Sherlock - stone me!

[mylodon]

For the first 45 minutes, I thought this series was going to end with a whimper, managing to be both dull and OTT at the same time. Half way through, someone flicked a switch. Suddenly the programme was exciting and profoundly moving, finishing in a completely fitting manner (very much in keeping with canon). Some lovely lines for Watson (who is the star of this show, folks) - including his outrage at being described as a "confirmed bachelor" (newspaper code for gay).

So, in conclusion:

- Keep with canon, boys. The closer the two series have kept to canon-type storylines and charaterisations, the stronger they've been. Conan Doyle knew his stuff.

- A light touch works best. The last two episodes have been brilliant in re the "are they a couple?" thing, as opposed to the clunkiness of the first one, with all its heart to heart stuff.

- Martin Freeman continues to give a masterclass in acting. Never OTT or histrionic, just all his inmner feelings shining through by body langauge or vocal intonation. The end of this episode broke my heart.

And, now for a theory or two. Behind cut.
Molly and Mycroft helped Holmes engineer it. Is Holmes needed to do espionage work or something else which requires that he's deep in cover - and you can't get deeper than very publically dead. Holmes didn't go off the building, Mycroft did - the bodies were switched when John was so conveniently knocked out. Must watch on iplayer with this in mind.

Comments

[jl_merrow]

But then, if Molly's involved, why not use an actual corpse to do the falling bit? But I like the Mycroft involvement idea--he could easily have arranged John's little accident! :)

[mylodon.livejournal.com]

Oh, clever girl. I'd just assumed Molly might help with the real blood and the like. BTW, I'm not sure Moriarty was dead when he 'shot himself'. Canon says he is, but...

[tomatoe18.livejournal.com]

Your theory about the body switch is one of my theories, but I don't know about Mycroft. I'm pretty sure Molly's involved somehow and there's a cadaver or two missing from Barts!

[charliecochrane.livejournal.com]

Could well be. I think Mycroft's too clever not to be involved (and the more I think about it, the more his telling Moriarty all those things about Sherlock feels like it was done intentionally!)

[tomatoe18.livejournal.com]

Yes, Mycroft is too clever not to be involved (and I have a feeling he actually KNOWS that Sherlock's still alive at the very least). But I just remember how much Sherlock dislikes Mycroft and I don't think Sherlock would've chosen Mycroft first to be his ally in all of this. My pet theory says it's Molly who's his primary helper while Mycroft quietly supports their plan in the background. I don't buy that expression of sadness (it's more like blankness) of him sitting in the Diogenes Club.

But you got me thinking about the possibility of his telling Moriarty all those things about Sherlock being intentional. It's like Mycroft knew the game was going to get dangerous, Moriarty has to be eliminated and what better way to eliminate him than let his genius brother take care of the problem? (Then again, if Moriarty comes back alive in series 3, this whole theory could be wrong.) But this is definitely plausible, something to seriously consider.

[jestana.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure Mycroft knew in canon that Sherlock wasn't dead (haven't read many of the stories, just lots of fanfic). So I could see him knowing in the show. I agree that Molly helped. I just want to know how they managed to pull the whole thing off. :D

[charliecochrane.livejournal.com]

There are plenty of newspaper sites with "how did they" articles.

:)

[tomatoe18.livejournal.com]

Yes, you're right - I revisited the Conan Doyle story about Holmes' return and there Mycroft did know about it. But I didn't immediately warm up to the idea of Mycroft being an accomplice at first because of the way the actors play their characters on screen and their interactions. Seeing all the theories that have emerged though, by fans and experts alike, I think the theory that Mycroft had something to do with Sherlock's death became even more reasonable!

But I'm done speculating for now. Otherwise my head would explode from theories. Especially now that Steven Moffat has finally shown his troll side by saying that we all missed something from the finale. I'll just sit and wait here patiently until Series 3 starts. :P

[mylodon.livejournal.com]

"All missed something" sounds like "Buy the DVD!".

:)

[helenajust.livejournal.com]

My theory is that Sherlock knew he would have to fake his own death, and he arranged with Molly that she would help by conducting the autopsy and confirming that the body was his. The fact that the death occurred at Barts would ensure that the body was taken into her lab. He told her that he needed her, but we didn't see what for - and isn't it likely that he needed her in her capacity as a forensic pathologist, rather than as a woman/individual?

I think that the body which fell off the roof was Moriarty's - Sherlock put his scarf and his trademark coat on Moriarty's body, held him up on the rooftop when he saw John return, and the distance combined with his phone call to John convinced John that he was seeing Sherlock on the roof, and that it was he whom he saw fall. Moriarty's face was destroyed by the bullet, so it was unrecognisable. Molly would say that the injuries resulted from the fall. We didn't get a clear shot of the face, and John was too upset by seeing him fall to look closely.

My niece's clever gloss on this theory is that Sherlock got hold of the Sherlock mask and wig which Moriarty must have used when he kidnapped the children (the girl "recognised" him), and he told Molly he'd use it and she must not reveal it. I'm not sure if Mycroft knows - I rather think he doesn't.

I do hope that the ending means that we will have more series, and as soon as possible.

(Off to check what everyone else thinks about the episode!)

[charliecochrane.livejournal.com]

Absolutely agree that he'd need Molly for her technical skills/insider knowledge rather than the other (if you'll excuse the phrase).

Don't agree about the faces. Moriarty's was still recognisable in shot and so was Sherlock's on the ground. I think there was a body switch on the pavement when Watson was 'conveniently' out for the count after being 'accidently' knocked down. So he did see Sherlock, close up, but the guy wasn't dead. His hand got taken away pretty soon after he tried to take the pulse.

Interesting theory in re masks. Will go think about that...

[beckyblack]

I definitely agree there was a body switch on the pavement. John was delayed getting there and his view was obscured, so there was definitely opportunity there. Some fake - or probably real but not his - blood and Sherlock playing dead and Bob's your uncle. The fact the medical staff moved him without putting a neck collar on and putting him on a back board is suspect too - like they knew it wasn't needed and their job was just to as quickly as possible get him away from John and anyone else who might spot he wasn't actually dead or hurt.

Not sure who or what took the fall though. :D I'm going to go check it on the iPlayer to see the exact sequence again and what John (and us) could and couldn't see through the sequence of events and where a switch could have occured on the roof. I keep thinking about that dummy that was hanging up in the flat earlier. Not that I'm saying the dummy was used, but that was about an apparent suicide that wasn't really one too, so it was setting us up for something.

[charliecochrane.livejournal.com]

Well spotted in re the neck collar - nobody had confirmed he was dead. Not sure about the dummy, though. It's those flailing arms which get me.

OK - left field theory. Moriarty wasn't dead (easy enough to fake that with a blank bullet and a blood bag - we never got to see the back of his head). He's the one pushed over - still alive!

[beckyblack]

It would be a bit mad if they both faked their deaths mind. :D But we didn't see if there was really a big hole in the back of his head after the shot. Blanks can be dangerous too that close though... It could be pretty hilarious if he was tossed off the building because Sherlock thought he was already dead.

Yeah, I'm not sure if the fall could have been with the dummy - it's actually quite hard to make them fall like people (you must have seen plenty with flappy arms and legs in movies.) But there had to be a reason for it, even if it was only to put the idea of faked suicide into Sherlock's mind.

[mylodon.livejournal.com]

Any madder than the end to the Irene Adler fiasco?

[beckyblack]

That's true. There's nowhere they won't go is there?

[beckyblack]

The DVD is out on Monday! How many people will be going through the roof scene frame by frame do you reckon? :D

[mylodon.livejournal.com]

LOL Plenty. I need to rewatch it on the iplayer for much the same reasons.

[beckyblack]

The DVD makes that even easier. :D And it can let you zoom in and all sorts of stuff.

It's fun, because obviously it's a show about a detective and the fans are now all doing detective work to figure out how it was done. Good stuff!