Now everyone has had enough time to mull over the turbulent happenings in the Sherlock series finale, it’s time to reflect! This recap contains a review, speculation, and some news. As you have probably already deduced, spoilers are afoot!
The Sherlock finale was always going to be a game-changer, and it had been subject to speculation, emotional gushing and press attention ever since the title was released. And, it’s fair to say that the Moffat, Gaitiss, and the whole team did not disappoint.
From the sombre opening scene, we knew something was awry. Dr. John Watson is back to see his psychiatrist, and he utters the words that nobody wanted to hear. “Sherlock Holmes, my best friend… is dead.” Martin Freeman is astonishing in this opening scene, and his heart-breaking portrayal of Watson is consistently impressive. It could well be his best performance in the series so far.
Before we have time for those words to sink in, we are given the opening titles, and then rewind three months into the past. Sherlock has gained celebrity status, with his face plastered over the front pages of many tabloids. Meanwhile though, Moriarty is compromising the three most secure places in London. Want to break into The Bank Of England, open the doors of Pentonville Prison, and steal the crown jewels? There’s an app for that.
But of course, this was merely the start of his plan. Moriarty allows himself to be arrested, and Sherlock is called to give evidence against him at the “trial of the century”, and after irritating and insulting both judge and jury, he is charged with contempt of court. The defence chooses not to submit any evidence, but Moriarty is cleared of all of charges… because he has kidnapped the families of each of the twelve jurors.
And so begins Moriarty’s long campaign to destroy Sherlock’s reputation. It involves several intricate strands that weave in and out of prominence. Getting several of the worlds top assassins to move into flats all around 221B, kidnapping the children of the American ambassador, posing as a children’s actor and manipulating the tabloid press to destroy Sherlock’s reputation. But hes still not finished. In 1×03, Jim promised that he would “burn the heart out of” our favourite detective. And he made good on that promise.
As the string of plot threads collided in a breath-taking last half an hour, we found Sherlock in a horrible predicament. He must jump off the roof of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, seemingly confirming the press stories that he is a fraud, or John, Mrs. Hudson, and Lestrade would be assassinated. Just when we thought things couldn’t get any more dramatic, Moriarty triumphantly places a gun in his mouth, and kills himself.
With no way to prevent the assassinations, and an audience gathering, Sherlock has no alternative. After a tear-jerking confrontation with John, he leaps from the building as his best friend watches. And dies. lf you weren’t bawling already, then Watson’s tragic visit to the graveyard ensured that there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. “But please, there’s just one more thing, one more thing, one more miracle, Sherlock, for me, don’t be … dead. Would you do that just for me? Just stop it.” An army salute, and he leaves. But just before the credits roll, the camera pans to some of the trees in the distance, and we see Sherlock watching.
Harri’s thoughts
‘The Reichenbach Fall’ felt like a real return to form for Sherlock. After last weeks slightly disappointing The Hounds Of Baskerville -don’t get me wrong, it was brilliant, just not quite as good ad the rest of the series-, it was great to see the duo back in London on a fast paced adventure. Doctor Who director Toby Haynes made his Sherlock debut, bringing his own personal flair whilst retaining the sophistication that we are used to. The twisting camera angles, brilliant cinematography and excellent use of music all kept the usual intimacy, but also introduced a sense of grander scale. Nina Simone’s Sinnerman was used to really rack up the tension, and The Thieving Magpie -as made famous by A Clockwork Orange- was used perfectly to express the manic glee in Moriarty as he committed the crimes of the century.
The script was also excellently executed by Steve Thompson, who wrote the “dud” of the last series, but was definitely on top form in this episode. The script was brilliantly adapted from the Conan Doyle stories, but put a very unique, contemporary stamp on the canon.
However, it was the acting that really excelled in ‘The Reichenbach Fall’. Martin Freeman left no doubt as to why he is a BAFTA winner, and Benedict Cumberbatch managed to inject a sense of humanity and sensitivity to Sherlock without losing track of his controlled, cold ways. After falling victim to some small but vocal purists in the first series, Andrew Scott pulled out all the stops and hushed even the harshest of critics with a psychotic performance that channeled Heath Ledger and Johnny Depp, while still injecting his own twist into the character. There were jaw-dropping performances also from the actors who portray Mrs. Hudson, Lestrade, and Molly.
The whole second series, while maybe not quite hitting the highs of series one, was still spectacular television. It was more confident, and still amazingly intelligent and thought provoking. However, the plots didn’t seem quite as well thought-out. As we look forward to series 3, which was confirmed by Mark Gaitiss and Steven Moffat not long after the finale aired -we didn’t make a post to try and avoid spoilers-, the question remains – how did Sherlock fake his death? I have a theory, and while it is almost certainly wrong, I thought our readers would like to hear it.
We know that Sherlock asked Molly to help him even if he “wasn’t who she thought he was”, and we know that she works in a morgue. We were also confronted with the moral dilemma of using fresh corpses to try and save lives in 2×01, so it wouldn’t be implausible for Sherlock to have learned a few tricks from his brother, and asked Molly to use a corpse from the morgue.
Sherlock tells John to stand in a very particular part of the street, and will not allow him to move while on the phone to him. The view that John gets is enough to see Sherlock jump from the building, but he is unable to see the impact. There is also a rubbish truck right at the bottom of the building, which conveniently turns on to the street just as he is about to jump. Sherlock lands in the top of the truck, smelling a bit dodgy but otherwise unharmed. A body is then dropped or planted, in a very limited amount of time, on the pavement, complete with blood.
As John tries to run towards his best friend, a cyclist flies past and knocks him to the ground. When he gets up, he is clearly disorientated and a little worse for wear. It is possible that he has concussion, but it would also be entirely plausible for him to have been injected -very quickly and subtly, admittedly- with a chemical that leaves the victim severely confused, and forces them to see horrific things. But more importantly, they see exactly what they expect to see. For example, when under the influence of the chemical, they may see a gigantic hound with red glowing eyes in the middle of Dartmoor. Or perhaps, when injected with the chemical, having just witnessed Sherlock jump off a tall building, it would lead John to think that an unidentified corpse was his best friend and colleague.
Once John has left the scene, the body would be taken into the hospital, where Molly would have falsely identified the body as Sherlock, and documented that he had commited suicide.
Inspired by the actions of the British government in 2×01, armed with a chemical from 2×02, and with the help of Molly, who “always mattered”, Sherlock had everything he needed to stage the perfect suicide.
As stated above, it will almost certainly be completely wrong, as we all know how the writers of Sherlock intricately piece together their plots. However, it is at least a feasible explanation to a seemingly impossible situation.
And so, we have another long wait ahead of us. Maybe even longer than the eighteen months between series one and two. With Steven and Mark working on Doctor Who, Martin filming The Hobbit, and Benedict getting ready to shoot Star Trek 2, Sherlock 3 could be a long way off. In the meantime, please feel free to share your thoughts on Sundays episode, the series in general, and help us try and work out what ACTUALLY happened!
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