BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 » Sherlock throwing his phone

Azelma · August 27, 2013 11:34 pm

This may be a stupid topic, but I've always wondered why Sherlock threw his phone after talking to John. It could very well have been for dramatic effect, but I can't help but wonder- because what else can I do while waiting for season three?- if Sherlock meant to break his phone. Or at least have it on the roof, rather than under it along with his body,

Like, there was something secret he didn't want anyone to see. Maybe when he was having his 'moment alone' he was alerting Mycroft or Molly, and didn't want the police to see that and therefore, put one of the two in suspicion. Or it could have been someone or something entirely different, something he had on his phone. Or maybe he threw that phone on the roof so that it could be collected when Moriarty's body was.

I don't know why, I just always thought it odd that he threw his phone onto the roof.

Anyways, theories? Comments? Wondering if I'm too stupid to be on this forum?

jenosborn · August 28, 2013 3:07 am

Why would he drop the phone onto the roof?

- We know that phones can be tracked (gps), and where he was going he didn't want to be tracked.

- leaving the phone on the roof helps as a tidy clue for the subsequent investigation to put together the scenario. (dead body on roof, another dead body on ground, recent goodbye call to friend
would have been logged, another earlier text to Moriarty inviting him to the roof...) Nothing *obviously* confidential would likely have been left in his phone.

- phone would be returned to Mycroft (next of kin) after the investigation, so Sherlock would get it back, unharmed, probably pretty quickly.

- dropping the phone may have been a 'all systems go' signal to his accomplice(s) on the ground.

Those are some ideas anyway.

tobeornot221b · August 28, 2013 4:01 am

Why drop the phone onto the roof?
It's canon. Holmes leaves his note behind on the "roof" of the Reichenbach Fall.

And: getting rid of one's phone (though not destroying it) might mean to someone who would not only see but observe (it has happened before!):
"I'm not dead...THINK!"

SolarSystem · August 28, 2013 4:15 am

tobeornot221b wrote:
And: getting rid of one's phone (though not destroying it) might mean to someone who would not only see but observe (it has happened before!):
"I'm not dead...THINK!"

Ah, I love that!

SherlockianDE · August 28, 2013 8:40 am

I've always thought that Sherlock could easily have recorded the talk with Moriarty, in order to use it later to clear his name...

And if he'd kept it on his body, the risk of the phone being damaged in the fall would have been huge (no matter what he did to survive). The point is, he knows that he's going to live, so why risk the destruction of the phone? If it's found on the roof by the police or Mycroft, whoever takes care of Moriarty's body, Sherlock's much more likely to get it back.

But I also like the idea of it being a clue to John

anjaH_alias · August 28, 2013 9:36 am

In The Final Problem Holmes leaves - as tobeornot has already mentioned - a note for Watson. In this note he also reports that he has left some evidence against Moriarty and his "gang" at a certain place for Mycroft. So for me the mobile was always both: A symbol for Sherlock´s note - he said his last words to John through it - and, left behind for Mycroft, the evidence against Moriarty/information about the key code (= recorded talk).

Last edited by anjaH_alias (August 28, 2013 12:28 pm)

Davina · August 30, 2013 6:23 am

I'm a bit confused. Does Sherlock drop it to avoid being tracked, if so, why would he want it back...possibly quite quickly?

besleybean · August 30, 2013 6:24 am

I always assuemd his mere dropping the phone, was just the indication he wasn't actually going to die and wanted it back!

miriel68 · September 1, 2013 5:37 pm

Well, if you throw your phone like this, it actually could damage it, you know (I know, that's how my Samsung ended his life). I am not sure whether it has some meaning or it is just for the drama effect: if would be rather awkward if after delivering his speach to John and before throwing himself from the roof Sherlock put carefully the phone back to his pocket...

Kerkerian · September 4, 2013 4:29 pm

miriel68 wrote:
Well, if you throw your phone like this, it actually could damage it, you know (I know, that's how my Samsung ended his life). I am not sure whether it has some meaning or it is just for the drama effect: if would be rather awkward if after delivering his speach to John and before throwing himself from the roof Sherlock put carefully the phone back to his pocket...

Which is was made me frown at the whole thing- if he wanted to be sure to leave the phone behind as evidence etc and have it returned to him later by Mycroft, he wouldn't have dropped it this carelessly in my opinion. Or maybe he's just having great faith in people who are able to retrieve data from destroyed electronic devices...

SherlockianDE · September 5, 2013 7:44 am

miriel68 wrote:
Well, if you throw your phone like this, it actually could damage it, you know (I know, that's how my Samsung ended his life). I am not sure whether it has some meaning or it is just for the drama effect: if would be rather awkward if after delivering his speach to John and before throwing himself from the roof Sherlock put carefully the phone back to his pocket...

Maybe he put one of those special bumper cases on his phone beforehand?
A friend of mine has one of those on her iPhone, and you can literally smash it full-force onto the hard ground, it doesn't do anything to it (I've seen it with my own eyes! Really shocking at first^^). And if they're the same color as the phone, you can hardly see them from farther away.

SolarSystem · September 5, 2013 8:41 am

SherlockianDE wrote:
miriel68 wrote:
Well, if you throw your phone like this, it actually could damage it, you know (I know, that's how my Samsung ended his life). I am not sure whether it has some meaning or it is just for the drama effect: if would be rather awkward if after delivering his speach to John and before throwing himself from the roof Sherlock put carefully the phone back to his pocket...
Maybe he put one of those special bumper cases on his phone beforehand?
A friend of mine has one of those on her iPhone, and you can literally smash it full-force onto the hard ground, it doesn't do anything to it (I've seen it with my own eyes! Really shocking at first^^). And if they're the same color as the phone, you can hardly see them from farther away.

But then it would make almost no sound when it drops to the floor, right? Because when Sherlock's phone hits the floor you can hear that typical sound phones make when they, well, hit the ground, metallic of some sort.

SherlockianDE · September 5, 2013 9:03 am

SolarSystem wrote:
SherlockianDE wrote:
miriel68 wrote:
Well, if you throw your phone like this, it actually could damage it, you know (I know, that's how my Samsung ended his life). I am not sure whether it has some meaning or it is just for the drama effect: if would be rather awkward if after delivering his speach to John and before throwing himself from the roof Sherlock put carefully the phone back to his pocket...
Maybe he put one of those special bumper cases on his phone beforehand?
A friend of mine has one of those on her iPhone, and you can literally smash it full-force onto the hard ground, it doesn't do anything to it (I've seen it with my own eyes! Really shocking at first^^). And if they're the same color as the phone, you can hardly see them from farther away.
But then it would make almost no sound when it drops to the floor, right? Because when Sherlock's phone hits the floor you can hear that typical sound phones make when they, well, hit the ground, metallic of some sort.

I guess it depends on the material of the case that you have... for example, the one in this video also makes a metallic sort of noise when thrown on the ground: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqxUZtW45bE#t=171 (starting at around 1:48)

But to be honest, I'm not really completely convinced of this myself just thought I might be a nice idea to share.

SolarSystem · September 5, 2013 9:14 am

SherlockianDE wrote:
SolarSystem wrote:
SherlockianDE wrote:

Maybe he put one of those special bumper cases on his phone beforehand?
A friend of mine has one of those on her iPhone, and you can literally smash it full-force onto the hard ground, it doesn't do anything to it (I've seen it with my own eyes! Really shocking at first^^). And if they're the same color as the phone, you can hardly see them from farther away.
But then it would make almost no sound when it drops to the floor, right? Because when Sherlock's phone hits the floor you can hear that typical sound phones make when they, well, hit the ground, metallic of some sort.

I guess it depends on the material of the case that you have... for example, the one in this video also makes a metallic sort of noise when thrown on the ground: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqxUZtW45bE#t=171 (starting at around 1:48)

But to be honest, I'm not really completely convinced of this myself just thought I might be a nice idea to share.

Oh, definitely, I'm convinced that all ideas deserve to be shared, however absurd or unlikely they may seem.
In this case here, I don't really have a convincing theory myself. He may have left evidence or messages on the phone, but then again he might also have given this stuff to Mycroft before he even stepped on that rooftop. Maybe he threw it away because he didn't want anyone to trace him, but then again, he could have thrown it away after the fall... I don't have a clue.

ChrisHale · November 27, 2013 11:27 pm

Sherlock leaving his phone behind is also great symmetry with Sherlock and John's very first case. The woman in pink knew what was going to happen so she left her phone behind as a clue. Sound like anyone else we know?

I doubt that's the primary reason Sherlock threw his phone away, but it's still quite poetic.

besleybean · November 28, 2013 7:13 am

I've always thought this was significant, even if Sherlock hadn't actually left anything obvious on the phone...tho I do think he may have recorded Moriarty.

teaEarlGrayhot · December 8, 2013 3:52 am

Interesting topic! When I saw it, I thought throwing the phone was for effect for us, the audience. Though sometimes phones survive falls like that, (protective cases, luck)....most people would conclude from the throw and the cracking noise that the phone was detroyed. Nice way to build the tension for the jump.

But I like the symmetry with Irene's phone; I hadn't thought of that before. It seems more likely to be linked to Irene faking death+ leaving phone than to the Lady in Pink, though. The Lady in Pink actually did kill herself.

besleybean · December 8, 2013 8:13 am

Tho she did want to leave a clue...