Sherlock: The Reichenbach Fall

Sherlock: The Reichenbach Fall

Posted on Monday January 16, 2012, 14:53 by Stephen Carty in Small Screen

It returned to our screens a mere three weeks ago, but that’s it for season two of the Beeb’s utterly-brilliant Sherlock. Mirroring the superlative first season, the second began with a dizzying, Moffat-written opener, dipped slightly in the middle with a self-contained mystery and finished with a tantalising, event-packed finale which will have us formulating theories in our mental palaces until next year. Although for all the high-functioning sociopaths reading the following should be obvious, it goes without saying that this article will contain spoilers…

Admittedly, I was a tad anxious regarding this one since writer Steve Thompson was responsible for last season’s weakest instalment and a duff recent episode of Doctor Who (Curse Of The Black Spot, more commonly known as ‘the Pirate one’) – but he really pulled it out the bag here. Whilst Moffat’s Irene Adler-focussed opening was an ingenious, frequently-dazzling Russian doll of plots-within-designs-within-schemes, The Reichenbach Fall offered the most emotional and personal ninety minutes of Sherlock so far, in addition to the usual twisty-turny narrative.

Part of its strength was the villain, of course, since this was easily the most we’ve seen of Jim Moriarty thus far. From what I’ve read online, this portrayal remains somewhat divisive among fans – not surprising given how much of a departure it is from most people’s idea of the character – but there’s little doubt that Andrew Scott is a lively and appropriately unpredictable presence. Clearly intended as an impish and playfully evil Joker to Sherlock’s Batman, what really works here is that Moriarty’s plan actually succeeds in robbing the super-sleuth of one of the only things which matters to him: his reputation as a preternaturally gifted crime-solver. We’ve seen villains framing heroes before, but here it worked brilliantly in the context of the over-arching story (Sherlock is more trusted by the police now, gradually garnering a level of fame, slowly starting to like it even if he won’t admit to it, etc).

In addition, the episode also reminded me at times of the wonderful Life On Mars finale (personally, still my favourite series climax), given the graveyard red herring, similarly haunting score and – most of all – the life-after-death leap of faith from a building roof. Often, it’s the superb Benedict Cumberbatch who receives all the credit for his interpretation of the eponymous hero (and rightly so; he’s marvellous), but this episode unquestionably belonged to Martin Freeman who, in this humble writer’s opinion, offered his finest acting to date. And yes, that includes his incredulous, to-camera stares as Tim in The Office.

Okay, okay, okay, so we pretty much knew that Moffat and co-creator Mark Gatiss weren’t really going to kill off Sherlock since news had surfaced of the third season’s confirmation (which they both immediately officially confirmed via Twitter). But Freeman’s performance was still captivating, heart-shattering stuff, particularly the brief scenes with his therapist and the graveside monologue which beautifully rendered the eye-welling grief of losing your truest friend in the world, played to subtle perfection as underlying grief seeped out of Watson’s usually-stoic military veneer. Inevitably, the resolution to Holmes’ faked death is bound to offer a few plot holes and eye-rolling details, but it was worth it for this wonderfully-written and beautifully-played sequence.

So on to the speculation about how Sherlock faked his death. Evidently, most of you will have noticed (and, therefore, deduced) that mortician Molly clearly has a part to play (handy access to corpses; falsifying reports etc), that John was told to stand in a certain spot and, subsequently, that he was knocked over by a cyclist (in order to make him miss something). My guess is that it involved a body switcheroo at some point, and that John was dosed with the fear toxin from last week’s Baskerville-set episode (as he was fairly disorientated) in order to fool him. Hardly Sherlockian deducting, but allow me to finish.

Eagle-eyed viewers will also have noticed that Watson doesn’t get to take Sherlock’s pulse, leading me to believe that the people on the street might have been members of the homeless network (The Holmesless network?), while Mycroft also said something in the first episode about the fact that it would take Sherlock Holmes to fool someone with a dead body (regarding the faking of Adler’s death). Of course, there’s also the possibility of a lookalike given that the kidnapped girl screamed at Sherlock’s face in the police station, and the rubbish truck that drove away just as Watson got over to the body. My head hurts. But in a good way.

So, all in all, a debating-inviting and hugely-affecting finale to a superb second season. For many viewers A Scandal In Belgravia remains the highlight of the run, but for me this tops it thanks to the heightened personal and emotional investment (I particularly liked the parts that Molly and the undervalued Lestrade had to play). My advice till next time? Don’t puzzle about the ending too much since, after all, would you have guessed that a Bee Gees ring tone was going to end the pool stand-off? It will be something unexpected, and it’s probably best not to expect a resolution which works perfectly. But what about you? What did you think? Got any theories? Or is it all rather, well, elementary?