Episode 2.3, "The Reichenbach Fall"

[Boton]

My take is that Sherlock's emotions were genuine...though it is admittedly hard to ever tell with him!  But even if he and Mycroft ran through a million different scenarios, there was no way he could be 100% confident everything would play out according to their plans.  Too many variables - most especially because his opponent is out and out crazy.  Even Sherlock knows he is not perfect and takes the occasional "shot in the dark (good one though)" so he had to have known actual death/defeat was a possibility.  But either way his emotion would be real because even a "fake death" would be life-changing for himself and his friends. 

 

I agree.  I think Sherlock has admitted several times that he's taking good guesses or he always misses something in his deductions.  And it doesn't usually matter.  If he can be right about 80% of what he suspects about a crime scene, that's probably enough to solve the crime.  

 

But this time, there actually were high stakes, and like I've said, I do think at least one of the 13 possible scenarios involved Sherlock actually having to die.  (Maybe another was him killing Moriarty in some way.)  He wasn't going to know until he got on that roof.  I think the emotion was genuine, because he knew what the end points of all the various scenarios were, and I'll bet all of them either involved hurting his friends or someone getting killed.  

[sfmpco]

Okay, just to clarify, this is from a deleted scene bit, pg. 200 of SHERLOCK CHRONICLES

 

107E - EXT. BART'S ROOFTOP - DAY

 

SHERLOCK

You're too obvious.  Getting John out of the way.

 

JIM

You realized?

 

SHERLOCK

Please!

 

JIM

Well... I just wanted us to be alone.

No gooseberries.  (smiles)  You did it

to yourself, you know?  All I did was 

pull one tiny little thread.  All that

resentment, you created that - I just

had to pull it down on top of you.

 

SHERLOCK

You haven't won yet.

 

JIM

No?

 

SHERLOCK

I can still prove my innocence.

Prove you made up a whole false

identity....

 

JIM

Killing yourself would really

be a lot less effort.

 

(in case you don't know, the "107E" is the script breakdown scene number, and E indicates the addition/revision to the scene)

 

[sfmpco]

I think there's a possibility he could have saved John, but he couldn't have saved all three, and he wasn't going to save John and not the others too.  So it really becomes quite an emotional roller coaster knowing that he has to fake his death to his best friend.  I have never felt his tears on the roof were fake.  After all, John couldn't see them anyhow, and Sherlock could have faked the tears just in his voice if it were meant to be fake.  He had to lie and emotionally wound the one person he was closest to, the one who had immediately accepted him for who and what he was and didn't flinch about it.  I think he's a little bit shell-shocked up there on the rooftop, especially after witnessing the suicide of Moriarty.

 

In HOB he was extremely emotionally concerned in NOT wanting Henry to shoot himself.  Definitely didn't want that.  His heart and concern had to break through to save him and talk him out of the act.  Because Sherlock does value life.  I think he would give his life at any moment to save any of those in his inner circle, even Mycroft.

 

Although he gets a charge out of solving a murder and doesn't flinch at looking at bodies, he never wants to see anyone take their life.  He was not expecting what Moriarty did, and that rattled him through and through, pushing him over the emotional edge in his phone call to John.

 

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

... it really becomes quite an emotional roller coaster knowing that he has to fake his death to his best friend.  I have never felt his tears on the roof were fake.  After all, John couldn't see them anyhow, and Sherlock could have faked the tears just in his voice if it were meant to be fake.  He had to lie and emotionally wound the one person he was closest to, the one who had immediately accepted him for who and what he was and didn't flinch about it....

I keep going back and forth on that point, and had just about decided that his rather cavalier attitude in "Empty Hearse" proved that he didn't realize what he was doing to John. But reading your post, it occurred to me that he could have known all too well how his "death" would affect his friend -- and yet assumed that he could make everything right again by simply showing up alive.

 

[sfmpco]

 

... it really becomes quite an emotional roller coaster knowing that he has to fake his death to his best friend.  I have never felt his tears on the roof were fake.  After all, John couldn't see them anyhow, and Sherlock could have faked the tears just in his voice if it were meant to be fake.  He had to lie and emotionally wound the one person he was closest to, the one who had immediately accepted him for who and what he was and didn't flinch about it....

I keep going back and forth on that point, and had just about decided that his rather cavalier attitude in "Empty Hearse" proved that he didn't realize what he was doing to John. But reading your post, it occurred to me that he could have known all too well how his "death" would affect his friend -- and yet assumed that he could make everything right again by simply showing up alive.

 

 

Oh, I think he was terribly pained when he was laying on the pavement having to listen to John grieve over him, and then he was pained again watching John at his grave, but at the grave he also knew he had a big job today and you could see that determination in his eyes.  However, he had to see John one last time before he went completely undercover in MI6.  It would have been a MI6 mission, of course, since it all took place overseas.

[SherlockedCAMPer]

 

 

... it really becomes quite an emotional roller coaster knowing that he has to fake his death to his best friend.  I have never felt his tears on the roof were fake.  After all, John couldn't see them anyhow, and Sherlock could have faked the tears just in his voice if it were meant to be fake.  He had to lie and emotionally wound the one person he was closest to, the one who had immediately accepted him for who and what he was and didn't flinch about it....

I keep going back and forth on that point, and had just about decided that his rather cavalier attitude in "Empty Hearse" proved that he didn't realize what he was doing to John. But reading your post, it occurred to me that he could have known all too well how his "death" would affect his friend -- and yet assumed that he could make everything right again by simply showing up alive.

 

 

Oh, I think he was terribly pained when he was laying on the pavement having to listen to John grieve over him, and then he was pained again watching John at his grave, but at the grave he also knew he had a big job today and you could see that determination in his eyes.  However, he had to see John one last time before he went completely undercover in MI6.  It would have been a MI6 mission, of course, since it all took place overseas.

 

 

Oh the feels... just reading this stuff.

 

 

[sfmpco]

You're welcome.

[T.o.b.y]

Oh, bless you for posting the deleted dialogue! I particularly like this part:

 

JIM

Well... I just wanted us to be alone.

No gooseberries.  (smiles)  You did it

to yourself, you know?  All I did was 

pull one tiny little thread.  All that

resentment, you created that - I just

had to pull it down on top of you.

 

... Because this is exactly my impression of what was happening during the Reichenbach Fall. I got it right! Yay! (Okay, wasn't very difficult to grasp, but still...)

 

And where did Moriarty slip up? Molly, of course! She'd have had as much grounds for resentment as anybody else, but she didn't act on it, because she's just an incredibly good person and besides, she loves Sherlock, and villains never understand love and it's always what trips them up in the end. The concept is as old as the hills, but I still like it.

 

Now all we need is a deleted scene from The Empty Hearse where Sherlock explains the why. Is there one?

[sfmpco]

Oh no.  No deleted scene that explains the why.  We are not so lucky to get that.  

[Pawse]

Oh my God..! Douglas Wilmer!

[T.o.b.y]

Hurray. I just saw the Reichenbach Fall again, and for the first time since series 3 came out, I loved it just as much as ever - possibly more. I actually cried, real tears. These 90 minutes are a F***ing masterpiece. If you just lean back, go with the flow, and don't try too hard to make sense of every little detail, it's like one long epic poem. The use of music, the visuals, the acting, the dialog, the voices. All so incredibly beautiful.

 

Somehow, knowing what I know now about the background of Sherlock, Mycroft and Moriarty's "game" and what happened next, this episode becomes even more sad. Don't ask me why, exactly.

 

I think it's got something to do with this idea these three geniuses have about "ordinary people". The whole time, they were having a kind of brain battle entirely over the heads of everyone else. The "ordinary goldfish" down there were deemed unimportant and unable to grasp what was going on, they were meant to be no more than pawns in the game, judge, jury, police, assassins, friends, everyone. It was supposed to be a big match of wits between the Holmes brothers and the consulting criminal, and damn the casualties.

 

Now, we know from what we saw in series 3 that Sherlock had to realize later how much of a mistake that was. And I now wonder whether he had doubts before.

 

I love how it turns out that none of Sherlock's friends actually is ordinary, and how it gets Sherlock into all sorts of trouble later that he failed to see that with Mary. Nobody is "ordinary", that's the message of this series, if it has one at all.

 

And lets not forget that the big genius master plan would apparently not have worked without little Miss Molly Hooper, who is about as goldfish-y in Mycroft's eyes, probably, as you can get. I do wonder how Mycroft planned to manage having Sherlock officially declared dead and buried. He probably thought he'd just go and terrify the hell out of some record keeper.

 

Perhaps Sherlock wouldn't have needed to get Molly's help. Perhaps he chose to. I think he needed someone to tell him he was loved, no matter what nonsense Moriarty told the world about him, and no matter what he'd done and would continue to do to people. He must have understood Moriarty's strategy being to harness all the resentment Sherlock created and pull it down over him, and that if Molly, who had every reason in the world to be resentful, would not act on that, then he'd have beaten Moriarty on some level, no matter what happened next. Or rather Molly would have beaten him, come to think of it.

 

And John. Oh god, it's John who makes me cry the most in this story. Because among these brilliant people faking everything and lying and double-crossing each other, he's genuinely worried and loyal and helplessly enraged and finally heartbroken at the end. How dare Mycroft go and appeal to him to keep Sherlock safe! When he knew perfectly well what was coming, and had F***ing planned it that way! Mycroft is a bastard, no doubt about that. I still think John should have saved some of his punches on Sherlock's return for the older brother.

 

Do you think that when Mycroft says "I never imagined..." during their last conversation, and tells John he's sorry, he maybe realizes he went too far? That he's really sorry? Who knows.

 

Gosh, I'm babbling nonsense. I shouldn't type with tears in my eyes. But I'm just glad I can enjoy this episode whole-heartedly again. You have to treasure every source of enjoyment you have.

[sfmpco]

I totally agree.  It's an absolutely brilliant episode in so many ways.  It is not the kind of TV you get from anyone else.  Honestly, I've never seen anything like it, and it's one of those aspects about SHERLOCK that just keeps me coming back for more.  No one does television like that.  No one.

[Carol the Dabbler]

And John. Oh god, it's John who makes me cry the most in this story. Because among these brilliant people faking everything and lying and double-crossing each other, he's genuinely worried and loyal and helplessly enraged and finally heartbroken at the end. How dare Mycroft go and appeal to him to keep Sherlock safe! When he knew perfectly well what was coming, and had F***ing planned it that way! Mycroft is a bastard, no doubt about that. I still think John should have saved some of his punches on Sherlock's return for the older brother.

 

Do you think that when Mycroft says "I never imagined..." during their last conversation, and tells John he's sorry, he maybe realizes he went too far? That he's really sorry? Who knows.

Yes, that's what I think -- that he's actually saying something like, "I'm sorry I have to lie to you, and Sherlock has to lie to you, and that for the next few years you'll think your best friend is dead -- but I see no alternative."

 

Despite the undeniable fact that there are three brilliant performances in this episode, I am still absolutely gobsmacked by Martin Freeman's performance as John.  He's just so good at getting to me!

 

Gosh, I'm babbling nonsense. I shouldn't type with tears in my eyes. But I'm just glad I can enjoy this episode whole-heartedly again. You have to treasure every source of enjoyment you have.

Don't be sorry. You're right, it's a great episode (regardless of any bewilderment raised later by the "explanation"). And you're also right, if you can't enjoy anything that isn't absolutely perfect, you're choosing to be a pretty miserable person.

[sfmpco]

Someone please explain this.

 

[Arcadia]

Someone please explain this.

 

 

Because it's the BBC!

[joanneta1]

Dear Fellow members, can I ask about the meeting of Moriarity and Sherlock before their last encounter? Of course, there is the beautiful little thing with Moriarity coming up the stairs, stepping on a squeaky board and immediately we hear the violin stops, which the creators lifted whole from the Basil Rathbone film The Woman in Green, but when Sherlock pours tea for them both it's tea first, milk second. When Mrs Hudson does so in Series 3 in The Sign of Three, it's milk first, tea second. Is the whole thing a matter of etiquette, upbringing, schooling or what? Any ideas would be welcome.

[sfmpco]

I don't know, but in a recent article when BC was asked about making the perfect cup of tea, I remember him saying that it was never stirred with a spoon, and yet SH stirred with a spoon when he served Moriarty.

[Arcadia]

Maybe he was intentionally insulting him? :p

[Carol the Dabbler]

Dear Fellow members, can I ask about the meeting of Moriarity and Sherlock before their last encounter? Of course, there is the beautiful little thing with Moriarity coming up the stairs, stepping on a squeaky board and immediately we hear the violin stops, which the creators lifted whole from the Basil Rathbone film The Woman in Green, but when Sherlock pours tea for them both it's tea first, milk second. When Mrs Hudson does so in Series 3 in The Sign of Three, it's milk first, tea second. Is the whole thing a matter of etiquette, upbringing, schooling or what? Any ideas would be welcome.

 

I have read that there are two schools of British thought -- TIF (tea in first) and MIF (milk in first), with both convinced that they're correct.  It presumably depends, much like religion, on how you were brought up.

 

We Americans avoid the entire issue by not using milk in our tea at all.

 

[Arcadia]

 

 

We Americans avoid the entire issue by not using milk in our tea at all.

 

Speak for yourself! We're a "tea in first" crowd in this neck of the woods, although oddly enough I put the milk in first with my coffee.

[joanneta1]

Arcadia, my thoughts exactly, that's why I asked. We were always taught tea in first, as for the stirring, it depends if you put sugar in it, because it usually is in lumps, so it must be stirred to dissolve. With coffee it is always milk last because each one wants a different dilution.

[sfmpco]

I put the creamer into the coffee and when I see the mushrooming cloud of it come back to the surface, I stop pouring.  Then I add the Sweet & Low and stir vigorously.

[joanneta1]

Well, as I said, I want to believe Sherlock's emotions are genuine. But, Perceiver that I am, I can't help but, uh, perceive how he could have just been playing his role. The "solution" in TEH implies just that.

 

Why would he fake his emotions around Molly? To get what he wants, of course. Not because he needs to, but because they have established that manipulation is his default mode when he wants something. And having established that, why should we believe he's changed? I want to believe he has, but should I?

 

Do I think he IS faking his emotions? No, not really. Do I see how he could be faking? Yes, because "the work is the only thing that matters". Because he has no problem pretending he and John are about to be blown to pieces. Because he thinks it's okay to lie and lie and lie to Janine. How many more betrayals of trust are we expected to forgive? That's what I meant by the problem of the habitual liar. That's what I'm hoping Moftiss realizes.

 

Sorry, this sounds more bitter than I intended. I love Sherlock, honest! It's just, in real life, I really have a problem with lying. Sometimes it leaches over into my entertainment, I guess.

Ah, but dear Arcadia, he does not lie to Dr. Watson, just watched the entire sequence and he tells him in clear ringing tones: "It's a trick, just a magic trick! " The problem is he drops this extremely important phrase in amidst all the maudlin act he puts on for the benefit of those who might be listening in. As ever, good old Dr. Watson sees but does not observe. Otherwise, he would have disobeyed the demand to stay where he was and rushed up to help his friend. But I expect that's the whole point about Sherlock, to leave everybody guessing!

[Arcadia]

Ah, but dear Arcadia, he does not lie to Dr. Watson, just watched the entire sequence and he tells him in clear ringing tones: "It's a trick, just a magic trick! " The problem is he drops this extremely important phrase in amidst all the maudlin act he puts on for the benefit of those who might be listening in. As ever, good old Dr. Watson sees but does not observe. Otherwise, he would have disobeyed the demand to stay where he was and rushed up to help his friend. But I expect that's the whole point about Sherlock, to leave everybody guessing!

Yes, I agree with you there. In fact, the first time I saw TRF, I assumed it was all a trick, partly because of that line, but mostly because I already knew there was going to be a Season 3!  :P And then of course we see Sherlock at the end, still alive. So....

 

I think when I wrote the bit above, though, I was thinking more of his approach to Molly; I think he was being genuine, but he could just as easily have still been faking. Sherlock's a pretty good actor.

 

You bring up an interesting point; what if John had tried to run back into the building? I think the bicycle would have still have knocked him down, or maybe there were some other tricks planned to keep him in place. Apparently Sherlock's entire scheme depended on convincing John he was dead. Why that is so, I still have trouble understanding.

[T.o.b.y]

 

Apparently Sherlock's entire scheme depended on convincing John he was dead. Why that is so, I still have trouble understanding.

 

*Sigh*... me too. It's a mystery. One of those unfathomable Sherlock things. I think it's got something to do with "alone protects me", and I have an inkling it wouldn't have happened if Moriarty had not decked out John in explosives three episodes earlier. But who knows.