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It has always bothered me that the brilliant and diabolical Jim Moriarty couldn't think of a better way to complete his master plan to force Sherlock into committing suicide than to pull out a gun and liquefy his remarkable brain matter.
The presence of the gun does seem to indicate that Moriarty actually planned to shoot himself — which is very troubling for folks like me who were totally convinced that the whole point of this story was to pit two brilliant men against each other in a battle of intellects.
With that in mind, consider this:
After telling Sherlock about the snipers who would kill his friends if he didn’t jump, Moriarty’s work was done. He didn’t need to hang around debating the issue with Sherlock, he could have just waved goodbye and gone down to the sidewalk to get a front row seat for the event when Sherlock turned himself into street pizza.
The one-and-only reason Moriarty had for staying on the roof was to watch Sherlock squirm and wriggle while he wrestled with the horrible realization that his mandatory suicide was a done deal and he had no choice.
But then Moriarty inexplicably ventilates his noggin’ with a bullet, preventing him from enjoying his moment of triumph! It’s completely out of character, completely illogical, and it’s damned unsatisfying to fans like us who totally got what was going on — until the gun appeared.
So, I submit that we missed the obvious.
Moriarty pulled the same trick that Sherlock did — he faked his suicide to manipulate the situation and achieve his goal. It’s completely consistent with all the other devious things he’s done — like creating a story-telling TV personality who convinced everyone he was hired by Sherlock to break into the Tower of London and then stand trial for it without offering any defense because he had secretly terrorized all the jurors into letting him go.
Surely a man who can get away with all that and more — despite the combined efforts of Scotland Yard and the great Sherlock Holmes — could think of a better solution to a possible problem with his plan to destroy Sherlock than just saying “aaaah” and sticking a gun in his mouth!
With all due respect, folks, I submit that my suggestion actually corrects the flaws that seriously mar the plot if Moriarty really couldn’t think of anything smarter than to just ventilate his cranium.
Besides, I would love to see an upcoming episode in which Mycroft reveals the actual suicide hoax to the patient and long-suffering John, while Sherlock smiles with pride — until Mycroft drops the bomb by revealing that Moriarty was equally crafty and had faked his own death, after which Mycroft's agency held him in secret and tried (through interrogation) to extract info about the man's criminal network.
Like they say in those commercials, “One fireman’s safety net: $799. Two dozen trained government agents dressed as bystanders: $14,123. The startled look on Sherlock’s face: priceless!”
And oh-my-God, picture the big grin on John’s face at that moment! Wouldn’t that be the perfect pay-back for Sherlock’s loyal and forgiving friend?
I can just see Mycroft as he gives Sherlock one of those sleepy smiles with his head titled back just a tad as he slowly says, “Didn’t see that one coming . . . did you, little brother?”
Last edited by Bruce Cook (December 28, 2015 4:11 am)
Wholocked wrote:
