The cabbie and moriarty had one thing in common..

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Posted by BrettHolmes
July 24, 2014 6:49 pm
#1

In their methods, they both forced their victims into killing themselves
 
The Cabbie forced people to choose between the pills, while Moriarty had forced Sherlock into stopping the killing of friends by having him jump off the roof (Of course we all know he didn’t) Add the fact that they both killed themselves as well. It makes you wonder if they both shared ideas with each other.
 
It is true that Moriarty didn’t do such tactics in “The Great Game” but he did have bombs strapped to those he was threatening to kill and one could easily tell that the episode was alluding to suicide bombers that you read about in the news.
 
So did anyone notice these parallels/similarities or is it just me?

Last edited by BrettHolmes (July 24, 2014 7:41 pm)

 
Posted by Whisky
July 24, 2014 7:40 pm
#2

I'd think Moriarty would choose people who were "his taste"... so people that appeal to him in their way of thinking. He chose the cabbie to work for him, and he chose Sherlock... I think Moriarty wouldn't work with people who don't "entertain" him in their wicked ways. So I think it's not coincidence the cabbie and Moriarty like playing similar games.
Maybe Moriarty was also a bit annoyed that Sherlock didn't kill himself but John shot the cabbie. Maybe he wanted to do it better, and chose a similar scenario.
In case Moriarty is really dead (which I hope), it is indeed a repeated scenario which is a funny thought. People who force Sherlock to commit suicide end up dead in this show... and I can see similarites to CAM there, too, even if it's not a suicide Sherlock is facing, but a trial. Sherlock is kind of good getting out of tight situations... and the other side often doesn't survive it.
 

Last edited by Whisky (July 24, 2014 9:43 pm)


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"It is what it is."

 
Posted by Liberty
July 24, 2014 9:07 pm
#3

Yes, I thought there were similarities too, and perhaps they did share ideas (the cabbie was working for Moriarty, wasn't he?  But his methods were his own).

I have to say I was disappointed with the cabbie.  I was so eager to find out how he did it, what it was that he said that would make them long for death.  Then it turned out that all he did was threaten them with a (fake) gun.  (And also funny that Sherlock doesn't "win" by any wit or skill, but by somebody else shooting the guy!). 

But I suppose it flagged up for Sherlock that Moriarty couldn't be attempting to talk him into suicide.  He had to have a threat ... and the court case had shown that it was going to involve threatening people close to him. 

It's a shame that these criminal masterminds turn out to be rather crude, and not so clever after all! 

I think Moriarty would have been disappointed if Sherlock killed himself with the pill.  Maybe it was a test - was he a worthy opponent? 

 
Posted by Whisky
July 24, 2014 9:47 pm
#4

Liberty wrote:

I think Moriarty would have been disappointed if Sherlock killed himself with the pill.  Maybe it was a test - was he a worthy opponent? 

Yes, I thought so too. I only wonder if Moriarty ever got to know how close Sherlock was to taking the pill. The cabbie couldn't tell him anymore, and Sherlock and John were the only ones who knew (John definitely knows, he is absolutely sure Sherlock risked his life there on purpose, and Sherlock doesn't deny it). I first thought Moriarty found out through the cabbie that Sherlock is bored, and easily tempted with dangerous situations. But I'm not sure how Moriarty would have known the details. Neither Sherlock nor John would have told the press or anybody how close it really was, because it would show Sherlock's weakness to the world. This is all based of course on the assumption that Sherlock really would have taken the pill. I personally thought he would have, after watching the episode a few times. He wants to prove he is clever.
I think he is more in control later on in the show - he maybe realises that this is his weak spot: the need to prove he is clever, the knowledge that he will go to extremes to keep the upper hand in the end, even risking his life (or the life of his friends in this case, which is the same thing imo).

 

Last edited by Whisky (July 24, 2014 9:51 pm)


_____________________________________________________________

"It is what it is."

 
Posted by Liberty
July 25, 2014 6:30 am
#5

I have wondered about whether he would take it.   I agree that he has a need to prove he's clever (and a need to avoid boredom), but ... taking the pill would just be doing what everybody else did (even though they got the choice wrong).  He's being manipulated into it and knows he's being manipulated - does he want to be so easily manipulated?  There's a fair chance the cabbie is lying (both pills are deadly and he never actually swallows one.  Or he takes an antidote immediately after, etc.).   Or that the other times were just chance.  It's such a mundane thing, swallowing a pill? 

But I do think it's implied that he might have taken it ... he's not in any danger in any other way at that point, so doesn't need John to save him ... unless he really was going to take it.

I hope he wasn't, though.  It seems such a silly, pointless risk to take.  I like to think he was planning something else.

 
Posted by Whisky
July 28, 2014 1:30 am
#6

Liberty wrote:

It seems such a silly, pointless risk to take.

Yes. But he's an idiot, to quote John
 


_____________________________________________________________

"It is what it is."

 
Posted by Liberty
July 28, 2014 6:25 am
#7

True!  But ... of course getting into the car with the cabbie was a risk, but one that of course Sherlock would take.  It was completely intriguing, as well as being possibly the only chance to find out what was happening. 

By the time it comes to taking the pill, the mystery has gone, he knows what happened, and it's not nearly as clever or interesting as he'd hoped.   He knows he's being manipulated into taking the pill. Would the lure of playing somebody else's game and winning be enough to over-ride that?   It's interesting, though, if Sherlock is the one person the cabbie actually can talk into taking the pill (instead of threatening to shoot them, as he had to do with the others).   It's definitely a weakness.

I wish we'd known the cabbie's "method" and whether Sherlock deduced it correctly.  Because the obvious way to not give clues as to which pill is which is for the cabbie himself not to know.   The only clever thing the cabbie needs to do is to convince Sherlock that he does know.   It's suggested that as the cabbie is dying anyway, he's willing to risk death, and from what we see in the scene with Sherlock, he doesn't have a way of forcing his victims to choose a particular bottle even if he knows which is which.  So it's chance.

Of course, as the cabbie says it's not chance, but it's clear he can't make the victims choose a particular bottle, the even more obvious solution is that the cabbie is lying.  Maybe all the pills are poisoned and he never takes his (how would anyone know?).  Maybe he's immune to whatever poison it is. 

Either way, it doesn't make any sense for Sherlock to take the pill.   It's not a game.  It's either a 50/50 chance, or a certainty of death. 

(Unless he knows something we don't, in which case I like to be told .  I love hearing how he does his deductions).

 


 
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