BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 / Fear of Moriarty?

**Posted by SusiGo** July 5, 2012 11:36 am

Please excuse me if anyone mentioned that already; I couldn't find it anywhere in this section.

I watched this episode again and found one scene particularly interesting. When they return to Dewer's Hollow at the end, Sherlock confronts Frankland who is wearing the protective mask. There are once again drug vapours rising from the ground and Sherlock suddenly sees Moriarty instead of Frankland. The drug's effect seems to be that it shows people their deepest fears, e.g. for Henry's it's the "Hound" that killed his father. But what does that mean for Sherlock? Is there something like fear mingling with his previous excitement at the challenge presented by Moriarty? Of course the drug intensifies the feat but it has to there in the first place. And shortly after that we see Moriarty being released from his cell.

**Posted by kazza474** July 5, 2012 12:00 pm

Well he knows he is planning something, Mycroft would have told him that.
So when he doesn't know exactly what is going to happen, any 'fear' would be of the unknown. However, the 'fear' is a heightened & exaggerated emotion being influenced by the drug. So perhaps its original form was trepidation.

**Posted by SusiGo** July 5, 2012 12:04 pm

I suppose you could be right. I think it's an excellent foreshadowing of the things to come, especially in connection with the crazy Sherlock graffiti in Moriarty's cell.

**Posted by kazza474** July 5, 2012 12:07 pm

It's the prelude to their 'final problem' really.
And I tend to believe it was all staged exactly as Sherlock wanted it to be; but that's another thread/section, lol.

**Posted by Fetchinketch** July 5, 2012 2:48 pm

In the Jeremy Brett series, "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot" has a similar scene, with Holmes (in a drugged state) seeing the face of Moriarty. I think it was a Moftiss homage, as well.

**Posted by imane nikko** July 5, 2012 4:49 pm

I think Sherlock's afraid of Moriarty, but he's got control of it under normal circumstances. The drug took away that control, which is also why he feared the hound (or more accurately, feared the fact that he saw something he knew to be impossible).

**Posted by Arya** July 5, 2012 5:48 pm

Well, it makes sense that Sherlock's afraid of Moriarty, doesn't it? I mean, he's kind of just like Sherlock, except he doesn't care about other people, and he doesn't care about dying. There's a thread somewhere about Sherlock having Asperger's vs. Moriarty being a high functioning sociopath. I guess that's why Sherlock's afraid of him.

**Posted by Morton** July 7, 2012 3:23 pm

I'd certainly have a healthy regard for the danger inherent in trying to predict and outwit a maniac. He was though thrown by suddenly not being able to trust his own eyes. Fear is nature's way of alerting the body to go up a gear for fight or flight for self-preservation.

**Posted by Sherli Bakerst** July 7, 2012 5:54 pm

There is a related thread here: http://sherlock.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?id=1095, in which I asked some questions about Sherlock seeing Moriarty's face and what happened at the end of the episode.

**Posted by SusiGo** July 7, 2012 6:08 pm

Thank you, Sherli, I'd looked for it before opening this thread but I couldn't find it.

**Posted by Sherli Bakerst** July 8, 2012 5:00 am

You're welcome, SusiGo. Sometimes, it's hard to find things around here because there's so much information. But that's a good thing!

**Posted by Morton** July 15, 2012 8:51 am

kazza474 wrote:
It's the prelude to their 'final problem' really.
And I tend to believe it was all staged exactly as Sherlock wanted it to be; but that's another thread/section, lol.

Looks that way to me too.

**Posted by Lupin** July 31, 2012 12:32 am

I agree with kazza. It's a setup for The Reichenbach Fall(and along with my theory on the fall, connects the two episodes), just as is the final scene with Moriarty and Mycroft.

**Posted by Sentimental Pulse** July 31, 2012 11:03 am

I agree with what has been written earlier on this topic. For Sherlock, most problems and adversaries do not pose much of a challenge. Moriarty and Irene force Sherlock to be at his best so if he has any insecurities at all it would be those two, especially Moriarty, who brings those fears and insecurities out in him.

**Posted by besleybean** October 6, 2012 7:34 pm

I think it's interesting that the drug makes you see what you most fear...for John it could be the death of Sherlock.

**Posted by Danielle80** April 13, 2016 8:38 pm

I dont think that you see the "worst fear" with this drug I think it is more like combinating a current fear with an actual existing living beeing or similar. E.g. I dont believe that Henrys worst fear used to be a killer dog bevore he saw the man who kills his father with a dog-shirt. One of my theory because Sherlock saw Moriarty is that he guessed that he cracked the computer for him and so Moriarty now gets all information from the Hound projekt. So the case with Henry could be only a distraction. Anyway it seems a little bit strange that a 8 year old girl contact a detective because her rabbit disappeared as well it glows in the night. Ok,it could be real but maybe it was planned. And maybe Henry was the second try.

Last edited by Danielle80 (April 13, 2016 8:39 pm)