Speculation: How Did Sherlock Do It?

[Carol the Dabbler]

The easier the explanation, the greater the "Oh! Of course!"-reaction, while still being believable.

I hadn't thought of that. You've made an excellent point, from the dramatic point of view. I was thinking more in "real-life" terms -- the simpler the method, the more likely it is to work, therefore simple is logical, and Sherlock is a logical man.

 

 

Oh, no. Sorry. I must have expressed it confusingly (happens a lot with me ). No, there isn't a laser on Sherlock. At least I haven't found it yet. But ... The sun shines on Sherlock's face ... so we ... can't see Sherlock's face clearly. ... But what else could Moriarty see, that makes him think he lost the game, unless he kills himself?

 

The crucial thing is: What is Moriarty's weakness?

Oh, I'm so glad that I'm not the only one who has trouble explaining things clearly! Sometimes I think I've constructed the perfect sentence, and then it turns out that I've completely overlooked a horrendous ambiguity.

 

Sherlock has just assured Moriarty that he is NOT an angel, and Moriarty realizes that Sherlock is perfectly capable of torturing him in a way that would make Mycroft's methods look like love pats. I suspect that -- like most bullies -- Moriarty is a physical coward. That is his weakness. He knows that Sherlock could force the recall code out of him. So he stops himself from divulging it in the only way he can think of.

 

 

... when Moriarty ... kills himself before Sherlock can threaten to be killed (and convince Moriarty to stop the whole thing), then Moriarty can't call off the killers, ... And then Sherlock has to jump, to protect his friends. But the theory is not perfect. ... The main problem is: when Sherlock is killed by his own sniper, what would make Moriarty call off the killers? Nothing. So Moriarty must know Sherlock is only bluffing. ... ... Well, I still have to work on this theory.

Right -- Sherlock can't protect his friends by being shot, only by jumping. I had my brain tied up in so many knots that I had lost sight of that crucial fact! And I think we're all still working on theories! I do like the idea of Sherlock hiring his own sniper, though. We just need to figure out how it fits in.

[SherLOCKED221]

Like Sherlock, Moriarty has a hard time accepting that he's not perfect.

He has never lost and no one (except Sherlock) has yet to meet his challenge.

Being so intelligent (at least in the criminal aspect) he believes everyone is stupid.

In the words of Rita (Idiocracy) "You think Einstein walked around thinking' everyone was a bunch of dumb sh*ts?"

In fact I myself cannot recall any instance in which he has lost!

Therefore the prospect of actually loosing caused Moriarty to do something drastic, killing himself; and in his twisted mind he has the last laugh and can never loose.

"Go out on a high point" and all that. Now (if Sherlock was really dead) he'll go down in history as the first, and only, consulting criminal that beat the police.

Infamy like Bonny and Clyde etc.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Good analogy, Bonnie & Clyde (though I suspect Moriarty would consider them to have been several levels below his august self). But that sort of fame, right -- not just getting away with a crime (lots of completely ordinary criminals have done that), but making the police look like spectacular fools.

 

Also, despite his Sherlock-is-a-fraud hoax, Moriarty knows that Sherlock is very real, so in his own mind (which is presumably all that he really cares about), he's the only person who ever beat Sherlock Holmes.

[DroopyB]

Just finished watching episode on Netfilx, and it is pretty simple actually.

 

Earlier in the scene, when he looks down, you see a homeless person with a large bag at a bench at the base of the building.

He ensures John stays in a specific spot when he is talking to him, even asking him to back up at one point.

He coordinates with Molly earlier in the episode, she works in the morgue.

 

The homeless person sets up an air bag for him to fall on. It is then deflated and removed (which is why John gets knocked over by bicycle). Sherlock places himself on pavement with some blood. Perhaps some medications to slow his reperation and heart rate. Molly revives him in the morgue.

 

Elementary.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Or the homeless people unloaded the truck full of trash bags on the side walk and once Sherlock fell onto them threw them all back onto the truck?

[Carol the Dabbler]

Hello, DroopyB -- welcome to Sherlock Forum!

 

There seem to be two camps when it comes to this speculation -- simple and straightforward (since doing it right is hard enough), and complex extrapolation from bits of dialog. I do enjoy some of the extrapolations for their sheer imagination, but I'm a member of the simple camp. While you and I disagree on some details (see my earlier posts), we're basically in agreement.

 

I've never noticed the big bag that you mention -- will have to keep an eye out for it next time I watch the episode!

[JessieBlackwood]

Rewatched Reichenbach this weekend and haven't seen it since it aired. Not sure about the laser pointer thing. I never noticed it in the roof scene. Shall have to watch yet again (what a chore...)

 

However, I really wouldn't put it past Sherlock to have worked out the height of the roof, the wind speed, the drag his coat would cause and various other factors and worked out the survivability of a fall. The news report on his suicide on John's Blog had a single line about unusually high winds experienced in Scotland. You can see it on the Blog. It's a throw away but the things in this series are not usually meaningless. There is quite a lot of imagery and themes which are recurrent.

 

Now, my speculations may have been made before but please indulge me. I really haven't read many speculations on what happened so I might sound like I'm a bit slow here.

 

Watching Reichenbach again, did Sherlock work out if a fall was survivable? If you attend to someone who has died, you usually cover the body. Hells bells, they've been free enough with shock blankets that there would be one available here to cover the body but they didn't. Which implies he's alive. John just thinks he couldn't feel a pulse, but he was concussed enough not to be coherent. Besides the pulse from the wrist is the first to fade after a trauma as blood is drawn within to keep the major organs going, which is why when you administer first aid to someone who is unresponsive you feel for a pulse at the throat, not the wrist.

 

Jim Moriarty said he was bored, he'd solved the final problem, he'd managed to take Sherlock out of the picture but in so doing he would have to go back to dealing with boring people. "Stayin alive, its so boring isn't it, its just staying... All my life I've been searching for distractions...and now I've beaten you." Its all a fairy tale, illusion, not real. All it takes is willing participants.

 

Sherlock said it himself. Hide a lie in the truth and it becomes much more convincing. Illusion and mirrors figure highly in all of this.

 

Assuming Mycroft is in on it, he could easily find a private hospital for Sherlock to recuperate in and I figure that is what has taken the time for him to return, not finding Moriarty's web. I don't think there is a web at all. In each case, all it takes is simply two people, possibly three. Bear with me and I shall list...

 

Study in Pink:

Moriarty's name is seeded. Nothing more. His reputation begins to build. Moriarty uses other people.

 

Blind Banker:

Shan refers to M, and is killed by a sniper. The circus aludes to illusion and misdirection. Still only two people required and Moriarty is still using other people.

 

The Great Game:

With regard to Carl Powers peer group at school, there is mention made of all the living contemporaries checking out. Nobody mentioned those who were 'dead' did they?

The old lady describes a soft voice and the other abducted lady says she was snatched by two men.

So far, only two people have been needed to effect any of this. One might be military, sniper and explosives expert? When we meet Jim from IT, that is most likey true.

 

At the pool, there were multiple red dots. You could do this with mirrors and one person. Moriarty doesn't need to have been speaking to anyone, let alone anyone significant. The fact that Irene was shown with her phone, that doesn't mean it was her. The implication was there but all along we've had allusions to smoke and mirrors, illusions and lies.

 

Scandal:

Was it Sherlock who was the target here? What if all along it was Mycroft? He is powerful, close to the throne, with resourses we can guess at. For his brother to be discredited, what would the fall-out do to Mycroft's position?

 

Baskerville:

Again the hound was not real, we have another illusion. Smoke and mirrors again. Mycroft has Priority Ultra clearance for this stuff. He is both high up and powerful to have such high access. Is Mycroft the real target or a happy coincidence?

 

Reichenbach:

The Fall. Moriarty manipulated the witnesses, or so we are lead to believe. Sherlock is taken apart using his weaknesses against himself. Sherlock is the one to name his friends, and assume that they have killers trained on them. Moriarty implied it and Sherlock believed. Mycroft admits he hauled Moriarty in for questioning but Jim did not divulge anything. How could he, there was probably nothing to divulge.

 

So, no more than a few people, illusion and perhaps one trained sniper/explosives expert in the group. No vast web, nothing beyond people wanting to believe a manipulative man with the same problems as Sherlock. They are mirror images of each other. That's obviously what Moriarty meant when he says "You're me" on the roof. Moriarty is possibly what Sherlock would have become without John? What Donovan expected him to become. When Sherlock says "I created Moriarty" is he alluding to the fact that he created what he wanted to believe?

 

Doubtless, none of us are right. I adore the way Mark Gatiss thinks and writes and I cannot wait for Series Three.

[bborchar]

My first post here, but here's what I think. All of these theories assume that the audience has been given all of the answers during the episode:

 

I think there is more than one person helping out with the kidnapping - the policeman assassin and the assassin watching John. The policeman assassin moves the children when he comes into the factory. The other assassin looks suspiciously like Sherlock (same hair, angular face and build). The little girl could easily mistake Sherlock for him if she had seen him in a bad light.

 

I think that IOU references the Grimm's fairytale chapter numbers using the periodic numbers for I, O and U. I can't take credit for this theory, but it makes the most sense to me as it is the only one that explains the point of the book. "The Strange Musician" is the story that makes the most sense.

 

I think that he is recording his conversation with Moriarty via the wireless camera he finds earlier...but I think it has to be up somewhere, because he moves around too much for it to be effective if he is wearing it. So it could perhaps be on the roof antenna (it's in the perfect position to capture everything on the roof). I think he might stream this video to his phone, though (very important reason to make sure the phone stays on the roof where it can't get hurt and where he can retrieve it later). He gets Moriarty to confess everything by playing dumb, so it makes no sense to not record it - he will need it to help clear his name to the police and to the press when he comes back. However, the phone streaming idea assumes that there isn't a computer close enough to be able to pick up the stream.

 

I think the "out of character" moment for Sherlock (besides playing dumb) is after Moriarty kills himself. He acts "distraught" by putting his hands on his head and his arm in front of his nose. I think he is putting fake blood packs on the back of his head and in his nose because those are the only places blood is coming from when he's rolled over on the ground.

 

When he steps up on the ledge of the roof, there is a mark exactly where he stands. This is there on purpose. He falls onto something soft behind the truck- don't know what, but when he puts his arm out while talking to John, that has to be the signal for everything to be ready down below. He falls perpendicular and face down, but he's parallel and on his side on the ground- so it looks like he lands and then rolls back off of whatever it was. I don't think he takes any drugs before this point because it would be too much of a wild card; however, we don't know how he and Molly pull it off once he is inside the hospital (we have no clues there, other than Sherlock asking Molly for help). Sherlock can easily fake his pulse for John by using the squash ball in the armpit trick, and the other "doctors" and "nurses" on the scene are obviously actors (the doctor especially since that person is feeling for a pulse in Sherlock's neck, and he would definitely be able to feel one there). The bicyclist is an actor, too, who is buying Sherlock more time.

 

I think Mycroft sets this up intentionally, but I don't think Sherlock is in on Mycroft's plan. Mycroft just isn't that dumb, and he would have immediately recognized "Richard Brook" from the newspaper as a fake name. I think Mycroft is using Sherlock in order to get the information about the "key code" from Moriarty.

 

The only thing that I can't figure out is what Moriarty sees or notices to realize that Sherlock has played him. There must be a reason the sun blocks out the view of Sherlock's face, but I have yet to notice what it is that Moriarty sees.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

I pretty much can agree with the premise of this synopsis except that this is all Mycroft. Mycroft was smart yes and in the canon Sherlock says that his older brother was actually would be able to solve crimes faster if he wasn't so lazy. Mycroft didn't like the "foot work". But Mycroft using Sherlock? No....Sherlock would never allow this. This was Moriarty trying to eliminate Sherlock at all costs and Sherlock knew it and keeping at least two steps ahead of his arch nemesis.

 

 

Oh, and welcome to the Forum! You have made a fine start and contribution hope you come on and join us often.

[bborchar]

I pretty much can agree with the premise of this synopsis except that this is all Mycroft. Mycroft was smart yes and in the canon Sherlock says that his older brother was actually would be able to solve crimes faster if he wasn't so lazy. Mycroft didn't like the "foot work". But Mycroft using Sherlock? No....Sherlock would never allow this. This was Moriarty trying to eliminate Sherlock at all costs and Sherlock knew it and keeping at least two steps ahead of his arch nemesis.

 

 

Oh, and welcome to the Forum! You have made a fine start and contribution hope you come on and join us often.

 

 

Thanks! I've gone back and forth about Mycroft and Sherlock, but I think Mycroft would use Sherlock if he had to, and I'm not so sure that Sherlock was ahead of Moriarty the entire time- if he had been, I don't think it would have ever gotten to the point that it did. I also think that Sherlock's frustration was genuine throughout the episode until the end. He knew that Moriarty wanted to burn him, but he didn't figure it out completely until he saw the newspaper story. Mycroft often pulls Sherlock's strings to get him to do what he wants him to do...sometimes it backfires (like in SiB), but both of them feel very free to manipulate the other when they deem it necessary. There would be no other reason for Mycroft to let Moriarty go with all of the information he had given him about Sherlock unless he was intending on Sherlock somehow using it to get the information out of Moriarty. And even if Mycroft told Sherlock what he had done, Sherlock still had no way of knowing what Moriarty was up to until he did it.

 

Obviously, this is just my opinion based on my extreme overanalysis of this episode, lol. But it's a lot of fun to discuss it with others since I didn't get to watch Sherlock until a month ago.

[SolitaryCyclist]

My first post here, but here's what I think. All of these theories assume that the audience has been given all of the answers during the episode:

 

...I think the "out of character" moment for Sherlock (besides playing dumb) is after Moriarty kills himself. He acts "distraught" by putting his hands on his head and his arm in front of his nose. I think he is putting fake blood packs on the back of his head and in his nose because those are the only places blood is coming from when he's rolled over on the ground...

 

...The only thing that I can't figure out is what Moriarty sees or notices to realize that Sherlock has played him. There must be a reason the sun blocks out the view of Sherlock's face, but I have yet to notice what it is that Moriarty sees.

 

I like the ring of this analysis; a great way to begin on the forum!

[JessieBlackwood]

I agree there are plenty of opportunities for Sherlock to send various people messages and set stuff up. I thought it was a bus below Barts though, not a truck, or rather it is when Sherlock looks down. Does he step off the side of the roof he initially looks down on? Looks like they might be filming the big reveal though, considering the production designer has tweeted pics from Barts roof, taken recently.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Hello, bborchar -- welcome to Sherlock Forum! Good heavens -- I go away for one lousy day, and look at all the posts! *rolls up sleeves*

 

Not sure about the laser pointer thing. I never noticed it in the roof scene. Shall have to watch yet again (what a chore...)

 

However, I really wouldn't put it past Sherlock to have worked out the height of the roof, the wind speed, the drag his coat would cause and various other factors and worked out the survivability of a fall. ... Assuming Mycroft is in on it, he could easily find a private hospital for Sherlock to recuperate in and I figure that is what has taken the time for him to return ....

You haven't noticed the laser pointer because there probably isn't one. That was merely an ingenious conjecture, that Sherlock might have hired a sniper of his own, not based on observation.

 

I don't think that Sherlock figured out the survivability of a fall -- I think he (with several people's help) made it not only survivable, but basically survivable without a scratch. Yes, people have actually survived falls from that height and greater, but that was due to chance -- and we all know what Sherlock thinks of that.

 

 

I think that IOU references the Grimm's fairytale chapter numbers using the periodic numbers for I, O and U. I can't take credit for this theory, but it makes the most sense to me as it is the only one that explains the point of the book. "The Strange Musician" is the story that makes the most sense.

I agree that the Grimm / IOU theory holds together nicely, but if it was put there intentionally, I think it's probably just Moriarty's sense of humor. Some people see it as one of the clues that Moftiss said were in the episode, but I don't think (and this is just my hunch) that they meant the "treasure hunt" sort of clues, but rather that we should pay close attention to the ordinary details.

 

 

I pretty much can agree with the premise of this synopsis except that this is all Mycroft.

The more times I watch this episode, the more I see The Plan as an unprecedented cooperative effort between the Holmes brothers. Mycroft may have hatched the beginnings of it, but Sherlock must have been in on it for some time. Yes, he tells John that he doesn't want to go to Mycroft for help -- but that could well be because he doesn't want John to know that they're already working together.

 

 

Obviously, this is just my opinion based on my extreme overanalysis of this episode, lol. But it's a lot of fun to discuss it with others since I didn't get to watch Sherlock until a month ago.

Yeah, that's where the rest of us get our opinions, too! But good grief, you hadn't seen Sherlock till a month ago? You must have spent that entire month rewatching the episodes and searching the internet!

 

 

I thought it was a bus below Barts though, not a truck, or rather it is when Sherlock looks down.....

 

Looks like they might be filming the big reveal though, considering the production designer has tweeted pics from Barts roof, taken recently.

Right, there was a bus, but it apparently left (as buses are wont to do). The truck is visible for only a few seconds, primarily when we're following John around the end of the single-story building, just before the bicycle hits him. I figured it had to be there from my first viewing, but it still took me several additional viewings (and finally a slow step-through of the DVD) to actually spot it (perhaps because I was expecting it to look different). Look for the white, blue, and green trash or laundry-type bags on it.

 

Yeah, what's that all about? I thought they filmed all of the St. Bart's roof stuff when they did "Reichenbach." I don't think Martin Freeman was in on that, though, so maybe they're getting ready to film a scene with John up there. Surely they've given him a script by now!

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Gatiss said in December that the first and second episode scripts were done and were going through a second rewrite so every one should have a script especially with March only hours away, although we don't know on what day they commence filming....do we?

[Carol the Dabbler]

Gatiss said in December that the first and second episode scripts were done and were going through a second rewrite so every one should have a script especially with March only hours away, although we don't know on what day they commence filming....do we?

Nope -- and thirty-one days hath March.

 

I read a quote from Martin Freeman fairly recently saying that he'd seen the plot synopsis for Episode 1, but no script at that point. I'm guessing that the actors don't get the scripts till more or less the last minute, so that 1) they're telling the truth when they say they don't know what happens, and 2) they won't be confused by too many rewrites (especially major ones).

[Undead Medic]

I don't think we have to worry about any of the actors spilling the beans, I'm convinced that any time they even come close, a miniature Steven Moffat with glowing red eyes appears in a puff of smoke on their shoulders, shaking his head and muttering about spoilers!

[JessieBlackwood]

I do wonder if they've withheld the scripts so the reaction to what they've written is genuine on the actor's part, although how they would get around it without read-throughs I have no idea. However, ours not to reason why, we just wait for the finished product. Meanwhile Arwel Wyn Jones is a great source of tweets. 221B lives again.

 

Is everyone aware that Mark Gatiss has penned the docu-drama about Dr Who's 50 years btw? He's put up a couple of tweets about it.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Yes, it could be that they'd want the stories to feel fresh to the actors, at least, even if not completely brand-new to them.

 

I've heard that "they" will sometimes withhold details of a scene from most of the actors, so as to get their genuine reactions (e.g., in the M*A*S*H tv series and in the movie A Christmas Story.) But that technique only works for actors who have no dialogue in that scene, so it's of limited use.

 

You might want to post that final tidbit on the Doctor Who thread -- surely we have one of those somewhere?

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

I do remember the posts from the actors of The Lord of the Rings and how they would arrive at their trailers daily and find daily rewrites which meant that they would have to unlearn a whole lot of stuff every day.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Some of that seems to be par for the course in tv and movies, with scenes sometimes being re-written literally while being shot. But I'm sure that the actors -- though they may be champing at the bit to see a script -- do appreciate any efforts to keep relearning to a minimum.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

I would think so. Our stuff is pretty well choreographed and practiced but not scripted so we have to do a lot of improv. Sometimes I could kill for a real script.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Sherlockology passed along an ingenious "how did Sherlock do it?" theory today, originally from Metro:

 

 

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.

 

The secret behind the mysterious fake death in BBC series Sherlock has finally been revealed by sources close to the Benedict Cumberbatch-led show.

 

In a dramatic cliffhanger ending to 2012 episode The Reichenbach Fall, Sherlock Holmes was seen falling to his death, only to be seen alive moments later.

 

Fans have speculated for over a year about how the character, played by Cumberbatch, could have faked his own death, but now the truth is finally out.

 

‘Sherlock faked his death in The Reichenbach Fall by jumping onto a large bouncy castle,’ a production source revealed.

 

‘Sherlock fans are known for their penchant for coming up with theories to solve mysteries we set,’ the insider continued, ‘and there have been some very plausible ideas this time.

 

‘But we’ve outwitted them this time. No one would have guessed that a bouncy castle would be at the heart of the resolution. It’s too clever.’

 

In The Reichenbach Fall, Sherlock’s friend and assistant Dr Watson (Martin Freeman) is seen watching in horror as Sherlock leaps off the roof of St Bartholmew’s Hospital in London.

 

Knocked off his bicycle, Watson is thrown to the ground and when he looks up, Sherlock’s lifeless body is being carried away by hospital staff.

 

The source said Watson’s momentary lapse in concentration was crucial to the complex resolution of the mystery.

 

‘It’s during this time that the bouncy castle removal men come and take the bouncy castle away, leaving some ketchup on the pavement so that it looks like Sherlock’s blood.

 

The bouncy castle is said to be printed with images of the street onto which Sherlock falls, so that it blends in with its surroundings and becomes invisible.

 

Speaking to The Guardian last year, showrunner Steven Moffat said of the episode: ‘There is a clue everybody’s missed … So many people theorising about Sherlock’s death online – and they missed it!’

 

The missing clue is believed to be a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it shot of a van whose side reads ‘Barry’s Bouncy Castle Hire’.

 

Filming for series three of Sherlock has already begun filming and the resolution to the fake death mystery has been shot.

 

‘The cast and crew had great fun on the bouncy castle while they were filming,’ added the source.

 

‘Benedict was on there for hours and had to be coaxed off with a bottle of Sunny Delight. He’s just a big kid, that guy.’

 

April Fool! In case there was any doubt, this is just a big joke from Metro on April Fools’ Day 2013…

 

And, just in case any of you missed it, here's another ingenious Sherlock-survival theory that aely posted a while back.

[Julia Mae]

Someone needs to make sure they take their tongue out of their cheek before they bite it off in a bouncy castle mishap.

[RV0889]

Hello, i am new to this forum. While the interlull between the seasons sort of made me detached from the series as a whole, the news that the first episode shooting of the latest season has been completed got me all excited again and here i am.

 

I see that lot of theories have been posted, trying to deduce how Sherlock brilliantly faked his death. I think this is the first place where i have come across the Rhodedenderon ponticum theory, which was one of my first thoughts on how he could have survived the fall. However, i see that some nice counter-arguments have been thrown around as well. Of course, some totally new theories as well.

I guess we are all Holmes in our own rights, eh? I'll post some more as and when i stumble on new clues (If i do).

[Carol the Dabbler]

Hello, RV0889 -- welcome to Sherlock Forum!  

 

My personal take on the R. ponticum is that it's primarily a quick nod to the 2009 Sherlock Holmes movie, possibly intended as a red herring (and definitely getting a lot of people's attention).  I've seen similar plot devices in other shows (e.g., Remington Steele), but as for its true role in Sherlock, that's anyone's guess until the new series airs.