anyone notice how Sherlock Sociopath Holmes is always the first to offer his hand
OH MY GOD IT’S THE TEA THING ALL OVER AGAIN
But is this all the same thing and is it in fact driven by a desire to connect with these people? Leaving aside the final one, which I think was indeed an instance of looking for emotional connection (more similar to his hugging Mrs. Hudson), I see something rather different in the others.
What I see is Sherlock Holmes the socially-unsure and defensive taking his instruction, received as a child, that one offers one’s handshake upon meeting someone, and turning it into part of his armor. By being the one to step forward, he owns the first step of the interaction and he forces it into certain social directions, namely, civility and a meeting between those who are, to some extent, social equals. In each of these interactions shown, Sherlock engages in order to obtain something he wants, and that begins by manipulating the other person through that handshake.
If anything, then, this, to me, reinforces his sociopathic presentation rather than denies it. But since we know that this is armor rather than psychopathology, it also gives us the sad information about his own feelings about himself in relation to these other people and the type of interactions he envisions having with them.
The comment above said exactly what I think about Sherlock. So. This. Sherlock Holmes in BBC canon follows manners when manners are needed as well as when he isn’t even realizing that he’s doing it (wiping his feet in Mrs Hudson’s kitchen?). I’d say manners are drilled into him but he just uses it as a weapon rather than means to connect to people. Sherlock is definitely NOT a sociopath, but this ain’t the proof for it. Except the last handshake.
