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Thread: How Sherlock Did It

  1. #1
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    Default How Sherlock Did It



    There are spoilers here, for the final episode of Sherlock, which aired last night on BBC 1, The Reichenbach Fall.

    The series only gets shown in the US later this year on PBS, so any Americans wandering in may want to go away and come back then. Because it's time to have a look at Sherlock's escape act from the final scenes in the final episode.

    So how did he do it? A few lines from the show might help.

    Sherlock, after he'd been completely framed by Moriarty, tells Watson "There's one thing he needs to do to complete his...

    "There's something I need to do."

    From this point on, it would appear, Sherlock is in control and knows what is happening - or at least the gist. When it appears he is not in control, that is just the appearance he is allowing others to have. He can see Moriarty's plan for him, and so he twists it.

    Next, he says to Molly - who works as a morgue attendant at St Bartholew's:"You're wrong you know, you do count. You've always counted and I've always trusted you."

    Sherlock: "Molly, I think I'm going to die."

    Molly: What do you need?

    Sherlock: You.

    Sherlock chooses the location to meet Moriarty, which is the roof of St Bartholemew's, where Molly works.

    Then there's the call from paramedics to Watson about Mrs Hudson being shot. In the Conan Doyle original, the divergence is created by Moriarty. Here, it's not. Here, it's organised by Sherlock, most likely made by Molly.

    Then after making Moriarty think exactly what he needed to think, and we get Moriarty's suicide without an exit wound (fake gun and a squib?) Sherlock steps up onto the roof edge. Sherlock says to Watson: "It's a trick. It's just a magic trick."

    Then later, "Now stay exactly where you are. Don't move. Keep your eyes fixed on me."

    Watson sees the fall, but not the impact. Sherlock has a planned falling strategy. There's a rubbish truck that drives away. The decoy body see must have fallen onto the street - we actually see it do so. This is likely where Molly played her most important role, dropping a body from the morgue.

    But how does it have Sherlock's face? Remember the little girl who screamed when she saw Sherlock? It would seem that Moriarty had a very good mask... was it created at St Bartholemews, when Moriarty "worked" there?



    And now Watson is hit by a cyclist that Sherlock knew was coming.A dazed and confused Watson sees the face he expects to see, now that the scene has been dressed and is ready for him.

    And the paramedics... are there.

    Sherlock is now dead, and declared so by Molly. The madmen will no longer pursue him. He is out of the public eye. And can go back to being who he was. Taking Moriarty's plan and using it for his own gain.

    In the original, Doyle intended to kill Sherlock. Here, there's a third series planned. The Final Problem got a Final Solution.

    Brendon's note: I contributed here, adding to Rich's initial draft, so you'll have to blame both of us when it turns out we were completely wrong.
    Fysh likes this.

  2. #2
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    We had the same bar one thing.

    Moriarty.

    If he truly did shoot himself (and lets face it, Moriarty never appeared again so technically he SHOULD die), he couldn't be left on the roof, as this would have been massive news - and wasn't on the front page that Mycroft read.

    Therefore, Moriarty wasn't on the roof. Therefore, he was pushed off it.

    Moriarty, wearing Sherlock's jacket and 'face' was the body.

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    Be interesting to run this theory past the writers to see what they say.
    Warning, the above post may contain traces of sarcasm, or have been written in an environment where it may have come into contact with sarcasm.

    Sometimes I genuinely can't tell whether you are joking or just crazy.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tony Lee View Post
    We had the same bar one thing.

    Moriarty.

    If he truly did shoot himself (and lets face it, Moriarty never appeared again so technically he SHOULD die), he couldn't be left on the roof, as this would have been massive news - and wasn't on the front page that Mycroft read.

    Therefore, Moriarty wasn't on the roof. Therefore, he was pushed off it.

    Moriarty, wearing Sherlock's jacket and 'face' was the body.
    He's not dead. No way.

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    Recall the dummy hanging in the apartment for no good reason earlier in the episode. Was it still there when Watson briefly returned after Sherlock's fall?

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    Quote Originally Posted by TimC View Post
    Recall the dummy hanging in the apartment for no good reason earlier in the episode. Was it still there when Watson briefly returned after Sherlock's fall?
    I think they'd need more than a dummy to pull that trick off.
    Warning, the above post may contain traces of sarcasm, or have been written in an environment where it may have come into contact with sarcasm.

    Sometimes I genuinely can't tell whether you are joking or just crazy.

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    Quote Originally Posted by TimC View Post
    Recall the dummy hanging in the apartment for no good reason earlier in the episode. Was it still there when Watson briefly returned after Sherlock's fall?
    It was a bit brittle. I considered it a red herring.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Brendon Connelly View Post
    He's not dead. No way.
    Moriarty did say "As long as I'm alive", Sherlock's friends won't be killed.

    So either the body is one that Molly dropped from the morgue or it's Moriarty wearing the Sherlock mask that Sherlock put back on him before throwing him off, or Sherlock made a safe landing on the rubbish truck and then landed safely to play dead.

    Hmm...

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    No - that is Sherlock on the pavement but (using an old magic trick) the squash ball he was bouncing in the lab is now wedged under his armpit 'stopping' his pulse. John tries for a pulse, gets nothing and is comforted/ushered away by a member or two of the Homeless Network... Another of which had bumped into John on the bike.

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    Quote Originally Posted by migraineboyjones View Post
    No - that is Sherlock on the pavement but (using an old magic trick) the squash ball he was bouncing in the lab is now wedged under his armpit 'stopping' his pulse. John tries for a pulse, gets nothing and is comforted/ushered away by a member or two of the Homeless Network... Another of which had bumped into John on the bike.
    Yeah, I can buy that.

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