The Obvious and the Not So Obvious

I noticed one obvious Holmes reference in "Who's Your Daddy?"......which, in my opinion was a GREAT episode. The cast and crew are reaching a happy level and WYD showed real mastery and confidence on every level. It was like the calm before the storm of the finale. Way to go!

And I think I noticed a more subtle hint at The Great Detective's methods.

The obvious Holmes reference has already been mentioned here....that Holmes used a 7% solution of cocaine to fight the boredom between cases. In the WYD teaser, House is in tremendous pain and pulls out his morphine stash. Just as he's about to shoot up, Cuddy calls with Leona's strange case. He stops the injection and gets moving to the hospital.

Differences: Holmes used cocaine for boredom. House was clearly in pain and was using the morphine (upping the dosage from just Vicodin to a stronger cocktail) but he didn't have a case, either.

Similarities: The minute he got a case, he put the morphine away and got to work. Damn the agony; full speed ahead!

No matter what, he's still an addict and uses drugs to numb pain. In Holmes' case, it was boredom. In House's, it's boredom AND pain.

The bit that I'm not sure is that obvious or, frankly, even right is House's pacing. House uses pacing to take his mind off the pain.....but something in my mind recalls that Holmes paced as well.

To be clear, I'm writing it here, to remind myself to look it up.

I'm not sure I'm right but something is niggling at the back of my brain about it.

I also must look up and see if Holmes ever solved a case.....not based on the victim in his study... but based on a third party's music skills. Wouldn't surprise me.

Next week? The Napoleon of Crime. O_O

I'm Positively "Euphor"ic!

Two TWO Holmes references in Episode One of "Euphoria"! Huzzah!
Someone's been reading "A Study in Scartlet", methinks.

First, a friend of mine noticed that in ASiS, Holmes had been busy beating corpses to study the post mortem bruising effects. Here is the interchange between Watson and Stamford (the man who introduced Watson to Holmes.)

***"It is not easy to express the inexpressible," he answered with a laugh. "Holmes is a little too scientific for my tastes -- it approaches to cold-bloodedness. I could imagine his giving a friend a little pinch of the latest vegetable alkaloid, not out of malevolence, you understand, but simply out of a spirit of inquiry in order to have an accurate idea of the effects. To do him justice, I think that he would take it himself with the same readiness. He appears to have a passion for definite and exact knowledge."

"Very right too."

"Yes, but it may be pushed to excess. When it comes to beating the subjects in the dissecting-rooms with a stick, it is certainly taking rather a bizarre shape."
"Beating the subjects!"

"Yes, to verify how far bruises may be produced after death. I saw him at it with my own eyes." ***

http://www.blackmask.com/olbooks/study.htm


House, in his briliance, elects to shoot a corpse to MRI the effects of the bullet to the brain of the PoTW cop.

Credit for this catch goes to: alexiscc2000@yahoo.com

Second, as Watson gets to know his new roommate better, he formulates a list of what Holmes is good at and what he isn't. One talent is a game called "singlestick"...which involves a sort of fencing with a wooden baton. In "Euphoria", House had a new trick with his cane....he used the crook to toss the BOUO at the wall....in a sort of singlestick fashion.

Nota bene: Singlestick was famously taught in the 18th Century at Cambrige University....Laurie's alma mater.

Steve and Toby

http://www.sherlockpeoria.net/Report_pages/HWRArticleArchive/HolmesDog.html

Although the roots are quite different, I do think there is a vague similarity between Sherlock Holmes' borrowed dog, Toby and our beloved rat, Steve McQueen.

Aside from the obvious (and completely hilarious) fact that only House would identify with a rat (well, and the kid in "Ben" but that's a completely different story), I'm looking forward to a moment when Steve helps House solve a mystery rather than the other way around.

In other news, I was watching "The Creeping Man" last night and, lo and behold, Holmes used a blackboard (!) to calculate the dates of the crime.

I raced to my canon to prove that Holmes ~did~ use a board (I still think he did in "The Dancing Men" but I'd have to look it up again).

Sadly and much to my dismay, Holmes did not use a board in the canon.

I'm somewhat surprised the BBC and Brett bothered if Holmes didn't. Quite honestly, it didn't add much to the story.

I did read this fact, though: "The Creeping Man" (which, admittedly is a strange story) came quite late in the canon and there are those who argue it is not part of Doyle's original work. (See William S. Baring-Gould's annotations.)

Newsday Article with a Brief Reference to both House and Holmes

http://www.newsday.com/news/columnists/ny-ettel4724739may02,0,4127699.column?coll=ny-news-columnists

If that wrap around doesn't work try this link instead: http://tinyurl.com/pj5fa