Lestrade’s flub, ‘don’t commit suicide’, is a humourous way to show how out of his depth he is in his investigation. He, himself, is so confused by his own case that he says this absurd, facile thing to the press. We can see how inappropriate this is by the reactions of the woman asking the question and by Donovan’s reaction.
I do think, though, that there’s a message here beyond the context. I think, “don’t commit suicide”, it is the theme of this episode. Both our main characters are shown on the edge of killing themselves, with no reason to live, lonely and considering ending their lives via a gun and a dangerous game with a serial killer.
I believe that all of the victims on the show are queer and aiding to make some commentary on the lives of queer people in general and of our protagonists, specifically.
Lestrade is representative of Sherlock’s work. We can see in the former’s introductory scene that Sherlock, despite his being an outsider, considers himself part of Lestrade’s team. This is why he can say, ‘wrong!’, to Lestrade’s assertion that he has, ‘our best people’, on the case. Sherlock considers himself, ‘Lestrade’s best’. Sherlock’s work is just barely tethering him to his life and when he says that he’s married to his work, at Angelo’s, I think, in part, he’s admitting that work’s about all he can handle in his life. Sherlock and John are both treading water when they first meet, it’s just more obviously depicted in John’s case.
The thing that saves them is not just becoming flatmates. Mike Stamford only nudges them in the right direction, it takes Lestrade to, indirectly, push Sherlock and John the rest of the way. Lestrade comes over, Sherlock leaves without John and things are no better than before. But, when he comes back and John goes on a case with him, their lives together begin. Lestrade, representing, ‘the work’, is the thing that will bond them and keep them from killing themselves. Their work partnership is what saves them as it allows them a format in which to become friends.
As domestically intimate as they’d become in Series 2, they could not have become that close if they lead separate lives. It is the cases that allow them to bond so intensely.
Lestrade tells all of us to not kill ourselves. He tells the characters of the show, too. But, most importantly he tells Sherlock and John. And he, through his initial and continued employment of them, is the one who saves them from this fate.
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