Sherlock Season 3--and the Reichenbach Fall Jossing! or Moffatting! or, really, Gatissing!
Okay, this is mostly a timestamp for myself (because who reads LJ nowadays anyway? :P), but I was just reminded that tomorrow is the pre-screening of The Empty Hearse, Episode 1 of Sherlock Season 3, in which Sherlock's survival of the Reichenbach Fall is explained.
I tend to get much more excited over the Sherlock and John reunion than the Howdidhedoit? question (and VERY excited over Amanda Abbingdon), but I wanted to write down my own sad theory about the RF survival before anyone can claim that I had read spoilers from the Episode Pre-screening (which I'm really going to try to avoid). I know that Gatiss and Moffat are far more clever than even the furthest reaches of my imagination, but I'm interested if I've touched on any of their plot points at all.
So...[Spoiler cut!! (only mild Setlock ones)]
How did Sherlock do it?
1. Allies
From the finish of the RF episode two years ago, I maintained that the recent Reichenbach Fall estrangement between Sherlock and Mycroft was a phony one, crafted by the two brothers to fool Moriarty and poor John. After all, they were still "Dear Brother-ing" each other during Hounds of Baskerville. So overall, the Reichenbach Fall machination was a preconceived plot (although maybe not every last detail) between Sherlock and Mycroft. Now, as of this date, this point has been brought home by their interaction in the BBC trailer, but I promise that I did think of this two years ago.
Molly was a late addition to the conspirators, obviously added by Sherlock after the confrontation with Richard Brook at Kitty Riley's flat. I still don't claim to know, however, what changed during that confrontation to make Sherlock seek out Molly at the last minute. What happened to change the "original" Fall strategy mapped out by Sherlock and Mycroft, and why was Molly not added until the last moment? Her purpose was to either confirm the autopsy on Sherlock's body, or to provide a decoy body to fall from the roof of Bart's, so why hadn't Sherlock and Mycroft expected to need her help back when they first formulated their plan to defeat Moriarty? Maybe something about the "proof" that Moriarty was just a creation of Sherlock's made it clear that Moriarty was going to force Sherlock to die in humiliation. Suicide. Maybe Sherlock wasn't supposed to fake his death at all. Earlier in the episode, Mycroft put on John the responsibility to watch Sherlock's back; after the Richard Brook confrontation, he merely lies to John about being tricked into revealing Sherlock's past, then apologizes to him. It seems to be an apology to Sherlock (Tell him, won't you?), but I interpret it as an apology to John. He seems to know already that John is going to suffer terribly, so why add more guilt to the mix?
Final allies: either the Homeless Network or Mycroft's people, who surround Sherlock's body on the ground and keep John from getting to him or taking his pulse for long. Also, the Evil Bicyclist who deliberately ran John down to delay him getting to the jump site (and who really could have killed John by accident, considering John banged his head on the street, and wouldn't that have been ironic), and to alter John's sense of time.
2. POV of positions at the time of the Fall
John was obviously positioned by Sherlock to be unable to see the actual impact point during the Fall (Go back to where you were! Keep your eyes fixed on me!), and the Interwebs astutely pointed out the laundry truck or garbage truck positioned beneath the jump site. Sherlock was shown waving his arms and legs activelyly during the fall, so it couldn't have been Moriarty's body thrown off the roof. So I agree that it probably was Sherlock himself jumping off the roof and landing in the laundry truck, still a high-risk exercise. The landing was blocked from John's POV by the low building that was the ambulance bay.
One continuity error in the actual episode itself: after Sherlock's body is taken away from the impact point, the assassin's rifle sight is shown (for dramatic effect) trained on John's head as he grieves. It couldn't really work like that: if the assassin could see John on the far side of the ambulance bay, right next to the impact point, then he would've had the vantage point to see that the Fall itself was faked. Boom, bye, John.
3. What is the clue that everyone missed, according to Moffat?
Okay, this is most likely the wrong-est, most far-fatched idea, but I have to tell it: My original two-year-old theory was that it was the H.O.U.N.D. drug, administered to John in gaseous form either right before the Fall (Stand right where you were!) or after the bicyclist hit him. My clues: the film effects of John right after Sherlock's jump matching the film effects of him locked in the lab at Baskerville. Blurred background, the exaggerated sound of his breathing, the low bass heartbeat pulsing through the scene. Hounds of Baskerville was directed by Paul McGuigan but Reichenbach Fall was directed by Toby Haynes, so it doesn't follow that these effects were just one director's style.
And what is the ultimate effect of the Baskerville drug? To make you see your darkest fear (like a chemical Dementor), especially after being primed to see it. In Baskerville, Sherlock saw the Giant Hound, then Moriarty, whereas John saw the Glow-In-The-Dark version of the Hound, as primed by Sherlock. What better priming could John get than Sherlock's goodbye message and suicidal jump? His greatest fear was to see Sherlock dead, so what he saw in the end was Sherlock Dead. Even if it wasn't Sherlock's body on the ground. Even if it was Sherlock, but a living, breathing Sherlock, something a medical doctor would have noticed. John was not functioning normally, his speech patterns slowed and blurred ("Go-od no. Jeeee-sus no."), his legs giving out, forcing the crowd of onlookers to support him--and the background didn't return to normal until Sherlock's body was wheeled away.
All these visual and aural effects could, however, still just be the filmic depiction of shock in John, the POV character.
4. Setlock spoilers and foilers and timing.
The pictures so kindly shared by Setlock bloggers during the filming of The Empty Hearse show a lot of conflicting info, including "foilers"--fake plot points filmed just to throw off fannish theory. However, filming is an expensive process, and showrunners generally don't like wasting thousands of dollars on unusable footage, so my guess is that a lot of foilers will be used as alternative theories of the Fall, maybe by the episode's Official Sherlock Holmes Fanclub, headed by Anderson (and man, i CANNOT WAIT for that!)
Foiler 1: the celebrity hypnotist Derren Brown hypnotizing John as he runs toward the fallen body of his friend. Yeah, no. Definitely a foiler, especially since The Day of the Doctor (Doctor Who 50th Anniversary special) got a laugh by UNIT blaming every weird event on Derren Brown. I would love, however, if this was Anderson's theory, and Sherlock ended up blasting him for it ("Brilliant deduction, Anderson--for an idiot!" Anderson: *__* <3<3<3).
Foiler 2: Moriarty prancing around in Sherlock's Belstaff coat and hanging out with Mycroft--a Mycroft/Moriarty conspiracy. Nope. Nope, nope, nope. Moriarty is definitely dead, as confirmed by Mofatt and Gatiss. Probably it was just Gatiss and Andrew Scott fooling around on set. With Benedict's coat.
Spoiler/foiler 3: : Sherlock is seen hiding on one side of the ambulance bay with fake blood on his head, then running to take the place of the body on the ground. I think this is a real spoiler and not a foiler, but....why would there need to be a decoy body on the ground between Sherlock's real jump into the laundry truck, and John's arrival at the impact site? John is the only real witness, I think, and he was delayed by the bicyclist. The young doctor is a fake, as is most of the crowd, especially the woman who pulls John's fingers from Sherlock's pulse. Is there some assassin that needs to be fooled by the decoy body? But then wouldn't that assassin see the substitution of Real Sherlock for Fake Body? I admit to being baffled.
Timing: "Spoiler" from the BBC trailer shows Sherlock calculating lines and angles and trajectories of various vantage points from the roof of Bart's. He's probably figuring out sniper positions as well as the best position to make the jump. But when did he do this? When he first got up on the parapet, and Moriarty was alive? After Moriarty's death, when Sherlock appeared to be freaking out? Or earlier, much earlier, maybe even before the meeting with Moriarty took place. After all, Sherlock picked the place and time of the meeting, and John was sleeping in the lab, then gone after Mrs. Hudson's "shooting", so maybe Sherlock went up on the roof to scope out the possibilities before Moriarty arrived. This certainly seems the most plausible timing for him to arrange the laundry truck position, his position on the parapet, and the place that John had to stand.
5. Final theory.
Okay, here it is. I'm putting it out there for me to get Moffatted and Gatissed in every possible way on January 1st, but the important thing is that I had fun trying to puzzle this thing out.
Part the A: Sherlock and Mycroft started planning Moriarty's downfall together long before Reichenbach. In fact, Moriarty's capture and interrogation by Mycroft (before the end of Baskerville, remember) was part of the overall plan. Mycroft deliberately fed info to Moriarty about Sherlock's past, with Sherlock's knowledge, just to make Moriarty think he was getting the upper hand. They both knew that Moriarty was going to make a final, fatal move regarding Sherlock.
Part the B: However, something changed in their plans when the Richard Brook persona came into the picture. Something about this persona made Moriarty's plan for Sherlock's suicide inevitable, so Molly was brought in at this point. Sherlock began planning the jump from Bart's. He knew John was going to be the target/bait, but he didn't seem to expect Mrs. Hudson and Lestrade, as well...maybe. After all, Sherlock did send John running to Mrs. Hudson, albeit only briefly.
Part the C: The John factor. John was always going to be left behind, but not necessarily mourning Sherlock's suicide. Did Sherlock know that John would return to Barts before he jumped? It was a possibility that he could foresee, so he wasn't exactly surprised. After all, the bicyclist was in position to intercept John.
Part the D: Moriarty's suicide. Was Sherlock really as shocked as he seemed? It's a pretty shocking thing to see someone blow their brains out in front of you in any case, even if you knew he was suicidal, as Moriarty mentioned with "Staying alive--so boring!". I'd think that Mycroft's psychologist/interrogators may have noticed a trend toward suicide in Moriarty. Not to mention the Mutual Destruction plan at the Pool in the Great Game. In any case, I think Sherlock was prepared to be alone on the roof when he jumped, even if he had to knock out a living Moriarty.
Part the E: The call: positioning John and the snipers. The fall: Real Sherlock falling, landing in laundry truck, then rolling out and hiding in ambulance bay. Meanwhile, the network puts a decoy body on the ground. John: already in shock, maybe drugged, running toward the impact side, gets sidelined by bicyclist for FAR LONGER than he thinks, maybe even knocked out completely for a minute or so. Meanwhile, Sherlock takes the place of the body on the ground, and the fake doctor puts blood around his head. The body: John arrives late and disoriented/drugged, can't get through to Sherlock, grabs his hand but is pulled off by fake witness lady, sees the body turned over and Sherlock Dead. Starts to grieve/is completely fooled. Fake medical crew run off with Sherlock on gurney, supposedly to Acute Care at Barts but more likely straight to the morgue, for Molly to step in. John theoretically either doesn't try to see Sherlock in Acute Care (where he is NOT, because you can't make a whole team of real doctors and nurses all cover up a fake suicide) or is turned away by Molly or Mycroft at the morgue later. Suicide is reported to the papers later, but there are no real eyewitnesses to the Fall except for John, who probably wasn't talking. There must be some discrepancies left behind for Anderson and his merry crew of Sherlock fans to uncover. Meanwhile, Sherlock travels Europe/the world to eradicate Moriarty's empire, with the help of Mycroft's resources. Sherlock might miss John, but as shown in the trailer, also takes very much for granted that John will be fine and will be waiting passively at 221B for Sherlock to re-enter his life. Ahem.
Well, that was a damn novel. Now to get back to work on the Real Novel. Ja, babies!
I tend to get much more excited over the Sherlock and John reunion than the Howdidhedoit? question (and VERY excited over Amanda Abbingdon), but I wanted to write down my own sad theory about the RF survival before anyone can claim that I had read spoilers from the Episode Pre-screening (which I'm really going to try to avoid). I know that Gatiss and Moffat are far more clever than even the furthest reaches of my imagination, but I'm interested if I've touched on any of their plot points at all.
So...[Spoiler cut!! (only mild Setlock ones)]
How did Sherlock do it?
1. Allies
From the finish of the RF episode two years ago, I maintained that the recent Reichenbach Fall estrangement between Sherlock and Mycroft was a phony one, crafted by the two brothers to fool Moriarty and poor John. After all, they were still "Dear Brother-ing" each other during Hounds of Baskerville. So overall, the Reichenbach Fall machination was a preconceived plot (although maybe not every last detail) between Sherlock and Mycroft. Now, as of this date, this point has been brought home by their interaction in the BBC trailer, but I promise that I did think of this two years ago.
Molly was a late addition to the conspirators, obviously added by Sherlock after the confrontation with Richard Brook at Kitty Riley's flat. I still don't claim to know, however, what changed during that confrontation to make Sherlock seek out Molly at the last minute. What happened to change the "original" Fall strategy mapped out by Sherlock and Mycroft, and why was Molly not added until the last moment? Her purpose was to either confirm the autopsy on Sherlock's body, or to provide a decoy body to fall from the roof of Bart's, so why hadn't Sherlock and Mycroft expected to need her help back when they first formulated their plan to defeat Moriarty? Maybe something about the "proof" that Moriarty was just a creation of Sherlock's made it clear that Moriarty was going to force Sherlock to die in humiliation. Suicide. Maybe Sherlock wasn't supposed to fake his death at all. Earlier in the episode, Mycroft put on John the responsibility to watch Sherlock's back; after the Richard Brook confrontation, he merely lies to John about being tricked into revealing Sherlock's past, then apologizes to him. It seems to be an apology to Sherlock (Tell him, won't you?), but I interpret it as an apology to John. He seems to know already that John is going to suffer terribly, so why add more guilt to the mix?
Final allies: either the Homeless Network or Mycroft's people, who surround Sherlock's body on the ground and keep John from getting to him or taking his pulse for long. Also, the Evil Bicyclist who deliberately ran John down to delay him getting to the jump site (and who really could have killed John by accident, considering John banged his head on the street, and wouldn't that have been ironic), and to alter John's sense of time.
2. POV of positions at the time of the Fall
John was obviously positioned by Sherlock to be unable to see the actual impact point during the Fall (Go back to where you were! Keep your eyes fixed on me!), and the Interwebs astutely pointed out the laundry truck or garbage truck positioned beneath the jump site. Sherlock was shown waving his arms and legs activelyly during the fall, so it couldn't have been Moriarty's body thrown off the roof. So I agree that it probably was Sherlock himself jumping off the roof and landing in the laundry truck, still a high-risk exercise. The landing was blocked from John's POV by the low building that was the ambulance bay.
One continuity error in the actual episode itself: after Sherlock's body is taken away from the impact point, the assassin's rifle sight is shown (for dramatic effect) trained on John's head as he grieves. It couldn't really work like that: if the assassin could see John on the far side of the ambulance bay, right next to the impact point, then he would've had the vantage point to see that the Fall itself was faked. Boom, bye, John.
3. What is the clue that everyone missed, according to Moffat?
Okay, this is most likely the wrong-est, most far-fatched idea, but I have to tell it: My original two-year-old theory was that it was the H.O.U.N.D. drug, administered to John in gaseous form either right before the Fall (Stand right where you were!) or after the bicyclist hit him. My clues: the film effects of John right after Sherlock's jump matching the film effects of him locked in the lab at Baskerville. Blurred background, the exaggerated sound of his breathing, the low bass heartbeat pulsing through the scene. Hounds of Baskerville was directed by Paul McGuigan but Reichenbach Fall was directed by Toby Haynes, so it doesn't follow that these effects were just one director's style.
And what is the ultimate effect of the Baskerville drug? To make you see your darkest fear (like a chemical Dementor), especially after being primed to see it. In Baskerville, Sherlock saw the Giant Hound, then Moriarty, whereas John saw the Glow-In-The-Dark version of the Hound, as primed by Sherlock. What better priming could John get than Sherlock's goodbye message and suicidal jump? His greatest fear was to see Sherlock dead, so what he saw in the end was Sherlock Dead. Even if it wasn't Sherlock's body on the ground. Even if it was Sherlock, but a living, breathing Sherlock, something a medical doctor would have noticed. John was not functioning normally, his speech patterns slowed and blurred ("Go-od no. Jeeee-sus no."), his legs giving out, forcing the crowd of onlookers to support him--and the background didn't return to normal until Sherlock's body was wheeled away.
All these visual and aural effects could, however, still just be the filmic depiction of shock in John, the POV character.
4. Setlock spoilers and foilers and timing.
The pictures so kindly shared by Setlock bloggers during the filming of The Empty Hearse show a lot of conflicting info, including "foilers"--fake plot points filmed just to throw off fannish theory. However, filming is an expensive process, and showrunners generally don't like wasting thousands of dollars on unusable footage, so my guess is that a lot of foilers will be used as alternative theories of the Fall, maybe by the episode's Official Sherlock Holmes Fanclub, headed by Anderson (and man, i CANNOT WAIT for that!)
Foiler 1: the celebrity hypnotist Derren Brown hypnotizing John as he runs toward the fallen body of his friend. Yeah, no. Definitely a foiler, especially since The Day of the Doctor (Doctor Who 50th Anniversary special) got a laugh by UNIT blaming every weird event on Derren Brown. I would love, however, if this was Anderson's theory, and Sherlock ended up blasting him for it ("Brilliant deduction, Anderson--for an idiot!" Anderson: *__* <3<3<3).
Foiler 2: Moriarty prancing around in Sherlock's Belstaff coat and hanging out with Mycroft--a Mycroft/Moriarty conspiracy. Nope. Nope, nope, nope. Moriarty is definitely dead, as confirmed by Mofatt and Gatiss. Probably it was just Gatiss and Andrew Scott fooling around on set. With Benedict's coat.
Spoiler/foiler 3: : Sherlock is seen hiding on one side of the ambulance bay with fake blood on his head, then running to take the place of the body on the ground. I think this is a real spoiler and not a foiler, but....why would there need to be a decoy body on the ground between Sherlock's real jump into the laundry truck, and John's arrival at the impact site? John is the only real witness, I think, and he was delayed by the bicyclist. The young doctor is a fake, as is most of the crowd, especially the woman who pulls John's fingers from Sherlock's pulse. Is there some assassin that needs to be fooled by the decoy body? But then wouldn't that assassin see the substitution of Real Sherlock for Fake Body? I admit to being baffled.
Timing: "Spoiler" from the BBC trailer shows Sherlock calculating lines and angles and trajectories of various vantage points from the roof of Bart's. He's probably figuring out sniper positions as well as the best position to make the jump. But when did he do this? When he first got up on the parapet, and Moriarty was alive? After Moriarty's death, when Sherlock appeared to be freaking out? Or earlier, much earlier, maybe even before the meeting with Moriarty took place. After all, Sherlock picked the place and time of the meeting, and John was sleeping in the lab, then gone after Mrs. Hudson's "shooting", so maybe Sherlock went up on the roof to scope out the possibilities before Moriarty arrived. This certainly seems the most plausible timing for him to arrange the laundry truck position, his position on the parapet, and the place that John had to stand.
5. Final theory.
Okay, here it is. I'm putting it out there for me to get Moffatted and Gatissed in every possible way on January 1st, but the important thing is that I had fun trying to puzzle this thing out.
Part the A: Sherlock and Mycroft started planning Moriarty's downfall together long before Reichenbach. In fact, Moriarty's capture and interrogation by Mycroft (before the end of Baskerville, remember) was part of the overall plan. Mycroft deliberately fed info to Moriarty about Sherlock's past, with Sherlock's knowledge, just to make Moriarty think he was getting the upper hand. They both knew that Moriarty was going to make a final, fatal move regarding Sherlock.
Part the B: However, something changed in their plans when the Richard Brook persona came into the picture. Something about this persona made Moriarty's plan for Sherlock's suicide inevitable, so Molly was brought in at this point. Sherlock began planning the jump from Bart's. He knew John was going to be the target/bait, but he didn't seem to expect Mrs. Hudson and Lestrade, as well...maybe. After all, Sherlock did send John running to Mrs. Hudson, albeit only briefly.
Part the C: The John factor. John was always going to be left behind, but not necessarily mourning Sherlock's suicide. Did Sherlock know that John would return to Barts before he jumped? It was a possibility that he could foresee, so he wasn't exactly surprised. After all, the bicyclist was in position to intercept John.
Part the D: Moriarty's suicide. Was Sherlock really as shocked as he seemed? It's a pretty shocking thing to see someone blow their brains out in front of you in any case, even if you knew he was suicidal, as Moriarty mentioned with "Staying alive--so boring!". I'd think that Mycroft's psychologist/interrogators may have noticed a trend toward suicide in Moriarty. Not to mention the Mutual Destruction plan at the Pool in the Great Game. In any case, I think Sherlock was prepared to be alone on the roof when he jumped, even if he had to knock out a living Moriarty.
Part the E: The call: positioning John and the snipers. The fall: Real Sherlock falling, landing in laundry truck, then rolling out and hiding in ambulance bay. Meanwhile, the network puts a decoy body on the ground. John: already in shock, maybe drugged, running toward the impact side, gets sidelined by bicyclist for FAR LONGER than he thinks, maybe even knocked out completely for a minute or so. Meanwhile, Sherlock takes the place of the body on the ground, and the fake doctor puts blood around his head. The body: John arrives late and disoriented/drugged, can't get through to Sherlock, grabs his hand but is pulled off by fake witness lady, sees the body turned over and Sherlock Dead. Starts to grieve/is completely fooled. Fake medical crew run off with Sherlock on gurney, supposedly to Acute Care at Barts but more likely straight to the morgue, for Molly to step in. John theoretically either doesn't try to see Sherlock in Acute Care (where he is NOT, because you can't make a whole team of real doctors and nurses all cover up a fake suicide) or is turned away by Molly or Mycroft at the morgue later. Suicide is reported to the papers later, but there are no real eyewitnesses to the Fall except for John, who probably wasn't talking. There must be some discrepancies left behind for Anderson and his merry crew of Sherlock fans to uncover. Meanwhile, Sherlock travels Europe/the world to eradicate Moriarty's empire, with the help of Mycroft's resources. Sherlock might miss John, but as shown in the trailer, also takes very much for granted that John will be fine and will be waiting passively at 221B for Sherlock to re-enter his life. Ahem.
Well, that was a damn novel. Now to get back to work on the Real Novel. Ja, babies!