Bruce Cook wrote:

Sorry, Golddragon71, but you're mistaken about the sniper being able to see the sidewalk where Sherlock landed.  HIs view of the sidewalk was blocked by the low brick building positioned between the snipers's 2nd floor window and the sidwalk beneath the hospital.  John stood at the far end of the brick building (by desgin, as Sherlock planned it), and it prevented him too from the seeing the sidewalk.  (In the picture below, John has not yet moved back the far corner of the building as Sherlock insisted he do before he jumped.)



If you look carefully at the view through window where the sniper was located, there is a shot when the camera was positioned higher than the man, and you can see the brick side of the building, because the view is angled downward. (The bricks are much easier to see on TV.  Check and see if I'm right.)



In the other shot of the sniper, when the camera is looking straight out the window, we see the upper part of the trees along the sidewalk across the street.  The roof of the brick building is below the view through the window, so we don't see it. (Again, the tree leaves are easy to see on TV.  Take a look at the episode and see for yourself.)



The sniper could see John's upper body over the roof of the brick building as John stood on the sidewalk after Sherlock jumped, but not John's legs or the sidewalk itself.



However, the sniper was actually in a good position to see the opposite end of the building from where John stood, looking out the window to his right -- which meant he could see the alledged airbag being inflated and moved by the crew of men. 



And the sniper would get an even better look when the ground crew brought the airbag back around the build to hide it from John.  He could easily figure out what had happened and know the suicide was a hoax.  He would then dutifully blow John's brains out.


That's why I'm convinced there was no big blue airbag.  Sherlock lied to Anderson about that and several other aspects of his fake "explanation" for how the hoax was committed.

You mean the sniper that was 'taken care of' by Mycroft's man who was right behind him in the stairwell?

Think we all agree with that!

SherlocklivesinOH wrote:

Sherlock Holmes wrote:

I just always imagined that the true reveal would come from Sherlock telling John how he did it. And there was that moment, when John asked him as they were about to go out and face the press. There was like...five minutes left to spare, and I honestly thought Sherlock was about to tell him then.

You honed in here on the piece that bothered me: I assumed at the time this was the true explanation because 1) it was almost the end of the episode, and 2) I thought he was talking to John. And I assumed he would tell John the truth. (Silly me!)

And then at the end, didn't John ask Sherlock again how he did it?

I do see the point behind the "he wouldn't tell Anderson the truth," comment. I have said many times that he could get back at those who hated him in-universe by keeping them in the dark....thinking about supernatural possibilties...and maybe making them wonder a little if it was anything like History's Greatest Rise From the Dead...and John HAS to be wondering that on some level, too.

I have thought about that conversation between John and Sherlock at thte end of TEH a lot, because it didn't really make much sense to me at first. Sherlock wanted to tell John how he did it very early on in the episode, but was interrupted by John not wanting to know. So why wouldn't he tell him later, once John had calmed down? Now I've come to think that in this last scene at Baker Street, John didn't actually ask Sherlock to tell him how he did it. He doesn't really put a question mark at the end of his sentence, but just quietly states "you're not going to tell me how youd did it". I now have come to the conclusion that this is actually John telling Sherlock NOT to tell him how he actually did it, so they could just pretend it was a miracle Sherlock had provided for John when he asked for it (or two years after he had asked for it, more precisely). I now to see this scene as an understanding between John and Sherlock that to them, Sherlock's return would always stay a miracle, like a gift from Sherlock to John. 

As far as the question of "how he did it" is concerned, there are a few reasons I don't believe that the conversation between Anderson and Sherlock ever took place anywhere else than in Anderson's head. And if it did, it wasn't the truth. The main reason why I think it didn't take place at all is the fact that Sherlock actually tells Anderson on camera that Molly faked the records of his death. Now if this video EVER got into the wrong hands, Molly would not only lose her job, but also face criminal charges and thus get into very serious trouble. Sherlock may call himself a sociopath as much as he wants, but I like to believe that he would never do that to Molly. Other people have already mentioned the atypical use of Anderson's frist name as another clue that the conversation didn't actually take place in reality. 

What also makes me very suspicious is the fact that early in the episode, when Sherlock starts telling John how he (really) did it, he tells him that there were 13 possibilties once he was on that rooftop. Then he goes on explaining why the first of these 13 possibilities could never have worked. So after that, there were only 12 possibilties left. We never get to know if all of them would have worked, but we get to know that there were only 12 left. But to Anderson, Sherlock actually talkes about 13 scenarios that could have worked. Something just doesn't add up here. My theory is that Lestrade actually asked John if Sherlock had told him how he did it. John told him that he had only talked something about thirteen possibilties. Lestrade mentioned this to Anderson when they met the next time and that's how this information made it into Anderson's imagination of Sherlock telling him how he did it. 

But even if this interview with Anderson actually took place, those 13 scenarios are still very suspicous and definitly don't add up to what Sherlock had started to tell John earlier. 

And I think it's just after such an insanely long post that people should start to realize that they have been thinking far too much about a TV-Series . . .  (and just to make sure no one feels offended: I was only referring to myself in this last sentence . . .)

Well I bought it. It seemed all real to me. I was so relieved to finally get the answer after waiting so long and I was not disappointed..
As always he outsmarted the bad guys by being two steps ahead and no one even knew he knew!
I was very happy with the explanation.

SherlocklivesinOH wrote:

Traditionally (in every adaptation but this one), Watson was always kind of in awe of Holmes. He is usually played as viewing Holmes coming back as being a miracle and he's focused on being glad he's back.

I don't think John's "I don't care how you faked it," line was just something said in the heat of anger and not meant...I think he genuinely doesn't care. And consider if that Sherlock's not being dead (dare we say, rising from the dead?) was a miracle, it was less about lying and scheming on Sherlock's part. John can think of it as "miraculously not dead," instead of "pretending to be dead and lying to me." Does that make sense?

To me, this makes perfect sense. I think by stating that he wanted to consider Sherlock's return as a miracle, John expressed that he had truely forgiven Sherlock. Because there's nothing to be angry about when someone has just "given" you a miracle, is there?

SherlocklivesinOH wrote:

And remember: even if the solution we see him tell Anderson was the true one, that does not require that the conversation with Anderson really happened. That could be the true solution and Sherlock could have just imagined himself telling Anderson.

I haven't thought about that possibilty, but it could indeed have been like that. Although it still doesn't make sense that Sherlock would use Anderson't first name when he can't be bothered to ever remember Greg's first name. 

I love that we're left in the open and that it's up to each viewer to decide if he/she wants to believe that this how it happened. 
 

Last edited by LightPurple (January 22, 2014 7:23 am)

O, I must have missed that. That is a good point. I will have to go back and watch it again. But she did come out of his bedroom in the morning half dresssed and then joined him in the shower and there was all kinds of giggling going on in the bathroom.(Lots of giggling from me too and I'm a grown women, lol)  Now that I'm thinking about it, did they kiss goodbye at the door when she left for work? Well it will be a fun excuse to go back and re-watch it. I'm such a hopeless romantic and I love Sherlock and Benedict Cumberbatch so I am always on the look out for some kissisng and such! Thanks for the response.

Would it be out of line to ask for a Spoiler warning? I know there's a huge sign on the forum that basically says there's going to be spoilers everywhere, but this is the Empty Hearse area and I've seen that ep but not the others since they havent aired in the US.

I'd like to be able to talk about the ep with everyone while it's still new (to me, and other US folks) and not have to wait till all three have aired to come into the forum at all. Truly asking if that's out of line or not.

SPOILER (maybe )

LightPurple wrote:

SherlocklivesinOH wrote:

And remember: even if the solution we see him tell Anderson was the true one, that does not require that the conversation with Anderson really happened. That could be the true solution and Sherlock could have just imagined himself telling Anderson.

I haven't thought about that possibilty, but it could indeed have been like that. Although it still doesn't make sense that Sherlock would use Anderson't first name when he can't be bothered to ever remember Greg's first name. 

I love that we're left in the open and that it's up to each viewer to decide if he/she wants to believe that this how it happened. 
 

Watched the extras on the blu ray yesterday. One of the responsible persons during the filming of the fall mentioned that the 3rd version is the correct one.
But afterwards in the interview with Mofiss it is still left open again. The already known reasons... why should he tell Anderson and so on.. so nothing changed. Also no real explanation on the blu ray.

they are all fooling us, maybe  /and we like it, don´t we/

Mrs.Wenceslas wrote:

they are all fooling us, maybe  /and we like it, don´t we/

I guess so.