History PlayingWith / SherlockScan

** Alice admits from the get-go that she's a good investigator, but that "the Sherlock Holmes trick where I take a single look at you and deduce your whole life" is beyond her capabilities.

** Alice actually knows that Bob is an accountant because he's wearing a name tag that says "Bob Smith, Accounting".

** Alice is able to deduce that Bob works as an accountant based on [[InternetColdReader a single unrelated post on an Internet forum]].

** When [[TooCleverByHalf Alice's]] scans fail, [[EpicFail they fail big]]. She even mentions that Conan Doyle himself wrote about it being a "parlor trick" once or twice in his stories, and wasn't above having Dr. Watson mention that the Holmes stories he [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis "made public"]] are the ones in which Holmes wins, [[TheUnsolvedMystery with a few that left even Holmes baffled]] not seeing the light of day because [[ViewersAreMorons readers would hate reading them.]]

* '''Justified''': Alice has practiced this skill over a long period of time and has a good memory for details. Alternately, she's also an accountant and recognizes jargon, mannerisms, and dress from having known many accountants.

** Alice's explanations of how she arrived at such conclusions don't stand up to scrutiny. In fact, any number of professionals dress and act the way Bob does. People begin to doubt Alice and becomes put off by someone who so rashly leaps to conclusions.

* '''Averted''': Even though Alice is a skilled detective, she doesn't work this way. She relies on testimony, evidence collected at crime scenes and other conventional investigative tools.

* '''Defied''': Alice refuses to do a SherlockScan, possibly because it tends to alienate people.

* '''Defied''': Alice refuses to do a SherlockScan, possibly because it tends to alienate people

* '''Deconstructed''': Alice's explanations of how she arrived at such conclusions don't stand up to scrutiny. In fact, any number of professionals dress and act the way Bob does. People begin to doubt Alice and becomes put off by someone who so rashly leaps to conclusions.

* '''Exploited''': ???

* '''Parodied''': Alice is able to deduce that Bob works as an accountant based on [[InternetColdReader a single unrelated post on an Internet forum]].

* '''Downplayed''': ???

* '''Inverted''': Alice is spacey, barely pays any attention to Bob and forgets even his name after being told multiple times.

* '''Subverted''': Bob laughs off Alice's observation and says he's actually a doctor.

* '''Double Subverted''': Bob is lying, possibly just to be contrary.

* '''Deconstructed''': Alice's explanations of how she arrived at such conclusions don't stand up to scrutiny. In fact, any number of professionals dress and act the way Bob does. People begin to doubt Alice and becomes put off by someone who so rashly leaps to conclusions.
* '''Reconstructed''': But it turns out that Alice is just not good at explaining herself and her observational skills are so far beyond normal people's that she often has trouble explaining everything she notices or knowing which details she needs to highlight for others that are obvious for her.
** Alice acknowledges that what she sees has several possible explanations, one of which turns out to be right.

Back to SherlockScan.

<<|PlayingWithWiki|>>

* Alice actually knows that Bob is an accountant because he's wearing a name tag that says "Bob Smith, Accounting".

'''Basic Trope''': A character does makes a remarkable observation about a person, place or incident based on clues not apparent to others.