What?
John has a depression linked eating disorder. In the opening of Pink, after John wakes up, his breakfast consists of an apple that he doesn’t eat. This is very common in PTSD, especially those who have suicidal thoughts and tendencies, which we know John does. It’s not that they are actively starving themselves, it’s that they just don’t see the point eating, as an effort to stay alive.
When he meets Sherlock, John eats dinner as if he is starving. He digs into his food, talks with his mouth full, as if it is the first full meal he has had in months. Which is entirely likely, since John has been home for several months at that point. Again, this is very typical of people who have been suffering this type of eating disorder, and find that they are no longer as painfully depressed.
Sherlock even goes so far as to point out that after moving in together, John puts on an average of a pound a week in weight. John brushes it off as being normal. He doesn’t deny it, he just points out that he is eating more than one meal a day. This implies that he wasn’t eating this often before he limped into Sherlock’s life.
This makes Sherlock’s insistence that John eat even more powerful. He goes so far as to halt an investigation on more than one occasion, to make sure John gets a meal into him. A well-fed John is a happy John, not because he is full, but because it proves that he is happy enough to actually eat.
Sits down
closes laptop
puts head on table
bursts into tears
Tries not to cry
Rolls over
Cries a lot
Allow me to add to your feels with parts of the actual canon.
There’s a bit in Scandal in Bohemia, when the recently married Watson comes to see Holmes, who is on a new case. Holmes sees Watson and tells him that he looks like he’s gained about 7 1/2 pounds since he got married. Now to most people, this looks like Holmes being a dick and a lot of adaptations have translated this into Watson being portly or whatever, or loving to eat.
But at the very start of Study in Scarlet (which takes place only two stories before Scandal. The only one in between is the Sign of Four, where he meets Mary, his wife.) Watson is recently returned from war. He was badly injured and came down with a tropical fever that nearly killed him. He returns to England very tan, very weak, and very very thin.
So how I began to translate Holmes telling Watson he’s put on weight is, yes, he’s teasing him, but at the same time he’s relieved because Watson’s getting healthy again. It’s his backhanded Holmesian “I can’t actually compliment your wife cuz it would damage my street cred” way of saying that Mary’s been good for him. That his Watson is in good hands. And even though Watson leaving wasn’t good for Holmes, he’s not such a selfish prick that he can’t recognize that Mary is having a good effect on Watson.
People who write Sherlock as HATING Mary and turning into a pettily jealous six year old over her please take note.
(Source: johnlockedness)
Via Do Feed the Starving Artist
