Sherlock, S1 Ep1, A Study in Pink

Isn’t Sherlock just the definition of fixed attitude? Maybe, Sherlock has openings in his life and consultation system with rigid requirements, and Watson fits right in. Now, Sherlock is doing crime solving for free. But he needs money. The therapist recommended that Watson keep a written record of his life dealings that he has not started, yet. [then] Watson writes! Sherlock gets hired from the publicity! (not OS but their forever RS). However, this episode does not get Watson writing, yet. drat
I got it! I just watched Sherlock running to catch the cab with Watson running following, after forgetting to bring his cane.

KEEPING UP WITH SHERLOCK!

Would the stuff I listed in my last post work as Mind and then your suggestion of considering each other as flat mates work as Conscious?

I like that. When I look at the software’s gist options, some would fit with what we see in the episode, imho. Of course, I’m always open to other possibilities.

Yes, I think so. I’m having some trouble putting it in words to my satisfaction, but there seems to be this thing of the relationship sort of pushing back against attempts to define it. Maybe that’s because the relationship hasn’t defined itself, and whenever someone says you’re this or that or not this or not that, the relationship via Watson says, “Hang on a minute. How about we decide whether we’re friends or roommates or whatever before they tell us what they think about it.”

The Issue is Doubt. The relationship has this state of uncertainty. This creates problems in the narrative because it’s largely populated by Chief Inspectors, Sergeant detectives, forensic detectives, and shady government traffic camera guys–the kinds of Investigation people who don’t like uncertainty/ Doubt.

Those people are all trying to Reduce this new relationship into something understandable. “He doesn’t have friends, so who are you?” Donovan says. And however much he plays it cool, Mycroft is really thrown by this new variable.

Of course Watson is going to push back. Who cares what the relationship is? Since meeting Sherlock, his hands have stopped shaking, his limp is gone, and there’s excitement back in his life.

Whatever this relationship is, it’s fruitful. Watson is healed, Sherlock has a human being in his life who might temper his worst qualities, a crime is solved and serial killer is in the ground. Just stand back and see what else it can produce.

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So is that pretty much everything? Or is there something else to look at? The only SP that bothered me was RS SP 1, but I think that might be Sherlock running off to the pink lady case and then remembering Watson is a doctor and inviting him along.

Yeah, that one was bothering me, too. That’s a good catch though. I was rationalizing it by using KTAD to attribute Memory to Knowledge and putting centering the SP around “We’re going to look at a flat together? We don’t know anything about each other.” But I like yours better. It captures some of the problem quad too, I think.

Assuming we’re satisfied with the RS, that should be it then. We might touch on the Benchmarks and UAs and stuff and the PSR to check our work.

So much for my initial reaction. Happy to have been wrong.

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Yeah I didn’t think we were going to see much until we finally saw what was going on with the MC. I’m pretty comfortable with what we’ve got for now. And I’ve watched this show a full four times front to back and put it on for background noise while I pondered it probably another three or four so I’m fine with stopping here. I’ll paste the final story engine settings when I can get back on my laptop.

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That is so cool you brought this to the fore, both of you, Sherlock remembering he was a doctor so bringing him along…and so it begins. It is so much fun to see Dramatica storyforming points with something we loved. It helps make it real and into the memory.

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So here’s what I think we finally ended up with.


I was considering typing up a full analysis, but decided not to exert that effort until we had confirmation this was an accurate form. @jhull, don’t know if you’ve seen this episode, but if you decide to check it out one day, let us know how we did?

Ps. Thanks everyone for participating. I always feel like I grow so much in my ability to do this when working with others on this site. I really appreciate everyone who chipped in.

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STORY ENGINE SETTINGS: “Sherlock S1 E1: A Study in Pink”

CHARACTER DYNAMICS:
MC RESOLVE: Change
MC GROWTH: Start
MC APPROACH: Be-er
MC MENTAL SEX: Female
OC RESOLVE: Steadfast

PLOT DYNAMICS:
DRIVER: Action
LIMIT: Optionlock
OUTCOME: Success
JUDGMENT: Good

OBJECTIVE STORY
(Serial Suicides)
DOMAIN: Universe
CONCERN: The Present
ISSUE: Attempt vs. Work
PROBLEM: Inaction
SOLUTION: Protection
FOCUS: Reevaluation
DIRECTION: Evaluation
CATALYST: Work
INHIBITOR: Doubt
BENCHMARK: The Past
SIGNPOST 1: The Past
SIGNPOST 2: The Future
SIGNPOST 3: Progress
SIGNPOST 4: The Present

MAIN CHARACTER
(John Watson-misses the war)
DOMAIN: Psychology
CONCERN: Conceiving
ISSUE: Expediency vs. Need
PROBLEM: Inaction
SOLUTION: Protection
FOCUS: Production
DIRECTION: Reduction
UNIQUE ABILITY: Permission
CRITICAL FLAW: Preconditions
BENCHMARK: Conceptualizing
SIGNPOST 1: Being
SIGNPOST 2: Becoming
SIGNPOST 3: Conceiving
SIGNPOST 4: Conceptualizing

OBSTACLE CHARACTER
(Sherlock Holmes – World’s only consulting detective)
DOMAIN: Physics
CONCERN: Learning
ISSUE: Analysis vs. Strategy
PROBLEM: Acceptance
SOLUTION: Nonacceptance
FOCUS: Reevaluation
DIRECTION: Evaluation
UNIQUE ABILITY: Prerequisites
CRITICAL FLAW: Deficiency
BENCHMARK: Understanding
SIGNPOST 1: Understanding
SIGNPOST 2: Doing
SIGNPOST 3: Obtaining
SIGNPOST 4: Learning

SUBJECTIVE STORY
(Colleagues/flat mates)
DOMAIN: Mind
CONCERN: The Conscious
ISSUE: Doubt vs. Investigation
PROBLEM: Reduction
SOLUTION: Production
FOCUS: Reevaluation
DIRECTION: Evaluation
CATALYST: Investigation
INHIBITOR: Attempt
BENCHMARK: Memory
SIGNPOST 1: Memory
SIGNPOST 2: The Preconscious
SIGNPOST 3: The Subconscious
SIGNPOST 4: The Conscious

ADDITIONAL APPRECIATIONS

GOAL: The Present
CONSEQUENCE: The Conscious
COST: Learning
DIVIDEND: Conceiving

REQUIREMENT: The Past
PREREQUISITE: Memory
PRECONDITION: Understanding
FOREWARNINGS: Conceptualizing

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I thought about doing that as well. We were fairly exhaustive on the major story points, so a lot of the work is done, in a way. But I haven’t for the same reason.

This was fun. Assuming this was a successful analysis, it’s my first one. Looking forward to the next.

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This was indeed a lot of fun, and I learn so much every time I work through something like this with other people because it forces me to be able to articulate my hunches about the various story points.

Putting on my playwrighting hat for a moment, I am often confused about the application of Prerequisites vs. Preconditions in many storyforms, and this one is no exception. Could we indulge this one last question before we put Sherlock to bed?

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Absolutely. Are you talking about looking at them as unique ability and critical flaw, as part of Sherlock’s thematic argument, or both?

Note: it may be a day or two before I can get back with something well thought out for that. Have some stuff going on that I’ll be busy with.

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@Gregolas More on the story/other appreciations level. No rush, and I appreciate any help.

Over at Narrativefirst, Jim Hull wrote about this subject and described a way to apply some of these story appreciations to two, three, and four act stories.

Applying those methods to this story, which is three acts (z-pattern), we expect to see Prerequisites in the first, Requirements in the second, and the Consequences looming over the third.

So, I suspect the Prerequisite of Memory is satisfied at the same point as our first Signpost. Sherlock comes back because he remembers Watson is a doctor and invites him into the investigation. Watson isn’t even in the OS otherwise. I’m not sure how that leads in to Requirement of Past, though.

I think we see the Precondition with the Pink Lady’s note. Understanding the meaning of “Rache(l)” is an impediment to the investigation compared to what she might have written if she’d had pen and paper. Solving it doesn’t solve the case. In fact, due to the circumstances of the Cabbie showing up at the apartment at just that moment, being able to track the phone causes more confusion, at least in the short term.

Maybe this is also seen with Sherlock shouting, “Pink!” and then dashing off, leaving the rest of the characters to try and Understand what he’s getting at.

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Oh, I gotcha. You mean this part:

Sorry, part of what I’m dealing with at the moment has me on medsand it never occurred to me to look at the additional storypoints. Haha.

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Thanks @Etherbeard, I think that definitely starts me down the right path.

Maybe is this because to resolve the OS, what is needed is a man of action, accustomed to violence, but with a strong moral character: exactly the sort of Past that Watson brings to the table?

If we’re still open for a bit of discussion, I’m potentially having a bit of trouble illustrating UA’s and Inhibitors. I have some notions, but I’m not sure if my interpretations are accurate or if I’m stretching.

MC Unique Ability: Perrmission

I think this is the one I’m having the most trouble with. What I’m thinking is that it has something to do with Watson owning a gun (amusingly an actual Chechov’s gun). It’s hard to imagine another way in which Watson could have stopped the Cabbie in that climactic moment. I’m thinking that because gun control laws are so strict in London Watson having a gun at all relates to Permission: either he owns the gun legally, with permission, or he’s in possession of it illegally, demonstrating a willingness to overlook what is permissible. I’m not sure, but I imagine to a British audience Watson owning a gun would be notable.


MC Critical Flaw: Preconditions

Assuming this is a valid interpretation, this must be the shaking hands. They’d specifically prevent Watson from making the shot, and it’s a condition he has imposed on himself, even if subconsciously. One of the listed synonyms is “limiting parameters,” so I think this works pretty well.


IC Unique Ability: Prerequisites

Is this whenever Sherlock is listing off the chain of reasoning for any of his impressive conclusions? Watson is always really impressed. i can sort of see an interpretation where Sherlock is listing off all the prerequisites that led him to this conclusion. It’s maybe a bit of a stretch.

I suppose it could also be that Watson and Sherlock each need a flatmate to stay in London. Sherlock needs an assistant, so he invites Watson along. He needs someone to talk to so he invites Watson to the restaurant. All these things Sherlock needs keep Watson around.


IC Critical Flaw: Deficiency

This one actually seems pretty clear. Sherlock is lacking in pretty much every social grace imaginable. this has severely limited his influence on other characters, but fortunately Watson is able to look past it.


That sounds good.

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Another take on the MC Critical Flaw. The software defines Preconditions as “restrictions imposed on the effort to reach the goal.” I could imagine this as people telling Watson he needs a therapist, and that he needs a cane, and that he won’t be able to stay in London without a flatmate, and even Mycroft continually abducting him to talk about Sherlock.

I agree that Sherlock’s Critical Flaw is “not having Watson” and he is poised on the brink of disaster when he tries to resolve the OS without Watson’s help.

They had to research her past to figure out the Rache. It took time to figure out about the death at birth, etc. Also, Watson had a past as a soldier.