After some blog problems at the end of last week, time to round up the final thoughts with regard to the last episode of 'Sherlock' series two. So far, we know how Sherlock effected the pretence of his own demise and the nature of Moriarty's plan to unlock the mind of Mr Holmes for the benefit of himself and his various chums in the criminal underworld by means of an eavesdropping application planted on Sherlock's iPhone. With Sherlock apparently being the pre-eminent genius in crime detection, constantly at least three steps ahead of the police and disposed to 'thinking out loud', what could be more useful to a criminal organisation than knowing his thoughts, his methods and, not least, on which cases he is working?
Following on from this, we know from Mycroft that underworld assassins have moved in to the immediate vicinity of 221B Baker Street. But why? Well, later in the episode we get to see Sherlock unearthing a hidden camera (planted on the book shelf by Moriarty's Mr Fix-It) and using his MacBook to identify that it is transmitting images via wi-fi, presumably to a neighbouring flat within range. Thus we have a good indication that the eavesdropping app on the phone is broadcasting by the same means, with Moriarty either establishing a 'relay' station in a neighbouring flat or his various criminal clients establishing their own receiving bases there.
But, as well as a receiving base, the various criminal organisations have installed their own security, in the form of hitmen tasked to protect Holmes and , thereby, their source of information. From there on, it's a game of spy versus spy. Every time one of the hitmen approaches Holmes, he is killed by one of the others - either as the result of an assumption on the part of the other hitmen that the one close to Holmes is about to kill him, that some information has been passed between Holmes and the hitman to which they are not privy, or simply out of a desire to eliminate the competition.
The big question on the back of all this, of course, is - did Moriarty really die on the top of the hospital? We see Holmes and Moriarty on the roof. We see a sniper on the stairs and we see him looking through his telescopic sight at Watson after Holmes has jumped, before packing his rifle away and leaving. Moriarty has threatened that Holmes's firends will die if he doesn't jump and the implication appears to be that the sniper leaves because of this, allowing Watson to live after seeing Holmes die.
But, leaving aside the fact that Moriarty has clearly been sold a pup with regards to how many friends Sherlock has, this is not one of Moriarty's gunmen - he is one of the original four 'independent' assassins of whom Watson was shown photos at the Diogenes Club. Thus, the sniper is not tasked to kill Watson, but to protect Holmes. Which perhaps answers one of the tricky questions regarding the finale of the episode. From his position on the ground, Watson is unable to see the street where Holmes falls because of the low building. But from his position on the stairs, the sniper has an apparently unobstructed view of the area. Which in turn raises the question, did the sniper witness the subterfuge involved in the faking of Holmes' death? There is every chance that he is entirely aware of it.
So now we return to the roof, knowing that there is a sniper in the building opposite whose task is to protect Holmes. And we see Moriarty pull a gun from his coat and put the barrel in him mouth. And we see Holmes reel back. We hear a shot and Moriarty falls, apparently dead. But what we don't see is Moriarty pull the trigger. So does he shoot himself or does the sniper, on seeing Moriarty pull out the pistol shoot him in the belief that he is about to kill Holmes? Which then raises the possibility that Moriarty has merely been grazed by the bullet. The previous snipers went for shots to the body, but with Holmes having his back to the street and partially obscuring Moriarty from the sniper's view. Or was it the missing, fourth sniper? The Russian woman that Watson believes he may have seen before when shown the photos by Mycroft?
Alternatively, of course, that little look down to the right by Moriarty just before he pulls out the pistol may yet prove to be significant. Either way, it's a racing certainty that Moriarty will be back in series three, even if only to gurn mysteriously at the camera in the last few seconds of the final episode.
And so to the various odds and ends which caught my eye and provide, if not food, then at least a few crumbs for thought:
How did Holmes know that the children were being held at Addlestone?
Well, we see Holmes scanning through the various photos of possible locations, before he settles on Addlestone, thanks to a photo not of a factory, but of a rhododendron bush. So is that the clue, or is it something else? Well, it's the place name - by means of a dual reference to the mirror in Snow White and the Mirror tabloid, we find the leters of Addlestone partially inverted to become Applestone. And thus it is suggested that Holmes, far from being confused by Moriarty's plans , is already well aware of the apple connection and all that it entails.
Incidentally, whether Moriarty actually did poison the children with mercury is unclear. The use of mercury in combination with hunger and darkness might cause them to become confused and disorientated to the extent that Moriarty could use edited recordings from Sherlock's phone to convince them that he was the kidnapper. But I can't help thinking that he would have had a very tough job painting anything with liquid mercury and the presence of the rhododendron bush suggests that the flower toxin may also have played a part.
As with 'Addlestone', in the final scenes we find Mycroft reading of Sherlock's death in a tabloid paper. On the front the headline screams "SUICIDE OF FAKE GENIUS", but on the back the apparently light-hearted headline is "Chompion!" As with Addlestone, a bit of letter inversion brings us to 'chompiou', or 'chomp-iou'. Chomp, as in the bite taken from the poisoned apple by Snow White and present in the Apple computer logo. And IOU, as in Moriarty's 'final problem'. Speaking of which...
What was the 'final problem'?
At 221B after his acquittal Moriarty tells Holmes that he wants to resolve 'the final problem.' and challenges Holmes to identify it, adding "I did tell you. But did you listen?" before going on to tap out a rhythm on his knee. As with the key, the solution lies in the apple and the IOU he carves into it. I and O, 1 and 0 are recurring motifs throughout the episode: in the image of binary code as the texts are sent from Moriarty's phone at the beginning, the street number of the Diogenes Club, the I and O of the kettle switch in 221B. But where is the U? And that's the answer. Just as the clue to the 'key' lies in a pun, so does the clue to the nature of Moriarty's final problem:
The final problem is 'U' or, to put it another way: you.
Of course, Moriarty also describes it as our problem, thereby identifying each of them as the other's problem. But there are two sides to this sword - with I and O appearing together and alone with such frequency in the episode, it could equally be said that the problem is the lack of U/you. This perhaps resonates with Sherlock's reply to Molly in the lab when she asks him what he needs and he replies "you".
Hold on... With all this punning going on, does he say "you"? Or could he actually have said "yew"? Toxic plant, causes a weak heart beat...
Damn it! Just when I had finally got to the end. I hate it when this happens!
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