Anonymous asked: How do you think Sherlock actually managed to survive the fall? I understand all the theory about how he wasn't dead (ball in the armpit, homeless network surrounding him, fake body switch at the end, etc), but how do you think he managed to *not* die when he hit the floor? Surely there was an actual chance of dying, jumping from that high up?
I don’t think Sherlock hit the sidewalk directly. Something was there to break his fall, but they took it away before we were allowed to have a wide view of the area again.
I laid out the basic case for that idea in my Pink Suitcase Theory post, and suggested that the thing used to break Sherlock’s fall could’ve been a laundry/rubbish bin. Other fall-breaking objects could also fit the Pink Suitcase Theory, but so far I haven’t heard a suggestion I like better.
Anonymous asked: BINS! FALLING! Oh brilliant..you think it's clue from the writers?
That’s the kind of thing I won’t really believe was a clue until after something happens in Series 3 to prove it was. (We can’t even be sure they had the mechanics of the fall completely worked out when Scandal was being filmed, considering the false lead with the newspaper.)
For now, I just regard the bin mentions in Scandal and Hounds as a little something to drive me crazy since I think the current best explanation for what broke Sherlock’s fall is a rubbish bin.
Anonymous asked: Have you any thoughts as the the purpose of the mystery basement in Baskerville? A red herring for the episode or something more? I've seen a few theories floating around that suggest that was where Mycroft was holding Moriarty.
By “mystery basement,” I’m assuming you mean this part?
John: How far down does that lift go?
Corporal Lyons: Quite a way, sir.
John: Hm-mm. And what’s down there?
Corporal Lyons: Well, we have to keep the bins somewhere, sir.*
Can’t say that I have particularly thought about its purpose, but I doubt it was where Mycroft was holding Jim.
For one thing, giving Sherlock a free pass to run around in the building where Jim was being held seems like the opposite of what Mycroft would’ve wanted to do.
For another, Jim was apparently released shortly after the main story in Hounds took place. In Reichenbach, Mycroft explained that they’d interrogated Jim for weeks before that. Yet when Sherlock showed up with Mycroft’s ID, no one at Baskerville had met Mycroft and they were all baffled as to why he would be there.
———
* They didn’t talk about bins in relation to falling or vertical distance in every episode in Series 1, did they? They’re just trying to make me lose my mind, aren’t they? I didn’t need the help.
irvingbizarre asked: So where do you stand on the net theory? The one you reblogged. OP deviated from your theory in that they argued Sherlock was not in fact playing dead, but the net thing... although you would need people on all sides of the net and it didn't look like anyone was standing close when SH fell to the ground (then again, clever editing and all that). They could have used and then folded up the net, tossed it in the garbage/laundry truck. In short, how likely according to you?
The net theory that I reblogged? Hmm… I don’t remember reblogging a net theory. Am I getting forgetful again? Or is it possible you’re referring to one of the theories on the Reichenbach A to Z master list rather than one I reblogged?
How about I just talk about nets in general. Or better yet, fall-breaking stuff in general.
I think most of you know by now that I’ve suggested Sherlock’s fall was broken by a rubbish/laundry bin wheeled out by his helpers and then quickly removed after he was dumped onto the sidewalk. I suggested that partly because they’d have a good excuse to be moving something like that around on the sidewalk since the rubbish/laundry truck was parked right there.
Technically, though, the underlying theory is open to anything that could’ve broken Sherlock’s fall as long as it fits the rest of the evidence. If someone suggests an object that I think would make more sense to have broken Sherlock’s fall, I’ll help champion that idea. That hasn’t happened yet, however.
Off the top of my head, I’d say the potential fall-breaking objects that I’ve seen suggested so far fall into four main categories.
Something with wheels: This is the category that rubbish/laundry bins live in, and it’s the one I currently think is the best candidate. If the thing that broke Sherlock’s fall was on wheels, it could’ve been put into place and removed by just one person. It would also explain how they were able to clear it out of the area so incredibly quickly after Sherlock hit the sidewalk.
Some kind of net: I think this category is the second most likely, but it’s pretty far down below the something with wheels idea. Because while a net is nice and portable and it’s absolutely possible to catch someone that way, it also requires a good number of people to hold up that net. The truck would’ve blocked the sniper’s view of the sidewalk, but only partially. Overlaying two frames from the episode can only give us an estimate…
…but it does seem like if there were a bunch of people standing around behind the truck waiting, the sniper would’ve had a good chance at being able to see the tops of some of their heads. Worse for the net theory than that issue, though, is the fact that within the time it took John to jog a few steps around the corner and see Sherlock, there was no one near the body. If there had been, say, a half-dozen people holding a net to catch Sherlock, that would mean they must’ve sprinted like mad away from where he fell immediately after he landed. Someone falls to their death and a whole group of people runs away seconds before a second group of people goes running toward the body? That would’ve come off as crazy-suspicious from the sniper’s viewpoint.
Some kind of airbag: I don’t think this is all that likely. Yes, an airbag can break a person’s fall. Yes, that was even what they used to break the stunt fall during filming. But have you ever watched a big inflatable thing get set up? It takes a while for them to be inflated. And it usually requires an air compressor, which is really noisy. And it takes more than a few seconds to deflate when you’re done. And the good, sturdy inflatable equipment is heavier than you might imagine. It’s really hard to see Sherlock’s ground crew getting away with setting that up and carting it away without being noticed.
Random objects on the sidewalk: Mattresses or bags of rubbish or whatever tossed onto the sidewalk for Sherlock to fall on, then taken away as soon as he fell. I don’t think this one’s all that likely, either. At least the bags of rubbish fit with the truck and could’ve been carried off that way, but it still seems like a stretch that there could’ve been time to clear anything like that out of there. (Unless it was a whole bunch of people doing the work, and then you’re back up against the problem of that many people having to act suspicious and run away quickly to explain why no one was around Sherlock by the time John saw him.)
Anonymous asked: i just want to say i love your theories, and i don't want to be a damper. i think the reason Sherlock looks like hes only falling a few feet to the ground in the fall, is because he is. off of the stunt balloon,then film Ben falling from the roof on the stunt balloon, then film from the balloon to the ground and splice the film together. so i don't really think there is much to be said there. unless you can show me more evidence that something was placed by the people below and quickly removed..
I obviously wasn’t at the filming, but I think it is very unlikely that the shot of Sherlock landing on the sidewalk came about as you describe. Almost impossible, really.
I would say that based on how film crews are likely to set up a shot like that in general, but in this case we have specifics.
Look at the photo of the stunt air bag you’re referring to. It’s massive. It has to be, because it’s for safety.
In the landing shot, Sherlock falls right in the middle of the sidewalk. The landing shot corresponds appropriately with where we see him in the overhead shot later. (Look at the benches. Look at the bus shelter.)
The stunt air bag was covering up the whole sidewalk, including the area where we saw Sherlock land.
Also, look how tall the stunt air bag was. It was taller than the people standing near it. That height doesn’t correspond very well to the angle of impact in the landing shot. But really, that’s irrelevant, because…
Watch the video of the big stunt fall. See how when the stuntman hits the air bag, he sinks down into it and the bag partially deflates? That’s what it’s supposed to do. (It’s not a bouncy castle.) Even if the air bag had been in a different position, the stuntman doesn’t just roll off of it as they carry on filming.
Look at the photos of the rigging used during the big fall stunt as well. They didn’t have anyone just jump off that roof and land on the air bag. There was a harness and rigging connected to a crane. Every shot with someone wearing a harness was a shot that had to have the rigging edited out. That takes time and costs money. Why on earth would they make their lives harder by trying to do the sidewalk landing as one continuous action with the big fall? A decent stuntman has no trouble falling a few feet without a harness, so I’m pretty sure that’s all that was happening in the shot of Sherlock landing on the sidewalk.
As for your insistence that I show you more evidence… Did you read the theory in which I first suggested that something was brought in to break the fall and quickly removed? Did you take in why I named it The Pink Suitcase Theory? Maybe go back and check out the second paragraph right now.
Yeah.
So while I feel I am well within my rights to simply glare and walk away, I will try to resist. This time.
Instead, I will give a brief review of evidence for you. You have to meet me halfway and understand that I cannot make “more evidence” exist. I don’t have a special version of the episode with extra footage.
1. There was nothing unusual on the sidewalk shortly before the fall.
We didn’t see the sidewalk then, so how do we know? Because John had not one but two chances to see the sidewalk in front of the building Sherlock was on before Sherlock made him go and stand behind the ambulance station.
The first was when John’s cab arrived. The road in front of where Sherlock fell is part of a little loop, and John’s cab could only possibly have entered the loop from one of two directions.
Here’s a marked-up view from above:
The red X is approximately where Sherlock landed. The two yellow lines are the only possible ways John’s cab could’ve entered the area when he came back to the hospital. (I believe the line coming up from the bottom is the most likely route, but I don’t live in London so I couldn’t swear by it.) No matter which way the cab came, it would have given John a good chance to see the sidewalk in front of the building Sherlock was on. Sherlock knew that, so he wasn’t going to have anything too obvious set up on the sidewalk ahead of time.
What if the rubbish/laundry truck was already there and partially obscured John’s view of the sidewalk as he rode in the cab? Okay, but that doesn’t account for this:
Before Sherlock had John stand behind the ambulance station, John was approximately where the blue circle is on the map above. He had a chance to look right down the street in front of where Sherlock would fall, and the rubbish/laundry truck couldn’t have stopped him from seeing the sidewalk at that angle.
You can argue Sherlock just lucked out if you want, but I’m sticking with the idea that whatever broke Sherlock’s fall wasn’t there for John to see at that point.
2. He didn’t land in the truck.
The truck theory just doesn’t work. And no, it’s not only because of physics.
3. There was nothing unusual on the sidewalk shortly after the fall.
I don’t think I really need to explain this one, do I? Is there anyone who’s seriously arguing that whatever broke his fall was still there and we couldn’t see it?
So unless your intent is to argue that the big solution to the mystery is that Sherlock’s fall wasn’t broken by anything—which I think there is plenty of reason to doubt—there you have it.
Nothing on the sidewalk right before minus the possibility of a truck landing plus nothing on the sidewalk right after equals something was put in place by the ground crew to break Sherlock’s fall and then quickly removed.
If you still don’t agree, fine. I can only tell you what I notice and how I interpret it. That’s all I’m ever trying to do here.
purpleshirtofsex asked: I was reading your theory about the "Pink Suitcase" and how it could be a laundry bin. I'm sure someone else has noticed that the laundry truck pulls away right as we see John running toward Sherlock. So that means that the laundry bin couldn't have been heading out to empty, but heading IN to the hospital. This could easily explain why Sherlock disappears... right? And then his double would come out and fake death? It would also explain why he doesn't hit the ground in the way you would expect.
I was later told that was most likely a rubbish truck, in which case I don’t think they were making a delivery.
Either way, I don’t think Sherlock’s double was on the sidewalk. That was really Sherlock himself playing dead for John.
The rubbish/laundry bin/truck were only involved until Sherlock’s fall was broken, and then they were immediately cleared from the scene. (Sherlock’s body hit the ground oddly because he was falling from the bin to the sidewalk.)
Sherlock switched with a body double only after he was placed on the trolley and wheeled away from John.
If that’s all confusing, this post has an overview of how I think the whole thing went down. Maybe it will help clarify.
Okay, but you do have to admit this scene gets funnier if my idea about Sherlock breaking his fall with a laundry/rubbish bin actually happens.
#because he was practicing #and he had to drop the guy repeatedly #to make sure you could survive falling from a taller building #because that’s how physics works #it’s cumulative
If you’ve been following the blog, you know I’ve got that whole Pink Suitcase Theory in which I suggested that a laundry/rubbish bin could’ve been used to break Sherlock’s fall. Then I incorporated it into my Reichenbach A to Z dealio, which promptly got passed around with all contextual notes removed since that’s what happens on Tumblr. So when I sometimes see people cast doubt on the laundry/rubbish bin idea, I know it’s mostly my own fault for setting up the original A to Z post as I did. Then I just sit back and go, “Pfft. I was casting doubt on it before it was cool.”
When it comes down to it, I watched Reichenbach on the 16th and ran in screaming, “Pink!” on the 18th. I will honestly not be crushed if it turns out I didn’t come up with The One True Solution in three days. (Because come on.)
I do feel strongly that the evidence in the episode points to the object that broke Sherlock’s fall having been something several feet high that was placed between the building and his ultimate sidewalk landing position. It would’ve needed to be something that as few people as possible were required to maneuver into and out of position, wouldn’t look totally out of place at a hospital, and could be taken away extremely quickly. I also think that if the writers are being serious about having given us “all the fair clues,” there should be at least some small hint as to what the fall-breaking thing is somewhere in the episode.
So far, “industrial laundry/rubbish bin on wheels” is the best object I can think of to meet those criteria. That means for now, that’s what I think broke Sherlock’s fall. Is it possible I’ve missed some clue that would point me in a different direction if I saw it? Absolutely. That’s where this post comes in.
I’m opening up this post as a group obsession-session. Have you seen any little random object or clue at the fall location that’s kinda weird? Something that people haven’t been talking about? Something that you didn’t want to do a whole blog post on because it’s probably nothing, but it’s still kind of bugging you? Photo replies are on, so find/make a screengrab and show us what you’ve got. Or if you can’t do screenshots, describe what you see and tell us what minute and second it appears on screen so we can find it ourselves.
And just to prove I am completely serious about it being okay for you to post anything that’s even slightly nagging at you, here are five “is this anything?” pictures from me.
kyralily asked: Given the height of the building and Sherlock's weight, the force of his impact would have been fairly large. What do you propose he landed upon to ameliorate the negative effects of the impact force?
See my Pink Suitcase Theory post and the followup post.
If we work under the assumption that it was really Sherlock who we saw jump off that building and land on the sidewalk, we know something broke his fall because otherwise he simply would not have survived. In the first post linked above, I suggested he landed in a laundry bin positioned on the sidewalk by his accomplices. In the second linked post, I discussed how I probably picked the wrong word to use and it was actually a rubbish bin. And I discussed how technically, it could have been something else in the same place, but listed some guidelines that the object would need to meet. So far no one’s suggested any other object to me that would meet those guidelines, so for now I’ll keep saying it was a rubbish bin that they used to catch him. (Of course, it wouldn’t have had to be filled with actual rubbish— it could’ve been filled with the best possible impact-absorbing materials that fit the circumstances. It only had to look like rubbish.)
I know some people have issues with the idea that there was anything Sherlock could’ve landed on that would’ve sufficiently broken the fall and kept him from from being injured. Because, y’know, physics. But if we go back to the old “when you have eliminated the impossible whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth” routine, we can say it’s impossible that there exists no landing material good enough to pull this trick off. Because he definitely landed on something before he hit the ground, and whatever it was absolutely worked.
It’s also worth keeping in mind the reference Sherlock made to magic tricks. If my understanding of his plan is correct, it is literally made up of a series of magic tricks. Magicians like David Blaine have pulled off the “fall from something tall and land on something that seems less-than-ideal but still survive” trick before.
Okay, uh, WOW. Whole new flood of people on the complete theory of Sherlock’s death-defying stunt post again.
If you’re here because of that post, but you didn’t read the version that had all the text notes below the photoset, you might want to check it out. It gives links to more detailed answers to several of the questions I’m seeing you guys have about the theory. And how, yes, I’m silly and don’t know about your magical rainbow bin bags here in my dull gray world of garbage. It is like The Wizard of Oz, and I am on the boring side but they are both full of garbage so whatever I guess.
(Followers: Sorry to keep saying this when you’ve already heard it a couple times now, but hopefully you’ll appreciate it later when I am not answering the same ask three times in a row.)
adequateandrew asked: yes, it's very normal to see multicoloured bags in a rubbish truck, council bin bags and stuff usually are a bright colour
Well, there we have it then. Thanks!
If I continue to say laundry truck at any point, it is a matter of mental consistency. You guys will know what I mean.
the-daily-nerd-report asked: So basically I love this blog with all my heart because it helps me prove to other people that I'm not the only one who thinks this stuff. I never thought about the phone booth nor did I notice the body switch but I did think the angle of the body landing was odd and the "BMX Bandit" and the trucks. Also, that missing part of the falling sequence is gonna bug me now. Pink Suitcases all the way
<3
zforzelma asked: I think your pink suitcase theory is the most plausible theory I've heard yet. I haven't read *all* the theories like Moffat allegedly has, but of the ones I've read, yours makes the most sense.
Thank you. Now I guess it’s just a matter of waiting to see if it’s anything close to true…
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
anaimia asked: Hahaha, I didn't even read your theory, and came up with the same thing. Amused. If you look, there's also this weird truck-sized square on the ground next to Sherlock! :x Maybe that's where the bin was? OR THE TRUCK ITSELF ON THE CURB?! Cause no one's there, and Watson can't see the truck and ALL THE SUDDEN ITS PULLING AWAY?! Oh yeah. High Five?
High five on hold until it turns out to be true. But if it is—the highest of fives, my friend.
The rectangle on the ground actually isn’t anything Sherlock added, but something built into the sidewalk. You can see it on Google Street View. Which isn’t to say they couldn’t have incorporated it somehow, but there is also the chance it is just there.
I don’t know about the idea of the truck pulling onto the sidewalk to catch Sherlock. That seems like a dead giveaway (pardon the pun) when you have an assassin watching to make sure you don’t survive. Or if Sherlock was going to have a truck park on the sidewalk and catch him, it seems like he would at least be clever enough to choose a truck without see-through sides.
