littlefoot

Arcadia, I agree that the memory erasing drug was used as a case introduction and set up. But I found it strange nevertheless that story telling-wise something as powerful and useful as this drug was just used for the set up of a single episode. I'm sure there would've been other ways to introduce the bad guy and setting up the case than inventing a completely new drug. I would have expected that the introduction of such a powerful tool would have consequences for the Sherlock-verse. I like your idea that S4 was oddly rushed and that they compressed too much material in one season in order to wrap up the story arc. There were many more new threads and loose ends than usual which were introduced and then never mentioned again. That's the reason why fans like the owner of the Finalproblem Tumblr can't stop speculating and continue to develop elaborate theories. She actually constructed a very elaborate but totally intriguing and logical theory that Mary isn't dead but faked her own death in order to escape her dangerous past and her pursuers because she didn't want to endanger her family any more. This would explain nicely all the posthumous DVDs sent by Mary 😉 And the Tumblr lady used amongst other things the mind erasing drug and the plot of an original ACD story where something like this did happen, for constructing her theory. Sounds crazy, but if you read it, her idea totally makes sense. Of course I don't believe that it will ever happen - who knows if there ever will be a fifth season anyway. But I think she discovered remnants of plot elements which might've really been considered but then have been dropped for various reasons. I discovered many more clues which hinted at Mary as far back as in TRF (I actually spotted Mary in one scene of TRF in a crowd which was mingling in the vicinity of 221b - just after the presence of snipers was disclosed to John by Mycroft). All this seemed to hint at earlier bigger plans with Mary which then haven't been followed through. A lot can happen between 2012, when TRF was aired and then 2014 and S3 and finally 2017. This is an awful long time for developing a coherent story arc. Most ordinary viewers cannot remember in every detail what they have seen five years ago. But back to the theory of the Tumblr lady: reasons for dropping Mary permanently might've been that S4 was regarded as most likely being the last Sherlock season for a very long time and they needed to wrap up things as neatly as possible. Another practical reason for killing off Mary for good, could be the real life separation of Martin Freeman and Amanda Abbington. Amanda Abbinngton may have wanted out. Or Mofftiss noticed the growing criticism that too many people in the show didn't actually die but faked their own death, and they didn't want to introduce another fake death. Many fans view the show as if every little plot detail was planned right from the beginning, when ASIP was produced. And this is most certainly totally unrealistic. Sherlock is not a classic criminal novel which has been carefully planned and constructed solely by one person - the author - in every little detail. This is just not possible with a multi-season tv show where the creators don't even know how long the show will last and how the audience will react - or if the actors will remain available. They may have mapped out a grand story arc, but there has to be a lot of variables along the way. What I'm trying to say is, that eagle eyed fans who think that they have spotted important clues, aren't crazy. Many of these clues are probably there but haven't been used. It's like discoving earlier layers beneath a painting during a restauration. They are definitely there but the artist eventually abandoned the earlier concepts. Anyway, you reminded me that it might be nice to re-watch TLD. It's the only episode of S4 which I really enjoyed ☺. The acting is great, the villain is chilling, and as you said, the production value is high.

J.P. and Arcadia, since you mentioned it and supplied a link: the theories you can still read in the Finalproblem Tumblr, are a good example of ongoing theorizing, which IMO is as doomed as the Johnlock conspiracy. Nothing will ever come of it and the makers had most likely just fun with ACD's canon. Nobody can put together a tv show of that level of control and ingenious attention to every little detail. It's not just the Johnlockers who cannot let go...

Arcadia, You were much wiser than I was, lol! I was certainly angry, but not saddened. No tv show can do this to me. But once I researched the subject, I was sad for all those Johnlockers who went into a depression after S4 was aired. To some degree they had set up themselves for a deep fall and developed something which had all the hallmarks of a cult - but I felt sad for them nevertheless. I agree that the quality difference between the first and the third episode of S4 vs. the second episode (which I mostly liked - especially Sherlock's drugged Henry IV's declamations ), was puzzling. Btw, since you mentioned the second episode: I found it extremely strange that they introduced this revolutionary drug, where you forget everything which has just been told you - and then it's never mentioned again! This initial scene isn't even especially relevant for solving the case. Maybe, this is something they intended originally to use more and never got around to?

J.P. I totally agree that to those of us who wanted to solve puzzles (and who were promised by Moffat explicitly that it would be possible to solve certain mysteries like The Fall, by paying attention to all the little details), the show seemed to be cleverer than it actually was. And, yes, this made me angry, too Our expectations were probably too high, considering how complicated it is to put a show together over multiple seasons and how many people are involved. You just pointed out the set designer. Then there are the costume designers, the people behind the cameras, and many, many more. It's probably impossible to control all of them down to the t in order to make sure that all clues come together properly and add up to a complete picture. But my impression was that from some point onwards they haven't even tried anymore. However, as far as TJLC is concerned, I Just read an article from four years ago which analyses the claim of the Johnlockers - and I have to say that the evidence ist pretty darn convincing that Mofftiss at least toyed deliberately with a not so subtle subtext. The article is not written by a religious Johnlocker btw: https://reelrundown.com/movies/The-Johnlock-Conspiracy It's lengthy but give it a read. Fact is that most viewers who aren't gay, simply don't register many of the things, but gay people most certainly do. And since one of the writers is gay, it isn't believable that all of it it happened totally subconsciously. And the set designer had apparently some fun, too. Who knows, maybe, he is gay, too. There are some interesting comments, too. I mostly agree with the commenter named Liz, who says that the subtext is most likely deliberately there, but that the endgame never was Johnlock as canon, but that Mofftiss simply had fun to put this together in order to tease viewers and encourage certain headcanons. Turns out, she was right.

Arcadia, thanks for your thoughts! I agree with you that S4 felt totally rushed and nothing was developed properly. While I still would've resented the introduction of a character with mental superpowers and Sherlock's amnesia re: his own sister, it's also true that the the introduction of this idea wasn't very skillful and could not take hold properly. And there are soo many loose ends and unanswered questions in the fourth season...you could well be right and for some reason the fourth and the fifth season have been collapsed to a certain degree.

I truly wonder what kind of plans Mofftiss really had for a fifth season! Where did they intend to take the show? Whether we liked S4 or not - the overall arc of the story feels very complete. And yet, Mofftiss did say that they actually had mapped out a fifth season. This isn't just wishful thinking of those who still believe that Johnlock may become canon eventually. I'm not sure if I even want any more seasons. For my personal taste the fourth season has done too much damage to the overall Sherlock brand since certain plot developments cannot be reversed. I'm talking specifically about the last minute introduction of a long lost sister with mental superpowers who has been deleted from Sherlock's memory due to childhood trauma. While I could certainly ignore that I didn't like the overall concept of S4 and hope for better episodes, Eurus' character would still be very much present. A character with such a massive influence who is still very much alive, has to be dealt with and cannot be ignored in future installments. And I totally resent the way Eurus' character has been introduced and designed. To introduce a long lost sibling isn't bad per se, and there were many hints and foreshadowing in previous episodes, but I totally resent the notion that she is an antagonist with mental superpowers and that Sherlock has deleted her from his brain because of childhood trauma. IMO, both ideas are totally unrealistic even for today's tv show standards. They are far more suitable for the fantasy and superhero genre but not for a show about a detective, which should be at least fleetingly grounded in physical reality, lol! But Eurus is what she is. She's there now for better or worse, and I cannot see how this can be dealt with in a good way in future installments. And since she hasn't been killed off in the final episode, I have to assume that Mofftiss definitely had further plans for her character. Short of declaring that S4 was just a product of Sherlock's mind palace, I cannot see how Eurus could be plausibly integrated into future story arcs. Btw, I have nothing bad to say about Sian Brooke's acting. Like most of the other actors she was pretty brilliant. T.o.b.y, I can also understand your pov: you liked the fourth season and how it ended. And a finished product could well suffer if continued. I could list many examples where exactly that happened because the powers that be couldn't leave wonderful stories alone. It's not even a recent phenomenon. I love Marc Twain's Tom Sayer and Huckleberry Finn novels. Thankfully hardly anyone knows anymore that Marc Twain has written a couple of pretty terrible sequels where he apparently just used the names of his most famous protagonists for selling more books! I refuse to acknowledge that they even exist, lol! And while I'm not overly invested in the Star Wars saga, I can understand those, who refuse to acknowledge the plot developments of"The Last Jedi", although it's said to be actually a good movie If taken out of context. JK Rowling's "The Cursed Child" is another example. It's pretty awful not just in my opinion, and while she hasn't written it herself, JK Rowling participated in developing the story line and declared that the finished product is canon. Oh well... Speaking of which: JK Rowling ist also engulfed in a noisy controversy re: Albus Dumbledore's character and how he is and will be presented in the "Fantastic Beasts" movie franchise. Will he eventually be clearly shown as a gay man? Or will the Powers That Be just dance around the subject and drop subtle hints because of the perceived sensibilities of certain market sections? The LGBQ community has vocally demanded that Dumbledore should be shown unequivocally as gay. And since JK Rowling herself has declared that she always saw his character as gay, I have a lot of sympathy for this demand. If Dumbledore's creator saw him as gay, then they should not dance around this subject indefinitely. However, I'm not sure if it really helps the cause of the LGBQ community to explicitly show Dumbledore being in love with a psychopath and hitler-like sorcerer who is played by Johnny Depp! I cannot imagine that this is the kind of positive representation they have desired for so long...

Caya, I like your thoughts re: what could Mofftiss have done better, and how could the Johnlock disaster have been averted. I agree that a higher level of respect and empathy clearly would've helped. They may have unleashed the Johnlock movement unwittingly during the first two seasons, but there was enough time later to contemplate the fallout. I also used to belong to those who initially didn't really see a gay subtext. I used to chalk up all those more or less subtle jokes about John and Sherlock being in a gay relationship just as that - jokes which were designed to lampoon rash and prejudiced judgements. But when I started to read the wealth of evidence gathered by Johnlockers (TAB is apparently choc-full of subtle queer allusions and clues - going into detail would result in another lengthy treatment, but I will try to find my main source again), I eventually had to admit that they had at least sometimes a point and that I simply could not read the subtext - well because I'm not gay and I don't know many openly gay people. But I couldn't dismiss out of hand a lot of the gathered evidence. And since Marc Gatiss is openly gay and happily married to another man, I have a hard time to believe that Mofftiss were totally oblivious of how certain groups could and eventually would react to Sherlock. My best guess atm is that Mofftiss simply had impish fun with creating a certain amount of ambiguity and misdirection. They did the same after all with clues pointing into all sorts of directions as far as the plot mechanics of the mystery are concerned. And this very common technique of script writers allowed them to keep things open for going into all sorts of directions in future installments. Again, that's totally normal for mapping out and writing multi-season tv-show scripts. And while I believe Mofftiss' assertions that they never truly intended to make Johnlock canon, I have the suspicion that they loved flirting and teasing with this possibility, and that they may have thought, the LGBQ community would be satisfied with being gifted the possibility for developing their own head canon. But even with more empathy and awareness of the mindset of certain LGBQ factions it's hard to say if the TJLC disaster could've been totally avoided. This movement developed eventually an almost religious life of it's own, and from a certain point onwards everything Mofftiss said or did was seen as confirmation of their specific theories.

Hello, and thanks all lot for all your reactions to my lengthy comment. And sorry for not answering to your subsequent thoughts and contributions. I had subscribed this thread but for some reason I never received a feedback and was under the impression that this thread had remained inactive I will go through all your nice answers and will try to respond. Let me just say that I'm very happy for fans like T.o.b.y, who liked the fourth season just fine. I just voiced my personal discontent, and tastes and preferences vary wildly after all. This per se doesn't merit my lengthy comment and I probably won't go to another thread in order to rant about S4. No use to cry over spilled milk, lol - although it's interesting to speculate why the makers decided to take Sherlock into that particular direction and the possibility of an interplay between fandom and makers. But I was really a bit shocked when I discovered that TJLC is a movement which continues to this day. It's probably too easy to dismiss this as just being delusional, because it indicates a real need for positive representation of certain communities. For them it was a real tragedy that Sherlock didn't deliver the desired endgame. But I think that the remedy can never be the chasing of an illusion...

Sorry for the solitary emoji. I tried to edit this comment, and the emoji was all that remained. My editing program doesn't work very well...

😉

Hi all, I haven't posted in quite a while because I belong to the not so small group of Sherlock fans who were so disappointed with S4 and especially the final episode, that I'm almost tempted to call myself a former fan. I haven't forgotten, though, how nice and civil the discussions have been here. Kudos to everyone involved here! And I have discovered recently that for some fans TJLC is still very much alive! I won't go into detail why I was to disappointed with S4. It would take too long and would be off-topic. I've had my say in Januar 2017 anyway. Now I want to talk about TJLC. I belong to those who were totally indifferent to the shipping issue and had no dog in that particular race. So, Johnlock not having become canon hasn't been an issue for me personally and while I disliked almost everything about TFP, the very end and the place in their relationship where John and Sherlock found themselves, was fine with me. I knew of course about Johnlock and the fandom of that specific ship, but I only learned about TJLC shortly before the last episode was aired - and I was very disturbed by the debth of time consuming and emotional investment. The material which was gathered and the academic treatment, which sometimes had the quality of a high quality PhD thesis,was impressive and mind boggling. And my heart was aching for those who had invested their souls in this theory because it was fairly obvious that they had set themselves up for one of the biggest disappointments of their lives. I can totally understand their yearning for some form of positive representation. But Mofftiss had shot down Johnlock as end game so frequently and sincerely, that it was obvious (at least to me) that it really would not happen. In this instance at least the creators had not lied. And yet - after having gone through the wealth of material gathered by TJLC proponents I have to admit that the "loudest subtext in the history of tv" is not a figment of their wishful imagination. It's plainly there. And while every single point can be interpreted ambigously, the sheer amount of ambigous clues cannot be dismissed as totally coincidental. While Mofftiss shot down Johnlock as canon many times, they continued to add ambiguos implications until the very end - which is unfortunate IMO. Why did they so this? I think that the accuations of queer-bating cannot be dismissed out of hand. All the gay jokes were totally funny and offen very intelligent in the beginning. But they became a bit stale over the years. And Mofftiss must've been eventually fully aware of a certain sub-set of the fandom and their specific expectations. Why didn't they tone down the gay subtext considerably? The show would've been none the worse for it. Maybe, Mofftiss simply underestimated certain fandom reactions and became a bit tone deaf in the wake of the show's huge popularity. I will come back to Mofftiss and their somewhat antagonistic relationship with the Sherlock fandom later. I don't know if a slight tone shift would have done the trick, though, since TJLC eventually became a quasi-religious movement, and the members started to interpret everything as an affirmation of what they believed to be the true end game. And the most amazing and very disturbing thing: a considerable number of Johnlock fans still believe in this particular end game! How so? Well, one argument is, that the BBC didn't allow Mofftiss to go through with their grand plan. So, what did they do? They f..cked up S4 and specifically TFP deliberately and made it so ludicrous and over the top that it would be obvious to every intelligent fan, that S4 couldn't be taken seriously. Exibit A: of course the John-Locke (Marc Gatiss) portrait weeping bloody tears because Johnlock wasn't allowed to blossom openly! I have to admit there is some true ingeniousness in this argument, since I have also marveled how and why this initially so brilliant and intelligent show could go so off-the-rail and finish with an episode which felt less like the "brainy is the new sexy" Sherlock of the first two seasons, but more like a bad cross of James-Bond, Hannibal, Saw and Superhero movies with a liberal sprinkling of Shutter Island, and wasn't grounded anymore in at least a resemblance of physical laws. IMO Mofftiss truly and wholeheartedly jumped the shark - no, they lovingly embraced the shark, and the big question is: why?? I have no intelligent answer to this. But I was startled to discover that some TJLC proponents have taken the conspiracy to the next level: I read a very well researched 70plus page thesis which argued that S4 was just the fourth act of a five-act story arc, and that a fifth season was always mandatorily planned and mapped out from the very beginnining by Mofftiss. And S4 was deliberately bad and totally different from the other three seasons - well, because the fourth act of a drama is often the weakest. One cited example are the Hannibal novels by Thomas Harris, where the fourth installment is apparently so legendarily bad, that it's almost ridiculous. And according to the argument of this thesis Mofftiss set out to deliberately mirror the Hannibal novels - in order to right the ship in a powerful fifth season, where Johnlock would be finally be allowed to blossom and become canon! The scary thing is the high academic level and the amount of quality research which has gone into this thesis. It totally sucks you in - until you realize how unrealistic this line of thought really is. How likely is it that Mofftiss made S4 deliberately bad and totally "un-sherlocky" because their grand plan was all along to redeem themselves in a final fifth season, where Johnlock becomes canon - and everybody and their grandmother is totally okay with it because it feels absolutely right after the botched and implausible fourth season. If that really was the grand plan, then there was a very obvious glitch: there may not be a fifth season for a very long time, and a deliberately botched S4 certainly doesn't exactly help! I'm fairly certain that Sherlock will eventually be revisited. Maybe there will be a fully fledged fifth season, or there will be stand-alone episodes like TAB. But the sheer length and uncertainty of the downtime in between seasons doesn't allow the pursuit of a grand overall endgame anymore. And the majority of the more conventional fandom simply won't grasp the finicky differences between Kant-influenced and Hegel-influenced story arcs 😉 Meanwhile, the phenomenon and the vehement reactions of the TJLC community after S4 had been aired has attracted the attention of the social sciences, and they have become the subject of academic studies. This is an indication that we are looking at something which is more than the ordinary displeasure of certain fans with their favorite TV Show. So, what happened? My guess ist that after S2 Sherlock became such a huge media phenomenon that it was almost impossible to handle the expectations of the various fan factions. Not only The Johnlock shippers who had the clearest sociopolitical agenda, felt let down after all. Those brainiacs who had skillfully investigated every little apparently deliberately planted clue, in order to predict what would happen, felt equally let down because very little got ever fully and plausibly explained - although Mofftiss had clearly encouraged the fans initially to hunt for hidden clues. And like the true believers of the TJLC community, there are still people out in the Tumblr realm who continue to analyse clues and develop elaborate theories, just like in the good old times after TRF had been aired in 2012! And just like those who see clues for Johnlock-as-endgame everywhere, these remaining clue hunters are convinced that what they discover is real. And they are probably quite right to a certain degree. Yes, the clues are there sp- probably because the makers sprinkled them deliberately in order to be free to pursue a variety of different story lines later. This is a very common practice in script writing for multiple-season TV shows. The Problem with Sherlock was the huge surge in Popularität and fandom Activity after the second season. This led to so many speculations that someone must've eventually have come very close to the intended solutions - and Mofftiss reacted accordingly. In S3 they introduced selfawareness and a sort of half mocking fan service into the show. And they tried to beat everybody's expectations by evading all clear cut explanations and solutions. This is especially evident if we look at the three explanations of how Sherlock survived his fall, which have been offered and then immediately called into doubt in TEH. This introduced a certain amount of antagonism between Mofftiss and certain factions of the fandom. And I really believe it influenced their writing since they must've felt compelled to up the ante continuosly in order to stay unpredictable and stay one step ahead of those pesky fans and their many different demands, lol! The long downtime in between seasons may have had a very negative effect insofar as everybody - makers and fans alike - had too much time for evaluating and turning over every little detail. I think that in the end this wasn't conductive for developing a fully satisfying and well constructed story arc and may have also led to a certain tone deafness. There have been too many outside distractions and perceived interferences. Martin Freeman once alluded to this phenomenon and explained that this was a joy killer to a certain extent. It ist what it is. We still have many episodes of brilliant tv! Right now I don't feel a desire for a fifth season. But I know that I will watch if there will be new Sherlock episodeds. S4 ended in a way which allows the makers to take the show into all sorts of directions. An a hiatus of several years may be helpful and heeling. But I also would not be sad if there won't be any new episodes in the forseeable future. This is a distinct possibility because of the leading actors' jump into super stardom. Scheduling conflicts may be the greatest obstacle...

Ok, Carol, then it's all good As I said before I re-watched Christpher Nolan's movie about two duelling magicians lately. It's really astounding how many themes and ideas made it into RF and TEH. Even the enigmatic little rubber ball is there as a tool for escapes (although it's not perfectly clear how exactly the magician uses it, probably just for distraction ) . Mofftiss seem to be great fans of Nolan. The idea of planting an idea in someone's head for using and manipulating this person later (you can't kill an idea...) could be straight out of "Inception". If Mofftis are as sneaky as Nolan, this quote doesn't bode well for us fans: "Are you watching closely? Now you are looking for the secret. But you won't find it because of course,you're not really looking. You don't really want to work it out. You want to be fooled" Last words from "The Prestige" 2006, Christopher Nolan As I said before, I think Mofftiss DID tell us in TEH how Sherlock has done it. They aren't lying. They just hid the real solution very cleverly in all three versions from TEH. Like the magicians they want to be. But we're supposed to work it out. They don't serve us the real solution on a silver plate. I've no idea if they will ever spell it out, should my idea be correct. But they might serve up bits and pieces whenever it's relevant for the story line they're following. I will try to come up with a plausible narrative. Then my fellow Sherlockians are invited to "insult away". This site has helped me a lot already. There are many Sherlock fans btw who don't want to work it out. They want to be fooled. My sister who is a very clever woman never wanted to take part in my puzzle solving. She said she just wants to lay back, be surprised and enjoy. To a certain extent she might've more fun with the show.

No Carol, I didn't catch the Sherlock paranoia virus here, lol! I was infected already 2 years ago. And since Mofftiss have a record of misleading their suffering fans, I simply can't convince myself that the Lazarus solution is the best they could come up with and the last we will get re: The Fall. IMO there are too many things not adding up or being executed apparently with a lack of care. And the Moriarty tv appearance gives them a perfect reason to revisit the fall in season 4. Question: is it annoying or unsettling to my fellow Sherlockians if I post about my doubts? I could open up a new thread just for those who are still interested in the puzzle and think it might not have been solved yet. I can totally understand that most fans are really over it and want to move on. Meanwhile I could make do with an improved version of Lazarus. A little snazzy tune improves the scenario mightily ;) http://greencarnations.tumblr.com/post/72136012463/somebody-said-the-airbag-solution-scene-could-be

Sherlocked CAMPer, yes it could just be a funny coincidence. It probably is. It just struck me as odd that none of the 3 solutions - bogus or not - involved Sherlock's closest friend John or Lestrade, who as a police officer should be mighty interested in clearing this up. As to the Lazarus solution, I laid out a reason in my posts above, why it might've been recorded and told to Anderson, if Sherlock was interested in spreading misinformation.

Lazarus version is my term for the string of events Sherlock told Anderson. RF material is everything related to the fall which is shown in RF. Mofftiss said after the airing of RF they had already worked out and shot most of the scenes which explain how Sherlock did it. That makes sense. You have all the actors and extras, costumes and props in place. And you're less likely to run into continuity errors. The pool scene actually underlines my point. It was tricky to take up where they left us in TGG. And they did care and tried to create the illusion of a continuing action sequence at the pool from TGG to SiB. The peculiarity with the Lazarus version is that they apparently cared very little about that. It's one thing to overlook a tree with leafs in winter like in SiB. Can and does happen in many movies. But it's quite a different kettle of fish to shoot one of the most anticipated key sequences of the show so carelessly. And it IS jarring - at least to me. When I watched I had a feeling of constant unrealness - an unrealness besides the Big Blue. I couldn't quite put my finger on it - until I realized they had filmed at a different season of the year. To be aware of such problems, especially with re-shoots or pick-up shoots is stuff they teach you at film school. I've read about directors who put artificial leafs on trees in order to avoid this kind of continuity error. Now, I don't expect them to go to that length in a tv show. But they could've easily used CGI or tried to avoid the trees alltogether. Or they could've simply used the material they had alledgedly shot during season 2, which according to Mofftiss showed how Sherlock had done it. And they didn't do that. The Lazarus version is a mixture of new scenes they shot during season 3 plus material from season 2 which we have seen already in RF. The Lazarus version contains almost nothing shot during season two we haven't seen already in RF. There's a whole post about the so-called missing material in http://finalproblem.tumblr.com/tagged/the-empty-fall To wrap this up: One can explain all this with super carelessness, which would really disappoint me, considering that it's one of the most important scenes in the show. Or we can work with the idea that the continuity breaks (and there are more than just the trees) might be there deliberately. Because they want to point out this is one version in Sherlock's mind - which mustn't be necessarily completely true. Like the other two versions which play out in Andersons mind, when he tells Lestrade the bungee theory and when he listens to the version of his female club member who doesn't want to wear hats. Interesting observation on the side: Anderson is present and involved in all three solutions offered in TEH.

Here are two links to a treasure of a tumblr for all of you who still want to puzzle. The tumblr lady did many well argued posts on Lazarus in her theory section. You have to work your way backwards to find the relevant posts. She also did a lot of interesting stuff on Mary and Moran, which is worth a look. I don't always agree with her. IMO her original proposal of how Sherlock did it was even worse than Lazarus. But that doesn't diminish at all her other great and exact work with a lot of pictures for clarity. Here are the links: http://finalproblem.tumblr.com/tagged/sherlock-theories and more specific about the pavement blood continuity problem, I've mentioned above.: http://finalproblem.tumblr.com/post/72216672034/lazarus-solution-continuity-issue-blood-on-the

I know that they did reshoots for the pool scene - can't remember all the reasons for that. I think Mofftiss said that the actors had visibly aged and changed within two years (Benedict says that, too in the commentary), and it wasn't credible anymore to use the same scene they had shot for TGG. Which shows that they DO care about continuity - sometimes, lol! They didn't have this problem in season 3 since there was a time lapse of 2 years in the story. I wonder how they'll deal with it in season 4? They can't have another time jump since the Moriarty gif conundrum has to be dealt with immediately. I guess we just have to accept and overlook age induced differences. What strikes me as significant in the Lazarus version is the fact that they apparently didn't use anything from the unaired material they alledgedly shot during the making of season 2. All we get is footage which has already been shown in RF. Someone claimed there was one short and pretty insignificant scene, which might've been unaired old footage.

I remember interviews with directors who talked about the difficulties of doing re-shoots after a certain time lapse, and how tedious it is to reproduce every little detail. It's definitely something directors are acutely aware of. So , it's something they rather avoid if possible.

Carol, that they cut some trees doesn't matter a whole lot. The other trees are still leafless and place Lazarus in a different season. And the huge question remains, why they didn't use simply material they had alledgedly shot in season 2. If the trees got cut down, they should've been extra aware of possible continuity errors. And outdoor shooting in big cities, especially with lots of extras is expensive. Why do it all over again?

Remember, most of the Lazarus material was shot for Season 3. By then Mofftiss & Co would definitely expect that detailed attention level from many fans. They've seen us speculating up a storm for two years after all. And they encouraged it by telling us all the relevant clues are there. Which incidentally rises the dvd sales... ;) So I have a hard time believing Lazarus wasn't constructed very carefully, even if they slip up now and then elsewhere.

J.P and Arcadia, it's true there are other continuity errors. It's fiction after all. You can never be sure what's a clue and what's a mistake - and that's quite frustrating ;) But I think concerning the Lazarus tale the mistakes and implausibilities really add up. And why did they shoot so much new material in the first place? It costs time and money - especially an outdoor shooting with lots of extras. Why didn't they just use the material they had alledgedly shot in Season 2? Also, shouldn't such an important part of the show as this narrative be constructed with extra care? And the different season isn't the only discrepancy in Sherlock's tale. I mentioned a few, but there are more. I will come to that separately.

Many of us Sherlockians were mystified by Sherlock going to Anderson and telling him of all people, how he did (or didn't do) it. And it's indeed puzzling. If Sherlock told Anderson the truth it's strange. As I said above, why couldn't he tell John or Lestrade? If Sherlock let Anderson record a bunch of lies, it's still strange. Sherlock can be cruel and insensitive without being aware of it. But why would he intentionally mess with Anderson for no reason - the only guy who still believed in Sherlock and founded The Empty Hearse? And Anderson's Empty Hearse might actually provide the answer: If Sherlock's recorded narrative was meant for someone else besides Anderson, I'd guess it was for the other members or one other member of The Empty Hearse. Remember, The Empty Hearse was a bunch of people who not only speculated about Sherlock still being alive, they also looked for telltale signs of his whereabouts. Now, if I were part of Moriarty's network and noticed that someone was dismantling it, I would apply immediately for membership in Anderson's club! I would try to infiltrate it in order to learn more. If Sherlock suspected a mole in The Empty Hearse and wanted to feed him false information it definitely makes sense to have it recorded by Anderson. The Empty Hearse didn't dissolve btw after Sherlock's return. They are still working in HLV, doing the inofficial drugs bust in Sherlock's appartment. That would be a very comfortable position for a mole.

I think we could explore Sherlock's "It's a magic trick" some more. I've watched recently a live show of a fairly famous magician, and I re-watched Christopher Nolan's deceptive movie "The Prestige". Mofftiss clearly borrowed from existing magic tricks, and they really pilfered "The Prestige" for ideas. Sherlock and Moriarty can be seen as duelling magicians, who try to best each other, like Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale in the movie. Hugh Jackman's character even says "I've beaten you", when he visits Christian Bale's character in jail after he had successfully framed him for murder - like Moriarty on the roof, when he has turned Sherlock publicly into a fraud. Also, it's never quite clear in the movie if the narrative the audience gets presented with is what really happened. Much of the film's plot is presented to us through diaries both magicians wrote - where they deliberately tampered with the truth because they anticipated that the other would read it. There's a very interesting thread for those who want to explore the movie some more. http://taylorholmes.com/2009/08/the-prestige-explained I think it's worth to remember that Sherlock's version of events is recorded - much like the magicians' misleading tales in a diary. I'd conclude there's a good reason for this. There must be another intended audience or recipient than Anderson. But if Sherlock told the truth, why of all people would he go to Anderson instead of John (I'm assuming here that Mycroft knows what happened) or Lestrade? One reason could be that Sherlock has some ulterior reason to tell a bunch of half truths intended for someone else besides Anderson, and he doesn't want to tell John more lies. He has seen now how hard his first deception hit John. But is there a hint in Sherlock's recorded version, that he's manipulating the truth? Something besides the jarring Big Blue? I think, we can all agree that the version we saw in RF is the truth, even if they cleverly hid the mechanisms of Sherlock's faked death. It's mostly straight story telling through nobody's eyes - with two notable exceptions. I will cover them later. So, if we find something in Sherlock's narrative to Anderson, which is notably different than what we see in RF I would conclude that Sherlock isn't telling the truth. And I found a few very interesting differences: While Sherlock tells Anderson his version of RF we are privvy to the "film" in Sherlock's head. And there are indeed a few things which aren't compatible with what we saw in RF: There's the blood on the pavement for example. In RF we get a shot of Sherlock's body from above, which shows his head lying in a blood puddle BEFORE the helpers come and do the window dressing. But in Sherlock's Lazarus version there's no blood on the pavement - until he lies down and gets blood squirted over his face. There are more little thing, and you could chalk them up as continuity errors. But there's one that can't be expained away as a mistake IMO: When I saw Lazarus first, I was struck by the difference of atmoshere and light between RF and Lazarus. And then it hit me: Lazarus felt so different because the narrative in Sherlock's head is set in a different season of the year! In RF all the trees have leafs. But there are no leafs on the trees in Lazarus! Some might still explain this away with a very crass continuity error and the restricted timing of the shooting. But I don't think that works. They could've easily filmed Lazarus without showing us any trees. And Mofftiss said repeatedly they had filmed already most of the material for the real RF solution when they shot RF - which makes sense. This way you can avoid continuity errors like the missing leafs. That's basic stuff for a good director. But the material we get from RF for Sherlock's Lazarus tale are only scenes we've seen already in RF - like Jim whipping out his pistol and portions of Sherlock's jump. We get lot's of new material - which can be easily made out by the difference of light and season. But we hardly get anything which was shot two years earlier and we haven't seen before. Since they had a Big Blue Pillow at the set of RF, as pictures from fans show - obviously they needed it for the stunts - it's very hard to explain why they shot new material with all these continuity errors. Unless this is a hint that what we see in Sherlock's head as the Lazarus version isn't the full truth! If one makes things up it's normally a mixture of invention and truth. You make things up with the material in your head right now. So, why would Sherlock's version take place in autumn or winter when RF obviously happened in spring or summer? I think, he simply took the season of the moment when he talks to Anderson as a background for the film in his head. And that was around Guy Fawkes Day in autumn. He also populates some parts of his homeless helpers with images of persons who have been recently on his mind but who clearly don't belong to the homeless network: Most notably is the woman with the bullterrier, who is introduced to us in a photo as one of Sherlock's rats. But we see her later as a helper for staging Lazarus. Sherlock must've made that up! There are a few other thing which don't match with the material from RF, but for me the different season is the most important thing. Even if Mofftiss had changed their minds and wanted all new material they still could've come up with shots without trees. I'm not ready to chalk up all these inconsistencies as blatant errors and mistakes. Back to poor Anderson: He only listens to Sherlock's narrative and isn't privvy to Sherlock's mind. He doesn't have the chance to discover all those discrepancies. Thus we can hardly blame him for grudgingly accepting Sherlock's tale - if he ever does. He seems to change his mind quickly ;)

I saw that some of you are still discussing the fall in Reichenbach revisited. I will move over, since my last few posts here don't cover the IOU code cracking. But if the Cinderella explanation holds up then we have already discovered one thing in RF which might get eventually picked up in S 4. I really think it's worth to keep looking and not giving up on the fall just yet.

Arcadia, I've not the foggiest idea, if they will adress the fall again. From an artistic POV it wouldn't be advisable since most fans are simply over it and have moved on. The momentum is gone. On the other hand this rather brilliant show which presented the fans with a wonderful puzzle left them with a really uninspired and crappy solution with many loose ends. Just look what we discussed in this thread. I'm sure Joalro cracked the IOU code, which they constructed so nicely - and they didn't have the decency to address it again. So as far as this is concerned the show loses either way IMO. IF they adress the fall again it should better be relevant for future developments. I can see some openings there. By giving us the Moriarty gif as their latest cliffhanger, they set up a possibility for looking back, since they have to explain if he's dead or alive. Mycroft is clearly stunned by Jim's (or whoever has done it) tv comeback. The next thing he would do is ask Sherlock as soon as he steps out of the plane if there's the slightest possibility of Jim being alive. Sherlock watched him die after all. So, there's definitely a possibility to make the fall relevant again. But you're so right, they always do the unexpected...