I think Moriarty did have a reason for suicide (either real or fake) - it was his own way of outwitting Sherlock, giving him a situation that he couldn't get out of.  It would make Sherlock possibly responsible for his friends' deaths too.  There was always the possibility that Sherlock wouldn't jump (and in fact, I don't think he would have jumped - it would still make more sense to try to save the friends in some other way).   But if they'd been killed, he'd then have had to live with that and the knowledge that he could have stopped it.  He may have become a rather darker version of himself, which was maybe what Moriarty was aiming to create.

Well, of course he is, but at the same time he's a highly intelligent human being (when we look at what he did in the past, he cannot simply be just crazy, and he wouldn't be able to keep up with Sherlock and playing those games with him if he wasn't), and therefore it's still disappointing to believe that killing himself is the solution the writers have come up with to end with this brilliant character.

But unfortunately, I get more and more the impression, that's exactly what they did...

I hope you're right!

Bruce Cook wrote:

James Norrington wrote:

Well, of course he is, but at the same time he's a highly intelligent human being (when we look at what he did in the past, he cannot simply be just crazy, and he wouldn't be able to keep up with Sherlock and playing those games with him if he wasn't), and therefore it's still disappointing to believe that killing himself is the solution the writers have come up with to end with this brilliant character.

Notice how I left out the part I didn't agree with at the bottom of your post. Other than that, I give your comment two thumbs up!  
But I feel compelled to point out that brilliant writers thrive on challenges, and our good friends Mark and Steven have (I remain convinced) presented us with a situation that looks one way but really is another.  Plus, I still think there's a TON of evidence that the rumors of Jim's death have been greatly exaggerate!
 

Sorry. ;) Of course I hope you're right and it turns out to be exactly as you pointed it so marvelously out in your very detailled explanations, I really, really hope that's the case!

Be proud and claim it.
I always have done.
I am then perfectly happy to come back and say: ok, well, I was wrong about that, that and that!

Last edited by besleybean (January 9, 2016 8:17 am)

Everyone is just speculating.  If you're wrong, you're wrong, but until we get an answer anyone could be right.

Said it before and I say it again: I didn't get the pool resolution...
I was wrong about Sherlock being capable of real violence.
I have to say I think as a fandom, we pretty well got the rooftop leap.
S3, we knew John was gonna belt Sherlock...
But I thought CAM would survive and Mary die(got that very wrong!).
Plus I would never have thought Sherlock able to murder CAM the way he did.
The jury is out on Moriarty: but to begin with I was 100% convinced he was dead...now I've kind of talked myself out of it.

Last edited by besleybean (January 9, 2016 4:37 pm)

Isn't it  a shame we have this innocence and trust beaten out of us?
Well, BBC Sherlock restores my faith in human nature...sort of!

James Norrington wrote:

And the special actually didn't change anything, because Sherlock always believed Moriarty to be dead after what he had seen and heard on that rooftop. So his sentence about 'of course he's dead' makes sense, but what if he just didn't blow his own brains out?
 

How about: TAB does change things? Before it, Sherlock thought Jim was dead, and only now thinks he is alive? I think that "of course he's dead" line is actually a lie for Mary's benefit.

But I really need to ask this: Why does Sherlock even investigate the question of whether Jim is alive? There is the crisis with Jim's face on all the screens in England, a massive hacking. Why not immediately assume that since he is dead (presumably), then someody else must be behind it? Say, some remnants of his organization?

Bruce, is that related to your saying that Jim was arrested at the end of TRF and now he has escaped? Would you say that it's only in that HLV / TABphone call about the hacking crisis Mycroft still doesn't tell Sherlock that?

 

This is indeed an interesting question. My only spontaneous answer would be: because Sherlock thinks that Moriarty, if alive, would wish to continue their game in exactly this way. If Jim wants to play with him, he needs Sherlock alive, not on a death mission. This would be no fun. 

The video probably reminds Sherlock of the video set up for him in the cab. Strangely enough, we never see him suspecting that it was Mycroft's doing.