Speculation: How Did Sherlock Do It?

[bborchar]

I'm not sure we (or John) could say for sure whether we're seeing blood from that angle and distance or not.

 

Later on, the pool of blood is mostly under and right next to Sherlock's head, and in the shot above, the head is casting a shadow in roughly the same area that would make it difficult to discern the color.  The only time the blood is fairly obvious is in the close-up shots when John finally arrives.

 

It's not so obvious in the view from the roof as Sherlock is hauled off on the stretcher.  In fact, at least two people (including me) posted the "missing blood" online as a continuity error, not realizing that the blood looked merely dark in the overhead shot, and was mostly confined to one paving stone (apparently set a bit lower than its neighbors), so it just looked like the stone itself was darker.

 

^This.  Plus we don't know exactly how long John is down...is it real time or do they slow it down?  I don't know what the ringing sound is, I just always assumed it was a sort of sound effect to make us "hear" what he's hearing, like ringing in his ears from getting knocked down.

[Liselle]

 

I don't know what the ringing sound is, I just always assumed it was a sort of sound effect to make us "hear" what he's hearing, like ringing in his ears from getting knocked down.

 

 

I also thought this might be what it was.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Yeah, that's what I assumed till someone said it might be an actual telephone.  Could be either.  Or something else entirely!

 

[bborchar]

Yeah, that's what I assumed till someone said it might be an actual telephone.  Could be either.  Or something else entirely!

 

I just don't know how a ringing telephone would be important at that moment.

[Julia Mae]

 

I also thought this might be what it was.

 

 

Nice avatar, there, Liselle.   It's not ringing in the ears.  I'm putting money on it.

 

[Liselle]

 

Nice avatar, there, Liselle.

 

 

Thanks! It's one of the ones that somebody made and posted here for people to use; I'm terribly sorry but I don't remember who made it I love it though, so thank you very much to whoever did

[Carol the Dabbler]

When Sherlock asks Moriarty for a moment alone, and Moriarty walks away, you can hear a very faint sound, similar to the click of a telephone call being answered, and then a woman's voice saying what sounds like 'Hello?'.

 

We (re)watched the end of "Reichenbach" tonight, and yup, there's definitely something there.  After Moriarty walks away, we see Sherlock looking more or less straight ahead for a short time, then as he's taking a breath, his eyes drop to look a bit downward.  He takes second breath, and right around the time of his third breath is when the sounds occur.

 

There's a "click" type of sound, then what could be a voice saying something brief.  If it's actually a voice, then it's a woman's voice -- it's in that frequency range.

 

It's not at all obvious.  We had to turn the volume up from our usual 50 to 75 or so, and then concentrate on the audio.  But we both heard it, several times.  And neither of us has what you'd call excellent hearing.

 

But you can discount this if you like, Julia Mae, because what we were watching it on was our Region 2 DVD -- which may explain why you're not hearing those sounds on your Region 1 DVD.  Reading back over the last few pages of this thread, though, I see where you (I think it was you, please don't make me find it again!) say that you've heard the "please hurry" (or whatever it was) at the candy factory only once.  Well, these sounds require roughly that level of attention.

 

[Liselle]

Yay, someone else heard it!!!
 

I'm thinking though that if it really is a clue, it's a bit unfair if it only appears on certain types of DVDs. So maybe it's not a clue. But then it seems to be one so much, for lots of reasons: it sounds like Molly's voice, it makes sense in the story (Sherlock secretly ringing Molly as some sort of signal), Sherlock looks down like Carol said (possibly to quickly look at his phone to make sure he's calling the right number)...

[Carol the Dabbler]

Maybe it's sort of an extra clue -- not essential for figuring things out and/or understanding the eventual explanation, but just a bit of special fun if you happen to notice it.

 

One thing that's been frequently mentioned here is the richness of detail in Sherlock, in all sort of areas -- maybe even clues!

 

[Liselle]

I know; there's just so much to try and decipher

And even as much as we've picked it apart already, I bet there's still a bunch of stuff we've missed

[Carol the Dabbler]

Oh, yeah!  I just wonder how many of the clues we're so proud of figuring out are actually red herrings!

 

[Liselle]

If Sherlock actually existed, he'd have figured it all out from the first time he saw the episode and he'd be rolling his eyes in despair at how dumb we all are

[bborchar]

Moffat said:

 

"But at the same time, as Mark keeps saying, there are really only a limited number of ways he can do this.  He's got to interrupt his fall before he hits the pavement.  Short of developing a superpower, which we haven't ruled out."

 

 

He fell on something.  I think people are trying to make it out to be more complicated than it could possibly be.

[Julia Mae]

 

When Sherlock asks Moriarty for a moment alone, and Moriarty walks away, you can hear a very faint sound, similar to the click of a telephone call being answered, and then a woman's voice saying what sounds like 'Hello?'.

 

But you can discount this if you like, Julia Mae, because what we were watching it on was our Region 2 DVD -- which may explain why you're not hearing those sounds on your Region 1 DVD.  Reading back over the last few pages of this thread, though, I see where you (I think it was you, please don't make me find it again!) say that you've heard the "please hurry" (or whatever it was) at the candy factory only once.  Well, these sounds require roughly that level of attention.

 

 

Nonono!  I wasn't discounting anything, ever.  Honest!  I was sure Liselle heard what she said, just equally sure it didn't make it to the American version. 

 

I am semi-certain (okay - I know - like being a "little bit" pregnant) it is a difference of technology.  I'm really glad you could hear something, because I worked as hard as I could to hear anything and it's just not there.  But now that you have pinpointed the "location" - I'm going to go back and see if there is, perhaps, anything there that would indicate editing out of a sound.  I love that you have a Region 2 DVD to have tested this on.

 

All I concluded was that it isn't any sort of clue or something intentionally written in.

 

OKAY -  HOLD THE PHONE

 

Online, at a volume so high it hurt my ears, is ... not a whole word, but something that does sound like a partial syllable from a human voice.  Or, a bit of insect buzzing, like a split-second of mosquito whine.    Or .. something.  It's just before he smiles and laughs, just where Carol said.  And there's not so much a click, as - it sounds like what happens when you cut a soundtrack, if anyone here has done that.  When it's done roughly, it's a click.  When it's done better it's just a - sort of audio rough spot.

 

I'm sure this must be an artefact of what Liselle seems to have clearly heard as a whole word. 

 

 

[Liselle]

 

 He's got to interrupt his fall before he hits the pavement..."

 

That certainly sounds like a big hint that however he did it, it involved falling onto something, like you said, bborchar. Which, really, is a given. I mean, the only other solution would be that it wasn't Sherlock who jumped off the roof (very unlikely).

 

I wish I could find a youtube clip of the clicking noise and the 'hello', but I can't find one unfortunately

[Julia Mae]

 

 I mean, the only other solution would be that it wasn't Sherlock who jumped off the roof (very unlikely).

 

 

There is another solution: Sherlock jumped (possibly not a very long distance) and so did something else that looked like Sherlock falling and hitting the pavement.  The dummy Sherlock was removed while John was on the ground and the real Sherlock took it's place.   This theory accounts for reality.

 

Mofftiss has never been too concerned for reality, however.

[Liselle]

But if that was the case, the real Sherlock would still have had to fall onto something, right?

[Carol the Dabbler]

Nonono!  I wasn't discounting anything, ever.  Honest!  I was sure Liselle heard what she said, just equally sure it didn't make it to the American version.

 

I know you were.  I just meant that since ours is a Region 2 DVD, what we heard doesn't say anything about what is or is not on the Region 1 DVDs.  So you could discount that as evidence.

 

Online, at a volume so high it hurt my ears, is ... not a whole word, but something that does sound like a partial syllable from a human voice.  Or, a bit of insect buzzing, like a split-second of mosquito whine.    Or .. something.  It's just before he smiles and laughs, just where Carol said.  And there's not so much a click, as - it sounds like what happens when you cut a soundtrack

 

That's a fair description of what I heard.  It's so nearly subliminal that the difference in descriptions could come down to individual variation in hearing acuity (and I will point out that according to Liselle's profile page, her ears are way younger than yours or mine).  It could have been a click and a voice, or it could have been an artifact.  It's just too faint for me to tell the difference.

 

[Liselle]

I will point out that according to Liselle's profile page, her ears are way younger than yours or mine

 

In actual fact, I only have 70% hearing When I was young, I only had about 40%, and couldn't really hear or understand people unless they spoke loudly. Then I had an operation when I was about 5 which gave me much better hearing, but I still struggle sometimes, especially if two or more sounds are at the same tone or pitch. Then they just cancel each other out and I don't hear anything at all. Like if there's a room full of people and they're all talking at a similar volume, it either sounds like a jumble or some of it gets cancelled out completely. I can't always pick out individual voices.

[Carol the Dabbler]

... I still struggle sometimes, especially if two or more sounds are at the same tone or pitch. Then they just cancel each other out and I don't hear anything at all. Like if there's a room full of people and they're all talking at a similar volume, it either sounds like a jumble or some of it gets cancelled out completely. I can't always pick out individual voices.

 

Oh, I hate that sort of situation!  Or white noise.  Or movies with a loud music track.  I have good hearing for individual noises, but any kind of competing noise (especially, as you say, in the same frequency range) makes it hard for me to understand voices.  It's been that way for me most of my life.

 

[Julia Mae]

But if that was the case, the real Sherlock would still have had to fall onto something, right?

 

Maybe.  I've never had a problem with Sherlock falling onto something.   In reality (as I said, not Mofftiss long suit) you can't put the large inflatable behind that building so that Sherlock can fall onto it, deflate it and hide it and not have the assassins who were watching for Sherlock to fall and be dead not see it.   This would also contradict Moffat who said that the viewers could figure it out from what they saw. 

 

We didn't see anything for Sherlock to fall into.  We did see a body, or something that appeared to be a body, in a Sherlock-coat hit the pavement headfirst.

 

We also saw a panoramic sweep of the rooftop when Sherlock gets there.  What was on the roof?  An access ladder leading down, on the courtyard side.  I'm not saying he must have used it, I'm saying there's more than one way off a roof. 

 

Logically there is no reason to believe John Watson saw Sherlock fall.  If you go back and watch again, after John gets back to the point where Sherlock tells him to stop and look up, we never see the Sherlock he is looking at move ever again.  The coat moves, but the figure, so far away the face cannot be distinguished, doesn't.

 

Moffat is certainly  capable of writing some scenario whereby Sherlock leaps off the roof in John's view and falls onto a big blue balloon.   After all, he admits he's made Sherlock a "rubbish detective" and Watson a "rubbish doctor" so why not a rubbish explanation?

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

It seems to me that saying we've seen everything we need to know does not necessarily mean that we've seen everything that was involved, merely that we've seen enough to deduce the rest.

 

If the assassins could see Sherlock fall onto the Bouncy Castle, they could also see him shinny down the ladder or whatever.  I think the same objection makes just about any explanation kind of untenable, so hopefully they'll show some explanation for that.

 

And if it wasn't Sherlock that we and John saw falling, then who was it?  Dummies and dead bodies don't wave their arms and legs.

 

I'm currently still in the Bouncy Castle camp.

 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

I'm torn between the bouncy house camp and the truck full of garbage bags full of giant stuffed teddy bears.

[bborchar]

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I mean, the only other solution would be that it wasn't Sherlock who jumped off the roof (very unlikely).

 

 

There is another solution: Sherlock jumped (possibly not a very long distance) and so did something else that looked like Sherlock falling and hitting the pavement. The dummy Sherlock was removed while John was on the ground and the real Sherlock took it's place. This theory accounts for reality.

 

Mofftiss has never been too concerned for reality, however.

The original canon wasn't exactly rooted in reality, either. Fiction doesn't have to be.

[Carol the Dabbler]

I'm torn between the bouncy house camp and the truck full of garbage bags full of giant stuffed teddy bears.

 

Actually, I consider the teddy-bear theory and the bouncy-castle theory to be essentially the same -- as opposed to the camps that don't believe that Sherlock actually fell at all.