To me, the biggest mystery of the episode wasn’t how the “Fall” worked, it was Moriarty and Sherlock’s conversations.
SPOILERS WITHIN. Also, anguish.
I have so many questions about what they talked about, both in the flat and on top of St Bart’s. omg i am useless
What was the final problem?
Why did Moriarty think that he owed Sherlock a fall? He kept on saying “I owe you, I owe you,” but why does he owe Sherlock anything? From S1E3 Moriarty said that he’d burn the heart out of Sherlock if Sherlock didn’t back off, and Sherlock did kind of back off… in the sense that the other S2 episodes we saw didn’t show Sherlock directly looking for Moriarty. In S2E3, Moriarty antagonizes Sherlock to get him to pay attention, so it seemed like he’s (Moriarty, I mean) going back against his words. IDK maybe I am overanalyzing this part.
In their conversation on the roof, how did Sherlock convince Moriarty that he wasn’t ordinary after all? After the talk about angels and the deep staring into each others’ eyes, Moriarty does a complete 180 and takes his own life and I don’t understand his motivations AT ALL.
I’ve read/heard speculation that Sherlock took some drug to minimize his vital signs so… he could survive jumping off the building? And then the paramedics could whisk him away before John managed to realize he wasn’t actually dead, and then Molly could pronounce him dead at the morgue. This would mean that Moriarty noticed signs like lack of pupil dilation and slow pulse in Sherlock’s eyes and palm, and then — and then what? If Sherlock dies, then Moriarty wins. If Sherlock doesn’t die, Moriarty wins by default by killing Sherlock’s friends. So… idk what is going on at all in this exchange.
There is that other theory too that Molly got some dead body and made it look like Sherlock, and pushed it out at the same moment Sherlock jumped (into the truck) — this explanation of the “death” seems more likely to me, personally, but then that doesn’t help me solve the question of HOW DID SHERLOCK CONVINCE MORIARTY THAT HE “WAS HIM”?
Okay so:
1) Sherlock, let’s say, has seen the end of the tunnel and realized that Moriarty’s fairy tale’s grand finale is for Sherlock to commit suicide and ruin his reputation. To ensure Sherlock goes through with it, Moriarty puts Sherlock’s friends in danger. Sherlock decides, then, that he will fake his death (by some unconfirmed method).
2) Sherlock decides not to jump, though, after he hears Moriarty says, “I’m not going to do it,” which means that the snipers can be called off without Sherlock having to die. He just has to force Moriarty to give the word.
3) Moriarty says, “You can’t make me do shit because you’re ordinary and you’re on the side of the angels.” And then Sherlock says, “Okay sure but I’m no angel.” And THEN MORIARTY IS LIKE, “OH YEAH, YOU’RE ME.”
???? I don’t see what made Moriarty change his mind? Sherlock keeps on emphasizing that he is willing to stoop down to Moriarty’s level (in order to save his friends), but what does he do to prove it? Wouldn’t Moriarty need to be “out-smarted” by Sherlock to achieve come kind of understanding about that? For that matter, I have no idea what Sherlock could have done to make Moriarty call off his snipers. He has NOTHING over Moriarty, except his own life, and he doesn’t even really have that. So what does Moriarty have to lose? Sherlock is presumably threatening to NOT to literally die and to make Moriarty’s life hell or something if he doesn’t call off the gunmen? How the hell can Sherlock accomplish anything when there’s a time limit on the entire interaction??
The only way for Sherlock to win would be to undo all the damage that Moriarty did, ie. kill Richard Brooke — but it’s not like he could miraculously do that while Moriarty’s got his men waiting to shoot!
AND ISN’T THE WHOLE THING IS KIND OF MOOT IN THE FIRST PLACE?!?!? Because “the point” of Moriarty’s whole game was to ruin Sherlock, and then Sherlock goes and says, “Well I can be totally evil too,” which essentially means RUIN HIMSELF, doesn’t Moriarty get what he wants anyway???
Someone needs to explain this to me please, because I don’t get it ;( Am I totally overcomplicating matters or am I just overlooking something vital? Is it really something as simple as: Ye, Moriarty looked into Sherlock’s eyes, and saw that Sherlock spoke truth, and he was not ordinary after all, and lo, decided to push Sherlock to kill himself by also committing suicide to eliminate Sherlock’s only way out, THE END.
Maybe I’m also looking for too-clever solutions? ;( :( X(
This episode was stellar though. Everything was just… wow. EVERYTHING. I could talk for DAYS about how great it was. I probably will, actually. Neverending praise for everyone who touched this glorious series.
Lovely, beautiful, wonderful, amazing, incredible, heart-wrenching, perfect, brilliant show, please reveal your answers in series three!!!
