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Having recently been reconsumed by my old Sherlock Holmes obsession, I have been enjoying rewatching (and in a few cases, watching for the first time) the 1984 television adaptation of the story, typically referred to as 'Granada Holmes'. The third episode of the series, "The Naval Treaty", is a good episode in general. But one curiosity about it is that Holmes spends most of the episode seeming quietly Bothered by something, and it is also this episode that gives us the infamous Rose Speech - right in the middle of a client interview, which is entirely odd behavior for Holmes and seemingly spurred on by...nothing in particular. The episode itself offers no direct answer to these things, so, with my last rewatch, I made a point to keep my analysis goggles on and see if I could come up with a possible solution.
The case itself doesn't have anything about it that would obviously agitate our titular detective (there are other episodes where that's the case, and it's a lot more out in the open) - it's just a mystery revolving around how some government papers got stolen in an unusual way and trying to find where they could have gone. But there are two other points in the episode that I believe to be the culprit of The Moods:
Now, one of the interesting things about Granada Canon, is that despite mostly trying to be as faithful to the original stories as possible, they chose to entirely write out Watson marrying, and significantly rearranged the order of the cases. The result of this is that in many of the stories where Watson, in the books, is visiting or returning from time spent with his wife, instead sees him coming back from working at his medical practice or simply a vacation. I could be wrong, but in the books I don't think Watson having a practice ever overlapped with him living with Holmes, so in Granada we get to see a little bit of what that dynamic looks like.
And in this episode, I think we see that it is a matter of some tension and insecurity, at least on Holmes' part. And I think it's because, for Holmes, the cases are his career, his passion. His professional title is Consulting Detective. And also notably, it's a job he invented, not one general society tends to understand or take seriously until they see how he works and how well he does get results. Watson, on the other hand, is a practicing medical doctor - a traditionally respected position and something that frankly should be a full time job. He never takes on any kind of title in relation to the work he does with Holmes, even though he works nearly every case with him. Holmes refers to Watson sometimes as his biographer since Watson always writes up their cases, but I can't recall at present anyways a time where Watson referred to himself as such (the closest you get is that Holmes always introduces Watson as a 'colleague', which Watson does call himself once as well, which is fairly ambiguous).
And while Holmes obviously cares about the work a lot on its own merit, he makes it clear many times in the show that having Watson accompany him makes a significant difference to him, and he clearly prefers it. This is only episode 3 of the series, but in episode 1 we had him insisting Watson join him for the case and telling his client adamantly that he'd work with both of them or neither of them, and in the second episode, we see Holmes low-key mentoring Watson in the craft of deduction; and now we see him being incredibly moody at the fact that Watson has another profession. So, I think he fears that Watson sees the cases as just a fun hobby, and isn't nearly as passionate about them (or about working together) as he is, since functionally there's not a 'reason' for him to work on the cases other than just Wanting To.
This case's client being an old friend of Watson's I think sort of passively exacerbates this insecurity. For a decent chunk of the time they know each other, Holmes considers Watson his only friend. And while Watson doesn't seem to have many close friends either, he nevertheless is the more social of the two and does have old contacts he's still fond of, and I think for Holmes it was just another reminder that Watson could, from his perspective, easily have a normal, respectable life without him at all. And for all that Holmes carries himself with great confidence, there often seems to be an underlying anxiety when it comes to his requests that Watson accompany him, so I think he worries Watson will lose interest in him eventually and want a more 'normal' life (which, there's even more evidence of that in the books, but I think in the show it's definitely still there).
In general, I feel like there's a lot to say about how Holmes and Watson sort of juggle the merging of their professional and personal lives together in Granada especially, but that would probably turn into a whole other essay. xD Case in point, though, I believe that was at the root of Holmes' moodiness this episode. And it would explain why it stays so understated unlike other times things bother him; there really wasn't anything actionable he could about it, it was just this persistent anxiety/melancholy. Because in the episode, Watson is working the case with him, he is being attentive, and Holmes doesn't have any real personal issues with Watson's other friend. So, Holmes keeps it mostly to himself, as much as I would have loved a more direct follow up on it at some point.
(The Rose Speech, placement wise then, I think was that since the interview with the client had mostly come to a close, there wasn't any other immediate distraction, and so in his more emotional mood, he fixated on the rose and philosophy. There's probably more analysis to be drawn from the exact content of his speech in the context of the episode, but that also would be a whole other essay. xD Maybe a little bit of a reach, but it's sort of neat also though that he'd specifically go to a flower while feeling insecure about his friendship with Watson, since Granada Canon especially emphasizes that Holmes generally dislikes nature/the countryside while Watson is a fan. In the book as well Watson specifically mentions the little aside being odd since Holmes normally never showed interest in 'natural things'.)
The case itself doesn't have anything about it that would obviously agitate our titular detective (there are other episodes where that's the case, and it's a lot more out in the open) - it's just a mystery revolving around how some government papers got stolen in an unusual way and trying to find where they could have gone. But there are two other points in the episode that I believe to be the culprit of The Moods:
- This episode has Holmes mention twice Watson's medical practice as something that might prevent him from wanting to join him (Holmes) on cases. The first time is openly testy ("Oh, if your cases are more interesting than mine >:/"), while the second time is during a more quiet, melancholy moment. Watson had noticed Holmes being Bothered as well, and asked him if was alright. Holmes initially shrugged it off, but then made some comment about wanting Watson to come with him the next day to investigate if it won't keep him from his 'legitimate work'. There's some carry-over or call-back to the testy tone from earlier, but the actual mood has a lot less bite and is followed by a more earnest request.
- The client in this episode is specifically an old friend of Watson's (not sure when they became friends though lol since Watson says he bullied the guy at school, but they only seem to hold affection for each other at present)
Now, one of the interesting things about Granada Canon, is that despite mostly trying to be as faithful to the original stories as possible, they chose to entirely write out Watson marrying, and significantly rearranged the order of the cases. The result of this is that in many of the stories where Watson, in the books, is visiting or returning from time spent with his wife, instead sees him coming back from working at his medical practice or simply a vacation. I could be wrong, but in the books I don't think Watson having a practice ever overlapped with him living with Holmes, so in Granada we get to see a little bit of what that dynamic looks like.
And in this episode, I think we see that it is a matter of some tension and insecurity, at least on Holmes' part. And I think it's because, for Holmes, the cases are his career, his passion. His professional title is Consulting Detective. And also notably, it's a job he invented, not one general society tends to understand or take seriously until they see how he works and how well he does get results. Watson, on the other hand, is a practicing medical doctor - a traditionally respected position and something that frankly should be a full time job. He never takes on any kind of title in relation to the work he does with Holmes, even though he works nearly every case with him. Holmes refers to Watson sometimes as his biographer since Watson always writes up their cases, but I can't recall at present anyways a time where Watson referred to himself as such (the closest you get is that Holmes always introduces Watson as a 'colleague', which Watson does call himself once as well, which is fairly ambiguous).
And while Holmes obviously cares about the work a lot on its own merit, he makes it clear many times in the show that having Watson accompany him makes a significant difference to him, and he clearly prefers it. This is only episode 3 of the series, but in episode 1 we had him insisting Watson join him for the case and telling his client adamantly that he'd work with both of them or neither of them, and in the second episode, we see Holmes low-key mentoring Watson in the craft of deduction; and now we see him being incredibly moody at the fact that Watson has another profession. So, I think he fears that Watson sees the cases as just a fun hobby, and isn't nearly as passionate about them (or about working together) as he is, since functionally there's not a 'reason' for him to work on the cases other than just Wanting To.
This case's client being an old friend of Watson's I think sort of passively exacerbates this insecurity. For a decent chunk of the time they know each other, Holmes considers Watson his only friend. And while Watson doesn't seem to have many close friends either, he nevertheless is the more social of the two and does have old contacts he's still fond of, and I think for Holmes it was just another reminder that Watson could, from his perspective, easily have a normal, respectable life without him at all. And for all that Holmes carries himself with great confidence, there often seems to be an underlying anxiety when it comes to his requests that Watson accompany him, so I think he worries Watson will lose interest in him eventually and want a more 'normal' life (which, there's even more evidence of that in the books, but I think in the show it's definitely still there).
In general, I feel like there's a lot to say about how Holmes and Watson sort of juggle the merging of their professional and personal lives together in Granada especially, but that would probably turn into a whole other essay. xD Case in point, though, I believe that was at the root of Holmes' moodiness this episode. And it would explain why it stays so understated unlike other times things bother him; there really wasn't anything actionable he could about it, it was just this persistent anxiety/melancholy. Because in the episode, Watson is working the case with him, he is being attentive, and Holmes doesn't have any real personal issues with Watson's other friend. So, Holmes keeps it mostly to himself, as much as I would have loved a more direct follow up on it at some point.
(The Rose Speech, placement wise then, I think was that since the interview with the client had mostly come to a close, there wasn't any other immediate distraction, and so in his more emotional mood, he fixated on the rose and philosophy. There's probably more analysis to be drawn from the exact content of his speech in the context of the episode, but that also would be a whole other essay. xD Maybe a little bit of a reach, but it's sort of neat also though that he'd specifically go to a flower while feeling insecure about his friendship with Watson, since Granada Canon especially emphasizes that Holmes generally dislikes nature/the countryside while Watson is a fan. In the book as well Watson specifically mentions the little aside being odd since Holmes normally never showed interest in 'natural things'.)
