Sherlock could probably be pretty good at torture when he wanted to be. Like the way he managed to extract Moriarty's name from the dying cabbie.

Moriarty does say earlier in the episode that EVERYONE has a weakness that can be exploited, people they want to protect. Is he any different? Maybe he thinks Sherlock will be able to discover his weakness/leverage and use it. Perhaps it is something that would clearly be beyond the pale for someone like Mycroft but not Sherlock; he is on the side of the angels but is not one of them; he will do things his brother will not consider doing.

Exactly! Which is precisely what he does!

My thought is that in order for Moriarty to "win the game", Sherlock had to commit suicide.  When Sherlock says that he realizes there's a recall code of some sort, then Moriarty gets knocked off of his game.  The only way to win was to force Sherlock to jump by killing himself.  Torture or death isn't going to scare Moriarty (he said so and we saw it), but losing the game will.  We see that he is relieved, but he's still not going to give up winning.  So, I think Sherlock found out how to beat Moriarty's game...maybe he knew the recall code, maybe he found a way that he could save his friends, or even perhaps Sherlock would do something to win the game even at the expense of his friends (which would explain the "You're me!" comment by Moriarty).  But Sherlock had to find a way to make Moriarty believe that his only option was suicide- otherwise Sherlock could not have faked his death.

Last edited by sj4iy (June 21, 2013 2:31 am)

Like Sherlock 's quote, people do see but do not observe. Remember in the episode the "A Study In Pink", during one of the press conference with Inspector Lestrade when he mention his view on the three serial "suicides", a SMS text "Wrong" is broadcast to every reporter and to Lestrade and Sally Donovan. We know right from the start that Sherlock is an expert in hacking, although we can never know how Sherlock hack into people 's mobile phone since he couldn't have all reporters as his "coffee" friends, just like Lestrade told Sally : "If you can told me how he do it, I will stop him"

Now presume Sherlock told Moriarty there is still an "code" or number despite Moriarty already said his key-code is just an music note and his action execute by his "network", what Sherlock really mean is he can use his hacking skill just like the above press conference scene to call off the sniper. And as long as Moriarty is alive, the killer will presume the message are his order. And this make sense when Sherlock said if possible he is willing to shake hand with Moriarty in hell, meaning as long as the killer are call off and his friends are saved, Sherlock is willing to die together with Moriarty so that he will not cause problem again,

As for Moriarty's words "No, you talk big, you are on the side of angel", I guess what he mean is Sherlock will not be stupid enough to kill Moriarty or even he himself because if he is dead, this will mean that Sherlock's name can never be clear, but when Sherlock replied he is willing to do anything, Moriarty realized that if Sherlock could save his friend first before killing him, he will be dead by being "ordinary" Richard Brook, while his genius 's criminal title will be "taken" by Sherlock since Sherlock is not afraid to be an criminal and of course the underworld network might not even know whether Sherlock is the "real" Moriarty or "Jim" is since session 1 like his "network" mention, there isn't any real contact with Moriarty, only message. (also remember how Sherlock still challenge the Judge in his testimonal during the trial despite being warned by the Judge?) hence Moriarty reply :  "You are me, thank you.". Based on the fact that Moriarty mock Sherlock of being "ordinary", I presumed he hated the idea of being label "ordinary" as well and he finally realized the mistake of being Richard Brook : Moriarty is indirectly making himself "ordinary" and give credit to Sherlock and in the end he is the one who lose the game unless Sherlock 's friends dead first.

Anyway whether the above theory is true or not, we have to wait until session 3 to know.

M The One wrote:

when Sherlock said if possible he is willing to shake hand with Moriarty in hell, meaning as long as the killer are call off and his friends are saved, Sherlock is willing to die together with Moriarty so that he will not cause problem again,

^^^ I like this bit. It's very canon. Relate it to this scene in the Final Problem:

"....You hope to beat me. I tell you that you will never beat me. If you are clever enough to bring destruction upon me, rest assured that I shall do as much to you.'
"'You have paid me several compliments, Mr. Moriarty,' said I. 'Let me pay you one in return when I say that if I were assured of the former eventuality I would, in the interests of the public, cheerfully accept the latter.'
"'I can promise you the one, but not the other,' he snarled, and so turned his rounded back upon me, and went peering and blinking out of the room.