Can anybody actually make sense of the whole "terrorist plot" in ASiB?

An airplane crashes in Düsseldor. Presumably the crash was due to terrorist activity, though that's never confirmed. "Mycroft" (I'm just using the name for convenience's sake because I don't know who the other conspirators were - he probably wouldn't be directly involved in Germany) knew of the terrorist attack, and filled the plane with dead people so that nobody would die in the crash (btw: How did "Mycroft" fake people boarding the flight? How did the terrorists plant their bomb when the plane was not accepting passengers and luggage but parked in a closed-off area of the airport?). 

I'd like to point out that the Düsseldorf area is very densely populated and there's no way to exclude collateral damage (i. e. people killed) on the ground. But let's assume there were no additional fatalities so everybody is happy - the terrorists believe their scheme succeded, and as in Germany you don't get to see your loved one's ash (the urn's buried by cemetary employees) the relatives won't notice anything. Well, actually, people taking flights probably won't be too happy about the crash, but then we are all used to the risk and delete the facts pretty quickly, don't we?

Then there's Bond Air proper, LHR to Baltimore (which at least gives a nice stretch of sea for the plane to fall into - only then they wouldn't need corpses at all...). "Mycroft" has spent some 9 months collecting bodies (I'd say autumn for the hiker, the man with his aunt's urn came before the hiker, Bond Air is scheduled to leave in June/July - Irene's "6 months"), probably keeping them in deep freeze somewhere (and I wonder why he couldn't find corpses about whom nobody would care - does anybody know how many people die in the UK in 6 months?) Terrorists plant a bomb on the flight (same problem as above).

Moriarty has absolutely no connection to these terrorists, he apparantely doesn't know who they are - otherwise he could simply ask them on which flight they put the bomb! So what does it matter that Moriarty now knows? The flight could still go ahead making the terrorists happy.

Alternatively they could give the aircraft back to the company (I do hope it was bought, not stolen) and give Irene Adler the £ 5 - 150 million the plane's worth (depending on its age and use) - I'm pretty sure she could be negotiated down to that (I mean, what does she want with the money? Buy her own country?)

Of course, then Moriarty could call The Sun and tell them about the government stealing bodies and blowing them up in mid-air... That would be highly embarrassing for Mycroft, but frankly: Even though I intellectually know that dead people won't get any deader - I still don't like the idea of a dead relative falling from the sky in pieces. So I would feel absolutely no regret about such a government conspiracy being exposed.

In any case, Irene Adler was not in league with terrorists - her crimes consist of possession of an illegal firearm (7 years to life in prison), blackmail (up to 14 years) - assuming that's what her note to Mycroft at the very end was (btw: blackmail with WHAT, exactly? "Good idea ... unless there are lives of British citizens depending on the information you’re about to burn." - does that sound very impressive/menacing? And why should people's lives depend on the info on the phone? Especially as Irene collected most of the info before being advised by Moriarty - for the last half year the phone hasn't even been in her possession); possibly murder, depending on where her body double in the morgue came from - but I just don't (want to) believe that she killed that women.

Given that I can't get as excited about possession of firearms as the Crown Prosectution Service, and I don't particularly care about Mycroft (or the Royal Familiy) being blackmailed either, I have no problem with Irene Adler whatsoever. Pretty much the only really nice person in the episode (from the main characters - not counting the grandchildren etc.) is Mrs. Hudson, anyway 

Last edited by Kittyhawk (April 18, 2015 8:19 pm)