Canon Discussion Post: The Stockbroker's Clerk

[spacemutineer.livejournal.com]

It's canon discussion time! What did you all think of The Stockbroker's Clerk? As always, I've written up a few of my own random thoughts and questions, which are behind the jump. Add your own in the comments!

There's no Granada episode to discuss this week, but we'll have one next week.


- The Stockbroker's Clerk is a strange one. It starts out light and sweet. Holmes comes to ask Watson to come with him for a delightfully nutty case, and their little meeting is adorable. They're both excited to go on an adventure together again, and the case itself seems a bit silly, reminiscent of The Red-Headed League.

But as soon as they actually arrive on the scene, the case takes a left turn into some incredibly dark territory. Unlike in REDH, the robbery ends in murder, but much more disturbing is Pinner's attempted suicide. The whole scene is unsettling, and Watson's descriptions are gruesome and detailed. The incident is on another planet tonally from the beginning of the story. When re-reading this story, I didn't remember the sweet opening -- all I could remember was the horror waiting at the end.

- It's always interesting to hear about Watson's life outside his partnership with Holmes. His regular work life is always presented with practicality. He sees his medical practice as a business and he treats it like one. His work with Holmes he clearly enjoys much more. Could Holmes offer him an official salary for his help, since they both obviously want that? Would Watson take the job of official detective's assistant? It's much more respectable as a Victorian gentleman to have a steady doctor's connection in Paddington than an occasional job gallivanting around with an outlandish investigator.

- You know, if you're scorching the bottom of your leather slippers while you try to warm your feet by the fire, maybe you should think about backing your feet away from the flames. Just a little bit.

- For some reason, I was quite amused by the fake identities Holmes and Watson take on when meeting Pinner: Harris and Price, an accountant and a clerk. I started imagining an AU version of themselves in those jobs: A very clever accountant, perhaps one people come to with fraud problems, and his trusty, ready clerk. "Harris and Price" also sounds remarkably like the name of a 80's TV cop show, so I amused myself imaginging them there too.

- It doesn't seem like Hall Pycroft is guilty of anything in a criminal sense for what happens in this case, but I don't know if he should be off the hook for his own conscience. He knew this situation was probably too good to be true from the beginning, and suspected throughout that something was very wrong with this job. His decisions lead directly to a robbery, a murder, and an attempted suicide. Doesn't he share some amount of culpability for that, even just to himself? Also, are the police looking for Pycroft at all? They know that alias was used in the robbery -- it seems likely they would want to talk to the man who actually bears the name to see how/if he was involved.

Comment away and join us next week for The Naval Treaty!

Comments

[hisietari.livejournal.com]

For some reason, I feel uncomfortable at the thought of Watson getting paid to stay with Holmes. Of course it's a mere question of financial security, not of want, but on the outside it would still look that way - and maybe a little on the inside, too. Apart from that, Watson might want to prove that he's a man who can take care of himself. He only moves out because of his marriage after all, so it's probably part of the husband role he takes on.

Harris and Price sounds like the perfect old-people-TV I love so much, full of comfy jokes and a slightly dusty atmosphere, hiding the dirty little secrets of forgotten cellars and black moleskin notebooks. Bring it on! ;)

Not sure what to write about this week, but then, I have to un-snow a car and some lose plot ends of yet another thing first. Catch you later! ~☆

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Thank you for inspiring my story this week, which helps to explain the scorched slippers.

[trillsabells.livejournal.com]

I don't understand why Holmes rushes off to Birmingham just because Hall Pycroft suggests it. Surely it's obvious the crime is happening in London at Mawsons. Admittedly had they not run off to Birmingham Pinner might have got away (or, in actual fact, been successful in killing himself) but they might have prevented a murder.

[methylviolet10b]

I agree with you; there's a lot of tonal inconsistency in STOC, as well as some strange plot-holes when you look at it as a whole. It makes me wonder if this is one of those stories ACD started, set aside, and then came back and finished much later, in a much different mood.

Great discussion questions!

Sunday, 10 February 2013

[livejournal.livejournal.com]

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