History Main / SherlockScan

* ''Series/CriminalMinds'': There's a scene where Hotch is on the witness stand being grilled by the defense attorney, who scornfully derides forensic profiling in order to discredit the profiler's testimony, concluding that Hotch "couldn't even tell what colour socks I'm wearing with any degree of accuracy." Hotch, using a combination of profiling and this technique, then goes on to reveal not only what colour his socks are (charcoal grey, incidentally), but completely deconstructs the attorney and reveals that he's a gambling addict who's in deep debt. While this was completely irrelevant to the challenge that the profilers weren't as good as usually presented (which included several real-life failures of the technique) or the challenge that they were faking it using techniques a carnival psychic would (this is a common trick for phony psychics), it ''does'' both completely undercut the lawyer's argument that Hotch couldn't accurately profile ''him'', ''and'' place him in the position of either dropping that line of questioning or being forced to publicly admit to everyone in the court that he ''was'' a gambling addict.

* ''Film/MyCousinVinny'': Both Vinny and his financée Lisa are able to examine a photo of the tire tracks left behind by the murderers and determine that not only were the tire tracks not left by the defendents' car, but was left by an entirely different make and model that is similar-looking enough to be mistaken for their car. Lampshaded by Vinny when he calls Lisa to the stand.

** Suppose you are reading a middle-aged woman wearing a well-pressed, slightly faded UsefulNotes/{{Walmart}} polo shirt. Tell her her hard work, while not as lucrative as she might like now, will pay off and care for her family, and that she should worry less about money. For a dash of the supernatural, say the message comes from a kindly older man who looks like he awkwardly wants to embrace her. Do this honestly, claiming it's a trick, and people will be unnerved. Do it fraudulently, and you can bilk people. Do it without realizing it, and you may come to believe in you have psychic powers.

* ''Series/{{Monk}}'' does this, but since he's incredibly socially inept, he doesn't always know which details not to bring up. Just a tip: If you know that a woman is lying about her age, don't call her out on it. Or if you know that the judge at the probate hearing is sleeping with his secretary. Or that a widow is having sex if her daughter is also standing there.)

'''Leonard:''' ''[to phone]'' Okay, bye. ''[to the others]'' My mother's coming to visit.\\

* Victorique, one of the protagonists of ''LightNovel/{{Gosick}}'', is about as close to actually being Sherlock Holmes as a teenaged girl in a frilly dress can be, and as such is naturally prone to Sherlock Scanning. Perhaps more impressively, she's also capable of making these kinds of deductions based on details reported to her secondhand by her [[TheWatson Watson]], Kujo (since she rarely leaves the library in which she lives). And she's ''right'', despite all the potential for error in such a setup.

-->'''Holmes''': He's a hero, it's obvious by [[PrimaryColorChampion the bright blue and yellow in his costume]]. The mask means [[SecretIdentity he must be well-known]], perhaps [[RichIdiotWithNoDayJob a wealthy entrepreneur with ample free time]]. [[LanternJawOfJustice Square jaw indicates strong lineage]], perhaps a doctor's son. And [[TheCowl the bat motif]], most surely inspired by some childhood trauma. "The Masked Bat" perhaps?\\

'''Batman''': Actually, it's "Batman'. Sherlock Holmes, I presume?\\

* ''Series/{{Stalker}}''. In the pilot, Detective Jack Larsen, after making a poor first impression to his new boss, makes up for it by using this to great effect in noting a victim's anti-stalker measures in her home.

** In "[[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor The Day of the Doctor]]", the Tenth Doctor attempts one of these to explain to the person in front of him, who looks like Queen Elizabeth, why he knows she's a shapeshifting imposter. Then he finds out it's the real Queen Elizabeth. This happens at least twice.

* [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Daryl]] from ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' is revealed to be able to do this in Season 2, to the surprise of many in-universe and out. He doesn't talk much and prefers to distance himself from the group on top of hunting for his own food, making him a ScarilyCompetentTracker. But his distance from the others also means he can read into situations without being biased. He's able to tell within minutes of [[spoiler:Shane's return that Shane has shot Otis in the leg and left him behind to be eaten by Walkers because Shane comes back with an extra gun.]] He stays quiet about this for most of the season, and only reveals he knew this when Dale talks to him. [[spoiler:Later on he is able to tell from tracks in the woods that Shane killed their prisoner via neck snap]].

** Spoofed in the episode "Humbug". A ''little person'', in a town full of circus performers, gets offended when Mulder asks if he's done any circus work. He performs a Sherlock Scan on Mulder, to make a point about stereotyping, but he accidentally stereotypes Mulder as an FBI agent.

* The Vertigo incarnation of the Human Target "gets into character" by studying the person he's impersonating, and managed to put together the voice, appearance, and personality of a dead man after a very brief time in his apartment. He does, however, catch himself baselessly speculating when he examines a picture of the guy's girlfriend.

* A villainous example is used in ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'', when Shan-Yu's generals are able to figure out that the Imperial Army was waiting for them in a village merely by examining a doll Shan-Yu's falcon brought back. Unfortunately, helps the Huns get the drop on the Army [[spoiler:and kill everyone, including Shang's father, General Li]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective'', being an AffectionateParody of Literature/SherlockHolmes, also does this. Basil is able, for example, to deduce that Dawson is not just a doctor, but a surgeon that just came from military service in Afghanistan, all from merely glancing at the way he mended a rip on his coat. Basil also constantly mentions that Fidget has a crippled wing when trying to describe the bat, much to everyone's confusion. It plays no part until Fidget ends up tossed off a blimp shouting "I can't fly! I can't fly!"

--->'''Woodley:''' How do you know my name...!?
--->'''Jeremy:''' Oh, it's quite obvious from the rings adorning your fingers. Large diamonds of that size are mined in South Africa. And the unique round brilliant-cut of those diamonds is possible only with [[SecretArt the latest polisher developed by the Woodley Company]]. [...] Thus, if among the guests at Earl Phantomhive's dinner party, there is one individual wearing such rare rings, he is most likely to be president of the Woodley Company... you, Mister Woodley.

--->'''Jeremy:''' There is a substance that has been recently discovered called tetrodotoxin. If it is purified in a certain way, one can enter a state of apparent death by consuming it.
--->'''Arthur:''' Tetrodotoxin is a neurotoxin possessed by blowfish and octopi. [...]
--->'''Jeremy:''' I noticed a slight scent of the sea when I inspected Siemens's corpse. That was probably the result of the poison being distilled from blowfish venom. [...]
--->'''Lau:''' He only intended to fake his death but ended up being murdered for real.

--->'''Jeremy:''' Red perilla is known as an antiaging substance. The extract that is produced from boiling it down is what keeps you looking so young... no?
--->'''Diaz:''' Y-yes. [...]
--->'''Baldroy, Mey-Rin, Finnian''': [[AntiClimax That was iiit?]]

-->'''Haida:''' OK, you're freaking me out. I hope I never piss you off.
-->'''Fenneko:''' If you do, just stay away from social media. (''nonchalantly sips wine'')
* In ''LightNovel/TheCaseFilesOfJewelerRichard'', Richard does this to a client in episode 4/volume two, guessing her job and hobbies, as well as her reason for being there. In fairness, she asks him to do it, and he admits he's just guessing.

* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'', wizard and OccultDetective Harry Dresden pulls these off, one of a number of indicators that he's smarter than he pretends to be, though they tend to be more subtle than most examples. For example, he's able to determine that a particular faerie queen was not responsible for a particular murder by simply analyzing her behavior and comparing it to details of the murder. Later in that same book, he's forced to reveal how he deduced the murder mystery, right down to the fine details of the methodology, and the participants. At one point in ''Literature/TurnCoat'', however, the scan is used to disturbing effect by Thomas, a [[HornyDevils White Court vampire]], who has Harry do a few scans of some nearby human bystanders to see what he sees when he looks at them. Harry does so, providing detailed information on each group of people, at which point Thomas just points each group and says, "Food," one after the other, to demonstrate how different he is from Harry.

** In ''Literature/StarWarsKenobi'', {{Shopkeeper}} Annileen is skilled at evaluating a new customer by their purchases. Through what he buys, she can tell that Ben is a new arrival, didn't pack heavily on the way in, lives alone, and has a permanent dwelling and not a campsite, where he intends to stay long-term, and which needs to be heavily cleaned.

* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' has this in part two. The protagonist, Joseph Joestar uses this on and off by hiding it behind his [[ObfuscatingStupidity goofy personality]] When it comes to fighting he becomes a tactical genius and can gain an advantage from just scanning his surroundings and his enemies. He then takes it a step further by predicting what his enemies will say, throwing them off even further than before.

* ''Over My Dead Body'' was a Mystery show where this trope is deconstructed: The IntrepidReporter is impressed by a Detective that manages to do a Sherlock Scan to a picture of a suspect. When she narrates the deed to the AmateurSleuth, he, by being a MysteryWriterDetective, says ThisIsReality and nobody could do something like that, so the detective is really a DetectiveMole.

'''Mr. Conklin''': Good morning, Good morning. This is Mr. Gibney. But I'm not going to tell him who you are. He wants to try a little experiment.
'''Miss Brooks''': Experiment?
'''Mr. Conklin''': Mr. Gibney contends that he can tell who you are and what you do just by looking at you.
'''Miss Brooks''': Well, now. Isn't that nice. Go right ahead, sir.
'''Mr. Gibney''': Hmm. Let's see. I would say that this woman is a happily married housewife.
'''Miss Brooks''': Why you dear man!
'''Mr. Gibney''': She is also the mother of a couple of young children.
'''Mr. Conklin''': [[SarcasmMode An amazing revelation.]]
'''Mr. Gibney''': [[TheAllegedExpert Well, how am I doing so far?]]
'''Miss Brooks''': [[DeadpanSnarker So far, you owe me a husband and two children.]]

* The main character of ''Series/{{Forever}}'', Dr. Henry Morgan, uses this and his position as an NYPD medical examiner to assist a detective in solving unusual murders. He developed this ability from observing human behavior for over 200 years (he's immortal). Morgan's coworker notes to Jo (the detective) that Morgan can sometimes tell what happened to a body before even cutting it open. But, as Morgan notes in his voiceover, he's had plenty of time to practice. In the second episode alone he uses it to rule an apparent [[AxeCrazy ax murder]] as accidental death and two apparent suicides as murders. Aside from having a long time to observe he's also had first-hand experience in dying. He can often tell at a glance what caused a death because he's probably been killed that way at least once.

'''Howard:''' ''[to Sheldon]'' How 'bout that, you were right.
** Incidentally, this conversation [[{{Foreshadowing}} foreshadows the cold nature of Leonard's mum.]] Sheldon doesn't fail ''that'' badly. His first piece of analysis is bang on: Leonard feels little emotional attachment to his iceberg of a mother. So is his second--Leonard does find her visits uncomfortable and unpleasant, which is why they are so infrequent. Sheldon only fails because he loves his own mother but hates invasive medical procedures. The final "not a lot of room" is just a confirmation bias. So he was reading the right signals, he just came to the wrong conclusion from it due to his own biases.