The Final Problem

minervacerridwen asked: Hi! I only just discovered your brilliant blog and it is really interesting to read it all through. One question that keeps bothering me while reading theories, is this: why would Sherlock trust his homeless network, while he can never be sure there aren't any criminals in it or connected to the homeless? If he doesn't find a way to tell John what is really going on without getting him killed, then would it not be naive to think the homeless network is safe and they won't blab?

All signs are that Sherlock needed outside assistance for this plan, and homeless people aren’t inherently more likely to be untrustworthy than anyone else. I know Sherlock describes his Homeless Network operatives as being willing to take bribes, but think about what Jim did earlier in the episode. He got people at the tower, bank, and prison working for him either through bribes or threats. Jim also got all of the members of the jury to let him walk free when he was obviously guilty. Anyone can be compromised, regardless of whether they have a permanent address.

I don’t think Sherlock just sent a message out to the entire Homeless Network asking who felt like helping him fake his death. Rather, I expect he hand-picked the people who would be involved. The important thing for Sherlock was that the particular group of people he had helping him weren’t likely to turn around and sell him out. They didn’t even have to be beacons of morality as long as Sherlock could predict their behavior well enough to know what they were likely to do, and Sherlock’s good at predicting behavior.

Related to that, there’s also the possibility that key positions in Sherlock’s team were filled by people who owed Sherlock a big favor or something along those lines. I refer to everyone on the team as being part of the Homeless Network because I expect most of them were, since that was the clue we were given in-episode. But that doesn’t mean that’s the only potential source of accomplices. There are, in all likelihood, a lot of people who owe Sherlock a big favor. We’ve seen him call in those favors before.

poemeplusmille asked: I'm a rather big fan of your blog (as you might have guessed), and I believe in almost every way in your theory about Sherlock's fake death. There is just one point I quite can't believe, it's the fact that he possibly made his Homeless network use a "something" to break his fall, like a matress or a trampoline that wasn't there half a minute before. I don't think Sherlock would trust anyone but himself or John with his own life... I hope that makes sense, if not I'll try to explain better.

Of course I know you, we have a cocoa date appointment.

As for your question… What’s the alternative in this case? Something broke Sherlock’s fall. Something that was not there (in any obvious sense) a few minutes before. Neither Sherlock nor John was the one to put that thing there, because they were both otherwise occupied. So whether you believe it was the Homeless Network with a rubbish bin or the driver of the truck or Molly with a giant pile of cats, it seems like Sherlock must’ve trusted someone to get the thing that would catch him into place.

I’m actually not seeing why there would be a big trust issue, to be honest. Sherlock picked whatever it was that would break his fall. He chose where it would be positioned. He was able to watch it being moved into place (and they had much longer than half a minute to do it if needed). He was successfully keeping John at bay, so Sherlock didn’t have to jump until he felt comfortable with the setup. Unless he thought one of his accomplices was secretly working for Moriarty and had filled that pile of nice, soft pillows with bricks, what’s not to trust? Sherlock had other people doing the menial tasks, but everything about his rather elaborate plan suggests he was just doing the usual—trusting in his own genius.

ohhhmanchester asked: I think you are absolutely fantastic but when reading what you wrote on The Fall one thing that came to mind. Regarding your theories, how do you think Sherlock got the blood, and not just on himself but also some on the ground I think?

Sherlock had helpers on the ground. Before the fall, a lot of the people walking on the sidewalk were carrying bags, so it could easily have been any of them who added the blood to the scene.

If you ask me to narrow it down, though, my suspicions always come back to the potential Homeless Network operative who had a bag and was waiting around at the bench closest to the spot where Sherlock’s head would eventually land.

I actually included this idea in my Reichenbach A to Z. The third image in that photoset shows the person I’m referring to, and the sixth image mentions the blood.