Is John’s blog canon?

When I first learned about John Watson’s online blog - I think it must have been sometime after the airing of Series 2 - I thought it was created only for the entertainment of the show’s most dedicated fans. I took for granted that the blog must be some sort of complementary reading for those who wanted a more in-depth version of the crime cases. It was a bit of fun to read John Watson’s ‘public version’ of what we could all clearly see was the story’s ‘real’ content, namely the TV show. But also to read the comments from characters that appeared in the show and those who didn’t (like John’s sister Harry). 

But then Series 4 aired, and I think many of us realised pretty soon that if the show no longer seemed to make much sense, this was certainly true for the blog as well. In S4 we quickly learned, for example, this:

a) John is now writing on a jpg file instead of the blog editor, which is simply impossible.

b) Lestrade talks about being able to take the credit “…until John publishes his blog”. But this never happens; the blog hasn’t been updated since TSoT.

c) People in the show no longer consider it to be John’s blog; in TLD everyone thinks it’s actually Sherlock’s blog.

So now there’s definitely something fishy going on with the whole blog theme. Which seems a bit weird for a complementary device, doesn’t it? But then this addition by @raggedyblue to another post made me realise that the blog might actually be so much more - it might represent a true version of BBC Sherlock’s canon. And suddenly the pieces seemed to fall into place - and I don’t mean just some of them, I mean all the pieces.

Because the thing is, that this blog of John’s, which we can all very easily find and read online in real life (’IRL’), is in itself a part of the show. It doesn’t just have some references in the show; it’s referred to in every single episode except for TBB, TRF, HLV and TFP, and often multiple times. We hear about it from Day 1 in ASiP when John is seen with his laptop. On no less than 35 occasions in this show, which I have listed below, John’s blog posts are being referred to, shown, discussed or alluded to by the different characters in the show - and not only by Sherlock and John themselves. 

So, with this much support for the idea that the blog is much more than just a complementary device directed at fandom, I think we can conclude that yes; the blog must indeed be regarded as part of canon. Which means, in my opinion, that any theory, any hypothesis about what’s going on in this many-layered show, that contradicts what we learn from the blog, will have some explaining to do. 

If you want to claim, for example, that Mary isn’t at all real in the show, that she only exists in Sherlock’s or John’s imagination, you’ll also have to explain why she appears on John’s online blog, making conversation with other characters. If you want to claim that Sherlock never recovered from the Fall, that everything that happens after TRF is totally fake, you also need to explain how Sherlock can be writing on John’s blog after that. And - of course - if you want to take S4 at face value, you need to give a reasonable explanation of how John can write on a jpg file, and how come the blog hasn’t been updated since TSoT, in spite of so many references to it in S4. 

On the other hand, in 2017 I tried to come up with a theory that does not contradict the blog, but still doesn’t accept the inconsistencies and weirdness we can see in this show. In short, the idea (which is originally @raggedyblue‘s) is that up until the wedding in TSoT Sherlock is using John’s blog posts to set up mental scenarios based on his and John’s experiences together. And after TSoT, Sherlock’s (now unconscious) brain keeps going with the introspection even without the blog. It’s all here (part of my meta series), so if you have a better idea that does not contradict the blog, feel free to try to debunk mine. :)

In the mean time, if you have the patience to read it, let me present an extensive list of the 35 occasions where John’s blog is mentioned in this show. if you have more examples, please add them to those presented under the cut (Thanks to Ariane DeVere for all these invaluable transcripts):

Keep reading

Wow, good work! I generally buy the idea that john's blog represents "reality", and the show is sherlock's "embellished" mind theater, at least through s2. S3 is so over the top bs in places, it's harder for me to buy into, ie, even john writing a blog post about something is not necessarily convincing. S4 is clearly fake, so, w/e, mind theater, blog theory, it's all good, or better than the surface anyway!

I love the idea in #19, that this scene is entirely in sherlock's imagination. And again, it's sherlock himself providing the "embellished" version!

#20, hmm, is there such a thing as a blog that's not online? "blog" being short for "web log".

#17 & 21, sherlock's claims to have "written a blog", which were never shown on his website. I came to the show well after s2 aired, so all i ever saw of the tobacco ash entry was "deleted". Is anyone still here from early enough to say if that entry was ever there either?

#25 good catch with the guardsman's missing gun. And boy does the mayfly man cosplay TGG moriarty here or what? The baseball cap, the cold weather version of what jim wore to the crown jewels. Homophobia stabs england/john in the back, while pretending everything is fine. I know we have seen meta about bainbridge and sholto as sherlock mirrors, but soldiers in uniform also screams john mirrors.

#26 a very interesting thought that the stabbing could be entirely in sherlock's mind theater.

Is John’s blog canon?

When I first learned about John Watson’s online blog - I think it must have been sometime after the airing of Series 2 - I thought it was created only for the entertainment of the show’s most dedicated fans. I took for granted that the blog must be some sort of complementary reading for those who wanted a more in-depth version of the crime cases. It was a bit of fun to read John Watson’s ‘public version’ of what we could all clearly see was the story’s ‘real’ content, namely the TV show. But also to read the comments from characters that appeared in the show and those who didn’t (like John’s sister Harry). 

But then Series 4 aired, and I think many of us realised pretty soon that if the show no longer seemed to make much sense, this was certainly true for the blog as well. In S4 we quickly learned, for example, this:

a) John is now writing on a jpg file instead of the blog editor, which is simply impossible.

b) Lestrade talks about being able to take the credit “…until John publishes his blog”. But this never happens; the blog hasn’t been updated since TSoT.

c) People in the show no longer consider it to be John’s blog; in TLD everyone thinks it’s actually Sherlock’s blog.

So now there’s definitely something fishy going on with the whole blog theme. Which seems a bit weird for a complementary device, doesn’t it? But then this addition by @raggedyblue to another post made me realise that the blog might actually be so much more - it might represent a true version of BBC Sherlock’s canon. And suddenly the pieces seemed to fall into place - and I don’t mean just some of them, I mean all the pieces.

Because the thing is, that this blog of John’s, which we can all very easily find and read online in real life (’IRL’), is in itself a part of the show. It doesn’t just have some references in the show; it’s referred to in every single episode except for TBB, TRF, HLV and TFP, and often multiple times. We hear about it from Day 1 in ASiP when John is seen with his laptop. On no less than 35 occasions in this show, which I have listed below, John’s blog posts are being referred to, shown, discussed or alluded to by the different characters in the show - and not only by Sherlock and John themselves. 

So, with this much support for the idea that the blog is much more than just a complementary device directed at fandom, I think we can conclude that yes; the blog must indeed be regarded as part of canon. Which means, in my opinion, that any theory, any hypothesis about what’s going on in this many-layered show, that contradicts what we learn from the blog, will have some explaining to do. 

If you want to claim, for example, that Mary isn’t at all real in the show, that she only exists in Sherlock’s or John’s imagination, you’ll also have to explain why she appears on John’s online blog, making conversation with other characters. If you want to claim that Sherlock never recovered from the Fall, that everything that happens after TRF is totally fake, you also need to explain how Sherlock can be writing on John’s blog after that. And - of course - if you want to take S4 at face value, you need to give a reasonable explanation of how John can write on a jpg file, and how come the blog hasn’t been updated since TSoT, in spite of so many references to it in S4. 

On the other hand, in 2017 I tried to come up with a theory that does not contradict the blog, but still doesn’t accept the inconsistencies and weirdness we can see in this show. In short, the idea (which is originally @raggedyblue‘s) is that up until the wedding in TSoT Sherlock is using John’s blog posts to set up mental scenarios based on his and John’s experiences together. And after TSoT, Sherlock’s (now unconscious) brain keeps going with the introspection even without the blog. It’s all here (part of my meta series), so if you have a better idea that does not contradict the blog, feel free to try to debunk mine. :)

In the mean time, if you have the patience to read it, let me present an extensive list of the 35 occasions where John’s blog is mentioned in this show. if you have more examples, please add them to those presented under the cut (Thanks to Ariane DeVere for all these invaluable transcripts):

Keep reading

Wow, good work! I generally buy the idea that john's blog represents "reality", and the show is sherlock's "embellished" mind theater, at least through s2. S3 is so over the top bs in places, it's harder for me to buy into, ie, even john writing a blog post about something is not necessarily convincing. S4 is clearly fake, so, w/e, mind theater, blog theory, it's all good, or better than the surface anyway!

I love the idea in #19, that this scene is entirely in sherlock's imagination. And again, it's sherlock himself providing the "embellished" version!

#20, hmm, is there such a thing as a blog that's not online? "blog" being short for "web log".

#17 & 21, sherlock's claims to have "written a blog", which were never shown on his website. I came to the show well after s2 aired, so all i ever saw of the tobacco ash entry was "deleted". Is anyone still here from early enough to say if that entry was ever there either?

#25 good catch with the guardsman's missing gun. And boy does the mayfly man cosplay TGG moriarty here or what? The baseball cap, the cold weather version of what jim wore to the crown jewels. Homophobia stabs england/john in the back, while pretending everything is fine. I know we have seen meta about bainbridge and sholto as sherlock mirrors, but soldiers in uniform also screams john mirrors.

#26 a very interesting thought that the stabbing could be entirely in sherlock's mind theater.