The Science of Reichenbach

No Ball, No Clones, No Fish: This Is My (Fringe) Theory On How Sherlock Survived the Fall

I’ve posted a lot of non-fall-related Reichenbachian theories recently, but I suppose I can only put off addressing the big question for so long.  How did Sherlock Holmes jump off a four-story building and live (plus what was up with him looking very dead on the street a few seconds later)?

Below is my theory on the matter.  It’s a little different from other theories I’ve read so far, possibly because I’m coming at it with a different set of biases regarding what constitutes an acceptable solution to the puzzle.  Or maybe because I just plain never liked the ball.

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Why I don’t think Sherlock stopped his pulse with a ball.

So if you’ve at all been keeping up with internet Reichenbachian speculation, by now, you’ve almost certaintly heard about idea that Sherlock might have used a rubber ball to make it seem like he had no pulse — a fairly well known magic trick.

It’s a pretty cool idea, and admittedly, we do see Sherlock bouncing a ball around the lab at Barts just prior to his meeting with Jim.  I’m just not convinced it makes a ton of sense when you start examining it closely.

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Some further explanation of the Mycroft Hypothesis.

So, this works out to be more-or-less part two of my previously posted Mycroft-was-in-on it Reichenbach scenario.  So if you haven’t read that, go do that first, and then follow the link back over here.   Otherwise it’ll all just sound crazy.

This part gets a bit complicated, but is meant mainly to address how Mycroft’s newspaper gambit would have worked to prevent John from digging any further into Kitty Riley’s story after Sherlock’s fake death.  (Okay, maybe more than a bit complicated.)

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Well, I don’t know what THIS is, but it looks a lot like something.

Here’s a little quirk in “The Reichenbach Fall” that I don’t think anybody’s talking about yet.  Apparently, if we just take the dialogue in the episode at face value, Sherlock’s level of understanding of the computer key code is suspiciously variable.

Here, chatting with Jim in 221B, he has a handle on the fact that a key that will let you break into any bank is not something you need to sell:

Even after Jim gives him an excuse and tries to change the subject? Sherlock is not having any of that:

But wait, there’s more.

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Mycroft Was In On It: A Reichenbach Hypothesis.

In the original Sherlock Holmes stories, Mycroft was the only one who knew that Holmes was alive after Moriarty went over the falls.  In “The Reichenbach Fall” Sherlock and Mycroft are more about feuding than cooperating.  Unless of course, Mycroft was in on it and feud was just meant to fool John.

Turns out there’s actually a bit of evidence to support the idea that Sherlock and Mycroft might have been cooperating as bit more than they initially appear to be in 2x03.

Below is that evidence and a hypothesis that makes use of it.

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