The final problem. Our problem.
How does Sherlock do it?
One of my all-time favorite scenes in the series is when Jim breaks into the Tower of London, followed directly by the scene where Moriarty and Sherlock have tea. Hands down, top two scenes in the series for me.
I'm pretty sure I could act this episode out in my sleep.
The big theme here is fairy tales, but I'm pretty sure that's all smoke and mirrors. Moriarty explains to Sherlock that every fairy tales needs a good, old-fashioned villain. And, naturally, he's the best man for the job. He also explains to Sherlock that they're the same; he is Sherlock and vice versa. That means, at any given point, he can be the hero and Sherlock can be the villain. That is, essentially, exactly what happens here. The breadcrumbs, the gingerbread man, the book of Grimm tales, etc. - these all reinforce Jim's "storyteller" motif. He is playing the puppet master here, and the strings he is pulling are Sherlock's.
Or so he thinks.
If there's anything we know about Sherlock, it's that he's steps ahead of everyone (Except maybe Mycroft, and a little fuzzier when he's bored). But he's been expecting Moriarty for some time now. He expects him in A Study in Pink, even before he has a name. How much puppet mastery Moriarty is doing versus how much Sherlock has put in place in order for him to pull strings is debatable.
Particularly considering Sherlock's condemnation of Moriarty as a "spider at the center of a web". If Moriarty has a web, so, too, does Sherlock. And I'd argue that Sherlock is pulling them a lot sooner than Moriarty gives him credit for.
Moriarty's final problem centers around Bach. When he enters Sherlock's apartment (and is greeted by a fresh-made pot of tea, served to him, uncharacteristically by Sherlock who never serves anyone), he criticizes Sherlock's abrupt cessation of violin playing and begins a tale of a dying, old Bach, leaping out of his bed to play his unfinished melody on the piano. This is a made up story, from what I can gather. The writers spin this legend here for a reason, as Moriarty's "key code" is also from Bach. Add to the fact that he assumes the anglicized version of the name Reichen Bach, and I do believe we've got here a pattern of three that's hard to ignore.
After Moriarty tells the Bach story, Sherlock asks him how Moriarty intends to "burn him" - to which Moriarty replies, that's the final problem. "I've already told you, but did you listen?" We all listened to his "Stayin' Alive" ringtone at the beginning of the "Scandal in Belgravia" and he reiterates that one the roof that "staying alive" is "the final problem." But there's got to be more there, particularly since it's sandwiched between the two Bach incidents. And once more I'm struggling to figure out what a dying man's need to finish the melody has to do with Sherlock jumping off a building.
If Moriarty assumes the Bach role (and we assume that because he literally does take Bach's name), he is the dying man (and die he does, on the rooftop). Sherlock is co-opting his melody, playing him poorly, and stopping before it's finished (Sherlock does this earlier when he stops playing the violin before the song is done). So, what exactly is Moriarty's song? It's staying alive.
But, if that were the case, a dying Jim would leap up and finish the song for Sherlock once he'd stopped playing, right?
I've thought about this so long my head hurts.
We also know Sherlock has a far better understanding of what's going to happen then he lets on. He knows Moriarty's strength isn't in technology but in manipulation. Moriarty's weakness is that he loves playing with people's pressure points; Sherlock anticipates this. He knows that Moriarty will target anyone Sherlock seems to care about on more than a perfunctory level. This is why he treats Molly the way that he does. He has to give her enough to stay involved in his life but must mistreat her in order for Jim to not see her as anything more significant than a schoolgirl crush. He checks this theory on the roof when he gives Moriarty three names - John, Hudson, Lestrade - to ensure that Molly will go unnoticed, as she has too often by everyone else on the series. Her ability to hang in the periphery is exceptional and those are strings that Sherlock manipulates, not Moriarty.
None of that is particularly new, however.
Let's see if we can't decipher the missing clue as a break, shall we?
There are several strange Sherlock moments here.
1. His interaction with Kitty - this actually reminds me a lot of the scene with Irene Adler, he even gets very close to Kitty as if to check to see her pulse or pupil dilation or whathaveyou. Never before is Sherlock so condemnatory of the press. This is probably a deliberate move on Sherlock's part to help turn the press against him; what better way to get them to hate him then to pick a young, hungry journalist and practically hand her a reason to find his dirty secrets.
2. Sherlock makes tea and gets dressed for Moriarty. I think this is incredibly telling. Sherlock wouldn't even get dressed for the Queen, even though he knew exactly where he was going that day. The Queen (via Mycroft and Harry) also served him tea. What message then does Sherlock send Moriarty when he not only gets fully dressed but also serves him tea for his visit? The fact that he practically serenades him with violin music is just an added bonus.
3. Sherlock's apology to John on the roof - Sherlock made a big deal of not apologizing to Mrs. Hudson after hurting her feelings in "Hounds of Baskerville." It's not really in his nature, although he does do it on occasion (see: Molly at Christmas). The question then becomes "What is this apology really all about?".
4. Sherlock sitting with his feet up - Sherlock moves a lot. Even when it appears he isn't moving. And his thinking pose either involves his violin or holding his hands in a pyramid pose. He generally also moves his fingers (as he does when he plays with the squash ball, mirroring Moriarty's code tick). But the scene when John receives the call about Mrs. Hudson, Sherlock is sitting almost perfectly still with his feet up. Why is he elevating his feet here? There's something about his pose and the calmness of his demeanor that is very "not" Sherlock there.
5. Sherlock singing - I've watched all six episodes so much that I can quote them by heart now. I cannot remember one other instance of Sherlock singing. I also think it's strange that he jumps up and clicks his feet together, but that's more typical of his spry and giddy glee when he's excited. Like an acrobatic little puppy.
6. Leaving a "note" - The writers love a pun. I say that all the time and I think it's universally acknowledged to be true. In his final call to John, he tells him, using Moriarty's words, "that's what people do", that he is leaving John "a note." A note can refer to anything - a suicide note, a doctor's note, a music note, a bank note, or even an intonation. In that regards, Sherlock certainly is leaving a note of sadness, of apology, and of despair. Still, I feel like there is more to this phone call than people generally acknowledge. First, it's weird that it's an apology. It's also weird that it's a lie - that he's telling John to continue Moriarty's lie about him, even though John already knows it's untrue (because he lived it and because he spoke with Mycroft). There has to be something more going on there.
7. Sherlock's humanity - crying on the roof is misdirection. Think back to Ian Monkford and Sherlock's quick tears there. Don't mistake this for an out-of-character act. Sherlock is selling his lie here. Hard. He also has grown to like having John around. It isn't easy to do what he's doing but that doesn't mean that he's going soft. Remember, Sherlock is Jim and both men are actors. They can cry, if that's what the scene requires.
8. Sherlock's hands. Much is made of his hands in the rooftop scene, and for some good reason. At the beginning of the exchange, Sherlock has his hands clasped behind his back, the gesture is slightly open, as if to say, "nothing in here to see!". When he gives Moriarty back the code, he has the hands on top closed tight, again, as if to prove there is nothing inside his hands. After he deliberately angers Moriarty by pretending a key code exists, Moriarty calls him a doofus and flamboyantly shuffles around pretending to be ordinary Sherlock. Before this happens, however, we get a brief glimpse at Sherlock's hands again. We know that Sherlock is adept at sleight of hand (thanks, stolen ashtray and id card). When we see him again, his hands look like this. There is clearly something in there, probably the squash ball, because, let's face it, he has never played with one of those prior to this episode. The object looks blackish and squishy (technical terms) but the image isn't very clear; I suppose it could be a recorder or a phone, but he really wouldn't need one of those to be hanging out here. By playing stupid, Sherlock essentially cons Moriarty into letting his guard down. Moriarty takes his eyes off him and Sherlock places the object wherever he needs to do so in order or the next phase of his plan to take place. Whatever the object is, we know for certain it's out of his hands by the time Moriarty's done calling him names.
9. Sherlock's phone - it's weird enough that he calls. It's weird to me that they don't show him taking the phone out and calling John, focusing rather on his feet. We know where he put his phone prior to the encounter on the roof and maybe they're just going for drama, or maybe they're obscuring something we might not want to see until later.
I just checked the time. Right now, someone in England is getting the answer and I'm not. Sadness.
I'm posting this now but will be back in a few with more
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