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The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, a la Shmoop: CSI London.

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You may not believe it, but off-the-charts smart people. . .

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. . .aren't all that different from the rest of us

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Oh, sure, they ace their ACT's. . .

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. . .and solve the problems of the world. . .

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. . .but they still have to deal with everyday stuff. . .

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. . .like grocery shopping. . .

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. . .and making friends.

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Take Sherlock Holmes. He's one heck of a brilliant guy. . .

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. . .who can crack any case. . .

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. . .without anyone's help. But he does spend a lot of time with this

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guy. So, if Holmes is so darn brilliant, why does

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he need Watson? Well, every hero has to have a sidekick. . .

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. . .someone who "gets" him and puts up with all his craziness.

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Maybe Watson's just there to keep Holmes company. . .

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. . .and be his one and only friend.

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Then again, Holmes doesn't seem to need people in his life. . .

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. . .so maybe Watson is just around to prove how smart Holmes really is

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If Sherlock is clever enough to make a smart guy like Watson feel stupid. . .

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. . well, then he must be out-of-this-world brilliant.

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Or maybe the author. . .

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. . .just needed a nice, sympathetic character. . .

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. . . to make Holmes a little more likeable. He does come across a little, shall we say,

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prickly. . .

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. . .and having a friend like Watson. . .

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. . . may be Doyle's way of humanizing Holmes Or maybe Watson is just hanging around to

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help move the stories along. Holmes has to explain how he solves the crimes

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to somebody. . .

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. . .so he might as well do it to a nice guy like Watson.

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So, why does Dr. John Watson keep popping up in all the Sherlock Holmes stories?

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Is he there to be the hero's faithful sidekick. . .

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. . .to provide intellectual comparison. . .

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. . . to show Holmes' softer side. . .

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. . .or to help move things along? Shmoop amongst yourselves.

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