The Final Problem

Anonymous asked: I was wondering what you think about the Rhododendron ponticum theory that's going around?

For people who haven’t seen the theory the anon’s referring to: My understanding is that it’s the idea that Sherlock drugged himself with grayanotoxin, which is derived from rhododendrons. The basis for this is that Sherlock mentioned Rhododendron ponticum when he had the Homeless Network helping him find where the kidnapped children were being held.

Some of the symptoms of being dosed with the toxin can make you seem like you’re dead when you’re not. In fact, they used the toxin in the 2009 Sherlock Holmes movie for something along those lines. I guess there’s also the “it’s found in honey”/”Holmes is a beekeeper” angle, but I don’t think I’ve actually seen anyone going that direction with it yet.

Personally, I don’t buy it.

Sherlock has the rubber ball pulse stop and breath-holding techniques to use if he wants to play dead. Sure, we can’t prove those theories either, but there’s at least some on-screen evidence that he used those methods. I know people were using the screencaps I posted of Sherlock hyperventilating as evidence that he was wiping his runny nose, since that’s apparently one of the symptoms of the toxin. But I took those screencaps myself, and I have to say it’s news to me if that’s what he was doing. (Plus Sherlock seems like the kind of guy who would probably think to bring a handkerchief if he was going to dose himself up with some kind of snot-factory flower-drug.)

And on top of that, it’s not like there’s any reason Sherlock should need to drug himself. He only needs to get through a few carefully-orchestrated minutes of fake death with John, and he’s out of there. He wasn’t going into the hospital. He wasn’t the one who was on the gurney in the end. There’s no act to keep up that requires a drug.

I also don’t love the flower theory because even if Sherlock was going to drug himself, he’s already at a research hospital with Molly’s full cooperation. Out of everything he could use, he’s going to go for a rhododendron-based toxin because…? The only answer seems to be “because it’s an obscure clue.”

My very biggest objection to the rhododendron theory, though, is that the man is about to perform an extremely dangerous jump off of a building. Once he lands, he will have assassins to deal with. It doesn’t seem like that’s the best time to dose himself with something that Wikipedia says can cause symptoms including “dizziness, weakness and paresthesia in the extremities… loss of coordination, severe and progressive muscular weakness”, etc. In fact, it seems like that would be about the worst possible time to do that.