The Final Problem

adequateandrew asked: it's not a laundry truck, it's a rubbish truck filled with bin bags, just to clear it up

I’m assuming this comment is about the Pink Suitcase Theory?

I know the style of truck is a rubbish truck, but I had to call it something in that theory because I wasn’t going to do “and/or” the whole time. Like I mentioned, it was the colors of what’s in it that ultimately made me go with “laundry truck.”

But maybe it’s not a weird thing in the UK to see a rubbish truck full of only white, blue, and green bin bags? With no black or grey bags? I do not claim to have any idea. And maybe the idea of hospital laundry with some kind of color-coordinated bags is silly, but like I said… had to pick something to call it, and that’s where my brain landed at the time.

If you (and I am addressing this to everyone, not just the OP) think it’s a rubbish truck, then just mentally replace the word “laundry” with the word “rubbish” throughout the theory. They’re both things that could break a fall and are frequently wheeled about in large bins in industrial settings. The actual theory is really “they used the [thing you can land on] truck as an excuse to have a bin of [thing you can land on] ready to catch Sherlock.”

Actually, as long as I’m on the subject, I’ll say this as well: There’s a reason I called it “The Pink Suitcase Theory” and not “The Laundry Bin Theory.” It’s because I think the logic behind seeing that there was something edited out of the scene that caught Sherlock and was immediately removed from the sidewalk is more important than what that object actually was.

If someone has another idea for what they brought out to break Sherlock’s fall in that scenario, I’m willing to consider it. Please note, however, that this thing:

• probably needs to be on wheels, because it was gone within the time it took John to jog 10-12 steps
• probably can’t have required a lot of people to help with, because they clear out too quickly and it would be a giveaway to the assassin that something’s up
• needs to fit naturally into the sidewalk/hospital environment—again, no bringing out trampolines with an assassin watching
• should be hinted at in a reasonable way in the episode, since they said all the fair clues were there