BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 / My problem with Reichenbach fall: impossible dilemma

**Posted by miriel68** January 29, 2013 11:02 pm

Hi, I am quite new here, so if you have discussed a similar topic already (as you probably have) I hope you will be indulgent and willing to come back to it.

So, what is my problem or rather two problems concerning RF?

First of all, I absolutely loved this episode from every point of view: plot, acting, direction, tension, atmosphere. It is by far the best piece of drama I have seen in a long time.

And it is exactly because I value it so high that I have some (serious) concerns.

The first one, minor, is relatively simple: I really wonder how on Earth, after having achieved such a deep emotional imput in the season 2 (especially in the 1st and 3rd episode) they will be able not to loose it in the third season? After all, it is difficult to think about something more extreme than the protagonist sacrificing himself in order to protect his friends! I simply cannot immagine a new series becoming somehow "new adventures" of Sherlock and John.
However, I do have faith in Moffat and Gatiss, so this is not my main problem

The real one is the fact that Sherlock didn't die.
No, I am not joking.
Did I want Sherlock to survive? Yes, of course I did (and I knew he would: I've read ACD enough times to remember it)
Did I want Sherlock to ultimately win the battle against Moriarty? Yes, of course I did.
Do I want to have a new season of Sherlock to watch? I do!

So?

I think many viewers will agree that Reichenbach Fall is such an outstanding show because of the emotional tension it brings and the range of emotions so beautifully played by the protagonists.They make this film heart wrenching,
However, they are so powerful only as long as they are genuine. Once they are (or will be) revealed as
a fake, they will loose (to me) a great lot of their appeal.
Since Sherlock didn't die, some of the emotions we are shown and we are sharing (aren't we?) had to be a kind of act.
In RF we deal with emotions of Watson, Moriarty, Mycroft and, of course, Sherlock.
Only Watson's reactions and feeling are 100% genuine, we can be assured. What about the others?
I want Moriarty to be dead. I don't like the idea of him faking his death as well (I read some ideas like this somewhere). I really think it is sublime that his twisted mind would carry him to commit the suicide in order to "sort" the duel between him and Sherlock.And I hope he will stay safely dead
I don't want Mycroft to be part of some greater conspiracy, or a partner in faking Sherlock's suicide. His grief about bringing the doom to his younger brother is so beautifully understated, I want to treasure it. And again, I dare to hope his feeling will stay authentic.
Alas, there are almost no such hopes for Sherlock. I don't want Sherlock to fake his own death, period. I know it's not logical, because I want seeing him kicking and alive for at least 10 other seasons. Yet in the same time I still want him to jump to his death in order to save his friends. Because if he knows all along he won't really die, the powerful emotion of the rooftop confrontation and the final call to John suddenly drops from 100% to 20%. There is no escaping from this simple fact. He can be still desperate that he has to sacrifice his reputation and that he has to separate from his friend, but it is a very pale substitute of emotion for the bleak despair of a man who is going to sacrifice his reputation, his friendship AND his life in order to save his friends.

Therefore, I am not really interested into "how did he do it". My trepidation is all about "how will they explain it without ruining this absolute masterpiece I consider RF so far?" I only hope the writers won't cheat on cliffhanger: they are able do it, as the beginning of "Scandal in Belgravia" clearly reminds us. I didn't mind the cheek-in-tongue solution they offered there, but this time is different.

What are your thoughts?

**Posted by SusiGo** January 30, 2013 7:38 am

That's an interesting idea, Miriel. I think it has been mentioned but not as strongly expressed as by you. I understand your dilemma but I see it like that: Sherlock knew he wouldn't die and his words on the roof were a sort of act for the sake of his plans. Nevertheless I'm absolutely sure that his feelings were genuine, that his tears aren't faked. He knows how much he's going to hurt John and at the time he can't be sure if he's ever going to return because he has to take down Moriarty's net. He has to leave behind his whole life in Baker Street and the work that means so much to him. He doesn't just separate from his friend, he makes him think he's dead and doesn't know for sure if he'll see John again and what will happen in the meantime.
That's more than 20% I'd say.

**Posted by erunyauve** January 30, 2013 11:34 am

SusiGo wrote:
That's an interesting idea, Miriel. I think it has been mentioned but not as strongly expressed as by you. I understand your dilemma but I see it like that: Sherlock knew he wouldn't die and his words on the roof were a sort of act for the sake of his plans. Nevertheless I'm absolutely sure that his feelings were genuine, that his tears aren't faked. He knows how much he's going to hurt John and at the time he can't be sure if he's ever going to return because he has to take down Moriarty's net. He has to leave behind his whole life in Baker Street and the work that means so much to him. He doesn't just separate from his friend, he makes him think he's dead and doesn't know for sure if he'll see John again and what will happen in the meantime.
That's more than 20% I'd say.

He can fake tears, we know that - we've seen him do it. But I don't think that's the case here, at least not entirely, because of his reaction to Moriarty's suicide. We've seen him do that hyperventilation thing twice before - once after pulling the semtex vest off John and again in The Hound, when he is trying to figure out how he could possibly have seen the hound even though it's against all logic. He does not want to make that jump for all the reasons you've given.

He knows that he has to force an end game with Moriarty, but I don't buy the notion that he (and Mycroft) had everything in the episode pre-planned, with the end result that he would end up faking his death, just so that he could take down not only Moriarty but his whole 'web'. That's a bit too Queen and Country for him. As he says, he's not one of the 'angels'.

**Posted by miriel68** January 31, 2013 6:12 pm

SusiGo wrote:
I'm absolutely sure that his feelings were genuine, that his tears aren't faked. He knows how much he's going to hurt John

Sorry, but I am not buying this. Sherlock cares deeply for Watson (I found it brilliant that at the end of the season 1 we learn Watson is willing to sacrifice his life in order to save Sherlock and at the end of the season 2 we see Sherlock ready to do the same for him - beautiful symmetry), but caring for other people feelings or bothering to understand them has never been his forte. On the contrary, the point of all the episodes is to lead us to believe that he seems genuinely baffled when it is brought to his attention that he hurt somebody's feelings. Why, in the Hounds of Baskerville he placidely put Watson through a horrifying experience just because he wanted to check his theory and he didn't seem excessively sorry at the end of the episode. At the beginning of RF he is wondering about John's concern "It really bothers you...| What people say about me? why would it upset YOU?". He cuts off Watson when he calls him about Moriarty being found not guilty and he leaves him to take another cab after they leave police station with a not-so-kind remark "you may talk".
Of course, WE (audience), know how devastated is Watson after Holmes's presumed death. But for him
to show such empathy seems a bit out of character, IMO.
So, if Sherlock's tears are not to be put on his empathy towards John's feelings and not on his forced suicide, since he doesn't intend to commit one, they are or fake (I don't like this idea) or autocommiseration (and I don't like this idea, either)

Last edited by miriel68 (January 31, 2013 6:13 pm)