Episode 2.3, "The Reichenbach Fall"

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

For some reason we are not to know the whole truth behind what happened between Holmes and Moriarty. Not in the Victorian nor the modern sense.

[T.o.b.y]

For some reason we are not to know the whole truth behind what happened between Holmes and Moriarty. Not in the Victorian nor the modern sense.

 

Probably because nobody knows, be it Sir Arthur or Moffat and Gatiss or whoever. It's a mystery. Which doesn't bother me all that much, but in Sherlock's case, I, like John, would at least really like to know why. And I don't fell as if that has been explained at all. When Sherlock later talks to John and Mary in The Empty Hearse, the way he delivers the reason given by the original character ("afraid that you'd say something indiscreet"), doesn't ring true to me. It sounds more like an excuse (like "it was Mycroft" or "I was waiting until we were married").

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

 

When Sherlock later talks to John and Mary in The Empty Hearse, the way he delivers the reason given by the original character ("afraid that you'd say something indiscreet"), doesn't ring true to me. It sounds more like an excuse (like "it was Mycroft" or "I was waiting until we were married").

 

   An excuse....yes....without a doubt.....since becoming a serious fan fiction writer I have mulled this over....both from the original canon point of view and "TEH". The only thing that I can come up with is that....maybe Sherlock wasn't afraid that John would saying something indiscreet....but if he had even a hint....like Anderson.....that Sherlock was alive....that John would not be able to hide his true feelings....like Anderson. He was telling the whole world that he believed Sherlock Holmes to be alive. 

 

Sherlock Holmes needed the world to believe him dead. John Watson was his best barometer for that. If he missed one person in Moriarty's web....like Colonel Moran....and if they were watching John.....then John needed to believe with his whole heart that Sherlock was indeed dead or else his body language.....or some little way he acted out of character for a grieving man would give the big secret away.

 

 So maybe in "TEH"  Anderson become John's stand in on how Sherlock believed John could betray his death.....maybe not so much in the extreme....but something...

[T.o.b.y]

My best guess is that Sherlock, on some level somewhere in the funny old brain, knew perfectly well that what he had done to John was pretty horrible, and that he therefore kind of dreaded telling him the truth, thus putting it off again and again, "letting it slide" like John with Mrs Hudson, until he still hadn't let him know by the time he came back to England.

 

The original reason makes sense in the original context, because there only Mycroft knew and Watson was a terrible liar.

But here? Molly Hooper, Mycroft and 25 members of the homeless network? Oh, and Sherlock's parents as well. So there were plenty of potential leaks, anyway, and besides, Freeman's John doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who would be unable to keep the secret.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

He may be able to keep a secret....but could he keep the spring out of his step and a slight smirk off his face?  Eehhh....maybe....or not. As for Mycroft ...not still not sure if Sherlock was just throwing his name around as siblings will. The homeless net work....how many radars are they flying under anyway?  Who is and who isn't....there are thousands of homeless people in London alone....who do you watch and for what?  Mummy and Daddy Holmes....like Moriarty's mistake with Molly.....he is estranged from them. No regular Christmas dinners.....did they really know or another red herring...

[Pamela]

Something John said when Sherlock told him that yes, they (his parents) did know, has always bothered me ... "So that's why they weren't at the funeral."

 

Wouldn't that have looked pretty suspicious for a man's parents not to be at his funeral?  I think someone made a mistake there.

[Caya]

Not if they wanted to keep up the impression that they were estranged from their son.

 

Or if they knew themselves to be terrible actors. Not everyone can cry on cue, and not crying at their son's (who "committed suicide") grave would've looked odd.

[Pamela]

I guess I just don't understand this "estrangement" business.  Sure, Sherlock considers them bothersome, but they still love their son.

[Caya]

Yeah, but they would've wanted to *pretend* that they were totally estranged from Sherlock in that scenario, so that Moriarty's web didn't suspect anything.

[Pamela]

I don't mean to be argumentative, really I don't, but what would the advantage be to Moriarty's believing there was an estrangement between Sherlock and his parents?  Why would he care?

[Caya]

Because they then wouldn't have to attend his funeral, try to play grieving parents there (remember, their son supposedly killed himself in despair, so they should be pretty distraught), probably fail at it badly and thus make any underworld observers suspicious.

[Pamela]

Nope, still don't get it.  Never mind, I'll live in the dark.

[Arcadia]

Nope, still don't get it.  Never mind, I'll live in the dark.

I'm sure you'll have plenty of company in there! The writers thrive on keeping us in the dark, I think.

 

Maybe it was Moriarty that goofed; since he (or his people) didn't see Sherlock interacting with his parents, he figured they were among the ones, like Molly, who "didn't matter." So the parents weren't being watched, and therefore didn't need to put on a show for Moriarty's people by showing up at the funeral? I know, bit of a stretch but it's all I've got.

 

I wonder if Molly went to the funeral?

 

I notice a lot of us assume that Moriarty's network kept an eye on John, etc. after The Fall, but why would they have? Sherlock was "dead", and so was Jim ... it was a personal vendetta, there's no gain in keeping an eye on Sherlock's friends once Moriarty's gone, it seems to me. Just thinking "aloud."

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

We don't see the full funeral though.....I mean John and Mrs. Hudson visit the grave but it looks like it's been awhile since the grave was freshly dug.

[Caya]

 

I notice a lot of us assume that Moriarty's network kept an eye on John, etc. after The Fall, but why would they have? Sherlock was "dead", and so was Jim ... it was a personal vendetta, there's no gain in keeping an eye on Sherlock's friends once Moriarty's gone, it seems to me. Just thinking "aloud."

 

Well, once members of the late and hardly lamented Moriarty's network suddenly started going into prisons worldwide, because formerly clueless police officers, abbots, juries etc. suddenly started noticing small details that helped them solve the cases, I'd have started getting nervous too. At that point some of his brighter former henchmen (the ones now running the show, most likely) might have combined that 2 + 2 = S and checked if Sherlock was truly quite as dead as reported.

 

[T.o.b.y]

Well, once members of the late and hardly lamented Moriarty's network suddenly started going into prisons worldwide, because formerly clueless police officers, abbots, juries etc. suddenly started noticing small details that helped them solve the cases, I'd have started getting nervous too. At that point some of his brighter former henchmen (the ones now running the show, most likely) might have combined that 2 + 2 = S and checked if Sherlock was truly quite as dead as reported.

 

You're in sparkling form today, Martina... that really makes a world of sense.

[Arcadia]

 

Well, once members of the late and hardly lamented Moriarty's network suddenly started going into prisons worldwide, because formerly clueless police officers, abbots, juries etc. suddenly started noticing small details that helped them solve the cases, I'd have started getting nervous too. At that point some of his brighter former henchmen (the ones now running the show, most likely) might have combined that 2 + 2 = S and checked if Sherlock was truly quite as dead as reported.

You're in sparkling form today, Martina... that really makes a world of sense.

 

(Pamela, this one's for you!)

 

Yes it does make sense! Except the funeral was long over by then.

 

I don't know why I'm suddenly obsessing over such a minor point, except that it's Sunday and I just feel like doing something useless ....

 

So, let's look at it from the henchmen's p.o.v. for a moment, and let's assume they initially believe, like the rest of the world, that S is dead. E.i., it doesn't make any difference to them who is or isn't at the funeral.

• No reason to monitor the funeral then. Get together and celebrate with a beer instead.
• Some time later, the network starts being dismantled. Eeep, maybe the b*****d's alive after all. Someone go check if the parents were at the funeral. They weren't? Uh-oh, our suspicion's are confirmed.
• Dang, why didn't we think to monitor the funeral?
• Go shoot John. No? Cuz .... that was a personal vendetta twixt M & S. M's definitely (?) dead, or at least he's not paying the bills anymore, so f' *cough*, M! We never liked you anyway!
• Run and hide instead. Oops, too late, you just got arrested. Good thing you didn't add John's murder to your list of crimes.

How'd I do?

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Actually you did pretty well considering.....do they have guest.....yeah....I guess they do....guest books at funerals....that is....but who would have it....and how to get access to it if no one monitored said funeral?

[T.o.b.y]

The question (well, one of the questions) is, were Moriarty's followers all glad he was (supposedly) dead and couldn't care less about whom he did or didn't have a feud with when living, or did he have some genuine fans who would want to carry on his work or avenge him? The original Professor Moriarty was a pretty popular man. One police officer describes a meeting with him where he was impressed and awed by the man, and says "When he put his hand on my shoulder as we were parting, it was like a father’s blessing before you go out into the cold, cruel world.” (from "The Valley of Fear"). And Colonel Moran as well as Moriarty's brother were quite keen on taking revenge. Now, our Jim does not strike me as a man who would govern others by anything but fear, but who knows... He was a very good actor.

[Arcadia]

Yes, the many dangers of basing theories on assumptions ....

 

It seems to me if anyone wanted revenge, they had ample opportunity to off either John, Lestrade or Hudders, or all three; but no one did. Of course, I think there's a theory each one of our heroes had a guardian watching them to prevent just that, but that sort of negates Sherlock's sacrifice (why pretend to kill himself if his friends are still going to be in danger anyway? Might as well just have appointed each one of them a bodyguard or 6 to begin with, and saved himself the trouble.) At any rate, I prefer to believe the threat was past.

 

Of course, if we go with the "guardian" theory then we have a possible explanation for Mary's appearance in John's life .....

 

I wonder what we'll all do if S4 merely forges ahead where it left off and never addresses any of these issues? Which is just as likely a scenario as any other at this point....

[Carol the Dabbler]

Back to the funeral.  Wonder who was there?  John, obviously.  And I'm guessing Mrs. Hudson, Mycroft (keeping up appearances!), and Greg.  Maybe a few other police, but doubt that Anderson and Donovan would've felt welcome.  Probably not Molly -- she's Sherlock's secret weapon because no realizes how close they are -- so she would presumably have kept up the pretext of not being at all close to him.  Maybe some of John's friends, and maybe Harry.  Some of Sherlock's former clients, maybe, like Henry Knight.

 

But not Mum and Dad.  Why?  Public reason:  their son committed suicide and they're not condoning it by honoring him.  Real reason:  Sherlock doesn't trust them any more than he trusts John, but Mycroft (the idiot!) already assured them that he wasn't really dead, so the best that can be done now is to keep them from blowing the whole thing by not looking sufficiently grief-stricken (and/or by looking too fake-grief-stricken) at the funeral.  How's that?

 

And the "paramedic" phone call -- I originally assumed that Moriarty faked it -- then I realized that Sherlock did -- now I'm not so sure.  But if the "fall" was for the sole benefit of Moriarty's operatives, at least some of them would have needed to see it.  I'm still puzzled that the Holmes boys didn't think to arrange for some sort of media coverage -- like photos of the fall on Twitter, posted by someone from the homeless network posing as an office worker in a building overlooking that street.  (Which once again raises the question -- why didn't anyone who really works in those buildings see and report what was really going on?)

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Moftiss really set a challenge for themselves here, didn't they, pulling off an elaborate charade in full view of all those windows.  I have a suggestion for them, next time they want Sherlock to fake his own suicide:  Instead of using a tall city building, consider having him jump off of -- oh, say, a remote waterfall in the Swiss Alps.

 

[Arcadia]

Back to the funeral.  Wonder who was there?  John, obviously.  And I'm guessing Mrs. Hudson, Mycroft (keeping up appearances!), and Greg.  Maybe a few other police, but doubt that Anderson and Donovan would've felt welcome.  Probably not Molly -- she's Sherlock's secret weapon because no realizes how close they are -- so she would presumably have kept up the pretext of not being at all close to him.  Maybe some of John's friends, and maybe Harry.  Some of Sherlock's former clients, maybe, like Henry Knight.

 

But not Mum and Dad.  Why?  Public reason:  their son committed suicide and they're not condoning it by honoring him.  Real reason:  Sherlock doesn't trust them any more than he trusts John, but Mycroft (the idiot!) already assured them that he wasn't really dead, so the best that can be done now is to keep them from blowing the whole thing by not looking sufficiently grief-stricken (and/or by looking too fake-grief-stricken) at the funeral.  How's that?

Yeah, it doesn't sound like something Sherlock would have thought of, does it? I'll buy your theory!

 

And the "paramedic" phone call -- I originally assumed that Moriarty faked it -- then I realized that Sherlock did -- now I'm not so sure.  But if the "fall" was for the sole benefit of Moriarty's operatives, at least some of them would have needed to see it.  I'm still puzzled that the Holmes boys didn't think to arrange for some sort of media coverage -- like photos of the fall on Twitter, posted by someone from the homeless network posing as an office worker in a building overlooking that street.  (Which once again raises the question -- why didn't anyone who really works in those buildings see and report what was really going on?)

Because it was a Sunday and no one was working? I don't know, someone could jump off my house roof and I'd probably be oblvious to it.....

[Carol the Dabbler]

Yeah, Sunday would help.  But even on Sunday, somebody's bound to be working overtime -- and possibly goofing off a good bit as well -- and therefore even more likely to notice a "jumper" on the roof or a big blue bag on the sidewalk.  There are just bunches of windows overlooking that street, both in the hospital itself and across the way.  Did Mycroft "persuade" all those folks to keep quiet?

 

And what about the people who work in the ambulance station?  Do ambulances not run on Sundays?  ("Sorry, madam, you'll just have to keep a stiff upper lip till Monday morning.")  Were they in on it too?

 

[Arcadia]

Stop thinking, Carol!