Episode 2.3, "The Reichenbach Fall"

[Janie]

In Sherlock universe people just don't get ill on Sunday

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Or they call a cab and get themselves to the hospital?

[Arcadia]

The bungee cord theory is starting to look like the more realistic one all the time!

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

As long as Molly got the hair ruffle and nice kiss, I'm happy.

[Arcadia]

Oh my yes!

[sfmpco]

As long as Molly got the hair ruffle and nice kiss, I'm happy.

 

I assume you've seen this... I agree with the statement at the end.  Oh my.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbolHwA39iQ

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Yup...and it would probably work upside down as well.

[Arcadia]

It even works without the music. Boy howdy indeed.

[jesskayding]

Well she didn't really get the kiss. That was Anderson's account of what happened. But it was a hilarious scene non-the-less. He really saw Sherlock as some kind of pop culture super Heroe didn't he? So much of his theory was ridiculously over the top.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Oh but think of the rehearsals between Benedict and Louise....I wonder how many takes they had to go through......hhhooo boy. Molly may have not gotten the kiss but Louise sure did.

[Pamela]

Didn't Louise say they had to do it four times?  Tough.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Oh how one does suffer for their art.

[jesskayding]

^_^

[sfmpco]

The final problem - "I did tell you, but did you listen?" - 

 

Okay, I apparently haven't been listening either because I'm still not sure what the heck he's talking about.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

That makes two of us. In reference to what?

[Arcadia]

I'm not sure either! But I think it's supposed to be "staying alive" that's the problem (?) Not how to stay alive, but how to escape life? Something like that.

[sfmpco]

In reference to the final problem...okay, this is lifted from Ariane DeVere's transcript...

 

http://arianedevere.livejournal.com/30955.html

 

SHERLOCK: So how’re you going to do it ...
(He pointedly blows gently on his tea.)
SHERLOCK: ... burn me?
JIM (softly): Oh, that’s the problem – the final problem. Have you worked out what it is yet?
(Sherlock has taken a sip of his tea and looks across his cup to the other man.)
JIM: What’s the final problem?
(He smiles across his own cup.)
JIM: I did tell you ... (sing-song but still softly) ... but did you listen?

[Arcadia]

Well, let's see, how did Jim "burn" Sherlock? By destroying his reputation and then manuevering him into committing suicide, thus cementing the idea he was a fake. (And btw, yes, Sherlock did work it out.) Sooo.... I don't know where that gets us, actually. Maybe he Final Problem was how to get rid of/discredit Sherlock?

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

I think that is very true, both in canon and in Sherlock, it is Moriarty's "Final Problem".  How to rid himself of the meddling Sherlock Holmes.

[Carol the Dabbler]

So when he says that he'd already told Sherlock what their final problem was, did he mean what he said at the pool, "I will burn the heart out of you"?

 

[sfmpco]

Indeed, what the heck did he really mean?  

[T.o.b.y]

I always thought that, for Moriarty in Sherlock at least, the final problem was "staying alive". Why stay alive? What is there to stay alive for, when everything is so boring and stale? Moriarty states on the rooftop that Sherlock was the best distraction he had, and now he'd lost that one, because he'd beaten Sherlock. So back to being bored out of his wits, I guess. No wonder he shoots himself.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

So did he mean that staying alive, if that is what he was referring to, was his final problem or his only problem? As a master criminal I would think he would have more problems than he could possibly handle. Like being hunted by all kinds of law organizations, rivals, and dealing with incompetent henchmen.

 

But then maybe none of that holds any appeal to him any longer. No real challenges, no big adrenaline rushes. No one to challenge him as Sherlock had.

 

So it does begin to look like he was looking for an excuse to off himself. But why take Sherlock with him? Though heaven knows there are way to many murder/suicides going on right now.

 

It goes back to a type of ownership. A person feels like they own their spouses and their children and the old" If I can't have you then no one else can either". So, did Moriarty feel like he owned Sherlock in some way?

 

This only holds together if Moriarty did plan to off himself soon after. Other wise it was just a ploy to blackmail Sherlock into committing suicide.

[jesskayding]

The final problem - "I did tell you, but did you listen?" -

 

Okay, I apparently haven't been listening either because I'm still not sure what the heck he's talking about.

I thought he was referring back to the pool. He's always hated that Sherlock was on the side of the Angels.. So in TRF the final problem.. Sherlock dies as a fraud, he's no longer a hero in the peoples eyes. Literally now a fallen Angel in the eyes of Moriarty anyway.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Yes in Moriarty's eyes because there would always be those who would and will see Sherlock Holmes as a hero come hell or high water.