we decided that Mycroft was genuinely convinced Irene was dead though, didn't we?

Yes, but Sherlock helped her escape!

I think that Mycroft was just being rather dim, when he gave information to Moriarty about Sherlock. Mycroft isn't and can't be cleverer than Holmes. Mycroft represents the Establishment - known for power rather than genius !

The antagonism between Sherlock and Mycroft has been there since the first episode. Mycroft told John that Sherlock had always been resentful. I'm happy to be wrong, but I just don't believe Sherlock would get help from him. I think Sherlock was deliberately courting publicity to get Moriaty to act, but not that he would willingly allow his life story to be make public.

Anyway, the assassins. What about the other 2 that were watching Sherlock? There were 4 originally, 2 are dead. What about the others? They weren't the 3 Moriaty set on John, Lestrade & Mrs H. cos one of them was a woman. Won't Sherlock have to deal with them as well?

I know, I was just referring to the Super intelligence or otherwise of MYcroft - are you sayin g he wouldn't have been fooled by anyone else

Dunno if this has already been mentioned before...
But what about Sherlock saying in an unusual "sing-sang" voice that he "don't have to die as long as I've got you"!? I mean, Moriarty seemed to be dead, but Sherlock got him anyway? So perhaps that is a hidden hint (throwing Moriarty off the roof or something like that, although I don't believe this theory..) And the magic trick thing is also important, that was Sherlock trying to give John a hint that he won't be dead Can't wait for season 3 to start!!

If Sherlock pops up and Moriarty has disappeared, wouldn't Sherlock be hauled in on suspicion, by the police ?
Wasn't all the guff about Moriarty being an actor just to fool the reporter ? She wasn't a good journalist and might not have checked.
So - would Moriarty be missed ? If he would, does Sherlock have to prove that Moriarty shot himself ?

Re-watching in the light of Moffatt's comment about something out of character. I think the pivotal moment is when Moriarty goes to see Sherlock and they have tea.

M taps out the "code" whilst S is seen looking at the fingers. Then M immediately asks S how hard it is for him having to say he doesn't know. S looks pensive, then admits he doesn't know. This can be interpreted in three ways: The first way is that he is admitting to M he doesn't know what the "final problem" is. The second way is that he is saying he doesn't know how hard it is to say he doesn't know since he does actually know. And the third way is an immediate answer as a flippant joke, indicating that he is refusing to play M's game of taunts.

M takes in the first and third meanings. He sees it as a joke reaction that also admits S is stumped. So he asks S to explain to him what he does know, nodding along like a condescending smart Alec and taking the opportunity to brag about his computer code.

But here I think what S is really doing is playing along with M's ego and feeding him what he wants to hear. He pretends not to notice the finger tapping, or not to understand it, then allows M to talk about how powerful he is. But all the while S is actually formulating a bluff. He does recognise the tapping and realises it is a sham solution, so gives M the rope to hang himself (as prefigured by the dummy hanging in S's study).

So this, I think, is the moment when Sherlock seems to act out of character. He seems to be admitting a weakness, that he doesn't know something. But that is exactly what he needs Moriarty (and the audience) to believe.

Everything from this moment on is part of Sherlock's own plan to culminate in his own fake suicide. There is obviously some improvisation and adapting along the way but Sherlock has his end goal pretty much in sight from the tea scene onwards.

Wow, people are going crazy with theories...


That's exactly what Moffat wants you to do. I hope there's a huge payoff though, it would be a shame to have a simple-right-infront-of-you solution just to piss the fans off.

The last thing he would want to do was to give Watson a hint that he might be alive. It was essential that Watson believed him to be dead.

Re the bold. Of course it is, and why not?

I'm sure i'll be pretty comfortable with however they resolve it, regardless of the solution.

Were people happy or not with the solution to resolve and explain the cliff hanger at the end of the first series (John wired to explode in the swimming pool)? TBH, I didn't think it was great, but it hasn't spoiled the whole experience.

I think the "I don't know" comment was a straightforward joke by Sherlock. he doesn't know what it feels like to say I don't know because he never doesn't know.

I've watched the episode with the idea that Sherlock knew about the code being a bluff, but he does seem genuinely shocked by the revelation that it is in fact fake.

I thought the resolution of the cliffhanger was great. Moriarty and Sherlock at an impasse, then Moriarty gets a call ("Stayin' Alive" was inspired) which we later realise is from Irene telling him about the code from the MOD man, and he realises that he needs to keep Sherlock alive because he's necessary for the scam to work.

No heroics or implausibe interventions, just a seeming anti-climax which becomes part of the plot of the episode.

Genius, imo.

Could Moriarty have been suffering from an illness and had wanted Sherlock to be the one to help him Moriarty mentioned the Final Problem, could it be Moriarty's final problem?

Sherlock really loses his temper with Moriarty / Rich(ard) Brook in Kitty's flat.

That's pretty much out of character.

Just saw the final episode for the first time yesterday. Loved it, obviously, and am now trying to put my grey matter to the problem.

I have a few thoughts on things I wonder might be relevant. I keep thinking if hints from all 3 eps point to the resolution to how Sherlock faked his death.

In Baskerville, I noticed that the doctor admitted that there were tests in human cloning - and when Mycroft talks of Irene's death he says only Sherlock could fool him. And we see, Sherlock has.

That leads me to believe that Sherlock KNOWS how to fake a death, including identifying the body - possibly DNA splicing or such.

Of course, it could be that Sherlock didn't know how to do this but Mycroft did (after all he had access to Baskerville long before Sherlock knew about it) and he helped Sherlock fake Irene's death for the authorities.

I do think Mycroft is heavily involves in Sherlock's fake death, and that does not necessarily mean that Sherlock went to him. If what Mycroft said about their interrogation of Moriarty is correct, he already knew of his obsession with Sherlock and likely that Moriarty would not rest until he was dead. He could even have known of Moriarty's plan (to a degree) and himself had prepared for it. I am sure he was not keen on Sherlock's publicity, and been quite pleased to help Moriarty discredit Sherlock as it fitted with what he wanted and he was able to protect Sherlock in the long run.

Another thought I had was back to the first Moriarty episode. In that episode he used other people's voices to speak for him, what if he continued to do that? What if Richard Brook really did exist and was an actor, but it wasn't Sherlock that hired him, it was Moriarty. either we never saw Moriarty or it was Moriarty some of the time and Rich at other times. As they said it is easy to hide lies in the truth. This would also allow for Moriarty not to be dead on top of that roof, only Rich has been killed - which Sherlock says is what he's going to do, kill of Rich.

Anyway just some incoherent thoughts.

Quite the opposite. In the original Conan Doyle stories, Mycroft was definitely more intelligent than his younger brother, but was quite lazy (eurgh... legwork ) so wouldn't go running around London catching killers, for example.

Considering Moffat and Gatiss are such huge Holmes fans, I'd be very disappointed if Mycroft wasn't at the very least aware of what was going on. Him saying "I never imagined..." when confronted by John just didn't ring true for his character.

I reckon he made the conscious decision to provide Moriarty with information, either to provide the safety of thousands over just one in a lesser of two evils way or as a small part of a bigger plan that will be revealed in Series 3.

Do you think that an increased level of emotional connection for want of a better term has been written in, ( between Mycroft and Homes) to give more opportunities for Mycroft to be more involved in scripts than he might have been ?

Ahh, there should be a DS Hall Of Fame, or something.



Well, I'll promise not to behave like a loose woman, should they ask me to join them in the next BB adventure.

Wow! I am impressed with this post. As Sherlock would say 'elementary my dear Watson'

Excellent. I can't wait for the next series.

The shoes puzzled me - they kept showing them.

I've not got the imagination to concoct a theory but you clearly see the shoes at first and they're simple black brogues. When he starts talking to John and tells him to move back, you don't see the shoes in focus...and when he begins to jump they look like this

Very out of focus, but you a glimpse that they are some sort of plimsoll (with a white front) if you check the youtube link at 0:08 you can see them a little bit more clearly.

Or they may just be very highly polished.

A couple of my observations (sorry if anyone else has covered these though).

Before Sherlock goes to talk to the kidnapped children - he is told NOT to be himself, emphasising who the children saw wasn't him.

Mrs Hudson mentions at the graveside something like Sherlock was always keeping 'things in the fridge' ie body parts - could the hand that the pulse was taken from after the fall have been a dead man's body part?

For me, the scene with Molly was the most touching conversation in many years of TV watching drama.

No, he wouldn't. He never said it!

Actually he said it loads of times just never in the Conan Doyle books.

There's such a lot of interesting theories and observations regarding Sherlock's fall in these threads thus far that I'm intrigued to find out if any FMs have got it right.

Alas! We have such a long wait to find out the solution. I'm having Sherlock withdrawal symptoms already.

Think I might go and watch the final episode... again!