Many of you were upset, that Sherlock laughed at John, who had rightfully believed to have been in mortal danger. The theory above would take care (at least partly) of that, too. Maybe, he wasn't ridiculing John, at least not at first. Maybe he laughed about his fantasy, at how he could get back at Anderson for helping to destroy his reputation  and for placing the fake skeleton. He was in a misling mode, so to speak. Then he looked at John's face...

Mrs. Watson, kids can get very upset, if something happens to their favorite toys. I told on the other thread (So3 theories), how my son reacted, when his Batman figure fell into a lake. Maybe somthing happened to a toy of Sherlock, and he couldn't explain it. It remained an unsolved mystery. That would be doubly traumatic for young Sherlock. And it would explain, why he is still upset. Not, because of a toy, but because he couldn't solve something. And this room of broken toys of CAM's WAS creepy.
#still anotheroddtheory

ozma. lol! Maybe CAM holds that minifigure hostage and blackmails Sherlock. He sure had a lot of creepy toys in his room... and a clown mask to boot...

But, silverblaze, don't you see, it cannot be a flashback, because Sherlock had just found out about the terrorist plot, but in the Anderson confession scene he talks about it! He just cannot have gone to Anderson in between finding out about the plot and rushing to the subway tunnels. And Anderson cannot know either about the plot. So, at the time Sherlock and John are sitting in the subway, this cannot be real. It can be a flashvorward, though. Sherlock PLANS to go to Anderson and tell him things about his fall. Considering the snickering afterwards and that it is Anderson of all people, I wouldn't put too much stock into the truth of the story. If this plan was really the result of an emotional climax in the face of death, he would rather tell John IMO. And don't forget, it wasn't even a live or death situation. He had just misled John with the switched off bomb. It's not so far fetched, that he plans to misle Anderson as well. We just cannot know. He can have planned to tell the truth... or not so much. We probably will never know...

besleybean, you have to read page 21and 22 of this thread. Commonwealth pointed it out and Sherlock Holmes picked it up: Sherlock talks to Anderson about a massive terror assault and plot to blow up parliament. But when Sherlock deduced the plot, they IMMEDIATELY proceded to the subway system to find the missing waggon. There was no time at all to go to Anderson of all people and tape a confession of how he faked his death. So, this scene CANNOT be real, as we suspected all along. But it cannot be Anderson's fantasy either, because he cannot know about a terrorist plot. So, it can only be Sherlock, picturing himself talking to Anderson and probably misling him, lol! Which makes him snicker.That explains well the odd placement of this scene, and why he calls Anderson Phillip, which is probably not his first name. This scenario doesn't necessarily imply, that theory 3 is wrong, but we can establish (if the clues in the show are trustworthy, which I'm not sure of atm   ), that the scene cannot be real due to the timeline. And I highly doubt, that Sherlock plans to tell Anderson of all people the truth, nothing but the truth...unless, it's a 'thank you' for believing in him all the time. There is nothing, we can be sure of right now.... By the way, who was this half year old skeleton, posing as Jack the Ripper, which, according to Sherlock, was set up by Anderson and friends, to welcome back Sherlock? Where did Anderson get it from? They really throw around with bodies left and right in this show. Some appear, some disappear. Does nobody keep track of the bodies in Sherlock's London?

Good thoughts, Sherlock Holmes! Agree with most of what you say, especially of the 'analyzing faction' of the fandom to which I firmly belonged. I read a very interesting review of TEH, where the reviewer explained, how Mofftiss really had painted themselves into a corner by apparently creating the cleverest cliffhanger in tv history, leading the fans to assume, that they are the cleverest tv script writers in history. Then it turns out, they are clever, but not THAT clever. There was hardly a plausible way out (though i have to say, some of the fan solutions were better than what we got so far). So they resort to ambiguity and tearing down the 4th wall by letting the fandom in on it. And it probably dawned on them, that there was no elegant way to tie up all loose ends.As I said before, some like it, some hate it. But we all talk about it.
Now, that we have established, that the Sherlock/Anderson scene was most likely Sherlock's fantasy, who might very well have planned, how to misle Anderson, I feel better about that episode, too. It's placement makes far better sense, and there's no reason to believe into this ridiculous blue pillow anymore. We can all insert better solutions, if we want to. I still don't like it and think, it's a cop out, but it's a clever cop out. I have to give them that.

But, if this was only Anderson's fantasy, how could HE have known about the terrorist plot?? So, maybe, it was Sherlock's fantasy, that he planned to go to Anderson, tell him, how he did it, and confront him with the fake skeleton?

Ha, Yeahright, that would be awsome! It takes another criminal mastermind to figure out, how he did it, lol! But I don't want to get up my hopes up now, just yet! As you say, we better postpone judgement for a few days

I know, but in a Golden Age detective novel, he would make the perfect villain. Anyway, he was probably just miffed, that he wasn't allowed to make the speech.

SusiGo, that's my point! Stayin' alive's arguments are completely valid (it actually doesn't take that long to blow up such a pillow, but it is ridiculously noisy, and the idea to block the whole street and to evacuate all the buildings, because there are windows, you know, and people living and working there, might look out of them). But I also cannot see a way to present another theory AND tie up loose ends in the last episode. And to postpone the solution for another two years... I don't know.