So if Sherlock figured out the recall code and I stumbled upon something, which makes me think, he did, this has huge implicatons: Mycroft wouldn't have to bump off the sniper. And it was never said, he did. The wording is: 'He was invited to reconsider'. Which could simply mean, the code word was used. Much cleaner solution without a messy body, which has to be cleaned up after, and the sniper himself could call back the other killers. No need to track them all down. But then Sherlock didn't jump in order to save his friends (that wasn't necessary anymore, if the correct recall code was used), but in order to go undercover, which, as I think, was planned fromm the beginning. So, this is very speculative at the moment. Nothing about my last post contradicts theory 3, btw. It was never said or shown, that the sniper was killed.

besleybean, 'It is done' can refer to any number of things, it certainly can mean, they were successfully called back. I just sounds a little sinister. But, as I said, it's just speculative. But I never liked the thought, that Mycroft just orders to kill people  as a way of problem solving. Very inelegant and messy, and attracts attention.
And, yes, it's strange, that the parenst weren't at the funeral. Maybe, they were not able to fake grief.

Maybe it came up at today's Q&A?

sherlocked wrote:

Well, Sherlock didn't seem to think, it's obvious, because he made a big deal about Moriarty slipping up.  He said: 'So there is a recall code or a word or a number".I don't think, either, it's obvious. Moriarty might have given out the parole: 'Whatever happens to me or what I might say under torture, shoot Sherlock's friends, if you dont't see him jump'.

I think you're right. The way you explain it works for me. 

Hey, thanks for the article, sanaz. The article makes it clear, that even from a practical point of view, the given explanation isn't a very good one. Oh well, we mystery mongers can all go home now, if the BBC's statement is true. But wasn't it a show for us mystery mongers? Oh, well...

Ok, this article in the Sunday Times in connection with So3 (which, just seen by itself, I really liked, though not so much, concerning the big picture) convinced me, that the fall won't be revisited, and theory 3 was it, whatever that means, given the way, it was presented to Anderson (or not). I find it interesting, that apart from the misgivings, some of us have with the presented solution, experts, quoted in that article, are less than thrilled with it. My biggest gripe with theory 3 solution is now, that apart from all the things, which were difficult to pull off so precisely, it was incredibly dangerous. But since  we were told, that this thing had a lot of advance planning and was not a last minute solution, one has to wonder, how a duo of braniacs couldn't have come up with a simpler and less dangerous method to fake Sherlock's death. Even a huge firefighter net would've been less dangerous, less noisy and much less noticeable than this silly blue pillow.But I really can't see a way, how they could introduce that theme again and have it possibly spill over into season 4. Personally, I find that extremely disappointing and a huge cop out, others think differently and might be relieved, that the endless theorizing can stop. I might do a post with my thoughts, why they choose to deal with the fall solution in such an ambigouos way, and why there are so many loose ends and clues not dealt with at all, but theory wise I'm through with how he did it.

Last edited by sherlocked (January 6, 2014 11:35 am)

S.he, I understand your disappointment. I feel the same. But the Sunday Times is a VERY respectable paper. That doesn't mean, that they would intensely research a relatively unimprtant subject for the world at large, like this one, but I'd regard a statement from BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), which finances and broadcasts the show, as official as it could get.

The thing with the recall code. Or what was going on between Sherlock and Moriarty?

Sanaz wrote:

sherlocked wrote:

Sanaz, no, so far, that was never explained. As to Sherlock laughing: That was self explanatory: He realized, that there must be a recall code for the snipers, since Moriarty said, even, if he was tortured, he wasn't going to stop the killers, which implies, they could be stopped. I even have an idea by now, what the recall code might have been.

 but isn't obvious? i mean does it take Sherlock to know that Moriarty can call off the snipers?

For me, the recall thing doesn't make sense, it is banal and simply feels wrong. Of course is Moriarty able to stop this operation. But of course he never would do this, because he felt save in his plan to destroy Sherlock. And it doesn't make sense to keep Moriarty alive for stopping the killer. He always can send a signal to start the operation. His man above the roofs would see or get it.

s.he wrote:

It was a powerplay between them. Suppose it was an equal powerplay, Moriarty had the upper hand sometimes. And sometimes Sherlock had control. But who when and when it changes?

At the first watching my feeling was, the recall code was just playing for time. But maybe there was more behind. The Sherlock-Moriarty thing is an equal powerplay and Sherlock playes for his life and the lifes of his friends. Moriarty had the upper hand. After the privacy moment Sherlock offered Moriarty, he can easy tell him the recall code. ... Because...? Why should Moriarty tell him? Maybe Sherlock offers him an escape. Or what else would happen? Sherlock didn't say it clearly, but he had seen the chance for an escape, but for that Moriarty must die. He would never get a recall out of him. And Moriarty understand and accept this? Was he an obsessed psychopath who felt safe in his plan? But why does it matter, that Moriarty preferes suicide? Sherlocks reaction? Surprise? Little panic? Countdown? What's to do now for jumping down to save friends and survive?

But actually, what happened with Moriartys body after the show?

Last edited by s.he (January 8, 2014 6:08 pm)

My interpretation of Moriarty's death:

Fact: Moriarty deemed Sherlock as dangerous and wasn't allowed to continue.
Fact: Moriarty acknowledged Sherlock as his nemesis, his equal opposite.
Fact: Moriarty owed Sherlock a fall: I O U. A lot of people had lots of theories that it's a code of some sort , I take it literally : I ( M) owe you (S), and here is how:
Sherlock's star was rising, as the only consulting detective in the world he had been solving crime after crime, Crimes that were paid for to be perfect  by  hiring the only consulting criminal in the world. Moriarty sold perfect crimes , he sold his strategic and tactical genius, his name , his signature. Sherlock basically came and made his name by crapping all over that name. No more perfect crimes, no more clients. The great game was M testing S to see if he really was a worthy opponent starting with his first perfect crime (the shoe).
Also S brought the government attention's to M's clandestine organization, they even held him in custody ( the scene with M and Mycroft was before the trial).  Moriarty's status or star fell in the criminal world and that's why he owed Sherlock a fall. And that's why he went all the way into discrediting him as a fraud and not just simply busting a cap in his skinny ass. It was ,as mentioned in the episode , advertising not for a stupid key code but to show how he has utterly beaten the great Sherlock Holmes, to regain his status as the emperor, the Napoleon of crime. He had to destroy S completely, his reputation and his life even if it meant he had to die to ensure it, his name would live on in glory ( in criminal circles atleast). Only Sherlock wouldn't give in so easily, he wasn't broken, which is what he missed. If he was prepared to do anything to bring down S, S was too. Same thing happened in the great game with S aiming at the explosives. It was alluded to earlier with the Bach deathbed unfinished business story.
S saw fame and success in his work because of his blogger, his housekeeper, and his pet policeman, the people he most cared about to M's thinking, which is partly why these three were targeted instead of let's say Mycroft or his parents.
May be he saw S for who he really was for the first time, S had dropped his act in that handshake, and by killing himself he made sure he'd have the last word and that S had no chance of escaping his fate. It wasn't that S could have ever coerced him, he saw that S was just like him in that nothing would stop him from bringing down his enemy if if that meant self-destruction, which he totally beat S to.
Fact: Moriarty was totally nuts
To be honest this whole plot point is really far-fetched. Even with the whole I have no peer, no one to relate to, I'm so alone and bored and suicidal -angle. Again everybody knows Mycroft is smarter than both of them wouldn't M be distracted by him.
In the original final problem M was already beaten and exposed. He desperately and physically attacked Sherlock in a -if I 'm going down I'm taking you with me- sense. They happened to be next to a dangerous swiss waterfall. The writers I believe were just trying to be too clever. And by creating a controversy over how he did it, how he faked his death they're distracting people from how stupid they made Moriarty's greatest game.

s.he http://sherlock.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?pid=117595#p117595 wrote:

Yeahright wrote:

Mary Me wrote:

John was in shock and you do not simply question if your best friend is actually dead after he jumped off a roof regardless if you're allowed to check his pulse for 3 seconds only. You're in shock and you believe it. It's a very human thing to do.

Which is my point, the rubberball as a device to fool Watson was unnecessary, ergot fake solution. Similar to the heroic Molly kissing in the first theory. That was the point that totally convinced me we were being duped, even if I was suspending my disbelief during the bungee rope or big blue air bag.

Even so John is a medical doctor, an experienced field army doctor. He ran over to Sherlock not to cry over spilled blood. He ran over to offer medical assistance, to save his friend's life. Even in shock, any physician can carry out a primary survey, it's what they're trained to do, also being "in shock" is not what it looks like in movies.
 

Obviously of course was John in shock. I've read some interesting in the subtitles. All the people around John say to him:

"It's alright, it's alright."

How about that completely another story: No need for a rubberball and no bloodthings and such staff. It was not a necessary secret, that there was still a pulse. Because Sherlock really was more or less seriously injured. Around them were not the homeless, just passersby in front of a hospital, who cared about John and Sherlock til the emergencys came. And we don't know, when John get the fact of Sherlocks "death". Did I mentioned, I don't buy the whole Big Brother Conspiracy. (because of lots of reasons. Edit: One of them: There is no keycode, DOOFUS!)

And did I mentioned, of course I will accept und respect the end of the Reichenbach riddle. And there were lots of really nice ideas to handle the expectance of the audience. I like both films, Reichenbachfall and Empty Hearse, very much. (I'm curious about my next week thinking. :-/)

For theorizing: http://sherlock.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?id=4093&p=1