Comments on PaulCornell.com: Casual Fridays: The Sherlock Solution

Because it was sad that it missed out on the lead ...

2012-02-09T20:23:21.328Z

Because it was sad that it missed out on the lead role in that 1980's film called "Mannequin"?
Poor mannequin construction caused the arms to flail away, thus sending it to the rubbish heap after it slapped a few department store customers.
Or, it was an Auton?
No?
Flailing corpse it is, then.
:)

Yeah, I doubt I'm right. But why should a mann...

2012-02-08T06:24:03.418Z

Yeah, I doubt I'm right. But why should a mannequin flail any more than a corpse?

I thought that when SM said that we had missed a c...

2012-02-07T14:37:08.036Z

I thought that when SM said that we had missed a clue, he meant the mannequin hanging in Holmes living room. I can't buy the flailing corpse. Anyone who hasn't read ACD probably doesn't know about Col. Moran watching from a safe distance to kill Holmes if he survived. Unless Moff is going far afield, I believe we'll see that confederate in the next episode. I do like your take, though. Pretty sure Molly figures prominently. We all know that Mycroft does. As you may recall, it was important to Holmes' plan that Watson really believe him to be dead (As Sir Arthur wrote himself out of that corner so conveniently).

I love musicology conversations with respect to po...

2012-01-24T07:39:12.943Z

I love musicology conversations with respect to pop. Excellent stuff.

I'm really no expert on this, but I'm not ...

2012-01-23T16:05:26.488Z

I'm really no expert on this, but I'm not sure that the Andrews Sisters are directly imitating Louis Armstrong here, as opposed to working the sound of a Harmon (wah-wah) mute into their overall horn sound. It's grey, of course, like all pop music. Styling vocals after wind instruments is very common in jazz, and throwing in a mute sound is part of that, but to what extent would people do it without Louis Armstrong? To my ears, for what it's worth, the actual sound they get is like a mute on a horn, not like Louis Armstrong.

While I'm making uneducated guesses, another example of cross-pollination that I've wondered about is to what extent tap dancing influenced bebop. Those rhythms are very idiomatic for a tap dancer. But maybe there's nothing to that.

I think, Gweh, you may be on to something there. A...

2012-01-22T11:23:28.783Z

I think, Gweh, you may be on to something there. And Craig: what's stopping you? Cheers.

On a non-Sherlock-y topic from there, yeah, we cle...

2012-01-22T00:35:30.103Z

On a non-Sherlock-y topic from there, yeah, we clearly need a Scottish superhero team so the press can ask the writers about devolution. Should I volunteer?

I think you have a great theory, but it falls down...

2012-01-21T20:55:57.726Z

I think you have a great theory, but it falls down a bit on the bit about Sherlock being on a different building - there is one camera shot (from the location of the top of the building) that pans from where John is standing to Sherlocks face. So I think Sherlock must be on the top of that building, and John looking at him as they are talking. BUT, there are some curious points that lead me to a different conclusion - 1) Sherlock NEEDS (and says so on two separate occasions) John to be standing in a particular location; 2) there is a (red brick) building between Sherlock and John, which is a lot lower than the hospital (perhaps only one story high), which means that from John’s perspective…; 3) he doesn’t actually see Sherlock hit the pavement; 4) there is also a well-positioned truck that drives off at a very opportune moment. So I think that Sherlock does jump, and John sees him jump, but perhaps he lands on the back of the truck, from which accomplices throw off the impersonator's corpse (at the moment that Sherlock lands), and the truck then drives off (allowing Sherlock a speedy escape). The camera angles and editing of the sequence all make this possible.
And now I'm off to make a blog post about this, with screen caps from the episode!

My solution is broadly similar to yours (some peop...

2012-01-21T14:41:14.994Z

My solution is broadly similar to yours (some people have suggested the cyclist was drugging John with the same stuff from Baskerville, in order to make him disoriented and suggestible at that crucial moment, which I think is reasonable) except I wondered if the reason the girl screamed was because Moriarty himself had worn a Sherlock Holmes disguise, complete with Roger Delgado rubber mask. Thus Sherlock might have put it back on him and thrown Moriarty's corpse over the ledge.

If there are any holes in my theory, it's because t'iPlayer was buffering like a bastard during the last twenty minutes... :(

Everyone loves having a go at this!

2012-01-21T14:07:17.431Z

Everyone loves having a go at this!

Fun! I'm not sure anbout the throwing Moriarty...

2012-01-20T19:20:55.864Z

Fun! I'm not sure anbout the throwing Moriarty's body off the roof, as Sherlock was definitely flailing as he fell, which I wouldn't have expected a corpse todo (maybe I need to try throwing a few corpses of tall buildings, to see what happens,but I haven't got any handy)
I think Sherlock jumped into the back of the lorry,(probably provided by Mycroft and full of things to break the fall) then rolled out, to lie on the pavement. closest witnesses were planted and the cyclist was there to delay Watson, to ensure the medics got there first, and got Sherlock inside, where he and Molly managed the body swap, so Moriarty's corpse can be buried as Sherlock.

(Or if corpses can flail, then your solution is the right one, I think!)

Ah! Good use of the Sherlock double! I don't ...

2012-01-20T17:56:42.837Z

Ah! Good use of the Sherlock double!

I don't buy Mycroft being done up like a kipper by Moriarty and would be very disappointed if that was the case. Even in a world where top secret databases let base commanders use passwords Hotmail would reject, the fiction of a super key is a hard sell. Unless, say, the British government gave the impression that it existed. So my solution leading up to your solution is Mycroft and GCHQ/Security Service would only fall for the super key idea if it was Mycroft's to begin with. Yup, Mycroft was playing a game so long you'd need the Hubble Telescope to see it.

It all begins at the end of 'Scandal' when Mycroft turns his attention to Moriarty. What does Moriarty want? To see everyone dance. So Mycroft invents the fiction of the super key and gets it leaked. Then Moriarty, while trying to investigate the/get the super key, gets grabbed by Mycroft and brainwashed into thinking that the super key fiction was his idea (he was even more deranged than usual and it seems odd to let a nutter out to stalk your little brother). Then, when Moriarty goes off on his fanstasy to sell the key, Mycroft and the Security Service/Secret Intelligence Service are finding out who, what, where, and why these people all over the globe want a super key.

The only thing that gave Mycroft pause was when he had to set Moriarty on Sherlock for it all to go off. BUT! I'm sure the powers that be were asking questions about Mycroft's little brother after the jumbo jet fiasco and Sherlock certainly showed his continued worth by playing his part in the super key scam, so problem solved there too.

I guess the hardest part for Mycroft here was trusting Sherlock could outsmart Moriarty in the end, but I have no doubt that he aided and abetted in the whole fake death thing.

Ahem.

see the thing for me wasnt how Sherlock did it, bu...

2012-01-20T17:45:08.920Z

see the thing for me wasnt how Sherlock did it, but WHY morriati did it?

he wanted to see him fail, wanted to see him broken and yet when he realised holmes could get out of it and that he still could have had someone who could match his intelligance, he shot himself, yes he was crazy, but i would have though an ego like that would want to live to see his enemies fail, which brings me to 2 conclusions, 1, he also managed to fake his own death or 2, he was actually something like a front man for a bigger criminal mastermind, the real morriati or something like that and he was following orders, there are 2 baddies in the Hansel and Gretel story, the one who takes the kids away (morriati) and then the witch, maybe we have yet to meet her....

I'm still convinced that, in the best traditio...

2012-01-20T17:35:29.183Z

I'm still convinced that, in the best traditions of "The Sting", all of the onlookers are part of the "Homeless Network" and in on the gag, but, other than that, you've got me convinced.

Now they'll have to come up with somethin else, of course ;-)