James Norrington wrote:

"Of course he’s dead. He blew his own brains out. No-one survives that. I just went to the trouble of an overdose to prove it."
Sherlock always thought Moriarty was dead. Before Mycroft called he - I guess - didn't know anyone doubted that. So his conclusion of 'he blew his own brains out, no-one survives that' is just the same he already had after TRF and didn't come from his overdose-caused deductions. And after all, it really is a fact, but the point remains: What if he didn't really blow his minds out, how could he have survived then?

I find it slightly odd that Sherlock goes to such effort to try to find out if Moriarty's still alive.  The obvious solution is that he set something up before his death - presumably planned, as I'm sure how he didn't bring that gun along to the rooftop planning to shoot Sherlock.  How banal would that be?  Sherlock kind of answers this earlier in TAB when he says the solution to the ghost case is simple - other people make it look as if they are Emilia.  He knows this long before he works out who the murderer is.  So why doesn't he just assume that people are seeing pre-recorded video of Moriarty?  It's the most obvious solution.  Especially if, as you say, he had no reason to doubt that Moriarty was dead. 

Unless of course Sherlock knows something we can't know because it was never shown, but that would be disappointing and I want to believe that the writer's wouldn't go that way.
 

I grew up on Agatha Christie rather than ACD, and I'm used to having all the information presented to me to allow me as reader/viewer to solve the case (even if I can't actually do it!).  I don't think "Sherlock" is written quite that way - it drives me nuts that in HLV we're only given the information about the ambulance arriving early while Sherlock is telling us his deduction.   He does withhold information from us, including information that is vital to the "solution".

Well I believe Mary did call the ambulance, though it may not matter anyway.
It's very easy to link TAB to Mary, because she was a bride with a secret...
But unless she works for Moriarty or is his successor, it's not really about her.

I've read several comments that say Mary is working for Mycroft.  (Sorry, I don't remember who says so.)  But -- how do we know that?  Clearly I am missing something because I don't remember seeing or hearing anything that definitively indicated she was.  Someone please enlighten me as now it's bugging me! 

Sherli Bakerst wrote:

I've read several comments that say Mary is working for Mycroft.  (Sorry, I don't remember who says so.)  But -- how do we know that?  Clearly I am missing something because I don't remember seeing or hearing anything that definitively indicated she was.  Someone please enlighten me as now it's bugging me! 

I don't know for sure, but a couple of guesses I do have--  when she got the note marked M, "come immediately," and she told Mrs. H. that it was from "England", I presume it's because Mycroft works for the gov't.  And then later, in the airplane, she was checking her phone and getting information that I presume no one without the secret handshake codes would have had access to. But that's all I can think of, and that's pretty flimsy.
 

Yeah, Sherlock might be working out that Mary works for Mycroft in real life.
Thinking about it, it seems odd that Sherlock never thought:wow, did Mycroft not know about Mary?!
Then we get constant reminders from Mycroft, that Sherlock should not get involved and stay away from cases...
Sorry, I'm wandering here.

I don't think Mycrfot considered Mary a threat to Sherlock and she wouldn't have been, if he'd kept his neb out!
Though I do appreciate, Sherlock had been hired by Lady Smallwood...presumably Mycroft didn't know this.
To be fair, Mary didn't know this either!

Last edited by besleybean (January 10, 2016 12:40 pm)

Good point.
Though it felt at the time to me that Mycroft was, well he directly refers to the danger of leaving Sherlock for a week in an isolation cell.
But I also wondered about the vunlerability of Sherlock feeling he'd been signed  a death sentence, when he was put on that plane.

I think that if Mycroft hired Mary to watch John, or to watch Sherlock, he wouldn't have told either of them.    Also, if he'd hired Mary to go after Magnussen, I don't think he'd have told Sherlock either - he does warn him to get off the case. 

If by some slim chance Mary was working for Mycroft, why was she still standing at the end of HLV.  There is no universe where I can imagine Mycroft not putting her in a deep dark hole for shooting his brother.

Neither Mary nor Mycroft knew Sherlock was going to be there, he just got in the way.
He's well over, past and moved on from that- as well as having forgiven Mary.