finalproblem: Dear followers and any other...

21st January 2012

Photoset reblogged from The Final Problem with 58 notes

Dear followers and any other kind-hearted Sherlockian who may stumble across this post: I’d like your help.

Do you remember what my reaction was when someone pointed out they’d switched the body on the gurney after wheeling Sherlock away from John? It was pretty much: “This is amazing, and it means Sherlock is totally in that phone booth.No, seriously, phone booth, phone booth, phone booth. *brain explodes*” (And, yes, I’m afraid it’s going to be “gurney” and “booth” for me. I’m too messed up from American fear gas leaks to call things by their correct names, but feel free to mentally substitute “trolley” and “box” as needed.)

That was simply my weird, gut-level reaction, but I think it was with good reason. Once they take that gurney around the corner, the phone booth is easily the best place to have someone waiting to switch places with Sherlock. It’s visible from the roof the whole time, it’s publicly accessible to the person working as Sherlock’s double, and the door even opens facing the correct direction for the switching to be done. It’s perfect as a slightly ridiculous “tada” finish to this massive magic trick. Assuming Sherlock ducked back into the booth rather than immediately running for it, it’s also a really good place for him to watch and confirm John doesn’t get shot (the assassin doesn’t stand down until after the gurney is taken away).

So I’m already liking the whole phone-booth-switch thing on principle… but then there’s 01:21:33. That’s the time of the first screencap above. The one where it looks like there might just be a Sherlock-alike waiting there for the switch to happen.

Can anyone help me confirm this? Do you have the highest-definition version of the episode available, and if so can you take some screenshots and see if they’re any clearer?

Or feel free to weigh in if you think the whole thing’s just a trick of the light or an especially tall gelfing. I understand those things happen as well. I just think it’s a lot more fun if they actually made the solution to the switch even slightly visible.

Here’s a picture from Google Maps of the same phone booth when empty if that helps you judge anything. And a slightly alternate screengrab while we’re at it.

Alot of this is interesting, but some of the facts make this not very plausible. Prepare me to rip this theory to shreds! (nothing personal but I’d hate for something so flawed to be the real way it was plus it could be interesting to banter about it)

Fact one: Sherlock was on the roof when Moriarty shot himself (alive or not)we could clearly see him, even if John could not from where he was.

fact two: Snipers were in place to take Sherlock’s friends out if they had some doubt he would take his life. If he had tried to go down the building for the switch John would have been shot. They could clearly see the roof and surrounding area, so a switch would have been unlikely without John getting killed.

fact three:We saw Sherlock fall, we saw him on the ground bleeding profusely around his head area. Sherlock (or benedict) has a very unique bone structure to his face that makes it hard for anyone to confuse him if they have seen what he looks like. John saw his face as his ‘corpse’ was turned over. He was a bit concussed, maybe got the no pulse thing wrong, but I doubt he would mistake his own friend.

fact four: I wouldn’t believe all Moffat says, but I think it’s important to note he did say there was a clue to it, the ’trick’. He is a bit of a troll, but as a pretty excellent writer, he would have had a slight node to how Sherlock would do it anyway. A tool writers have called foreshadowing. There was no clue that would have led us to believe Sherlock would go about cheating his death in this way. The words magic trick could lead to any number of plans besides just this one. And though he has sprung things out of the blue, with just the facts readily avalible to fans and the kind of show it is, I would be shocked if there wasn’t a clue at all.

fact five: Let’s assume for a minute Sherlock had switched, the body that fell was flailing in a way only someone alive would. Who would kill themselves like that? Look like Sherlock, dress as Sherlock, leap off a building for him. It’s nuts to think someone would do that voluntarily like that drop was. Not only that, but how would he be up there in the first place?

Anyway, this is all I can think of for now. I strongly encourage anyone who wants to to argue back, it would be neat if the fandom figure it all out before the next series airs. Then we could all get detective badges and gloat at the writers!

Source: finalproblem

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