The out of character thing was said about two days after the episode aired; we've probably figured it out by now. It could be Sherlock calling John, however, IMO it was just Sherlock leaving his 'note', and I don't see a text working as well. Also, it's Moftiss's way of putting an emotional scene in. That scene wouldn't have worked nearly as well if no one had uttered a word.

Then the only thing that helps is.... patience................... 

Last edited by Mattlocked (September 5, 2012 4:26 pm)

Great, so you can use her as a human guinea pig. Let's hear her theories then. 

A friend of mine (a human, not a scull!) just watched it for the first time as well. In her opinion, he didn't jump into that  garbage truck. But she didn't know how he survived, too.

Well, whatever it is, it's involved. But he couldn't jump on it, because he just leaned forward and without taking a few steps he couldn't reach it.

Thank you for putting my theory to the test, Harriet! Your friend did come up with slightly different ideas, so in a way it worked.

But I guess I have to agree with you... I cannot imagine there is a way of "controlling" a jump from such a high building, the body simply cannot survive undamaged (and from the graveyard scene we know that he was not badly injured).

Unless of course she meant that while observing the surroundings, he saw that there was something which could break his fall half way down if he jumped from a certain spot, rather than just randomly jumping off the front of the building.

I never posted here anything earlier bcoz i am an average viewer of Sherlock.. mad after the show for sure, but I watched the Reichenbach fall only three times(I say only because i know there r a lot of people here who have watched it umpteen number of times ). Anyways, according to me, Sherlock basically did two things 'out of character' in this episode:
1) He appeared confused in front of Moriarty on the final roof scene. (fumbled with his words and got most things wrong).
2) He "cried" literally..we could clearly see tears falling from his eyes down his chin..

Out of these two, I think the first one, he did on purpose, to let Moriarty blurt out the truth and confess his crime. (I am sure, Sherlock had that small camera that he found at his 221B room, hidden beneath his collar or somewhere for sure that recorded everything. Sherlock wears so many things.. There is an ample space for hiding things. Because, he had kept it. (But then i also think that if he wanted to record the conversation, he cud've also switched on the recorder of his cell phone.. anyways, don't know..)I am very confident there has to be an involvement of that camera)

The second one is the real clue i think. coz, crying is something that I can never associate with BBC's Sherlock. So, I agree with all those people who introduced the Rhondendrum (or whatever..) drug theory.
Now how did he survive the fall?
I don't agree with blankets and truck theories. Why? Like most of the people have already written, that all this could've easily been seen by the people on road, plus, I don't think Sherlock knew in advance, that Moriarty would die. So, sherlock would've definitely planned his death keeping in mind, that Moriarty would make sure that he actually falls on the ground. So, now I can't say what happened but here's my guess. Perhaps, sherlock was wearing some life saving jacket kind of a thing beneath his Shirt. We've seen that white thing appearing while he was falling down. Sherlock normally tucks his shirt inside, so while he was falling, how could we see his vest ?  So, i feel it was not a vest, rather some equipment/jacket to help him suffer from as less injuries as possible. (Maybe the shape/design/length of that jacket was such that Sherlock cudn't keep his shirt inside.) Plus sherlock cud've gone on the roof 'not wearing that long coat' as Sun was shining above, and i don't think it was that cold  . Remember, in the Great Game confrontation with Moriarty, he didnt wear his long coat.. Anyways, i don't know what i m saying..but basically, what i mean to say is that he wore the long coat because h e had to hide many things 

Interesting ideas  I tend to think Sherlock would be able to cry fake tears like any good actor, but that is not of importance.
How do you deal with the head injuries?

Wholocked wrote:

monitaa wrote:

Perhaps, sherlock was wearing some life saving jacket kind of a thing beneath his Shirt. We've seen that white thing appearing while he was falling down. Sherlock normally tucks his shirt inside, so while he was falling, how could we see his vest ?

I've heard this brought up before and I'm not sure whether there's been an official statement (extremely doubtful) or if it was just discussed, but the shot you're talking about is of the stuntman, and the "white thing" is his t-shirt that he's wearing underneath the shirt. I don't know that it's a deliberate inclusion for the character (it's natural the shirt would come untucked whilst falling). It could be relevant, but I personally doubt it.

This has been discussed quite a bit on various occasions, but for me the discussion already get's unrealistic before you even reach the question of whether it was the stuntman or not.
What I am trying to say is, an airbag you wear round your waist won't break a fall from such an altitude enough to prevent head injuries.

I understand that with Mycroft's help Sherlock probably had access to the best techology there is, but still... this "white thing" we see is quite small, there is (for me) no way it would have been large enough to cover this entire body, including his head, by the time he hit the ground.

Also, it leaves the question what happend to this device afterwards? If it actually inflated so far as to successfully break the fall, it would have had to be at least 2m long, bright white and full of air. How would the helpers manage to get it out of sight completely by the time John arrives?

Hmm I interpreted it that he did part of it and a stuntman did the wide shot stuff but having re-read that link I think you're right and he did it all himself.