The Final Problem

carmidoll asked: Hello, I just read some of your answers and I love your theory. However, I have a question: maybe it has been answered before, so bare with me if that's the case. You know the little girl who was so scared of Sherlock when she saw him? Couldn't it be possible that Jim had some guy with a similar physical structure as Sherlock use a mask/go through plastic surgery to look like him and he is the one who died?

I am going to attempt to answer as I might have yesterday:

It is possible that Jim had someone in a Sherlock mask or who had been otherwise made to like Sherlock play the role of kidnapper.

However, we should keep in mind the possibility that the girl’s screaming could have been triggered by less-radical efforts on the parts of the kidnapper. Dressing like Sherlock (who always wears the same distinctive thing), showing the kids pictures of Sherlock, etc. We never really get a follow-up “statement” from the little girl.

Besides, confusing the little girl is one thing, but John knows Sherlock very well. So taking that single incident as proof that there is some copy of Sherlock out there that’s accurate enough to fool John may be a bit much.

But no matter what was actually going on with the kidnapping plot, I’m not ready to believe that was a lookalike swapped in for Sherlock while he was falling or on the sidewalk.

For one thing, the person falling was clearly alive. Did Sherlock convince Moriarty’s henchman to jump in his place? Unlikely. Did Sherlock force the henchman to jump in his place? That would be a bit harsh. Sherlock may not be an angel, but I don’t think his big clever trick for getting out of Jim’s forcing him to commit suicide was forcing some other person to commit suicide.

For another thing, the body that’s on the trolley and gets wheeled into the hospital at the end of the stunt? That man is not Sherlock, but he is also not an exact double of Sherlock. They look just enough alike to fool someone watching from a distance, but definitely not so much alike that  John would’ve been fooled close up. If Sherlock had somehow gotten an exact double of himself, living or dead, onto that sidewalk in his place there would be no reason whatsoever to then switch that double out with a third person who looked even less like Sherlock.

The screaming girl is definitely a loose thread, but I really don’t think it’s one that will end up being tied to Sherlock having incorporated a mask or exact double into his plan. He had it worked out well enough that all he needed was someone who looked vaguely like him at the very end.

But why is that yesterday’s answer?

Because, without intending to, I started tugging at a couple of those loose threads last night. And I think the result must have been my brain unravelling, because the thing I am starting to think is possible is just really crazy. Like the kind of thing I might expect someone to ask me about anonymously because it seemed iffy, and then I’d list off bullet points of why it doesn’t work.

So I think I’m going to have to ask you guys to do that for me this time. I am going to make myself write up The Crack Theory That Thinks It’s People (actual title pending), and you can all demolish it and save me from myself. Please.