the ring theory came from my brain. Mycroft and Anthea both wear them. They are not wedding rings. its deduction ;-). Oh and to be clear, I mean secret service loosely, as in the ring within the service. We might quibble that they are not that discreet since they are wearing obvious rings but hey.

Sherlock does not wear one, incidentally. It suggests to me that the fake doctors were a Mycroft set up and that is important because probably that level of security is needed. I'm very dubious that the homelessness network would be that secure, no matter how many £50s Sherlock had chucked at them. 

yk though I hope it doesn't go all James Bond. I like the idea of Sherlock as the loose canon younger brother-the "and you invaded Afghanistan" comment and the underpantless trip to Buckinham palace doesn't suggest to me a three year spy tour. I think Sherlock is a complete anarchist really, and I think a lot of his behaviour is a reaction to Mycrofts British propriety.

Be I find what you are saying really interesting actually, I've thought this too, but I also agree that 4 stories (70ft) is too far. Assuming he fell without anything slowing him he would have landed at 40mph whether or not he was relaxed-however relaxed you are, even if you are asleep, if your car crashes at that speed you have pretty much had it without an airbag. I think too far even with a muscle relaxant. In canon the martial arts were used to overcome Moriaty directly and then he found a ledge to climb up out of the chasm. Here I'm guessing that since the wrestling was psychological, the "ledge" might be too-figurative, perhaps-, or it might be an actual break in the fall.

yeah but why lie about it? That's what I don't get. Why not just say, "I need a flat mate?"

I think its rather that he's deduced that it will work out with John and so for that reason he goes ahead and moves in. 

yeah...no don't agree Sherlock would be following Mycroft's orders. No that would not be good drama. Also not canon. He jumps to save, mainly, John and Mrs H (and weirdly, Lestrade whose name he doesn't know an episode ago). The entire point is that he doesn't jump for self interest but to echo the "heroes don't exist and if they did I wouldn't be one of them,", line - he is being a hero. Acting on orders for the good of the British state isn't heroic, at least not to many Brits in this day and age. This is, after all, Sherlock who is happy to go to Buckingham palace without his underpants on.

Thanks-interesting to talk this stuff isn't it?

yk, from a storytelling perspective I think she's served her purpose anyway. She's kind of the woman who makes that part of him grow up. After he returns from whatever happens in Karachi, at the least he's aware of that part of him and doesn't despise it as much as he did. Its interesting to me that, for the first time, he's civil and far more mature and less defensive with Molly in Reinchenbach (though of course she does majorly call him there so ymmv) and confident, not defensive, with Kitty Riley.

The writers have said several times I think that this Sherlock is an immature one, and I think part of what they are showing us is that process of him delayedly growing up (like 20 years after he should, assuming he's in his mid thirties)

I know this has been done but its nice to rehash this stuff

So

Mycroft wears a ring on his right hand. A plain, gold, wedding type ring
Anthea wears the same ring
So does one of the fake doctors from Reichenbach-the one who pulls Johns hand away after giving him a moment to do whatever he's doing (not taking a pulse anyway)

So what IS the ring for?

Is it a secret-within-a-secret service and if so, couldn't they come up with more cunning sign than a bright gold ring?

Yeah I want to be clear, here. I am not saying the writers are implying Johnlock.

I am saying that they are leaving that particular door open. I mean there is example after example. Put a woman in John's shoes and no one would have any doubt. 

The confusion is arising because they are two men and they have not been flagged as gay and people seem to struggle with that in TVland where sexuality is treated as a core identity rather than a reaction to a particular person, as it kind of is for many of us.

I'd say the canon also leaves the door wide, wide open for that. ACD was writing, iirc, at the time of the Oscar Wilde (and other) trials. He knew Oscar Wilde. For him to write the characters as gay would have been well on impossible-you did that, as Wilde did, and ended up with a scandal and worse, no writing contract. But he did write about a man who did not love women and for whom the only time we hear him described as feeling love it is for another man, Watson (and that was, btw, written at a time when homosexuality was becoming acceptable again) The canon does not come down on either side: Its not clear is the point. But make Watson a woman and no one would be in any doubt.

And that is what the writers are doing. They are taking a debate as old as the original canon and, rather than either dodging it or coming down on one side or another, they are giving us enough that without bringing in our own predjudices and ideas, we just can't be certain either way. They are lampshading the uncertainty, just as they do with Irene Adler.

I've heard different things from the writers actually and the lead actors regarding the relationship between the characters, to the extent that I've wondered if they've decided to take deliberately opposing views to confuse the issue further ;-). I also think its worth remembering that the owner of the US Sherlock Holmes rights threatened to pull funding for the Robert Downey film if it had homoerotic overtones, so thereÂ

" Many young people simply have not lived long enough or experienced enough of life and relationships to have a true understanding that two people no matter who they are can be exceptionally close without a romantic element to the relationship. For instance Fox Mulder and Dana Scully "The X-Files" (at least in the series on TV) were never romantically involved even though most of the fans of that program saw them as a couple"

eeee....ahhhh...ok I am older too. I don't write fanfic and I'm not especially drawn to it. My jury is completely out on the whole Johnlock situation, my only issue is that there seems to be such reaction against it from some people-some people seem to have such an issue with them being romantically or sexually attracted to each other-and I just think, "why? Why does this bother you so much?".

But I'm afraid I do see Sherlock and John as unusual in their relationship. They are very devoted to each other. Their final act is to reach out to each other. That just isn't something I can imagine any straight close friends doing. I can't see my brother on his deathbed reaching out to his best friend from school, to whom he is close, who he has known for twenty years and who he sees a lot of and has lived with. We are not talking about friends here, we are talking about an exclusive friendship which people who know them both well percieve as a marriage, and accord the level of respect you would a marriage (look at how Lestrade treats them, or how they are photographed together). 

To put it another way. Mulder and Scully was mentioned. But-they did end up a couple. They had a child together. They end up living together by the time of the next film. At the end they are unambiguously together. I do not remember any outcry from fans (yes when I say I'm old, I mean I remember the M&S fandom. I am old. Same ish age as Sherlock anyway). Which would be my point really-this hedging around and hintin

there is at least one wearing one of the rings that Anthea and Mycroft wear. To me this suggests that the drama is being presided over by someone from the real inner circle. Secret Service might have been the wrong word, I think what those of us saying this mean is that its one of Mycrofts cronies. And he clearly has cronies-otherwise how could he have (nearly) pulled off the Bond flight and everything else? 

He woudln't be at 200km ph. If he didn't break his fall he'd be at around 40 mph which is around 70 kph. You could compare that to a car crashing into a wall at 40 mph really. Your chance of survival would be low and without serious long term issues, nearly non-existent. Also, for geeks, there is a limit on how fast you can fall anyway. The issue is that when you are travelling fast, the force with which you hit the ground is essentially massively magnified by your speed and mass. But that's not a massive thing at 40 mph. 

Also-I'm not sure that head injuries are the only issue. I think they may be what actually kills most people, yes, but you'd also be looking at serious internal bleeding not to mention, if you survived, paralysis.

Sherlock-I think the assasins operate the same as everyone is saying the homelessness network does, but with the big advantage that they will keep it quiet 

It was me with the 8 (well, 6) seconds thing. My hunch is that its drama, yes, but it might also be a clue. He's falling at something like a third the speed you'd expect from gravity, that's quite a lot slower.

OTOH I've posted already about this, but at least one of the fake doctors is actually wearing the same kind of ring as Mycroft and Anthea. Which suggests to me that they are his people.

Got the ring thing wrong, I think-its a secret service thing, it seems. But anyway, I'd love to see more of the background. My money is on them being the children of travelling stage performers right now ;-).

Other inspectors, yes that would be great.