarty. The consulting criminal may have the power of overturning Sherlock Holmes' entire being, but John Watson is capable of a much more destructive power. And it is only during that fateful encounter by the pool that these three men realized that John has already unknowingly made use of it. Decked in a semtex vest wreathed with explosives, calmly stepping out into the tiled floor, softly mouthing words dictated to him by the ventriloquist behind the shower room… it is this sight of John that has made Sherlock suddenly, shockingly, verypainfullyaware of a fact that he at first refused to believe in but which he now cannot deny.