I can try to address the second part of your concern. Molly's there to declare him dead. She's a coroner and knows him personally so she could also ID the body. It's rather easy for Sherlock to have St. Bart's declare him dead.

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Hi and welcome to the forum!

John feels for a pulse which, to me, confirms the body is not a dummy.

Also, any trick would have had to fool anyone who could have seen St. Barts from a window or be walking by it on ground level. If anyone saw a dummy being launched, then surely they would've come forward to the press or police or something.

Hi there and welcome to the forum!

Hi and welcome to the forum!

If the canon is any indication, then no. Sherlock detests women as creatures capable of more chicanery than any man. Yet, to be fair, they did take an interesting interpretation of his relationship with Irene Adler. Those who've read the canon know there was absolutely zero chemistry between them.

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I don't think TRF is literally isolated from the rest of the series. In fact, my theory on the fall involves hints that go back to A Study in Pink. I meant it is isolated in the sense that Moriarty's metaphorical battle with Sherlock is pretty much invented and embellished in TRF.

In the Great Game, we see the Jim Moriarty we expect: a mastermind behind the shadows who wishes to show the depth of his power and criminal network to intimidate and ultimately annihilate Sherlock. He spares Sherlock's life because he has a use: deciphering the email Irene Adler had. Moriarty didn't care about Sherlock as a great hero to a villain; he was an inconvenience that suddenly became useful as a tool.

TRF portrays Moriarty as a theatrical genius trapped in allegory who commits crimes out of boredom in hopes of finding his equal. This is quite a different Moriarty from The Great Game, in my opinion.

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