While it had brilliant points, it wasn't one of my favorite episodes. Maybe because I'm a dog lover and I resented the killing of the poor beast at the end. I mean, it didn't ask to be soaked in glow in the dark paint, and it was not it's fault to be big and ugly. And it didn't even look scary to me. The Hound of the Mind was a lot scarier. I wish, they had left it at that.
But it had great moments. The Blue Bell case was one of them.

So, the 2009 Sherlock Holmes movie got the use of the poison from the originals, too! If you find out, where A.C.D. used it, please post. Makes it even more likely, that MoGiss used it.
As to plausibility issues: Of course we are talking tv here, but, as you say yourself, MoGiss are doing a good job in covering all the bases, and that's exactly my point: It is a lot easier to fake badly injured and half dead, but in need of immediate medical care, than to fake completely dead but whisked away anyway from under the nose of my best friend, who is also a doctor, and who might find the string of events very suspicious later on. The writers of this series are so good, that they can sell (and have sold) almost anything as plausible, but I think, if they have the choice, they might choose the slightly more plausible string of events.
When the episodes of the third season are aired, we all have to read our little theories again and might smile a lot.
Since I am in Germany and it's already past midnight, I will end my posting for now. Here's to a lot of fun arguments to come!

I absolutely agree with you there. No arguments, no fun. I didn't take anything of your reply personally! 

Hello everybody,
I'm new to this interesting forum, but since the thread seems to be still active, I'd like to add a couple of thoughts.

First a couple of basics: In the first three episodes, as much as I liked them (for me the wit and intelligence of 'A Study in Pink' was never surpassed by the following episodes), the plotting was a little slapdash and not always logical. But, hey, they couldn't know at the time, that Sherlock would be such a corker. When the whole enterprise was a smashing success, they could plan further into the future. Which means, there is probably hardly anything random in the story line and the clues of the last three episodes. And MoGiss, being old fashioned whodunnit fans would be fair, and all the clues, we need , are to be seen onscreen. With a lot of red herrings of course.

Ok, so how did Sherlock fake his death? Mostly I agree with kazza474: Sherlock was not being played, he was the player all the time. He would have never allowed to be made into a celebrity, unless there was a purpose behind that.The outlines, if not the details of the plan to fake his death and go undercover was in place much earlier than we are led to believe. Molly, who has a lot of emotional intelligence ,realizes quite early, that there is something off with Sherlock. The possibility of having to jump must have been forseen by Sherlock. So he arranged a meeting with Moriarty at a place he is familiar with, and where Molly can help, as he asked her to do. Chalk lines marked, where exactly the garbage truck had to be parked. He then either jumps on top of the truck, which might have been prepared to make it safer, or, as kazza  wrote, some helpers (probably the homeless brigade)pull out a sheet like fire fighters to catch him, and then throw it onto the truck, which drives away quickly. In his telephone conversation with John he makes sure, that John remains at a place, where he can't see the actual impact. When John is out on the pavement, there is just enough