You should read through this thread; there are pictures showing nothing in his hand. There are references to rhododendron ponticum, its effects etc & the possibilities relating to this.

On the Rhododendron Poticum, I knew that I'd heard the Latin name before, and I realized where. In the 2009 movie, Lord Blackwood fakes his death using the same plant.

This is not a coincidence, although I doubt that Sherlock used it to fake his death.
(Oops, someone already said this. My bad.)

The reason I think that it's not really viable is because it is in the 2009 movie. They made a slight nod to the other franchise, but I don't think it was anything more than a nod. They wouldn't make it a major plot point. It would have been brilliant if they had thought of that themselves, but I think it was a reference and nothing more.

As far as theories go, I have pretty much no revelations. I believe in cushioning and a squash ball as the methods. Nothing unconventional.

Last edited by Smoggy_London_Air (June 27, 2012 10:33 pm)

johnlocked wrote:

kazza474 wrote:

You should read through this thread; there are pictures showing nothing in his hand. There are references to rhododendron ponticum, its effects etc & the possibilities relating to this.

I have. I mean, I think there probably isn't and the "thing" in his hand is just a shadow. But, there is so much debate in the fandom about it I thought it might be worth mentioning... Anyway, it's not vital or anything to my observation, which I admit could be nothing. What do you think?

I believe it may have been a possibility but not 100% sold on the idea.
Arguments FOR its use:
- it does give watery eyes - the appearance of Sherlock crying
- it does give runny noses- as was Sherlock's.
- it can slow the pulse down
- it was available in the area that Sherlock visited to find the children.

Arguments AGAINST its use:
- Sherlock is quite capable of turning on the tears when needed.
- Again, Sherlock's fake tears act could bring this on also.
- The man is about to jump off a tall building & will need his wits about him. Slowing your pulse slows everything down. Not a good idea.
- Whilst it was available to Sherlock, so were plenty of other drugs at the lab; why not use something more 'predictable' ?

All in all after much research,  I tend to believe it is a Red Herring, however it is possible they may use it as part of the plan & still be believable.

If he had taken the Rhododendron Poticum, it still wouldn't have saved him from a fall from the top of St Bart's. So if he did indeed use it (which I personally don't think he did), it still wouldn't be the whole solution.
This brings us back to the question of how he survived the fall itself. A lot of people have suggested that the homeless network used a net to break his fall. I suppose that would work, but a net would be hard to conceal, so even if John didn't see it, other people would have. Also, in the shot from above right after Sherlock fell, there's no sign of a net anywhere, and it's pretty hard to hide a net in a second or two.
So how else could he have survived the fall?

Why would a net be hard to conceal?
Keep it folded till needed; use it & then toss it in the truck leaving.

Oh yes, the bike slow him somewhat. But by how much?
I tend to believe it is longer than some people think.
Yes he was concussed & disorientated, hence the soundtrack & the blurred images etc.

And as I said, I tend to believe the drug is a red herring; however Sherlock could not bank on the bike slowing Watson down for a particular amount of time. John is a soldier; he could have reacted in many ways to the bike incident. So it would be hard to make that crash an integral part of the plan as you are dealing with the 'human factor' which can be erratic.

Arya wrote:

I went back and watched the fall yet again. There's a shot right at impact, and there's not sign of a net anywhere. There's no sign of any people, either.

On impact? If a net or similar was used to break the fall there would be no impact, just a time when the body eventually lays on the ground.
& what you see is just one camera  angle; you don't 'see' many things, lol.

kazza474 wrote:

Arya wrote:

I went back and watched the fall yet again. There's a shot right at impact, and there's not sign of a net anywhere. There's no sign of any people, either.

On impact? If a net or similar was used to break the fall there would be no impact, just a time when the body eventually lays on the ground.
& what you see is just one camera  angle; you don't 'see' many things, lol.

True...but unless there's a time lapse between shots, it would be pretty hard to make the net work.

My point is that if they did use a net, someone on the street probably would have seen it, and reported it. Therefore there wouldn't have been those news reports on John's blog about Sherlock dying.

kazza474 wrote:

How exactly do you 'make a net work'?
What I am saying is, it's folded; you get a few people to grab a corner & stretch it out quickly; they 'catch' the person & then throw the whole thing in the truck. I covered people on the street earlier. Basically they weren't many people & some would have been the Homeless Network accomplices. Others could have been told anything to explain the action ..'we're shooting a movie' etc.

Let's face it, the whole thing is extremely far-fetched. I know Sherlock is clever (echoes of John, "What did I say? I said don't get clever."), but in spite of everything, he is still human and subject to the limitations of space, time, influence with others, etc (same goes for Moriarty). So while I suppose it's possible to rig up a situation where you fall off a building and don't actually die, due to the aid of several people willing to make that happen, and I suppose it's possible to carry all that off with just a few minutes/hours for prep, and then in a way John actually can't see him hit the deck, it's all very far-fetched IMO.

Let's start with John not actually taking his pulse, once he fought his way over there. Yeah, I know he'd just had a helluva shock when he saw the fall, AND he got knocked down and hit his head, I know all that. But he's not only a doc, he's a combat-trained veteran doctor, and he'd seen some damned distasteful things during his service. So while extremely upset about his friend's apparent suicide, I think training would have taken over and by God, he WOULD have taken that pulse.

But yeah, like Jessica Rabbit, episode 2.3's cliff-hanger wasn't far-fetched; it was just written that way.

I, for one, am already sick of waiting to see/hear how this all happened. My own preference is that they not shove some kind of science fiction scenario down our throats, that they explain it in our own space-time continuum. But we'll see, as long as we don't all die of anticipation first! *g*

kazza474 wrote:

So please explain what you are suggesting with the 'John would have taken his pulse' line & the 'far fetched' angle of the jump off the building. Because all I read is 'that didn't happen,that didn't happen & that didn't happen'. Do you have any suggestions as to what we saw on the screen then?

I imagine Sherlock was behind the kid on the bike knocking John down thing-- whether just to delay him running over and looking at what was going on behind the truck, on the sidewalk, or actually hoping he might get knocked out for a minute or two, it would still mean that John wouldn't see the net and those people dumping blood on Sherlock, etc. And the assassin couldn't see either--  they both saw the fall, and they both saw him wheeled into St. Bart's, but neither of them saw any gyrations with a net landing.

Yes, I realize doctors are humans. Like, duh. But this is a combat-trained, experienced field doctor, and as we clearly saw, he DID reach out and try to grab Sherlock's wrist. Only then did he get pulled away. Then when they turned Sherlock over and John saw those staring eyes, all that blood on his friend's face, etc, it really hit him. "Jesus, no.... God, no...." and the legs went out from under him. At that point, I will agree with you that the "only human" thing would have really kicked in. Because up to then, John's doctor training and experience would have made him want to help, knowing that he might could help with some immediate first aid of some kind, etc. What did he say to the crowd, "I'm a doctor!"  In other words, let me through.

So anyway, I believe Sherlock jumped into a net, probably one that stretched over from that red truck or bus or whatever it was sitting there next to the sidewalk (the same vehicle that blocked John's view of the sidewalk strike, as well as the assassin's view from the window across the street). Once in the net, he kawhumped the last couple of feet to the sidewalk, his helpers poured blood on him and the scene, gathered around, etc. Then when the truck pulled away, taking the net with it, John  came up to the scene and saw what he was meant to see.

What I see as far-fetched is the idea that someone else hit the deck. Sherlock was the one standing on the edge for 5 minutes talking to John. John never took his eyes off him. It was Sherlock who jumped (you can clearly see his facial features on the way down). The idea that it was a cadaver that actually went over, or one that hit the sidewalk, or one that somehow got passed off as Sherlock, just doesn't jibe to me. ????

I just would prefer that they not explain it away in some kind of science fiction-y way, when the time comes. Because it's far-fetched enough, believing that Sherlock could have arranged all that in the very limited time he had. And there's no way he could have known about M's own fake death. If M hadn't shot himself, he would have been standing right there, watching Sherlock fall, and would have seen any net and other fakery.  So I find all that hard to believe, too-- if things had gone the way Sherlock thought they would, how would Moriarty not seen his attempt at trickery?

So I think we just have to suspend a lot of our rational thinking and go with the flow here.

Lots of opinions, and none are more worthy than any others, to my mind anyway.