I might be wrong, but I seem to remember something about putting two tags on a body at first, then one was taken off when the body was released or something... and the tag was stored? 

I am not completely sure... it's a vague memory from way, way back in my mind palace, so don't shoot me! 

Well I might be wrong but the murderer left the cards , not the police or morgue people ?

lol besley . Yes. And oh dear . Sherlock imagines the murderer leaving the cards because if the miss me was left on the real corpse then Moriarty copied the victorian messages ?

I wonder if Sherlock saw the hole in Moriartys head, and the corpse tag on Moriartys body then and thats why he saw them in mp. !

(I have the impression that several posts have disappeared here in the meantime  )

Great remarks, guys -- one and all. 
I just finished a post in the thread called "Moriarty's Death", in which I really tried to pitch the idea that the series has planned all along for Moriarty and Sherlock to show an equally high level of intelligence by coming up with similar plans to defeat their foe — without knowing it, thereby creating an truly ironic situation.  Here's the link to it, if you haven't seen it yet.

http://sherlock.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?pid=243406#p243406

We all know that this show strives for a high standard of imagination and complexity — which is why we enjoy watching every episode many times.  About a month after seeing TRF (and figuring out Sherlock's simple method for faking his death), I became convinced that Moriarty had faked his own suicide as well, to show Sherlock he wasn't as smart as he thought he was — and that's exactly what happened!  In fact, absolutely everything went Moriarty's way up there on the roof. 

He humiliated Sherlock by revealing that the "key code" which both Sherlock and Mycroft had been so worried about did not exist!  He revealed that his three simultaneous "demonstrations" of the key code were simply the coordinated efforts of various accomplices in the prison, the bank, and the Tower of London. And he showed poor Sherlock that after destroying his public reputation, he could force him to jump to his death!


The coup de grâce was when he brazenly convinced Sherlock that he had blown his own brains out right in front of him!   At this point, Sherlock was so shaken by all this that his legendary powers of observation failed him completely.  He didn't question the oddly small amount of blood (which was simply oozing from a tube connected to a blood bag taped to Moriarty's back), and he didn't take note of the way Moriarty fell back in a manner more consistent with a man trying not to hurt himself rather than a body toppling over backwards like a felled tree.

Perhaps the most blatantly obvious clue Sherlock missed was that Moriarty was still clutching his gun, even though he'd just blasted his brains out and supposedly crashed to the roof in a limp heap!  Moriarty lay there perfectly posed like Jesus on the cross, with his hand still wrapped around his pistol.  His fingers aren't even open!


And yet, there are loyal fans who still want to believe that Sherlock somehow tricked Moriarty into shooting himself, as part of Sherlock's clever plan.  I'm afraid there's not much evidence to support that theory.

I've stated in other posts that the way Moriarty suddenly smiled and just shot himself was out of character for the brilliant and driven-to-win Moriarty, because in so many situations he had taken great pleasure in gleefully taunting Sherlock.  Killing himself and missing the final victory he had earned just doesn't make sense.

But it's also true that Sherlock was acting WAY out of character in that scene, too!  Moriarty humiliated Sherlock repeatedly, proving him wrong about many of the deductions Sherlock made.  He told Sherlock he was disappointed in him because he'd turned out to be "ordinary".  And Sherlock had no defense, because Moriarty was right on every count. 

And then, when it suddenly seemed that Moriarty had blasted the back of his head off, Sherlock missed all the clues that should have told him immediately it was a hoax!

Ladies and gentlemen, all I'm trying to do is give proper credit to the intelligence of Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat, along with the brilliant characters they've created.  I think the series is riddled with clues that scream "Ha!  Gotcha!  Moriarty faked it, too!" 

I guess we'll just have to wait and see if I'm right.  

Last edited by Bruce Cook (January 7, 2016 4:25 am)

stoertebeker wrote:

  ............Anyway, I am curious about the final revelation as well as I am also not 100% convinced that Moriarty is truly dead. I know two faked death would be somehow ridiculous but he can't help it, I like Moriarty and Andrew too much.

Mofftiss like Moriarty and Andrew too much as well. After all, between the bad guys in the original stories and their own ripe imaginations, they could come up with doozies, so there's no particular reason to keep returning to the Moriarty character, except that they like him and his actor.

Also, it's possible that Mofftiss et all have not yet decided whether Moriarty is dead or not. And if they don't know, for sure, the fans will never solve this is-he-or-isn't-he question!


 

Ancientsgate: I think it would be quite unprofessional not to know at this point where the story is going. And it would also be unprofessional to base your writing decision on how much you like a character. This also applies to the argument that Mark would never let Mycroft die because he loves to play him. 
That said they are in the lucky positions that people can return in flashbacks or Sherlock's mind, i.e. having their cake and eat it. 

Last edited by SusiGo (January 7, 2016 2:08 pm)

The wonderful Ariane has finished her TAB transcript

http://arianedevere.livejournal.com/81144.html



EDIT: that "protective John" bit is brilliant.

Last edited by Ivy (January 7, 2016 2:20 pm)

SusiGo wrote:

Ancientsgate: I think it would be quite unprofessional not to know at this point where the story is going. And it would also be unprofessional to base your writing decision on how much you like a character. This also applies to the argument that Mark would never let Mycroft die because he loves to play him. 
That said they are in the lucky positions that people can return in flashbacks or Sherlock's mind, i.e. having their cake and eat it. 

I'm certainly not questioning their professionalism, not sure where you got that idea. It takes all kinds to be creative in this big ol' world, and no one would ever suggest that Sherlock's writers and creative staff haven't been highly successful at what they all do. Everything is (I'm sure) on the up and up.

You said, I think it would be quite unprofessional not to know at this point where the story is going. So you think that all the creative decisions for S4 and perhaps into S5 have already been locked and loaded?  It is possible, but I find that doubtful, since when writing fiction, it's usual and customary to allow the story to ebb and flow as a work in progress, be subjected to extensive editing in committee, and only towards the very end of the process be completely written in stone.

Yes, they can always bring back Andrew's Moriarty as flashbacks or in a mind palace scenario. But people do hate to stay dead in Sherlock, so....  I will not be surprised, however they decide to keep Andrew in the cast and use his character--  the options available to the writers are many and varied, which must be exciting for them.