Who is Sherlock Holmes?

                Sherlock Holmes is a brilliant, socially inept, unprofessional detective.  Holmes has but one friend, Watson, and he is not always the best of friends to him.  He often traps him into situations to test him or test a theory as well as popping up throughout Watson's day unexpectedly.  Whether the audience is lead to believe that Holmes is stalking Watson's every move or that he is simply always a step ahead, Holmes makes up excuses for this behavior by saying he has "excellent ears" or simply tells Watson to not ask any questions (The Man With the Twisted Lip 3).  These instances make Holmes appear to be everywhere as well as all-knowing.  Holmes lives for these cases, so it would make sense that he would track down every sign possible that there may be a case coming his way.  In Sherlock, a police officer tells Watson to be careful when associating with Holmes because she believed him to be a psychopath.  She claimed that Holmes gets off on these horrific murders.  However, through my perspective I believe that Holmes has an incredible gift and that he is only ever able to utilize it in a useful way through solving mysteries and catching the bad guys.  By taking part in solving these cases he must also be relieved to let his brain do his thing without keeping all of these pressing details inside his head.  Also, it is clear that Holmes is a bit narcissistic, so solving cases also allows him to show off a bit for his clients and police officers who beg him for help.  On the contrary to occasionally being a bad friend to Watson, Holmes is frequently asking Watson for his opinions on situations as well as recognizing his need for a friend like Watson.  The first words that Holmes speaks in The Hound of the Baskervilles are "Well, Watson, what do you make of it?" which goes to show that even though Holmes may not need Watson's input, he wants Watson to know his value in their relationship (The Hounds of the Baskerville 5).  Holmes does not feel a need to impress Watson, rather he wants Watson to be able to impress himself with what he may already know.  In the Robert Downy Jr. version of Sherlock Holmes, their relationship is portrayed as romantic in the way that they bicker and address each other.  The movie is also able to emphasize to the audience Watson's patience for Holmes and how he is one of the only people in London who would be able to put up with Holmes's violin playing in the middle of the night as well as his self-medicating behaviors.  Holmes may be genius and seem divine to the average reader, however it is clear that he needs Watson and he needs cases in order to get a grip on himself.