Season finale review: 'Sherlock' - 'The Reichenbach Fall': I am not the man you think I am
Moriarty attacks everything Sherlock cares about most
Andrew Scott as Jim Moriarty in "Sherlock."
A few quick thoughts on how "Sherlock" season 2 wrapped up just as soon as I pose as your hostage...
When I reviewed this season a few weeks ago, I promised to come back at the end so everyone could discuss both the season as a whole and the ending, which I gather has been very much analyzed in the months since it first aired in the UK. I'm afraid this week (with upfronts and finales and Dan Harmon firings) has gotten away from me, so I don't have time to do much more than provide a venue.
When I moderated the Steven Moffat/Sue Vertue panel a few weeks ago (you can download it as an audio podcast here), Moffat hinted at some clues as to how Holmes survived that fall, while also managing to convince the world at large that he didn't. I'm not going to expend too much mental energy trying to puzzle out that solution, but for those of you who already have, fire away.
What I particularly liked about "The Reichenbach Fall" — beyond continuing to enjoy Andrew Scott's herky-jerky, buoyant performance as Moriarty — was the way in which it humanized our hero. He may be able to go to his sci-fi "mind palace," may be able to write your biography within seconds of meeting you, may for the most part be above knowing or caring about other people's feelings, but he is not a robot. He does genuinely like — and need — the company of Dr. Watson. He can be made to feel bad about hurting the feelings of those closest to him. He would, ultimately, be prepared to sacrifice both his life and the reputation he clings so tightly to if it meant saving the lives of those people. And Benedict Cumberbatch did a terrific job showing the man beneath the legend throughout the closing half of this season finale.
What did everybody think, about both the finale and season 2 as a whole?
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Next 85 CommentsSara
May 20, 2012 at 10:39PM EST Reply to CommentGotta be honest Alan...I got nothin'
Brubarian My thoughts exactly...
May 20, 2012 at 11:13PM ESTFrances Ryan
May 20, 2012 at 10:43PM EST Reply to CommentMy tweet says it...
@frannie_ryan
Sherlock TheReichenbachFall FANTASTIC. Why only 3 ep/yr of this and so many ep of Crap? #SherlockPBS
Rollie
May 20, 2012 at 10:51PM EST Reply to CommentI thought season 2 was a vast improvement on season 1. However I give myself the right to change my mind if it turns out Moriarty didnt actually kill himself, because I thought that was a splendid touch.
Tom Not to spoil anything, but there are books that go into what happens next, and what follows that, pretty extensively. *smiles to indicate light-hearted rather than jerkish tone of voice*
May 21, 2012 at 2:27PM ESTmrbilliam I'm assuming you're not actually referring to Arthur Conan Doyle's books though. If I recall correctly, Moriarty was only in one story, in which they go over the falls "off camera," and there was minimal explanation of why Sherlock didn't die.
May 21, 2012 at 7:47PM ESTwebdiva I don't think it's a spoiler to speculate based on what happened in the episode itself. Remember: he tells Molly that he needs *her* specifically -- and why? Because she's a coroner, that's why: he needs her cooperation if he's to fake his own death effectively (although I have to wonder what kind of padding he was wearing that let him drop a dozen or so stories without killing himself. On the other hand, I do believe Moriarity died, and that Sherlock very nicely trapped him into it -- but undoing the ignominy he piled on our hero will be a bitch, unless Sherlock thought quickly enough to record or broadcast the conversation via his cell phone while Moriarity was bragging about how he'd set up Sherlock. Moriarity was quite willing to die if it meant not only ruining Sherlock but ensuring his nemesis's death as well, thus preventing Sherlock from clearing his own name ... which, of course, he *might* be able to do if he survives the fall.
May 22, 2012 at 8:33PM ESTSherlock does warn his opponent obliquely that he's quite willing to trap Moriarity into killing himself. Yes indeed, he's not ther person even Moriarity thought he was. He was smarter. Gotta love it.
I can't wait for this show to come back. And it damned well better have more episodes to a season next time! I'd rather watch this than sitcoms and (un)reality shows any day.
Ed G. I agree with Webdiva's deductions. Molly was the key to making this work.
May 23, 2012 at 10:16AM EST(Funny how Moriarty became just an ordinary corpse.)
Lazy Iggy
May 20, 2012 at 10:58PM EST Reply to CommentNot a dry eye in this house.
*sigh*
debbie
May 20, 2012 at 10:59PM EST Reply to CommentThis episode was heart breaking. Seeing Sherlock loose control of a situation, especially after Moriarty killed himself was terrifying. But it was Freemans portrayal of the devastated John, killed me. Cant wait til series 3, when ever that may be!
nic919
May 20, 2012 at 11:00PM EST Reply to CommentI saw these episodes before I saw the second RDJ Sherlock movie and while they both used Reichenbach Falls it is clearly done so much better in this series. I was not a huge fan of Scott's Moriarty in the waning moments of Season 1, but either the performance was modified, or I just got used to him, because I liked him a lot more in Season 2. I do think we can move on to other villains now though.
The chemistry between Cumberbatch and Freeman is what continues to make this version great. Unfortunately since they are both involved in The Hobbit, who knows if/when we get a third season.
gail I just read that they will begin production on Season 3 in January, 2013.
May 20, 2012 at 11:44PM ESTAngela YES!!!
May 28, 2012 at 6:11PM ESTrugman11
May 20, 2012 at 11:27PM EST Reply to CommentI am (was) of two minds about this finale. From a pure entertainment point, it was fantastic, both times I watched it. I had a big problem, however, with Moriarty's death.
The original Moriarty was a criminal mastermind and even this version was portrayed as a freelance criminal with no ties or loyalties, willing to sell his services to the highest bidder. I have a hard time reconciling that Moriarty with the crazy psychopath who became fixated on Sherlock and was willing to kill himself to see his reputation ruined. This is a man who, in the season premiere, was but a mysterious phone call away from just killing Sherlock for being a nuisance. When (and why) did he shift from being the criminal mastermind to the suicidal psychopath?
Hope Yeah, I felt the same. I thoroughly enjoyed it first time I watch it, and I still think it's a good thriller, but a suicidal psychopath Moriarty? THAT is not something from canon, and seriously, a villain who killed himself is not scary at all.
May 20, 2012 at 11:39PM ESTcgeye It's a love story, really, with a tragic queer at its heart. Stereotypical, to the point whether I thought Jim would kiss Sherlock on the mouth as they wrestled for his big, hard gun. *sigh* One stop forward, two steps back.... I liked better the Evil Bisexual Moriarty, who knew he could seduce anyone if given enough information, the yang to Irene's yin, who seduced to *get* data.
May 21, 2012 at 1:26AM ESTReducing him to a boy needing Sherlock's validation cheapened his beautiful wickedness, and I'm sorry he didn't have a Plan Z -- he should have predicted that Holmes would become so desperate that he would do almost anything to save his friends.
JordanFromJersey I think that Jim was being completely honest when he told Sherlock his motivations.
May 21, 2012 at 2:34AM ESTHe was bored with life. He had everything he wanted and it did nothing for him.
However, once he got the one thing he wanted, the one thing he didn't have(Sherlock's validation) he had nothing left to keep him going. He won. Life was already a bore and he only had one more thing on his bucket list.
One that was out of the way, the only way to truly cement his superiority and go out on top was to do it his own way on his own terms(and to destroy Sherlock in the process).
Anyway, I thought it was brilliant.
Hope
May 20, 2012 at 11:31PM EST Reply to Comment"Benedict Cumberbatch did a terrific job showing the man beneath the legend throughout the closing half of this season finale."
Completely agree with this. He and Andrew Scott saved the way-too-cartoony hero-villain story arc and almost transformed the rooftop showdown into the Shakespearean grandeur; that is why I think they deserve commendations.
Jem
May 21, 2012 at 12:07AM EST Reply to CommentAbsolutely, positively, amazing. Probably the best 3 episode season on TV. The season 2 premiere being what I consider the very best 88 minutes of television ever. I can't wait to see where they go from here.
redtop JEM, I totally agree about Scandal being the best 88 min ever. It is amazing to watch what happens when everything from writing to directing to acting to music to special effects all come together in just the right way to create something so much more than the individual parts.
May 21, 2012 at 12:45AM ESTToby O'B
May 21, 2012 at 12:13AM EST Reply to CommentA nice touch in the casting - the agitated old man in the Diogenes Club really was a member of the "Club". He was played by Douglas Wilmer who was Sherlock Holmes on TV back in 1964. And he played Holmes as well in "Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother"......
I have no doubt Moffat and Gatiss have the explanations all worked out for when the series returns. I'm just curious as to which stories they will adapt that could top the powerhouse trio of this season.....
Joe
May 21, 2012 at 12:21AM EST Reply to CommentMy only real nitpick with the finale was that they felt the need to beat the viewer over the head with the fact that Sherlock wasn't really dead. I think they'd have been much better served to leave that until the new episodes come; not so much as a cliffhanger, but because it's truer to the form of the original books, in which he really WAS dead, until Doyle realized he couldn't completely kill him off.
But really, a pretty good three episodes this year. The first took about half an hour for me to get into it, and the second was utterly disappointing (because as I've mentioned before, I'm a huge fan of the original story and felt they could've done a better portrayal), but the finale was just excellent.
keith Agreed. It would still have been a cliffhanger because of his reputation, we'd suspect he must have somehow avoided death. So the ending was cheap, imo.
May 21, 2012 at 12:56AM ESTTJ Joe, I agree exactly. I was hoping beyond hope that they wouldn't show Sherlock alive at the end, mostly because it undermined the drama of the ending a little to show him alive without a hint of a solution (except him going to Molly for help, I suppose), and also because to leave him dead would be truer to Conan Doyle.
May 21, 2012 at 8:51AM ESTEd G. I can understand these opinions, but would it really be a cliffhanger if they're going to show a season 3 anyway. They would have to rename the series to "Watson."
May 23, 2012 at 10:27AM ESTTJ We would still all "know" that Sherlock was coming back in Season 3, but it would have allowed the emotional resolution of Season 2 to have worked a little better. At the cemetery, they do a great job of getting the viewer to really feel Watson's grief. Like the story, that's the note I would have liked to end on.
May 23, 2012 at 10:38AM ESTOf course Sherlock will still be alive, but to show him in the graveyard pulls the rug out from under the emotional moment a bit. Still a great episode, and very good ending.
Ed G. Hi TJ, I can see your point of course. I'm looking forward to seeing how Sherlock gets his reputation back (and also to see how that reporter gets her comeuppance!)
May 23, 2012 at 12:43PM ESTMatt L. I think it's a smart play to set up series 3. If the show hadn't shown Holmes at the end, the BBC could have said "These two are huge stars now and will want huge contracts to return. We've got a great series with a stunning ending and a dead main character. Let's call it a day fellows."
January 4, 2013 at 10:34AM ESTI think that scene was just an insurance policy, knowing that the public would DEMAND to know how Holmes survived, once they knew for sure that he did. For all we know, it could have been the original intention for Holmes to legitimately die at Moriarty's hands.
keith So, protecting their jobs at the expense of the story and the audience. I suppose that's one definition of smart.
January 4, 2013 at 1:24PM ESTMatt L. I'm with you, though. I'd prefer ambiguity -- I'm just saying that by way of a two-second shot, there was no doubt that the show would have to return, if only to explain how he survived. If we even had an inkling that he was really dead, it'd be all to easy for the series to end there.
January 4, 2013 at 1:50PM ESTThose crazy Brits, I wouldn't put it past them to have ended the series right then and there if they wanted to, with no resolution. Maybe dead, maybe not, but certainly over.
geoff_rose
May 21, 2012 at 12:29AM EST Reply to Comment"...Well good luck with that."
*BLAM*
Holy... holy... oh jesus did he... he did... HE DID... OMFG...
That was amazing. That's a planner and a schemer who COMMITS to his damn scheme. And it was grand.
I really have enjoyed all the modernizing quirks of SHERLOCK, but really, the characterizations are just what sell it. It's a little twist, a bit of style to what most people think of when they hear "Sherlock Holmes" and after the likes of "House, MD" reconfiguring the mythos, it was very interesting to see how this brought back the same old Holmes and yet a new Holmes.
I think the differences between S1 and 2 were important and not a matter of "bigger, badder, better." There's an evolution here, an actual long form story, and the individual moments of earlier eps are just as strong in my memory than the grand parts of the latter (but the grand finale always seems to have a great crash, doesn't it?)
I believe in Sherlock Holmes.
blingbling
May 21, 2012 at 12:35AM EST Reply to CommentMy only guess as to Sherlock's survival comes from his brief discussion with Molly in the lab where he declares to her that he expects to die and then indicates that she's the only one who can help him. Not sure what potion you can cook up in a lab that can help you survive a 10-story fall, but who the heck knows.
I absolutely adored this season beginning to end. Again, I love how the Brits would rather devote fewer episodes to a series to keep the quality high (though the leads obviously have other conflicts that would prevent an extended run). What I like best about the series is that they really DO mess with canon and character, and that meant -- so far -- a more insane Moriarty and a more human, and dare I say, sexual Sherlock.
But I think there are two mysteries at the conclusion of this episode -- how Sherlock survived that fall and how Moriarty survived that gunshot. Because you cannot convince me that Holmes' greatest opponent is dead.
JohannaLapp Pathologist Molly obviously supplied the body. Holmes disguised it.
May 21, 2012 at 12:50AM ESTChemical help from Baskerville Corp convinced Watson.
blingbling Oooh! Getting Watson stoned with the Baskerville powder! I like it!
May 21, 2012 at 1:00AM ESTcgeye Here's my guess:
May 21, 2012 at 1:15AM ESTMolly's the only 'friend' who wasn't targeted by Moriarty, because he has the same contempt for her Holmes usually does, but she, as Holmes asked her to be, was the lynchpin. Note that he has four friends at Christmas, four friends in this episode, but she drops out entirely after he says he needs her the most? I thought he put her in protective custody, because Moriarty might have slipped up and didn't keep the Richard story consistent, but when she didn't even rate an assassin, that felt sloppy on Jimbo's part. Now we know better.
Where does she work? The morgue, where they have lots of fresh bodies lying around, and if they don't, that douche Mycroft owes Sherlock one hell of a favor, and he can pluck one where they stacked them up for that faux-terrorist attack. So, fresh body, but one past rigor-mortis, given a bit of plastic surgery so the smashed-in face looks like Sherlock's, and Mycroft helps out matching the corpse's data with whatever databases Sherlock was already in, for forensic purposes. If Moriarty can do it, Mycroft can, with the Queen's sanction.
The first tricky bit was to ensure Moriarty wouldn't stop Holmes' plan -- and a suicide's just as good as killing him in a struggle. Note that Jimbo said that even if he died, they would stand down, so obviously the assassins were briefed on that as a contingency... though I wouldn't put it past Moriarty to arrange for a stand-in, too....
The last bit was a bit of puppeteering and timing. A Bluetooth headphone and a slit jacket would allow Holmes to speak while maneuvering the phone hand to the corpse's face. After that, when flinging the phone back, Holmes could disengage himself, prop up the corpse, then let it fall face-forward. (If Mycroft was involved, then another operative would handle that, while Holmes changed into the scrubs in time to run Watson down. Yes, you heard me...) If everything went to plan, the mere confession would discombobulate Watson enough that by the time he got to the corpse, *his* pretty good forensic skills would be disabled. He'd believe what the nice paramedics said, he'd get taken care of, and slowly realize that there was nothing that could be done. More importantly, the staging would eliminate both the speculation that Holmes obviously staged his own death, and more ominously, that Moriarty did, for them both, to conduct even worse tortures.
The gift Holmes gave his friends, as he did for Irene Adler, was to take the pressure off, from his enemies. He realized that his friends were his weakness, because for a man who treated them for the most part contemptuously, he still relied on them enough to make them targets. Like the Adler story, the farewells were the most important; and, as with Adler, the Moffat-style "SUCKER!" at the tail diminished the emotional effect. No one likes a smart-ass, buster -- and he shoulda learned that from Holmes his own self.
cgeye "*wouldn't* stand down". Good grief....
May 21, 2012 at 1:19AM ESTblingbling Nice setup, CGEye, plus bringing in Mycroft, too. I'm gonna have to listen to this on the replay because I'll bet all the clues are there. I definitely want to watch Watson getting hit by the bike again as well just to make sure it was merely his head hitting the ground that goofed him up. Also, it was really interesting how the crowd around "Holmes" were so effective at keeping Watson from really inspecting the body other than the wrist.
May 21, 2012 at 1:22AM ESTcgeye The killer tell? How in the heck did they all swarm so quickly over the body? There were no ambulances or personnel around -- if there were, wouldn't someone call in a man on the roof, apprarently ready to jump?
May 21, 2012 at 1:34AM ESTIn a US hospital, it'd probably still take a 911 call before anyone would venture out of the hospital, for liability purposes. There, no one we saw called for help, but a full phalanx of medical professionals were there as Watson drifted back into consciousness -- Sherlock would demand their instant appearance, to give the sniper no reason to hesitate in packing up and leaving Watson alone.
Ryvyan CGEYE, the scene happened on the roof of St Bart's so not surprising there are medical professionals around.
May 21, 2012 at 6:17AM ESTblingbling Somebody had a really interesting comment about all the people on the scene when "Sherlock" fell -- that everyone, from the cyclist to the crowd and the medical professionals on the scene were actually the show's new version of the Baker Street Irregulars.
May 21, 2012 at 7:03PM ESTed w Oh I think he simply put his coat on Moriarty's body, stood behind him to make it lift its arms and then threw it off. Watson never saw the face on the ground and they can make up stuff like Sherlock switched the dental records and made sure there wasn't an open casket, etc.
May 22, 2012 at 11:46AM ESTI had been hoping he'd fling Moriarty off the roof with his (Sherlock's) coat on while Moariarty was still alive to solve the problem but that was too brutal for the show I guess so they had to have M off himself first.
blingbling Well, Ed W, that's probably the most sensible idea of all if not for the fact that Moriarty is Sherlock's No. 1 enemy and even though I saw the gun in his mouth like you did, I can't quite believe they'd kill him off even at this juncture.
May 22, 2012 at 12:43PM ESTmswart99 Just rewatched the rooftop scene (hooray, iTunes). I think the key is in what Watson can (and can't) see. After Watson gets out of the cab, Holmes directs him to a very specific spot on the street. From that spot, Watson can see Holmes on the roof but he *cannot* see the sidewalk/street in front of the hospital.
May 22, 2012 at 2:40PM ESTThree quick observations:
(1) From what is shown on the screen, it appears to me that Holmes physically falls off the roof. Last shot on the roof is Holmes from behind, throwing away the phone and leaning forward. Unless the showrunners are flat-out lying to us with a fake shot, it's Holmes taking a dive off the roof.
(2) As noted above, Watson cannot see where the body hits; his view is blocked by something (another low building? It's not clear to me). He has to physically run around a corner to see the spot.
(3) In the first shot of the body on the sidewalk, we can see that the body is RIGHT BESIDE an open-backed truck of some sort, with has blue and white bags in the back. That truck conveniently drives off a few seconds later; it's NOT present by the time Watson makes it to the scene.
(4) As the rest of you have already noted, it seems awfully "convenient" for the cyclist to slow down John's approach, and the swarm of hospital staff who manage to keep Watson a good distance from the body.
(5) Finally, as others have pointed out, Sherlock enlists the help of Molly, who works in the morgue.
From those observations, I conclude that the body on the sidewalk was *not* Sherlock -- in fact, it was already on the pavement *before* Holmes jumped off the roof. Holmes maneuvered Watson to a point where he could not see the body, and his irregulars kept that part of the street clear of other observers. Holmes jumped off the roof into the bags/padding in the back of the truck, which drove away before anyone could discover him. The body was from the morgue, dressed to look like Sherlock and supplied by Molly. The swarm of people who descended on the body (and the cyclist) were in on the trick, and spirited the body away before Watson (or anyone else) could discover what happened.
Too bad we'll have to wait 18 months to find out...
blingbling Yikes. That might be it. It's an open-roofed truck (filled with hospital laundry to break his fall?). We see the body hit the sidewalk, but more with a clunk than a splat, so maybe a bunch of Irregulars were on that truck and threw the made-up corpse on the sidewalk as the real Sherlock jumped into the truck that was momentarily hidden from Watson's view by that shack. A-HA!!!!
May 22, 2012 at 3:01PM ESTed w Yes I agree that the theory about the truck, Molly and a plan is be more likely than what I posted a couple replies above it. Those hospital people sure did arrive fast.
May 22, 2012 at 3:45PM ESTAlf Also yay to PBS.org and free streaming (until 6/19).
June 4, 2012 at 7:11AM ESTDave P I think MSWART has the gist of it. Everything works. And if you were the driver of a truck and a body just splattered blood all over your windshield, do you just release the brakes and head off for your next delivery? Also, although there's been no direct mention of the irregulars, I think they alluded to them in this episode. When Holmes is at the police station waiting for abandoned chocolate factory info, he says he's got people (willing to bribe) looking into it, and presumably text him images or map data to his phone. I think in both seasons this is the closest mention of him having a crew.
June 15, 2012 at 12:37PM ESTBen
May 21, 2012 at 1:17AM EST Reply to CommentA huge hint they gave was Sherlock playing with the ball-it's possible to cut off a pulse of the wrist using a ball tucked snugly into an armpit.
cgeye Sherlock isn't fat, so there's no way to add enough padding to prevent systemic bone and organ injuries.
May 21, 2012 at 1:38AM ESTThe sniper had a clear draw on Watson, but probably stopped paying attention to Sherlock once he saw him engaged with Moriarty. Nope, for a face-first fall, there's no faking the impact to the body when there was no obstruction to place stunt padding, in the world of the show. So, IMHO: Corpse.
briguyx I was just happy to see him playing with the ball, as I took it as a shout out to the other brilliant detective leaving us this week, Dr. House.
May 21, 2012 at 1:46AM ESTI caught that Molly gave Sherlock the dead body he needed, but I believe he threw it off the roof, then switched himself in with fake blood, as Dr. Watson was not only knocked to the ground, but had his view blocked for a time.
I have no problem with them showing Sherlock alive at the end, given how long it will be until we see more of the show!
cgeye That actually makes more sense -- why *not* be the one on the ground? Although the facial injuries (concave in nature) would be a bitch to create for real-life scrutiny, and a doctor would have to smell real blood and voiding, it could still work. And, any schlub could have collided with Watson, for the desired temporary neurological effects. Kudos.
May 21, 2012 at 3:22AM ESTisaacl
May 21, 2012 at 2:38AM EST Reply to CommentIn spite of those who have said episode 2 dragged a bit, I found episode 1 a bit slow moving, given its prolonged time span, and how Sherlock was mostly along for the ride, reacting, rather than driving events. The interplay between Irene and Sherlock was quite delicious, though.
Regarding episode 2, I may have missed something, but I didn't really get a sense of the supernatural, as Alan alluded to. Government coverup/conspiracy stories don't typically appeal to me, and the "they've been drugged" answer seemed obvious, but nonetheless I enjoyed the tale.
Episode 3 was delightfully full of elaborate twists and turns. Moriarty's determination to win the intellectual game even at the cost of losing the real-world game of life was reminiscent of the first episode in the first season. However Holmes has shown some growth since then, now willing to sacrifice his intellectual reputation while keeping his life, and saving his friends. Given that the production of a third season would essentially confirm Sherlock's survival, I had no problem with letting the cat out of the bag early, letting you know that Sherlock is still watching over his friends. Whenever new episodes make it to air, I'll be watching!
May 21, 2012 at 4:28AM EST Reply to CommentIf i remember right, moffat has said the clues are all there and, a few weeks after its uk airing, he said that he had not seen anyone guess correctly.
I never did take to this moriarty. I guess i like my super villains to be more arch and moustache twirling.
Gatiss as mycroft may have been my favorite character. You really could see This mycroft being "m" from the bond franchise.
briguyx While Gatiss as Mycroft is fine, my idea of Mycroft was someone as smart or even smarter than Sherlock who just didn't want to get his hands dirty and in fact was kind of a heavy guy. This Mycroft is much more of a civil servant type.
May 21, 2012 at 4:44AM ESTAnd if no one has guessed the solution, I wonder if Moffatt has heard the ingenious suggestion of Johanna above, which I bet is right on the money.
May 21, 2012 at 5:50AM ESTDEPSexton
May 21, 2012 at 9:07AM EST Reply to CommentI can't wait to find out how Sherlock faked his own death, although I definitely think that a corpse is going to be involved in it somehow.
Looking forward to when the 3rd season is on. Seems like it'll be summer 2013 in the UK and winter 2013 in the US.
Lee
May 21, 2012 at 9:39AM EST Reply to CommentI did cry last night but mostly because we won't have another chance to see these mesmerizing characters - especially BC as Sherlock - for about another 1.5 years. Sniff.
Since the series started up again two weeks ago, I haven't watched anything else except Fringe as everything else, while I always knew was mediocre (save Justified and Mad Men for me), watching these three films with the startling direction/filming/editing/acting/writing - just made everything else completely unappealing.
If only the medium were made of such stuff as this - even if just 10% of it was, it would really be something.
The music choices too - from their original scores to the other choices, were brilliant as well.
I read that the filming of Hounds of the Baskerville took 4 weeks; I don't know how long for the other episodes but that is a significant amount of time so I can understand why just three a season but, phooey - I simply want more.
Can't imagine being a part of this new CBS Elementary show after having watched this - I'd probably quit and duck and cover. It sounds so awful in its conception anyway (sad for Jonnie Lee Miller though) that it will, I am sure, endure many comparisons to this bit of brilliance.
Even knowing the stories so well as I do, I have really enjoyed how they have interpreted them for this series and thank goodness I knew the ending of last night's story or I would have been a puddle (or, a bigger puddle).
redrighthand
May 21, 2012 at 10:05AM EST Reply to CommentSherlock didn't have to do anything to a corpse or to switch himself in after the fall. Moriarty himself would have supplied a body double. The same man he used to make the little girl scared of Sherlock. A loose end that Moriarty would have killed and that Molly would have found in the morgue.
TJ Oh this is good. I was just assuming Moriarty was wearing a paper Sherlock mask or something with the kids, which would have been easy enough to fashion, but I like your theory very much.
May 21, 2012 at 3:11PM ESTElmer
May 21, 2012 at 12:08PM EST Reply to CommentWhen are they replaying this episode?
Elmer
May 21, 2012 at 12:09PM EST Reply to Commentwhen are they replaying this episode?
Chris L Right now on pbs.org. Otherwise, check your local listings.
May 21, 2012 at 1:54PM ESTMWilhelm
May 21, 2012 at 12:20PM EST Reply to CommentI am just a humble yank. But I wonder if the acting head shots and resumes of Rich Brook are real and he is a psycopathic actor whom Moriarty hired to be his face to the public and the real Moriarty is still lurking in the shadows like a spider. Lets face it this whole set up is to extensive for a freelance criminal. It would take a major network of connections to set everything off. Just a thought.
Elena That could well be the case, would allow M to resurface.
May 21, 2012 at 8:24PM ESTJayme
May 21, 2012 at 2:11PM EST Reply to CommentThe whole episode felt like one giant plot hole.
First, what's up with all of Moriarty's accomplices. How did he get them to do what they did? How did they manage to be alone and in charge at the necessary time? What happened to them afterwards?
Second, what's up with the stupid journalist? Holmes proved to her that he was "as advertised" when she ambushed him in the bathroom. There's no way he could have studied and memorized all that he knew about her because a) he wasn't expecting her to be there, and b) she made crap up to test him (ink smudge). Yet now she's going to openly accept that he was a fraud, though he managed to fool the police for something like 30 cases and get the most obviously guilty man in history acquitted after 6 minutes of deliberation?
Another problem is that the key doesn't exist, yet Moriarty was somehow able to completely manufacture a duplicate identity and hack the jurors' tv's to get himself off. Admittedly, this one is the weakest of the issues I'm having because it is technically possible. My problem is that these would have taken an extremely large amount of time to engineer and plan, much less execute. Where did he find time for this, especially while he was imprisoned?
Finally, assuming he's actually dead, what's going to happen with Moriarty's body? You got a guy with a bullet wound out the back of his head laying on the roof from which Sherlock leapt, and it won't look like murder. Why does a children's actor commit suicide shortly before the man who hired him do the same?
Up until this episode, I was always impressed with how clever every plot was. Everything tied together so well, and not a single thing seemed out of place. This episode just left me wanting. Maybe I'm the one who's just not clever enough to figure it out.
XK I agree completely, and am glad to see I'm not the only one who felt this way. I liked the S2 premiere, thought the second episode was pretty shaky, but had some good lines, and thought the finale collapsed under its own weight.
May 22, 2012 at 11:14PM ESTI'll also add the fact that, despite being on the run from the police, apparently Watson is able to go to 21B to check on the landlady without any police presence whatsoever. Because, you know, the police would NEVER stake out someone's private address.
The fact that Sherlock has no idea of the utter impossibility of 'a few lines of code' (let alone the handful of bits that Moriarty tapped out) providing a skeleton key to any security in the world just makes him look foolish.
XK ...not to mention the whole 'no, no... you have to jump or my gunmen (one of whom is conveniently placed to shoot John, despite John starting out on the other side of London) will kill your friends' was incredibly silly.
May 22, 2012 at 11:16PM ESTMatt L. I would be really upset were Moriarty still alive. "A Study in Pink" showed that Sherlock knows the difference between a real and fake gun, and I'm guessing he'd also know if the gun had actually been fired, as he'd be able to tell from Moriarty's propulsion backwards if it hard been legitimately fired. I'm surprised, thouhgh, that he didn't stop for a few seconds to check the exit wound or the pulse. Seems like something that Sherlock, (who, even if he manufactured and staged the whole thing, would still be legitimately putting himself in danger by jumping off a building) would want to be sure of before taking what could have been a fatal plunge had things not gone right (which it looks like they did, from SH's cemetery appearance). Leaving the world without SH but with a living JM would be a nightmare, and Sherlock knows this, so why not make sure he's dead? I guess he could have done so offscreen, but damnit, why not show that?
January 4, 2013 at 10:54AM ESTWith your speculation about John, the whole plan was to get him away from Holmes temporarily with the "shooting" distraction. It was assumed that he would be returning to Sherlock once he realized he'd been set up, and since they knew he'd be arriving in a cab, still make it plausible. However, Jim didn't say whether or not John would be shot if, say, he tried to enter the building, which would put him out of the assassin's sights. I'm guessing JM had a backup plan of sorts and had another assassin tailing Watson the whole time that we didn't see.
Elena
May 21, 2012 at 8:10PM EST Reply to CommentI think Sherlock anticipated Moriarity's plan and somehow had Molly help him prepare to survive the fall. How this was done, I have no clue. And why he went on to John about being a fake when he so isn't, I'm also at a loss. Unless he thought he needed to disappear for a while to figure out if there are any long term ramifications of M's plan and wanted John to stay away. It was fasinating watching Sherlock be baffled by how quickly people bought into the "Sherlock is a fraud" campaign and the scene where John confronted Mycroft over the info M gave to the reporter.
Angela I thought he went on with John about being a fake so that it would be easier for John to live with the fact that his friend was dead. That scene where John talks to Sherlock at the cemetery blew me away. He is one hell of an actor.
May 28, 2012 at 6:47PM ESTIt was also fascinating to see how people would change their minds on dime about Sherlock. Such truth to me about human nature.
Action_Kate
May 21, 2012 at 9:08PM EST Reply to CommentSherlock wanted everyone to believe he was a fraud so they would believe that he actually killed himself over it. He had to fake his death to keep John, Mrs. Hudson, and Lestrade safe. If he hadn't jumped, the three assassins would have killed his three dearest.
The point of Moriarty's plotting is that he's been working on taking down Sherlock (or joining with him) for YEARS. He's been stalking Sherlock for two decades. He's had enough time to put all this in place -- he probably has ten other plots and fake identities which he didn't use but could have picked up at any moment. He also has a tremendous network of accomplices, so if you put one or two people on each juror, it doesn't take that long to find appropriate pressure points.
I sobbed my eyes out over that last half-hour. My heart just broke watching John weep at Sherlock's grave. It's even odds whether he punches Sherlock, hugs him, or just faints per ACD canon when they're reunited.
ed w
May 22, 2012 at 11:40AM EST Reply to CommentIt seemed to me they put all their effort into the first episode with Adler and the other two got progressively worse. Neither the characterization or acting of Moriarty was effective to me. He wasn't ever very intimidating as an adversary, just annoying like a gnat.
I don't think having Moriarty there in front of Sherlock and Watson in the scene in the reporter's apartment and neither one of our heroes punching the guy spoke was believable, even the wimpiest guys would have done something immediately. Watson punched a police officer earlier in the episode.
Also not believable, that none of the jurors would tell the police what had happened. I don't expect a lot of realism but a shred would be nice.
ckb503
May 23, 2012 at 8:50AM EST Reply to CommentTwo thoughts (and my apologies if these have already been brought up; I didn't have a chance to read all the comments):
1) At the beginning of the episode, the kidnapped girl screams when she sees Sherlock. I suspected at that point if Moriarty had disguised himself (or someone else involved) *as* Sherlock when he kidnapped those kids, so they would think Sherlock was the kidnapper, screamed when they saw him, and raised suspicion about whether or not Sherlock was involved in the kidnapping. Could this same disguise have been used somehow to make it look like the real Sherlock jumped off the roof?
2) Did anyone else notice the word "Pathology" is etched into the building right below the ledge Sherlock's standing on? An allusion to Molly's role in convincing the world that he's really dead? Or is that a little too cutesy for this show?
ckb503 Oh redrighthand, you beat me to it.
May 23, 2012 at 8:57AM ESTHazelWilliams
May 24, 2012 at 10:37PM EST Reply to CommentIt seems to me that all you Americans are missing a vital clue: Richard Brooke.
I know Gatiss wants us to believe Rich Brooke really was Moriarty, but I am very certain he was not Moriarty, but Moriarty's double.
Consider, there was real fear in the way Rich acted when Sherlock and John turned up in the flat. Would Moriarty be capable of acting so terrified?
I believe that Rich Brooke was employed by Moriarty for his own purposes; one of which was so he could fake his own death. I have reason to believe that it was Rich Brooke and not Moriarty who committed suicide on the roof. Moriarty is not the kind of man to give up and kill himself, especially after he has just defeated Sherlock Holmes.
No, I am quite certain Moriarty will return just as Sherlock will.
As for the matter of Sherlock Holmes I believe he obtained a dead body with the help of Molly Hooper. He then had Molly disfigure the face and place a partial prosthetic mask over the major features. John was dazed from being hit by a cyclist and it is unlikely that he would have seen the body again. So, both Sherlock and Moriarty fake their deaths.
Angela Hm, I need to see that scene again with Brooke, the actor. But I thought I saw a glance by Brooke/Moriarty to Sherlock that said we both know this is BS but no-one else does. And Sherlock knew it as well. Is there some way you can watch that scene again. I know that I can.
May 28, 2012 at 7:02PM ESTStill, it's a great your idea. But I'd rather the writers came up with something different than having them both come back alive. It's almost sounds a little too neat somehow...hard for me to explain why I don't like this as a way to go forward from here.
Angela
May 28, 2012 at 6:06PM EST Reply to CommentI loved this show! The last episode was so thought provoking and intense I couldn't even watch Mad Men afterwards. I needed time to process what I had watched.
The acting, writing, well, everything about it blew me away.
I was sure Sherlock was dead. So I haven't figured out that part yet.
ian
June 6, 2012 at 12:20AM EST Reply to Commenthow about this coat,Sherlock coat,it looks like very coool.
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