“Did I get it right?” - Holmes’s Failure in the BBC Production of Sherlock’s “A Study in Pink”

Abstract

BBC의 『셜록』 시리즈의 첫 번째 에피소드인 ‘분홍색연구’에서 홈즈는 자신이 선택한 병이 무해한 ‘좋은 병’이라고 생각하고 이 병에든 알약을 먹으려는 순간, 총소리에 놀라 알약을 떨어뜨린다. 다시 알약을 집어든 홈즈는 연쇄살인범인 택시기사에게 ‘내가 옳은 것을 고른거지?’라고 질문을 하지만, 연쇄살인범은 대답을 하지 않고 숨을 거둔다. 비록 홈즈가 ‘좋은 병’을 골랐는지, 이 에피소드는 대답해주고 있지 않지만, 저자는 홈즈는 사실 독약이 들어있는 ‘나쁜 병’을 골랐고, 이 치명적인 실수 때문에 죽음에 이를 수도 있었다고 주장한다. 본 논문은 이에 대한 근거로, 홈즈와 왓슨을 다른 2사람이지만, 사실 상징적으로 서로 다른 반쪽이라는 가정을 통해서, 홈즈의 잘못된 선택은 왓슨의 잘못된 선택을 통해서 보여진다고 주장한다.“A Study in Pink,” which is loosely based on the novel A Study in Scarlet, deals with Holmes’s failure. In the middle of this episode, Holmes knows that the taxi driver has killed four innocent people, and this serial killer at the end of this episode is killed by Holmes’s trusty assistant Watson. However, this paper argues that Holmes, contrary to his seemingly infallible reasoning in the novels, makes a fatal mistake at the end of the episode, which could have killed Holmes. When Holmes is asked to choose by the taxi driver one bottle between a bottle with a poison-free pill and one with a poisonous pill , Holmes picks one and examines it to see if it is the good bottle or not. When Holmes is about to swallow the pill, Watson shoots the taxi driver from the opposite building. Startled at the sound of the gun, Holmes drops the pill. Holmes then asks the driver: “Was I right? I was, wasn’t I? Did I get it right?” But the taxi driver refuses to answer the questions. However, I argue that Holmes in fact chooses the bad bottle with a toxic pill. Understanding Holmes and Watson as two halves, this paper suggests that Holmes’s failure has already been shown through Watson. When Holmes needs to choose a bottle between the two identical bottles, Watson also needs to pick one building between the two indistinguishable buildings to save Holmes. But Watson unfortunately chooses a wrong one and appears in the opposite building. This failure insinuates that Holmes, much like Watson, would make a mistake in picking a bottle. Thus, the answer to Holmes’s question that “Did I get it right,” would be: “No, you picked the wrong one.”