How did Sherlock survive the fall?

The final fall?

‘There is a clue everybody’s missed’: Sherlock writer Steven Moffat 

For the time being, we cannot say for sure what the ‘clue’ was, but what we can do is – speculate. 

The first thing to remember is Sherlock was ahead of Moriarty, all the way to the end. It appeared on the roof as if he was a bit dumb, but he was only acting dumb because he knew exactly what was going to happen. He knew he was going to “die”.

The second thing to remember is that Sherlock chose the meeting place. This is important because by choosing the meeting place he has control over the stage.

The third thing to remember is that the call that sent Watson to see Mrs. Hudson because she was shot, turned out to be a fake. That fits in pretty well with the canon. He needed him out of the way while he dealt with Moriarty and staged his death.

When Sherlock leans over the building and we get a shot of the pavement, there’s a chalked out rectangular near the bus station. Rather suspicious. I reckon that’s precisely where the lorry is parked.

Remember, Sherlock sends Watson back? In-fact he sends him back twice!
Watson sees Sherlock jump, but he never sees him land because his vision of the pavement is blocked by a single-storey building standing between him and the pavement in-front of Barts.

Molly

Molly: What do you need?
Sherlock: You..

As soon as the latter stages of Moriarty’s game dawn on Sherlock, it’s off to Molly he runs, to tell her not only that she counts, but that he needs her help. Her access to dead bodies (she worked in a morgue), pathology reports and medical personnel make her a sure thing for some kind of involvement. But which was it? A corpse-swap? A false report? Both?

Remember how Irene faked her body? I’m assuming Sherlock used the same method. Also, another key point of evidence is that, if Sherlock were to have died, he would have landed spread-eagle on the pavement. However, it looks like he was rolled from a certain laundry truck.

The trash truck

If you look closely, you will notice that the lorry was parked exactly where the rectangle was chalked out on the pavement.

Filled with rubbish bags (but is that all it’s filled with?), the open-backed vehicle was parked next to the spot on the pavement spot where the body landed, and pulled away just as the crowd rushed to the scene.

The truck was a prepared and cushioned landing spot, parked precisely to block Watson’s view (and presumably that of the sniper Holmes was also trying to fool) giving Sherlock time to break a blood capsule or two and move relatively unharmed to the pavement where he played dead.

If not that, then the truck could still have been there to obscure a switch of some kind, and to carry off the non-Sherlock body, whoever that may be.

The mysterious cyclist

A cyclist “accidentally” knocks John to the ground, giving Sherlock and the ground crew time to dispose of the fake body. Could he be someone from Sherlock’s homeless network? Maybe.

On his way to the body, Watson was knocked down by a timely cyclist. This was no accident. Again, this was part of the plan. Either John was concussed or maybe he is injected with a small amount of sedative because when he gets up, his vision is blurred and his speech is slurred. This is important because if he was fully compos mentis, he would realized that the body lying on the pavement was not Sherlock, it is another body in a prosthetic.

Watson

Vision – blurred. Speech – slurred. Fit enough to make medical judgements?

After returning from the wild goose chase, Watson arrives at the scene and is made to fix his eyes on Holmes. Witnessing the fall, he’s then knocked down by the cyclist, and blocked by the crowd (of Sherlock employees?), before he eventually reaches the body.

If the body was indeed Holmes feigning death on the pavement after landing safely in the rubbish truck, his heart would be racing. How then, could a medical doctor be fooled into thinking he had no pulse?

A tricky one, this, with possible explanations being that either the body was indeed dead and made up to look like Holmes, or the more prosaic solution that Watson was in no fit state to make medical judgements.

Mycroft

Is that grief and regret we see flash across Mycroft in the Diogenes Club, or could it be the careful poker face of someone in on the plan?

Mycroft, remember, practically is the British government. He’d have the resources at hand to stage any number of fake public suicides one would imagine, and he’s not squeamish around corpses as the flight of the dead proved. But Mycroft’s involvement rests on this: Would Holmes have gone to him for help? Seems highly improbable to me, but it is a possibility.

Lastly, is Moriarty dead? If Sherlock can fake a deadly plunge, why can’t Moriarty fake a suicide?

Thank you for reading.

Like what you read? Agree/disagree? Leave a comment below.

Remembering Ayrton..

Ayrton Senna was one of the greatest racing drivers the world has ever seen. Possibly its most talented.

He died at age 34 at the Imola circuit in 1994 at the now infamous Tamburello corner.

In 2010 a documentary titled Senna was released, it won many awards though was not a well publicized film. I recently watched this film (again) and it was one of the best I have ever seen. Not just one of the best documentaries, but best films ever.

Even if you don’t follow racing and aren’t familiar with the details you will still be amazed by the story in the film. Besides being a great driver what makes the Senna story so incredible is the rise to glory and its tragic end. The chronicle of Senna’s meteoric rise in Formula 1 is only matched by one of the darkest weekends in the sports history. It is a rather eerie feeling that the man who would be king almost knew that he would die in a race car and that that weekend was the time for it.

“If you no longer go for a gap that exists, you’re no longer a racing driver.”

“Senna was a force of nature, a powerful combination of spectacular raw talent and sometimes terrifying determination. He had the good looks of a romantic hero, a charisma that could quieten any room, the eloquence of a poet and a spirituality with which millions felt they could identify. His dark eyes were windows to a soul of complexity and volatility.” – Andrew Benson, BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

Today he would have completed 53 years. A man of unquestionable talent, a huge heart, deep dedication in everything he did. Happy birthday Ayrton Senna, a myth, a legend, a hero!

Whether you loved him or hated him, Ayrton Senna was special..And not just on the track..

The Iceman’s Top Quotes

Night before the race
Q: What do you do in the night before the race?
A: I sleep!

Funny newspapers
What the papers write about me afterwards makes me laugh.

F1 driving is boring sometimes
Q: Is it true that sometimes you’re bored in the car?
KR: Only when I am in front by a country mile, like in Melbourne last year. Then you are thinking about other things or you’re playing with the buttons on the steering wheel. Then I suddenly missed a breaking point. This year unfortunately we haven’t had such race.

The silly press
Formula 1 would be a paradise without the media.

Learning Italian?
Kimi at the Ferrari event 2007: I’m not going to a language school to learn Italian, that’s not what I came to do at Ferrari.

Army service
If the army would be voluntary I wouldn’t go there.

Donut at Belgium GP
On question about his donuts at the end of the last year’s Belgium Grand Prix, his reply was: “I lost it!”

Just racing
Driving is the only thing I love about F1.

Wrong ERA
My life would be much easier had I been a F1-driver in the 70’s with the guys. I was definitely born in the wrong ERA.

Importance of the helmet
Q: The helmet has a special meaning for many drivers. How important is it to you?
KR: It protects my head.

You have to listen!
Q: Would you go to any other team than Ferrari?
KR: Probably not.
Q: Definitely not?
KR: I said probably not.

Why Kimi became a race-driver and not an Ice-hockey player
I have decided to do motosports because I don´t have to get up there so early in the morning.

Interviews are so …boring!
Q: The most exciting moment during the race weekend?
KR: I think it’s the race start, always.
Q: The most boring?
KR: Now.

New strategy?
Kimi seems to have a new strategy to get rid of the journalists:”Ah, go and interview Mikko Leppilampi. He likes to talk.”

Just 5^th place…
Q: Kimi, what’s the 5th grid place like?
KR: It’s the 5th grid place.

There is no willingness to talk
Kimi makes clear that the mean press doesn´t belong to one of his favorite conversation partners. (Thursday before the first race of the Season)
KR: Come back tomorrow. I have still holidays today.

Finnish music
Q: What is on your I-Pod?
KR: Mostly Finnish music, all sorts. You wouldn’t know, so it doesn’t matter what I say.

A bit mad?
Q: Are you satisfied with the result? (Kimi again failed to score any point)
KR: Do you think I am?

Sauber, the boss
Q: What kind of relationship do you have with Peter Sauber? Is he a father figure or godfather?
KR: He is my boss.

He really doesn´t know??
Q: What´s about your new Tattoo? Is it permanent?
KR: I don´t know.

Is Kimi lazy?
Q: Kimi, how is the cooperation in the Team. Do you get along with everyone?
KR: Yeah it´s fine. But they have a much harder time with me than I with anyone else.
Q: What do you mean?
KR: I am a bit lazy sometimes.

Alonso doesn´t matter 
Räikkönen isn’t affected by Alonso’s mental games. “I couldn’t care less what that man thinks!”

Kimi disagree with Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton said that winning his first race felt better than having sex. Kimi´s reply to that was: “Maybe he never had sex.”

What Kimi makes flip out
Q: Kimi, have you ever got angry about anything, and jumped up and down and shouted?
KR: Yeah, many times but of course you’re not happy if you retire or something but I guess it mostly happens more in normal life than in racing.
Q: Can you give us examples?
KR: No, not really.
Q: What are the kind of things that make you angry in normal life, as you say?
KR: If you keep asking questions like those.

A very precise statement
Kimi tells about the track conditions at the new Formula 1 circuit in Singapore:” It is narrow in some places, wide at the other – it depends on where you are.”

Evening without Jenni
Kimi Räikkönen on the question whether he likes it when his wife accompanied him to the races:” Yes, without her the evening in the hotel room is so boring.”

Kimi is worried about overlapping
Q: What advice would you give to the rookies Nico Rosberg and Scott Speed?
KR: I hope that they are good in making room!

Dancing is not his thing
Kimi on finish Independence-Day Party at the President’s castle: “I think I will skip the dancing part. Maybe someone else dances with Jenni if she wants.”

Kimi´s stay in Canada
Q: Kimi, how you spent the days here in Canada before the GP in Montreal?
KR: I arrived here on Tuesday. So I was here yesterday.

Italian?? Nothing for Kimi
An Italian interviewer tries to get Kimi to say something in Italian.
KR: You can talk Italian if you want to.

What a logical ritual
Q: Do you have any special rituals when the helmet is concerned like many other drivers have?
KR: I wipe it, so that I can see better.

Hoisted with their own petard
Q: Gossip Media asks how have you prepared for the Season?
KR: I usually get to read from your magazines what I have done.

Schumi wants to be well represented? Kimi thinks yes!
I’m not interested in what people think about me. I’m not Michael Schumacher.

Without words
Q: What makes TAG Heuer (Kimi´s main-sponsor) so special?
KR: It’s ok.

About whom he is talking here? 
Kimi answered a question about his lack of emotion after winning a grand prix.
KR: It’s not my style. Yeah, winning feels good, but I’m not the type of guy who jumps up and down and rubs it in everyone’s face.

Things you can do in Finland
Well, in summer there’s fishing and shagging. And in winter the fishing is bad.

Kimi´s extraordinary hobby
Q: Kimi, do you have any hobbies?
KR: I collect walnuts.

The classic
Q: Kimi Räikkönen doesn’t seem interested in the proceedings going on up there. Kimi, you missed the presentation by Pele.
KR: Yeah.
Q: Will you get over it?
KR: Yeah. I was having a shit.