Sherlock (Steven Moffat BBC series)

[No One]

My default stance on literature adaptations into tv or film is usually an unfavourable one, even more so when it comes to modernisations, but I've really enjoyed catching up with this series.

As with many people here, my first impressions of Moriarty were disappointing, but he grew on me quite a bit in the last episode (assuming he is Moriarty and not in fact an actor). A friend of mine proposed that the female reporter could in fact be Moriarty! I'm not sure how I'd feel about that. Cumberbatch remains an excellent choice for his part though.

I won't jump into the theories, I only hope that Moffat is serious when he says it all makes sense and it's not a cheap solution. Looking forward to more.

 

[rune]

I was so relieved to see Sherlock alive at the end of this series. It would of been awful to loose this great program. And I do love the banter between Sherlock and Watson. Its so funny at times - LOL

 

[Cayal]

I do think that the hallucinatory Baskerville drug must have played some part. Otherwise, if what we saw happen really happened Holmes would certainly be dead or have severe injuries. On the other hand, this was on the TV recently (though the clip is from last year.):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12773427

If what Moffat is saying is true (that no one has mentioned/thought of it) then this certainly isn't the case...as is nothing else we have mentioned.

I just hope it isn't cheap.

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

Coming in late hear so it might have been covered. But...

He asks the pathologist to help. Pathology labs have a few attributes, however the main one is dead bodies.

So get a dead body, sew on a wax/reshaped head/look-a-like and drop it of the roof. If you noticed Watson never actually get his hands on the body so he wasn't really able to give an opinion of the body.

Holmes seems over tall for someone that far up on a high building. He was also most insistent that Watson didn't get any closer so some form of smoke and mirrors was going on.

There was also the bus/van obscuring the actual impact so the possibility exists fro a chute into the cellar or ground floor window.

That, or a pulley/wire come motorised support system which would be easiest. The type that slows you down in the last six feet to a dead stop, so you can lie on the floor in a pool of carefully placed (conveniently extracted blood)

The real question is, did JM actually blow his brains out, or was that a con too.

In any event the answer will be simple. It's like the impossible magicians trick that no one can understand. What takes people in that none of the audience is prepared to believe what extraordinary lengths and expense a magician is prepared to go to, to get the trick.





Just thoughts

 

[Cayal]

Coming in late hear so it might have been covered. But...

He asks the pathologist to help. Pathology labs have a few attributes, however the main one is dead bodies.

So get a dead body, sew on a wax/reshaped head/look-a-like and drop it of the roof. If you noticed Watson never actually get his hands on the body so he wasn't really able to give an opinion of the body.

Holmes seems over tall for someone that far up on a high building. He was also most insistent that Watson didn't get any closer so some form of smoke and mirrors was going on.

There was also the bus/van obscuring the actual impact so the possibility exists fro a chute into the cellar or ground floor window.

That, or a pulley/wire come motorised support system which would be easiest. The type that slows you down in the last six feet to a dead stop, so you can lie on the floor in a pool of carefully placed (conveniently extracted blood)

The real question is, did JM actually blow his brains out, or was that a con too.

In any event the answer will be simple. It's like the impossible magicians trick that no one can understand. What takes people in that none of the audience is prepared to believe what extraordinary lengths and expense a magician is prepared to go to, to get the trick.





Just thoughts

I don't believe JM is dead but Sherlock definitely jumped, that much is without doubt.

 

[PTeppic]

If you noticed Watson never actually get his hands on the body so he wasn't really able to give an opinion of the body.

He did, trying to get to the radial pulse, but he was pulled away by the "bystanders" (i.e. almost certainly accomplices).

 

[No One]

I don’t usually watch the One show – dreary would be the word for it – but did anyone catch their solution to the Sherlock conundrum? In short, he dived into a garbage truck (or whatever it was) and enlisted the aid of Molly (which he clearly has in some regard) to provide a fake body. Simple.

Having re-watched the episode I do find myself with these questions though:

Firstly (and off-topic of the final scenes), regarding the initial trick that lead to the police officer suspecting Sherlock as the kidnapper, why did she not think ‘why would he willingly walk into the interrogation room knowing that the girl would recognise him?’ That would seem to be an excessively stupid move for someone who’d managed to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes. Still, minor point.

Anyway, Sherlock couldn’t have known Moriarty would kill himself (it does seem unlikely that Moriarty was actually an actor – I mean really, what sort of actor would allow himself to be caught and effectively tortured by the government for weeks on end? Sure, an abundance of wealth might blind him into doing it, but there could no guarantee that he wouldn’t crack under pressure). Anyway, why the ‘theatrics’ of Sherlock realising his fate if he already knew what he had to do and had already prepared for it? Am I right in thinking that only one of the assassins may have had an eye on him at the time? All he was interested in is seeing Sherlock fall. That would mean it was all there simply to fool the viewer, which compromises a kind of storytelling fourth wall for me. I just don’t like that sort of thing and Moffat's a good enough writer to not have to resort to it.

On the subject of a masked dead body: if the show is willing to be realistic enough to acknowledge that a few lines of coding can’t infiltrate any system, then it should also be realistic enough to acknowledge that there’s no technique in the world of making perfectly convincing replica masks (it clearly was Cumberbatch lying on the ground – which some people seem to think otherwise – and is something we’ll be expected to swallow when it’s revealed that, of course, it wasn’t). Also, a mask that won’t budge out of place upon impact is even more of a stretch.

If this is the solution then it’s a disappointment. It won’t stop me from watching what’s to come, but I think my expectations of an elegant and plausible resolution are fast waning. Then again, this is all still speculation, but when all is revealed I still think certain underhand cons (if that’s not a redundant term) have been played on the viewers.

Just to brighten the tone a bit though, my favourite episode was A Scandal in Belgravia, simply because Moffat’s script there was brilliantly paced, clever, touching and at times downright funny.

 

[Ursa major]

...it does seem unlikely that Moriarty was actually an actor...

Apart from anything else didn't we, the viewers see Moriarty behaving as Moriarty and organising things (e.g. over the phone) when the other characters in the story couldn't see him? Why would those scenes require a false Moriarty? They wouldn't. Thus we have seen the real Moriarty and he's the man who later claimed, falsely, to be merely an actor playing Moriarty.

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

Apart from anything else didn't we, the viewers see Moriarty behaving as Moriarty and organising things (e.g. over the phone) when the other characters in the story couldn't see him? Why would those scenes require a false Moriarty? They wouldn't. Thus we have seen the real Moriarty and he's the man who later claimed, falsely, to be merely an actor playing Moriarty.

Plus it would seem a bit strange for Holmes to take it to the now revealed bitter ending. If JM was just an actor SH hired, what the hell was it all about?

In reference to the mask idea. Lets not forget that Madame Tussuad's is just up the road from 221B and a replica wax head/rubberised mould thing could easily be shoved on a fake body given we have all the technology of MI at our disposal. By the way, I think I saw a cassette smoking in the background.

 

[PTeppic]

Anyway, why the ‘theatrics’ of Sherlock realising his fate if he already knew what he had to do and had already prepared for it? Am I right in thinking that only one of the assassins may have had an eye on him at the time? All he was interested in is seeing Sherlock fall. That would mean it was all there simply to fool the viewer, which compromises a kind of storytelling fourth wall for me. I just don’t like that sort of thing and Moffat's a good enough writer to not have to resort to it.

By the time of the roof-top at Barts, the assumption is that SH knows he has to fake his own death/suicide to "beat" JM. We can assume he knows JM is likely to have a back-up plan: he's had snipers before. It would need to be a convincing death, because anything that was suspicious might indicate some trickery and thus the fall-back-plan being triggered. Hence the theatrics.

 

[Ursa major]

By the time of the roof-top at Barts, the assumption is that SH knows he has to fake his own death/suicide to "beat" JM. We can assume he knows JM is likely to have a back-up plan: he's had snipers before. It would need to be a convincing death, because anything that was suspicious might indicate some trickery and thus the fall-back-plan being triggered. Hence the theatrics.

Fall-back plan? We all saw him falling forwards.


And as for a back up plan, the influence of gravity is likely to prove rather a problem with that....

 

[Interference]

I don't want to get mawkish here, but the acting of emotion was convincing and moving from both Freeman and Cumberbatch. There will be no cheap score in the "final solution". Trust The Moffat.

 

[Cayal]

By the time of the roof-top at Barts, the assumption is that SH knows he has to fake his own death/suicide to "beat" JM. We can assume he knows JM is likely to have a back-up plan: he's had snipers before. It would need to be a convincing death, because anything that was suspicious might indicate some trickery and thus the fall-back-plan being triggered. Hence the theatrics.

I agree. I think this is why Sherlock picked 'The tallest building' as JM put it.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Moriarty is dead - dead as dead can be, just like in the nbovels - but no doubt his shadow will live on...

Sherlock jumped off the building... Sherlock landed on the floor - eventually. We have several seconds between us seeing him fall and land. In this meantime we have Watson seeing his friend fall, then being clobbered by the cyclist before he can reach him.

The sniper is primarily watching Watson; he is also aware that Sherlock is about to jump, but his task is to take down his mark , and that will be his main focus. He will see the reaction of Watson as Sherlock leaps - what should have happened is that he would have followed Watson to the body; who would have found Holmes alive, and presumably then shot his target.

Before Watson could reach Holmes, he is knocked down, delaying him long enough for a medical team to rush out , grab Sherlock, and ferry him away. Watson thinks Holmes is dead , acts accordingly and thius convinces the hitmen that it is true.

Think about it; he chose a hospital to jump from - of all buildings, a hospital. Being as intelligent a man as he is , he would have calculated his height, weight, body angle as he fell and his position on landing to minimise any injuries. He knew that he would still have a good chance of being seriously injured, but calculated that the 1 or 2 minutes between him landing and being rushed into emergency surgery would be enough to save both his friends lives and his own.

Either that or he landed in the back of the rubbish truck and rolled out onto the floor - he certainly took his time waiting for the right moment to jump - firstly he positioned Watson where he could not see his landing spot, the truck was not there shortly before he jumped, and it drove away after he landed.

Either way, medical people were on the scene in literally seconds; even though it was outside a hospital, there's no way they could get there that quickly unless it was pre-arranged.

Typical Holmes - we are presented with all the facts , all the clues - and are left to work it out for ourselves, just like John does. Inevitably Sherlock will come along , point out all the obvious signs we should have looked for and the final solution will end up being.. elementary

 

[Cayal]

There is no realistic chance a man could jump off and survive that fall. He fell into the truck.

 

[Connavar]

I havent seen this series yet since i finally became DVD tv series viewer. I preordered this season DVD that comes out in March.

I just hope this season and next doesnt only deal with the most famous stories. There is a gold mine of alot good stories that isnt the big famous novels,short stories.

 

[Glaysher]

Just watched the episode and haven't read all the preceding 11 pages of this thread so apologies if someone has already said this. I thought that JM had a doppelganger of Sherlock who he used in the kidnapping and that it was the doppelganger who jumped off the building. I have a vague recollection of the original stories that Sherlock and JM were observed by one of JM's men as they fought at the waterfall so there could be a parallel there. In the books Sherlock takes advantage of the fortunate opportunity to be able to fake his death and does so in different circumstances here.

 

[Allegra]

I watched 2 series in one day - that's the good part of being late. Absolutely loved everything and every minute of it! Does anyone have news about the next season? Are there any online petitions calling for Sherlock's prompt return and 12 episodes per season??

 

[HoopyFrood]

Holy Mary, Joseph, Jesus and the whole fam-damily!

Yeah, I am very late to the party. I knew I'd love this. Moffat, Gatiss, Doctor Who-alike and MARTIN FREEMAN (loved him forever) but I think sometimes I hold back because I'm worried that it won't be as good as I'm expecting. And my expectations would be very, very high.

I bought the first series for my housemate cos she loves it. We all watched episode one on Sunday. Then the second that same day. Now I've just watched the third.

I love it I love it I love it.

More than Doctor Who. Truly. The scripts feel much tighter, probably because there aren't as many, much more concentration on the plot to make it as intriguing and arresting as possible.

I could quite easily watch all three episodes again, right now.

Luckily there's series two! Although I feel like I want to sit and think about how the cliffhanger will be resolved. That's the fun bit! I'm a very active viewer, so this...this is just a perfect programme for me.

Bloody brilliant.

 

[Allegra]

Holy Mary, Joseph, Jesus and the whole fam-damily!
.........
Bloody brilliant.

My sentiments exactly. Some news about series 3:
http://www.craveonline.com/tv/articles/188019-mark-gatiss-drops-sherlock-season-3-hints