The Final Problem

I’ve tallied your votes for what tag we should use when posting Sherlock crack theories on April Fools’ Day.

The winner is…

#Reichencrack

I think joint credit for the tag suggestion goes to blooobell, who suggested “Reichencrack theories,” and rachbrew, who shortened it to “reichencrack.” Thanks to both of you!

And well done to everyone, really, because all of the tag suggestions were great. Every single candidate got votes. I was quite glad I didn’t have to choose between them! And hey, the good/bad news is that another April 1st will probably go by before we get Series 3, so maybe we can use one of the other tags next time…

I’ll do another post that is better for reblogging so you can spread the word. In the meantime, mark your calendars and start thinking silly!

A while back I suggested that we should all post Sherlock crack theories on April 1st, and asked for suggestions on what we should tag those posts. Now it’s time to vote for your favorite tag suggestion!

Notes:

• All tag suggestions have been smooshed into one word—that way Twitter can play along, too. (We’ll be posting crack theories, after all. I think they can manage even with the character limit.)
• I know a lot of people loved suggestions such as #anderson and #seems legit, but those tags also get used for other stuff. I’ve limited the voting options to tags that are likely to be unique so there will be a place where the crack theories are all sorted out on their own. This doesn’t mean I didn’t like the suggestions that I knocked out of competition—I was sad to see them go! (And of course, you should feel free to add any extra tags you feel like when you post your theory on April Fools’ Day.)

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Votes:

To vote, reply to this post with your favorite tag option from the list below. You can also vote for your second-favorite tag option if you’d like, but whatever you list first will count as your “main” vote.

#SherlockFoolsDay

#ReichenFoolsDay

#ReichencrackTheories

#TheReichenbachFools

#Reichencrack

#AprilFalls

#andertheories

#SherlockFoolsDay

#pseudocluedo

#DontBeAbsurdOfCourseItWorks

#ItsAnExperiment

#Shercrack

The other day I asked if anyone knew of a Sherlock-theory-centered forum. (Not because I have any intention of starting one myself, but because someone messaged me about wanting to start one.)

Since most people won’t be sitting and watching that post, I thought I’d report the two potential hits on the search so far:

• poemme said: “there are a few threads on the imdb page (and some are very active) but the board itself is not reichenbach-centric, so you’ll need to dig.”
• m0r1arty said: “There’s a forum over at: sherlock.boardhost.com It’s not too shabby.”

Thanks for the leads! While neither board is theories-only, they both have some theory threads. Might be worth checking out for those of you who’d like something a little more… interactive than waiting for the completion of my slow death by inbox.

Or if there isn’t one, would anyone like to help out with running one?

No, I’m not starting a forum. It’s all I can do to keep the number of questions in my inbox below 200 right now.

But someone sent me a message about how they’d like to see such a thing happen. And I have to imagine that if you all have this many questions for me, there are probably enough of you out there wanting to talk about theories to support something like that.

So if you know of such a forum, reply with a link. Or if you’d like to work on a new forum, reply with… you.

If I can’t help run a Sherlock theory forum, at least I can try to play matchmaker for one.

We should all post Sherlock crack theories on April 1st.

Anyone up for that?

What tag should we use?

thenorwoodbuilder asked: Hi, just in case Tublr had eaten my previous question: how about a mirror in the laundry lorry? I posted an illustration on my Tumblr blog. B.t.w., your blog is awesome! I found particularly brilliant the Assasins vs. Gunmen theory! Keep posting, you're a true relief for withdrawal symptoms!

Nope, I’m afraid you and several others are still caught up in the “eventually” holding pattern. Working on it, but I’ve been getting asked more questions than I can reasonable handle lately. So I’ll just have to ask for everyone’s patience until things settle down. (Not that I’m implying you were impatient—everyone’s always welcome to reask if they think their question might’ve gotten lost.)

But let’s go ahead and take care of yours right now!

Your original ask was:

Hi! I basically agree with your theory about how Sherlock survived, apart from the presence of a trash bin or other similar wheeled device. I prefer to stick to Occam’s razor, and think that Mofftiss REALLY gave us ALL relevant elements. So, I think that S. simply fell into the lorry, which was divided in two longitudinal sections by a mirror (most common “magic” trick), so the sniper would see it always empty, from his side. They simply didn’t consult a physicist before parking the lorry! ;-)

My initial thoughts: It’s a creative application of the “magic trick” idea, so I like that aspect. I’m willing to allow for TV-physics, but doesn’t it seem a bit risky to make a four-story leap into a truck bed that you’ve halved the possible landing area of with a giant pane of glass? We may be working with different definitions of Occam’s razor here…

But you made a diagram (+10 for dedication), so let’s move on to that!

From thenorwoodbuilder’s blog:

Okay, so we’ve already said we’re giving physics a pass on this one. And I’m just going to ignore the way the mirror is cheated to one side to give Sherlock more landing space—maybe the sniper won’t pick up on how the truck bed is oddly proportioned? I’m also going to ignore the possibility of a pigeon deciding to land on or near the mirror and ruining everything. (Though of course there were some highly suspicious pigeons on the scene.)

First issue: You say that the left side board of the truck “might” have a door. I think you need to change that to “must” have a door. Because all of this is to hide Sherlock’s survival from the sniper, right? So how else would he get out of the truck bed? Having a mirror in place still isn’t enough to allow Sherlock to climb over the top of the left side of the truck or to go out the back gate without the sniper seeing.

Second issue: The truck is at street level. The sniper is not at street level. He is looking at the scene from above. I’m sitting here with a mirror and a box (I take your questions seriously, that’s why I can’t always answer them quickly), and having a hard time figuring out how that could possibly work out. It’s one thing to reflect half of a box back to someone who is directly across from it, but it’s a lot harder once they’re allowed to move above the box. How do you get that angle? How does Sherlock make his plan for the specific angle needed before he knows how high up the sniper will go in the other building? Even if you manage it somehow, how does the sniper not see the top of the mirror?

Third issue: How do you explain this?

Given the angle of view we are allowed, I don’t see how there could be a mirror there. If it was taken away, then it happened so quickly after Sherlock’s fall that I don’t see how the assassin wouldn’t have noticed the removal.

Fourth issue: Nothing in the mirror theory accounts for why Sherlock’s body falls to the sidewalk from the building side rather than the truck side.

Unless we say Sherlock got out of the truck through the secret door, walked over near the building, and then forcefully flung himself down on the sidewalk back in the direction of the truck? Even though neither the sniper nor John could see him, so he could’ve just as easily settled in comfortably?

There are a lot of factors determining what the simplest explanation will be here. Given the evidence, I’m afraid the mirror idea doesn’t work for me. It’s really one of the more creative suggestions I’ve heard, though, so well done on that front!

I did a long post about that yesterday. With diagrams, even.

You can choose to read it or not, but that’s honestly the best idea I have for you on the subject at the moment. If I think of anything else, I’ll let you know. Maybe I will invent a theory that involves Sherlock sliding down the neck of one of those feral London giraffes.

And I think that idea’s a sign that we’ve had enough Sherlock Theory Question Time for tonight. Maybe we should try this again when I haven’t been up for something like 23 hours straight. [Note to self.]