Sherlock Holmes is addicted to cocaine in the Sign of Four. He claims that he uses merely for a “mental stimulant,” which is probably partially true given Sherlock’s unusual psyche. ABC’s Elementary portrays Sherlock in a similar way: he’s a recovering addict who manages to stop drugs cold turkey, mostly from his father’s behest. The show uses drugs and medical imagery extensively in the development of Sherlock’s character. Dr. Watson, the voice of reason for Sherlock, is an ex-surgeon and Sherlock’s sober companion, meaning that the theme of Watson’s Sign of Four speech—asking Sherlock to care for his health—is repeated throughout the series. She puts the focus squarely on Sherlock’s internal struggle with a past that he wants to hide. This manifests in some of Sherlock’s unhealthy habits like refusing to sleep until a case is solved or refusing to play his violin or being mentally absent at group therapy meetings. Mental health, a subject mostly untouched by Doyle, is a common theme of Elementary.
But Elementary also tells stories about physiological health. Like in The Sign of Four, Elementary’s Sherlock follows story lines with poisoning and medical elements. Drugs are often the crux of the medical stories Sherlock investigates: a heroin poisoning of a bank’s executive meant to frame it as an overdose hints at the social elements of addiction and health. The Sign of Four also handles the social elements of health: both Major Sholto and Captain Morstan die in events directly connected to thefts of the treasure, and the original Sign of Four plan was motivated by Sholto’s self-inflicted poverty (gambling addiction). The framing of both stories in Sherlock’s cocaine “addiction” (I use quotes here because it isn’t exactly portrayed as such) clarifies health as a social image because Sherlock is mostly treated as well by his peers, being judged by the quality of his work in either story—the image of unhealthfulness brought on by cocaine isolated as a possible danger rather than a factor determining health on its own.
