Case File nº221: Kabukicho

Episode 15

So in the last episode, there was an attempt on Moriarty's life.
In this episode, they didn't even show any fallout of that.

I was raging so much that I had to go re-watch the first part of the episode (after the opening credits) because I didn't care at all about whatever "random" case they had for today's episode. Also, don't they try to go visit him anymore? Especially knowing that he gets beaten up on a daily basis. Like...what?

The only reason I went back and took another look at it was because there are some small hints that it might be leading to something bigger with that part at the end (he recited that number in front of Sherlock, and how serious Sherlock looked in regards to the guy). I'm still greatly annoyed that they didn't show more of what happened after the attempt on Moriarty's life from the previous episode, but I wonder if what we saw in this episode had anything to do with the murder (or might).

Last episode, I thought that it had been cyanide (what with how fast the reaction was), but if that red poison was instead in the sauce of the food and acts like cyanide (the murdered man in today's episode showed a similar reaction...but we don't know how normally fast-acting it is since it was injected into him, and the only other person to come in contact with it was the man who had some dripped on his pants in the beginning...he didn't ingest it, however).

It felt like he was letting Sherlock know the number, or trying to tell him something with the number before he killed himself.

Still some unanswered questions in that case besides the mystery number, such as why the entire company wasn't shut down (unless the notification Mary got at the end was an older one? The company seemed to still be afloat despite the fact that the upper floors were knowingly being used to develop a poison. After all, the vision-lady was perfectly fine with the murder-spree the antagonist started to go on). A beauty company having a hand in developing a lethal drug should have been the nail in the coffin to shut them down (after the rest of the proof Watson got with his phone). Yet, they still seemed to be in business.

Also, how did the drug rain down on the street? Did a bunch of their cult followers dump it from atop one of those buildings? Was that ever explained? Or did he just dump a bucket of it onto the street? When we got to see it from the top-view, it didn't look angled but rather like it had been dumped from a balloon or aircraft.

Onto the number...

"8020463840"

Looks like a puzzle to work on. XD
It could be a phone number, but there's no area code in Japan which starts out with "80". It's possible that it's the number of a locker (I considered a safety deposit box, but those don't usually have ten digits...I think. I don't know much about banks in Japan; a lock combination also wouldn't be that long). It could be the serial (or product) number of something, though it's a little strange that there are no letters if it's a serial number.

I tried using (my limited knowledge of) goroawase to puzzle out what those numbers could be. I came up with a couple words from it, but I have no idea what it could mean (a location, perhaps? There are a few words I can get out of it, but it makes no sense to me). I wish I had better knowledge of Japanese and Japan's geography.

A problem with it possibly being goroawase is that if it was, Sherlock should have understood what it spelled out in an instant. I figure it's either goroawase and I'm not getting it because of my lack of knowledge, or it's a serial number of sorts related to the lethal drug.
Or maybe it meant nothing and I'm overthinking it...but it's a mystery anime; I have to question everything.

Mass terrorism...but only in East Side. And for the guy to go from drugging his friends and family to financially being backed by that company in developing the drug (whether or not they knew it was poison), that's a suspicious leap. How did he get their support? Is he a small part of a bigger budding plot?

The anime established that both sides don't like each other and that East side especially tends to hate Moran, who is in a re-election campaign bid. I also wonder why he keeps trying to have Moriarty killed; does Moriarty know something (and perhaps doesn't even realize it)? There is still a lot which needs to be explained, and I hope that they try to fill in the plotholes from the first cour of the series.

Anyways...right or wrong, I'll leave my speculations up with no edits (unless I think of something else between now and the next episode and add it in). Some of it is literally me typing stuff as it comes to mind while I'm analyzing and theorizing (which is why some of it might look like half-baked ideas or cut-off sentences).
 
Episode 16

Sherlock character growth! He's been slowly helping out more and more, and that's awesome to see!
Also, I was wondering what that old cop's story (Michel) was since episode 1. Everyone else in the Pipe Cat got an episode dedicated to them in the first arc except for him, and he was the one who followed along with Sherlock and Watson the longest for that very first case.
Granted, he revealed a little bit of himself (hinted that he had a kid, at least) when he was talking to those two guys at the pachinko place after Moriarty was arrested.

Speaking of...I'm super happy that he's back and that we won't have to see him suffering so much in prison (guessing things got a little better for him after the jailbreak by the instigators).

That said...I'm not happy with the time skips. I've always hated time skips in anime, but this has been even worse.

In episode 13, one of the prisoners was poisoned (in place of Moriarty).
In episode 14, the writers completely ignored that; not even a news report of someone dying in the prison was shown. There was also that strange set of numbers and the look on Sherlock's face near the end which was never elaborated on (as well as the poison).
Now in episode 15, there was an "oh by the way" background story of the bomber instigator guy and his crew escaping the same prison as Moriarty was in (seriously, did nobody go check up on him? Did they only visit him that once? Ms. Hudson seemed concerned, so I'm hoping that at least she went to visit him)...
...and then there was a freaking 10 month time skip at the end of the episode.

And we still have zero explanation.

We can garner that without Trevor there, Moriarty probably didn't suffer as much in prison (also, what happened to the guy put in the hospital? Did he survive?). But what about that attempt on his life? Was that because of Trevor and his gang, or was that unrelated?
Also, where did the poison even come from?
Was that when Trevor decided to stop messing around with Moriarty and just go straight for Moran via terrorism after escaping prison?
What happened in prison all that time?
Did no one from the Pipe Cat ever go visit Moriarty since that first time?

I suppose next episode we'll find out if Moriarty was actually released or not...though, if he had escaped, he probably would have been pictured as well and there would have been a bit more of an uproar (in the very least, from Ms. Hudson, who was watching the news and saw all of the mugshots of those who escaped). Also, if he had escaped with them, it would have been extremely silly (aka, stupid) to go to the Pipe Cat considering that it's a row house for detectives.

So, I believe that he was released. One year in prison (as the timeline had him in there for at least 11 months, with probably an additional month or so in a holding cell during the trial) doesn't seem like a lot for murder, but he's still a juvenile and could have had a good defense...oh heck, does it really matter? This anime is ignoring a lot of "realism" already.

Anyway, my theory is that he did serve his time; everyone was talking when he was first arrested about "when he returns", which gave me a feeling of a short time-frame...plus the intro and ending songs of the anime providing more clues. Whether or not he had anything to do with the jailbreak...well, doubtful he would do anything which could put him back in prison or earn him more punishment (especially since Trevor has been harassing him since day one), but I can't say for certain that there wouldn't be a circumstance where he wouldn't be involved, making it an improbable possibility, but a possibility none-the-less.

...as much as I don't want to believe it as a possibility (and that it's a very slim possibility). XD

That part, I can put aside since a lot of shows ignores the "reality" of things like that. It's the plot holes and unexplained parts I cannot forgive. I'll give this a chance to resolve those issues (considering that there are probably 8 episodes left for it to do so in), but if it doesn't resolve any of the plot holes, even the ones from the first cour, I'll have to lower my rating soon. The only thing which kept me from lowering my rating after this episode was the joy of Moriarty finally rejoining the main cast.
 
Episode 17

Moriarty is back, and seeing him doing the rakugo performance with Sherlock was brilliant!

I'm a bit confused as to their facial expressions the two made at some parts of the episode (I've never been good at reading expressions)...but I'm wondering, based on what we know, if perhaps Moriarty is noting Sherlock's slight change in attitude (like how he "never gives gifts" and such) and wondering if Sherlock found that "something" to fill the emptiness.

...and the plot thickens.

I figured that number wasn't just a one-time thing; still can't make heads or tails of it with goroawase (my Japanese isn't good enough to do so as I get quite a few different words from it)...though if it was goroawase, one would think that a genius like Sherlock would have figured it out immediately.

I have to break this down (bear with me as I type things out as they come to mind, so it might be a little out of order).
Possibility 1: Moriarty is involved
Possibility 2: Moriarty is not involved

The show certainly wants us to believe Moriarty is involved with all of this; the increased publicity when he saved one of the Irregulars is something to take note of which can work either way.
I personally lean towards that he's not involved (or at least, not aware of his involvement). This is due to current evidence, theory, and that the show writers are constantly using viewer meta-knowledge against us.

Let's say he's not involved (not knowingly). We have no clue what prison was like for him or what happened in that 10 months between the escapees and his release...or why Moran decided to bail him out after 10 months (well, besides the election).

If...and this is just a crazy theory, but I want to put out my current thoughts...if Moran is the BBEG (Big Bad Evil Guy) of the show, this would make more sense.
Hypothetically, let's look at it from Sherlock's point of view. The viewers have knowledge of what was going on in the prison (and that unreported death of the poisoned inmate), but the outside world (such as Sherlock) does not. Thus, it's not playing at all into the current pieces of the puzzle Sherlock is holding (and even what we saw were very brief and had zero explanation). So, I'm going to try another point of view as I look at this.

It's strange that Moran went from "send Jack the Ripper after his son" to "bail his son out of prison" (especially the timing; it was close to the election when Moriarty got out thanks to Moran's influence).
Within the time Moriarty was in prison, one criminal died via poison, another was sent to the hospital in critical condition for getting close to Moriarty, and two criminals killed themselves with relation to that strange code (the flamboyant thief-killer, and the poisoner who killed himself when caught). A bunch of criminals also escaped from the prison he happened to be held at, and now all but the ringleader is dead after committing a crime and then suiciding.

Why escape prison just to kill themselves? It doesn't add up. But if it's some form of hypnosis, radical terrorism, or Sleeper Agent type situation...it could make sense. Though so far, the only clue towards that is the distant look their eyes take on when they recite the number.
I need more pieces of the puzzle for that, so moving on in my wacky theory:

So, we've got a timeframe and a group of criminals who escaped and then killed themselves (as well as the one who killed himself in prison). Then suddenly, close to the election, Moriarty is acquitted from prison on a ruling of "self defense", he doesn't have to sneak in and out of his house anymore to get to the Pipe Cat, and more incidents occur...this time, he's at the scene of one of them.
If we presume Moran is keeping him close for publicity...no, there has to be another motive. To go from wanting him dead (possible publicity stunt? A pity vote? But that was nowhere near the election) to just keeping Moriarty "at his side"...and still not seeming to care about him...it's strange.

What if, and this is only a "what if" based on everything I wrote down prior, Moran intends for Moriarty to take the fall for any backlash over the escaped criminals? Politicians rarely get their own hands dirty, and they always have someone to throw under the bus when things get bad.
Also, what better way for a politician to be elected than if they create a problem only they can fix? In the previous episode, we saw the two talking on their platforms about the crimes being committed, and how they could stop them and keep people safe.

Granted, that means it could just as easily be the other guy in the election. One cannot tunnel-vision on a suspect, because once someone is suspected, it's difficult to see any other possibility. So, that means I have to be open to the possibilities of the ringleader ranging from Trevor himself, Moran, the other politician, and even Moriarty.

Or, it could be someone we haven't seen yet (though that's a terrible way to handle a mystery).
Something still isn't properly clicking into place; there are still pieces of the puzzle missing. Even in the case of when Irene supposedly died, there were more clues (or at least enough clues and revealed timeframe for me to realize that it was all a set-up). This time, I feel like the time skips are purposely trying to keep us in the dark and hide important pieces of the puzzle (besides the slight pieces being revealed each episode without enough to go beyond theories).

Heck, I might even wind up trashing this theory based on any new information in the upcoming episodes.

To anyone who read this entire mess of nonsense...kudos to you. XD It's mostly me rambling to myself, really.
 
The new ending theme always hits me and It felt so nostalgic ..... Now I realized why .-.
And they are even by the same singer and the shots are even similar maaaan. Even when they are standing alone changing from Watson to Moriarity to Sherlock it is almost the same in Naruto xD.
 
Episode 18

(yet another incoming "random thoughts" dump below XD )

I...don't like where this seems to be going.

In the original content, Professor Moriarty had once played with Sherlock by creating a mystery for him to solve (which, if memory serves, wound up with a couple people dying; I could be wrong on the end result of it).

I'm going to have to rehash a previous thought (the first few times I watched Moriarty's character) that Moriarty is a psychopath unable to empathize with others.
I thought I might have been wrong when he seemed to show some genuine concern when Irene was stabbed, and cried when his sister died (and showed what seemed to be genuine concern for her) but...I dunno anymore.

Playing detective...suddenly "grateful" to the man who wanted him dead (and whose actions got his sister killed)..."boring"...

The numbers were recited again right before the suicide...right after he said their names. Again.
I really wanted Sherlock to press Moriarty more about Trevor; obviously, something happened after that one guy died to the poison that even the viewers haven't been told of.

My theory that Moriarty isn't involved is starting to crumble (at least, for the recent cases).
There's still the undeniable fact that he was nowhere near the very first victim of the numbered sequence, nor the escaped prisoners (saying they followed the same pattern; we actually don't know for certain if their suicides also involve the "suicide number"), but it makes sense if there's more than one antagonist moving about...but things keep coming back to the 7th prison.

His time in prison and all the things which happened during the time skip is a huge clue. The anime "oddly" never showed what happened when the inmate died from the poison, or what Trevor's look meant. What occurred between them before the jailbreak?
That's a crucial missing piece of the puzzle.

What's also a crucial missing piece of the puzzle is Mycroft's involvement; that he seems to be in frequent contact with Moriarty. His actions (and what looked like collecting a bug from Sherlock's bathroom) still has not been elaborated on.
Yea, I haven't forgotten about that.
"There are no coincidences."

Are those two working together for some reason involving Moran? I recall that Mycroft oddly didn't seem to mind that Sherlock had given him the dummy USB drive during the JtR case. He's certainly involved with something behind the scenes, but we have very little to go on as to what that "something" is. Does it have to do with the media finding out about the connection?

That really bugs me. Moriarty's offhand comment in an earlier episode asking if Sherlock ever planned on returning to West Side (because "things are getting interesting") also still bothers me.

The overall mystery has too many missing puzzle pieces (I'm of the opinion that the time skips were on purpose; not to fit the second arc into 12 episodes, but to also mislead those like me trying to figure things out with a lack of information), so until I get more of those pieces, I think I'm going to focus on what's going on right now.
--

Playing detective.
Those girls said those words.
What if that's an overall clue?

He said he wanted to be a detective, but always goes with Sherlock (and Watson) rather than solve it on his own like the others do.

Moriarty was the one who brought the previous cases to Sherlock, too.
Creating cases for Sherlock to solve...that's what it feels like; like he's playing this "detective game" with Sherlock...and suddenly, their dual-rakugo performance is no longer heartwarming nor amusing.

The "saying the full names" Sleeper Code seems to be unique to him. Perhaps there is another player moving about in the shadows (perhaps Mycroft or Kate), but he is definitely owning what happened in this episode.

Unlike back with the Irene stabbing case, this time he seems to very much know what he's doing and after this episode, seems directly linked to many of the events. Previously, the viewers were just given shades of doubt on him. This time, we can clearly see what he's doing.
That in itself is strange, and I'm still wary of meta knowledge...but apologies to "Moririn", it's looking pretty bad for his "playing detective" stuff.

Looking back on my past theory of "he's innocent", I realized that much of what I said can also lead to a different conclusion (he's involved).
The Moriarty we see now is a far cry from the Moriarty who first entered the prison and cried out of loneliness (as well as treasured the four leaf clover Sherlock had brought him; he still had the book the final time we saw him get beaten up, but none of the later prison scenes showed it ever again).

Moriarty keeps saying that he has to "repent for killing someone", yet doesn't bat an eyelash when his actions (whether it's related to my Sleeper Agent theory with the suicide numbers or otherwise) causes someone to die.

In a cruel and blatant disregard for human lives way, perhaps he's trying to bring things back to before he went to prison; his way of "enjoying" his time with Sherlock had always been with solving mysteries (or watching Sherlock solve mysteries) back then, so he's trying to recreate that to fill that loneliness inside of him (the "emptiness").
And since he's trying to do that again, he figures the only way he can truly fill the hole is with actual cases. It shakes him up because he thought he and Sherlock were the same, but Sherlock is showing empathy while he is unable to.

He was even shown to be incredulous and confused when Sherlock showed sympathy towards the three girls.

It seems like the theory, then, is that he's going down the dark villain path and masterminded at least some of the events we're seeing.

Though, for the Sleeper Agent stuff, I think that housemaid (Kate) might be involved somehow. She was the one who discovered the body of Moriarty's mother, which for all appearances looked like a suicide. What if she was testing out her hypnosis then?

That still doesn't excuse Moriarty's behavior, however. Whether he's directly involved or not (looking like the former, now...I'll have to trash my old theory), he still was perfectly fine with three girls immolating themselves in front of him. That's sick.

Sadly, it seems like he's hit the point of no return. The only current ways this can conclude is if Moriarty fully goes down the "villain" route (which is sad as he would be trashing his sister's final request) or if he returns to prison.

(Edit reasons: Stuff I thought of after I posted it. As usual, I won't edit the post once the next episode comes out...I wanna leave my silly ramblings out there to look back on and own up to any mistakes)

Also, here's a crack theory just for laughs:
Just for fun, here's a what-if:
What if Moriarty is under constant hypnosis?

This is pretty much debunked by the fact that he doesn't get all "robot-like" such as the others who kill themselves Sleeper Agent style, but it was still fun to muck around with.

And yes...I'm giving time and evidence to a crack theory. So what? I wanna have fun with this. XD

I'd say this would start...uh, for the sake of the anime, let's just start it when Moriarty is in prison (we'll leave out his mother's questionable suicide for this).
We first see him sad and regretful, missing his sister and even crying out of feeling alone. He gets beaten up, but still manages to connect to Sherlock and the others during their visit.

Then, after Trevor et co sends that one guy to the hospital, we see Moriarty digging a little more for info, but still moving and speaking "normally".

After that, we start seeing him in this zombie-like state. I had thought it was depression (surroundings plus getting bullied can do that), but then crack-theory popped up after all this and was like: What if he was being hypnotized?
What if someone was visiting him (like, say...the housekeeper, Kate) and hypnotizing him during that.

When the random inmate was poisoned, Moriarty was all zombie blank-faced when he allowed them to swipe his meal. Yea, he seemed a little stunned after the guy died, but that was the most emotion we had seen out of him for a while. No culprit was ever revealed for that incident...maybe it was Moriarty under hypnosis! (again, reminder, this is a crack theory)

Then after that, there's a jailbreak in the 7th prison and the ringleader manages to escape with a group of other prisoners and a (rather convenient) 10 month timeskip.

"But when we saw Moriarty after he was bailed out, he was fine!"

Yea...a little too fine. He was acting strange the entire time. The amount of cringe and him being fine with drumming up publicity ever since he got out was really weird. Previously, he mostly flew under the radar and was fine with being there.
Now, he's flamboyant, showboating, and doing commercials which is helping the man who put a hit on him (and got his sister killed)? And laughing about it?

Okay, yea...with that sumo guy way back Moriarty initially wasn't going to do anything when he was about to jump until Lucy dragged him into it, but he did help her stop the dude from attempting to jump a second time.

And now, he's perfectly fine with sending three girls around his own age to their deaths right in front of him (and Sherlock).

I know what you're probably thinking: "But how can he be doing it under the Sleeper Agent stuff if he's acting normally?"
Ahh...but he's not acting normally, now is he? ;p
And furthermore, that thief case. When the guy recited the suicide code, he didn't kill himself on the spot like everyone else did. Instead, he fled and committed a crime, then killed himself (though it was reported that he seemingly tripped and it was an accident).

...nah, he knows perfectly well what he's doing (as evidenced by this episode). This was all just a crack theory which, hilariously enough, might have held some water up until this episode revealed that he didn't care about the three girls dying.
Hope you all enjoyed my crack theory theater!
 
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Episode 19

Can I be 100% honest? I actually hoped that my crack theory was correct instead of my real one.
I'm glad I gave up on the "code" as just being a part of the entire suicide trigger thing (I don't remember if I mentioned that here or on the Reddit), as it turned out to be nothing anyway. A red herring.

Also, Moriarty...shut up. You don't get to refer to your sister when you're tarnishing her memory like that, you psychopath.
...I actually shouted that at the screen during that part (while legit crying at how effed up the entire thing was; poor Watson). Her final message with her dying breath was for him to "not give up on the world", and yet that's exactly what he's doing.

Seeing him fake crying was disgusting, by the way.

But, wow...I wasn't expecting things to have gone all the way back to when he was being beaten up in prison. I had a nagging feeling with the "guy who poisoned his wife" who got out "early" and looking very similar to the cult leader, but what threw me off was that Sherlock had said that he hadn't been caught up until that moment (so I figured it couldn't be the same guy).

I mean, part of me suspected when he killed Jack (as by the time he actually did it, he was beyond provoked and his hand went from shaky to steady; it seemed like he had been prepared to kill Jack from the very beginning when he swore his revenge). It also explains why Sherlock had been mumbling about the situation on the rooftop.

Sigh.
Moriarty is a completely different person from how he was in the first arc. He was a pretty cool character in the first arc, and now he's just your typical psychopath villain based off the canon material; what a disappointment in terms of characters and storytelling.

But now, more questions are opened...as well as that they have five episodes to try and explain all of the plotholes from the previous ones such as:
-Why did Moriarty destroy the USB?
-The suspicious nature of his mother's suicide still has no explanation
-What, exactly, were Moran and Moriarty "fighting" about which led to the former putting a hit on the latter?
-Just who is that housekeeper (Kate)? They deigned to give her a namecard and showed her to the audience, but we know nothing more.
-What is Mycroft's involvement?

This episode adds to the list:
-How did he know about the hypnotic suggestions in the first place?
--When did he learn to do that?
--Why has he never used that up until now? (this one could be that it was still that Sherlock was his "light", but as he obviously figured out who JtR was, why did he not use that against JtR?)
...yo, what if his plan went all the way up to him getting caught for killing JtR? He planned on going to prison (my only theory of him destroying the USB was so that he could have a better defense in a trial since there would be no evidence that there was something deeper) in order to amass a "following" of criminals to do his dirty work for him.
What if he learned it from the housekeeper and had that plan on the criminals?

-Why did Moriarty let them beat him up in prison (granted, they seemed to still have a mind of their own during that...but conflicting with that part is that Albert is listening to him in this episode)? To fool the viewers?
(for sure, it confused the heck out of me since it made sure to create a situation where info wasn't adding up; I said that I would still leave the possibility open that Moriarty had something to do with the jailbreak because of that feeling)

-Besides playing games due to his obsession with Sherlock, what's his overall end game?
What's the long game? Just playing with Sherlock until he gets bored of it?

...also, who was the guy killed in today's episode?

Anyway, it seems that (all the plotholes aside) the "game" is revealed. Still not sure what the "endgame" is aside from just Moriarty and Sherlock playing around and matching wits. It's starting to get really annoying how an episode will end with something (such as last time with the news article of the media starting to find a connection) and then either not be mentioned at all or just be brushed off.
"The Final Problem" is one of my favorite stories from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and there are tons of spin-offs and other things tapping the source material so it's not like we are completely in the dark about Moriarty's fate.

...which was why I had been hoping that he wouldn't go down this path. That would have surprised me. This being yet another "reference to source material" is mildly infuriating. I don't look forward to the episodes like I used to back during the first arc, and the only thing keeping it from being 100% predictable are the plotholes.
 
Episode 20

I re-typed the first sentence here about three times before I deleted that as well and went with this.
I just...had no words at the moment as I just finished watching the episode.

He's very different from Professor Moriarty, who preferred not to get his own hands dirty. This Moriarty decided to cut loose and go on a murder spree; holy cripes.

Soooo...why didn't anybody think to immediately inform the other detectives to be wary of Moriarty? Yea, there was a lot of smoke and confusion, but it would just take a single phone call (or even to page them across the cat-pagers) to warn everyone else. What a freaking oversight of a plot hole to launch this phase (everything else which happened still would have went down, but at least Lucy and Watson wouldn't have been in immediate danger).

It looks like Watson might have done the deed himself (the blood on Mary's hands look as if he had taken her hands), but that was...
...this is the age of cellphones! And they had their cat-pagers as well! Not to mention the freaking tracking devices. So, both Mary and Lucy were missing from their "meeting", he knew they were wearing tracking devices, and didn't say a dang thing? Big-brain Sherlock? He must have suspected that foul play was going to occur from the start if the made the devices.

And after that, did nobody think to contact Mary and say "yea, hey...we're tracking down Lucy so don't worry", or something? Seems like a pretty big oversight.

It'd also be nice if Watson actually learned something and maybe...I dunno...pulled the same "fake death" trick. She only needed a picture of his "dead body"...I'm hoping that's what happened there and it's not another instance of Watson only serving as an emotional crutch for Sherlock. Like, seriously...let him shine a little besides just talking Sherlock out of doing something stupid.

--
Now, on to our show's antagonist.

Well, that explains what Moriarty was doing at the scene of his mother's death. I had been wondering if hypnosis had been involved at first and that maybe he had been responsible due to that (or made her kill herself like the others), but I didn't expect the outright murder there.

And the entire "oh, let's pretend our obviously mentally disturbed kid is normal" just demonstrates how freaking dangerous it is when family doesn't go seek out a diagnosis. They treated him like he was "normal" even though they knew there was something wrong with him. The only one who realized it and feared him was his father...but took too long to do anything about it; I don't mean the murder hit, I mean like to have him committed to a mental facility (and I know it's Japan and there's a big stigma around mental health there, more-so than the stigma here in the USA, but they still exist).

...I'm actually a little disappointed that Irene never figured out there was something strange about him. I had suspected he had some sort of Anti Social Personality disorder (psychopathy or sociopathy) during the first arc, but there were a couple scenes which made me doubt that (his sorrow and tears over his sister's death was what really threw me off, as well as the sorrow he seemed to display whenever mention of his sister came up before that).
Then, it looked like with the help of the folks from the Pipe Cat he was coming around enough to at least start to become as rehabilitated as he could.

I will give the writers of the show credit in that they made me doubt my own initial theories on him many times.
They also managed to make me feel extremely uncomfortable this episode; I'm still horrified.
The tears he shed and the sadness he showed when his sister died wasn't because he cared about her.

On the other hand, I guess we're never going to find out how he learned to hypnotize people. That's still an unexplained aspect of the show. Though, with 4 episodes left, it's still possible that we'll find out...just unlikely since the other question marks have been explained (with the exception of Mycroft collecting what looked to be a bug from Sherlock's apartment; that still hasn't been explained).

Things felt like they moved too quickly during this arc mostly because the writers were trying to hide and mislead us during Moriarty's stay in prison. There were also so many timeskips that this Moriarty vs Sherlock showdown feels like it happened too soon...when we have to remember that it's been over 10 months for all the characters.

It's ironic to think that all of these events (minus him killing his mother) could have been avoided if Jack had managed to kill Moriarty...
...and I'm still not sure why he didn't.
Unless the hit was recalled or perhaps Moran was worried about the political fallout of having both of his kids murdered by JtR, I still don't understand why Jack never killed him. He had numerous opportunities to do so, but was more concerned about the USB instead? What?
Sure, it would have been horrifying to the viewers especially considering Moriarty's age...and then the writers would have to come up with a different antagonist for the second cour, but it would have at least filled in that gaping plot hole.

Now, maybe I'm being too hard on the show considering that there are still 4 episodes left. However, Moriarty already gave the "obligatory villain speech" in this episode, so we probably won't get any other sort of explanation for plot holes in past events. The next episode will probably be something like "The Final Problem", and if they really want to drag things out then the writers will extend that another episode as well. So, that brings us up to episode 22 where the climax is occurring.
We'll need at least one episode of an epilogue, and depending if they want to go The Reichenbach Falls with us (leaving us wondering if Sherlock is alive or dead), that'll be episode 23 where we don't see him and episode 24 where there will probably be a time-skip to Sherlock returning.
Granted, that route would be rather silly considering that anyone who has ever seen/read "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" knows that Sherlock survives. There would be zero tension for anyone aside from folks who have never seen/read Sherlock Holmes.

So more likely, we'll see the next episode (and possibly episode 22) as the climax, an episode with some fallout, and then an epilogue (or, the fallout will be in episode 23 where they wrap things up, and episode 24 will be some random case where we see more of a Sherlock-Watson team up and some other "life goes on as they've all learned things" sort of way).

It's a good thing this anime can at least evoke an emotional response from its viewers, because the writing itself (who the good guys are, who the bad guys are, ect) didn't break any barriers or make things more surprising than red herrings and misleading the viewers.
 
Holy shit Moriarity turned out to be crazy more than I thought he would be.......RIP Mom died in a terrible way...
Also, I feel sorry for Alex, she literally either died by Jack or her brother...th .-.
And wow that ending.
 
Eps. 13-20. Wow, just caught up cuz I kinda forgot about the show after the end of the Fall season.
Glad to see Moriarty finally showed his true colors- I thought it would be odd to subvert just his character, but I did enjoy him as a nice kid, even if the show did make him a bit 'off' from the get-go to let viewers know he would be an outright villain sooner or later. They did a pretty good job of making you think he might not be a bad-guy in this version of Sherlock, but man, how utterly that has been subverted now. Dude just killed all of the staff at the house- just because he enjoys it.

It's very different from the classic Moriarty, as someone else already said. He was supposed to be a master manipulator behind the scenes, but this Moriarty has graduated from manipulation to an outright murder spree. There's no coming back from this, so I anticipate he will be brought to justice by the end of the show. I mean, he's not hiding his intentions or deeds at this point, and I don't think that after so publicly murdering so many people, he could just disappear. He could potentially try to pin it on somebody else, but all of the detectives know he did it, so he'd have to kill them all too. I guess he could go into hiding, but it would seem he enjoys killing too much to lay low for a while, so at this point the only thing left is to be caught.
 
As a "PS" to my last post (thought about editing it to include this, but there are some responses now so I'll just post separately since I'm happy at a conversation on this):

As I was discussing a theory with someone on the Reddit, I double-checked the episode when the housekeeper, Kate, was mentioned.
The animators never show her body, and when I went back to the entire phone conversation between Moriarty and Sherlock, we saw him point the pistol at her after shooting his father, talk about killing a second person...
...and then the camera jumps to Sherlock as he hears the shot go off and the call is dropped.

Thing is, there are additional noises in that shot. The housekeeper whispers Alex's name, then we hear the shot and her gasp...as well as the sound of glass breaking before the line goes dead. I think that what was actually shot was the phone, and that Moriarty has something else planned for Kate so he took her with him to wherever he went between his murder spree and when Sherlock arrived at the scene.
Possibly a hostage, possibly to cover for him, or maybe even to try and manipulate Sherlock into killing her...or just manipulate her with his hypnotism ability. Either way, there was no body shown when Sherlock arrived in the study, so she isn't dead.

Okie, onto discussion stuffs!

Hayane said:
Holy shit Moriarity turned out to be crazy more than I thought he would be.......RIP Mom died in a terrible way...
Also, I feel sorry for Alex, she literally either died by Jack or her brother...th .-.
And wow that ending.
Click to expand...

He was showing early signs (as early as episode 4 or so) of being a psychopath, but seemed to be held in check by the folks at the Pipe Cat (specifically, by Sherlock. Even the Irregulars, the kids, seemed to hold him back a bit since he was their leader). I had been wondering if he was going to turn the Irregulars into his criminal ring (due to them all being young).
But yea...the mom did not deserve to die like that. On the other hand, both she and Alex knew that Moriarty was unable to empathize with others and didn't even try to get him professional help to mitigate it.

Moriarty pretty much killed his entire family, though. I felt it was an extreme example of how mental health issues are attempted to be swept under the rug and them held to a standard of "normal". Japan has a really big stigma against it (more than the USA does, and our stigma is pretty bad).

Akishima said:
Eps. 13-20. Wow, just caught up cuz I kinda forgot about the show after the end of the Fall season.
Glad to see Moriarty finally showed his true colors- I thought it would be odd to subvert just his character, but I did enjoy him as a nice kid, even if the show did make him a bit 'off' from the get-go to let viewers know he would be an outright villain sooner or later. They did a pretty good job of making you think he might not be a bad-guy in this version of Sherlock, but man, how utterly that has been subverted now. Dude just killed all of the staff at the house- just because he enjoys it.

It's very different from the classic Moriarty, as someone else already said. He was supposed to be a master manipulator behind the scenes, but this Moriarty has graduated from manipulation to an outright murder spree. There's no coming back from this, so I anticipate he will be brought to justice by the end of the show. I mean, he's not hiding his intentions or deeds at this point, and I don't think that after so publicly murdering so many people, he could just disappear. He could potentially try to pin it on somebody else, but all of the detectives know he did it, so he'd have to kill them all too. I guess he could go into hiding, but it would seem he enjoys killing too much to lay low for a while, so at this point the only thing left is to be caught.
Click to expand...

The only possible outcome I can see as the end-game for Moriarty after all of this is him dying via a Reichenbach Falls situation. The anime has now made us completely hate him, so it'll take out some of the horror of him dying. His death is really the only outcome.
If they put him in prison again, he'll just manipulate the prisoners there.
If they put him in an isolated prison, then any of the guards who have to deal with him are at risk for that manipulation as well...same with a mental health facility.

And as you said, after his murder spree...welp, him going into hiding would be a completely unsatisfactory ending. If the writers ever want a season 2, they should bring in a new antagonist considering everything which has happened.
 
mdchan said:
As a "PS" to my last post (thought about editing it to include this, but there are some responses now so I'll just post separately since I'm happy at a conversation on this):

As I was discussing a theory with someone on the Reddit, I double-checked the episode when the housekeeper, Kate, was mentioned.
The animators never show her body, and when I went back to the entire phone conversation between Moriarty and Sherlock, we saw him point the pistol at her after shooting his father, talk about killing a second person...
...and then the camera jumps to Sherlock as he hears the shot go off and the call is dropped.

Thing is, there are additional noises in that shot. The housekeeper whispers Alex's name, then we hear the shot and her gasp...as well as the sound of glass breaking before the line goes dead. I think that what was actually shot was the phone, and that Moriarty has something else planned for Kate so he took her with him to wherever he went between his murder spree and when Sherlock arrived at the scene.
Possibly a hostage, possibly to cover for him, or maybe even to try and manipulate Sherlock into killing her...or just manipulate her with his hypnotism ability. Either way, there was no body shown when Sherlock arrived in the study, so she isn't dead.
Click to expand...

I did not notice the whole thing with Kate- but I did kind of wonder why they bothered to focus on her if they were just going to kill her off immediately. Interesting theory. I rewatched that part, and I got nothing, but I'm intrigued to see what plays out. I feel like there's something off with the scene with Lucy too- and of course, the Mary and Watson scene looks like a fake-out. Also, where is Mycroft Holmes? Another thought I had after I posted was that perhaps Sherlock has been set up as the murderer. It appears he went to the house alone after all. Sherlock has disappointed Moriarty, who already believes that true freedom would be for Sherlock to cast off any remaining morality he might possess. Sherlock's pot also has a hole in it, and Moriarty feels that the best solution is to shatter it completely. If he frames him or gets him to kill someone, he will have succeeded either way.
Okie, onto discussion stuffs!

He was showing early signs (as early as episode 4 or so) of being a psychopath, but seemed to be held in check by the folks at the Pipe Cat (specifically, by Sherlock. Even the Irregulars, the kids, seemed to hold him back a bit since he was their leader). I had been wondering if he was going to turn the Irregulars into his criminal ring (due to them all being young).
But yea...the mom did not deserve to die like that. On the other hand, both she and Alex knew that Moriarty was unable to empathize with others and didn't even try to get him professional help to mitigate it.

Moriarty pretty much killed his entire family, though. I felt it was an extreme example of how mental health issues are attempted to be swept under the rug and them held to a standard of "normal". Japan has a really big stigma against it (more than the USA does, and our stigma is pretty bad).
Click to expand...

Yeah, it really bothers me how mental health is either stigmatized or ignored in anime. There are any number of mentally ill characters, but in general it is simply used as a plot device, and not treated as an actual illness that can be treated. One of the few anime that do address it is Ghost Hound, which is why it's always stuck in my head even though it was a really weird show.
The only possible outcome I can see as the end-game for Moriarty after all of this is him dying via a Reichenbach Falls situation. The anime has now made us completely hate him, so it'll take out some of the horror of him dying. His death is really the only outcome.
If they put him in prison again, he'll just manipulate the prisoners there.
If they put him in an isolated prison, then any of the guards who have to deal with him are at risk for that manipulation as well...same with a mental health facility.

And as you said, after his murder spree...welp, him going into hiding would be a completely unsatisfactory ending. If the writers ever want a season 2, they should bring in a new antagonist considering everything which has happened.
Click to expand...

Agreed!
 
Akishima said:
I did not notice the whole thing with Kate- but I did kind of wonder why they bothered to focus on her if they were just going to kill her off immediately. Interesting theory. I rewatched that part, and I got nothing, but I'm intrigued to see what plays out. I feel like there's something off with the scene with Lucy too- and of course, the Mary and Watson scene looks like a fake-out. Also, where is Mycroft Holmes? Another thought I had after I posted was that perhaps Sherlock has been set up as the murderer. It appears he went to the house alone after all. Sherlock has disappointed Moriarty, who already believes that true freedom would be for Sherlock to cast off any remaining morality he might possess. Sherlock's pot also has a hole in it, and Moriarty feels that the best solution is to shatter it completely. If he frames him or gets him to kill someone, he will have succeeded either way.
Click to expand...

Hrm...I didn't think of that (Sherlock being set up as the murderer). I feel it's more on the "gets him to kill someone" vein you mentioned. If Moriarty is going to use Kate as a hostage or something (or force him into a "your brother and your friend are being held at gunpoint and you can only save one of them" sort of thing...maybe even literally with Mycroft).

I was too horrified at first to wonder about Mycroft past the first part of the anime, but that's a good point; what ever happened to him?

I hope the Mary and Watson scene is a fake-out; Watson had definitely been holding something in his right hand (the way his hand was curled when he was lying on the floor), and the bloody handprints on Mary's hands seems to only match up with a scenario that it was either faked (they were in the place that made a bunch of various products from the looks of it, and Mary is cunning) or that Watson held her hands at some point (perhaps to tell her something) after either participating in the trick or stabbing himself.

Certainly, the scene with Lucy feels too easy. I had expected Trevor to come up behind them and lock them in or knock them out, but he's missing. One of the detectives did get a good look at Lucy's face (I just went back and re-watched the scene...it's odd that they didn't say Lucy's name past their initial exclamation)...and someone I had spoken to on Reddit talked about a swap (their theory was that Moriarty swapped Lucy with Kate or himself)...maybe there's something to that theory after all, but perhaps it was Mycroft whom Lucy was swapped with.

Oh. Just thought of something. Maybe Moriarty plans on trying to force Sherlock to kill either Kate or Lucy...or have to choose between Mycroft and Lucy.
The problem I had with the "swapped" theory was that there wasn't enough time for Moriarty to logistically swap Kate with whomever is tied up at the docks there (and it would also require Moriarty to realize that the detectives all had tracking devices on them...wouldn't put it past him, of course).
My biggest issue with the "swapped" theory is that lack of time. Moriarty went on his killing spree during the time the call was dropped with Sherlock on the West side while (presumably) Lucy and the others were still on the East side. Unless that wharf was on the West side as well...and the increase in security between the sides delayed the two detectives long enough for a swap to occur.

Hrm...if the wharf was really on the West side and the detectives were held up by security while Moriarty was able to move freely, then it might have been possible for him to perhaps dress Kate in Lucy's clothes and lay the trap for Sherlock having to choose whether Mycroft or Lucy dies. Maybe partially break him via Watson's "death" so he won't hold back, then get him to choose...
I dunno.
 
mdchan said:
Hrm...I didn't think of that (Sherlock being set up as the murderer). I feel it's more on the "gets him to kill someone" vein you mentioned. If Moriarty is going to use Kate as a hostage or something (or force him into a "your brother and your friend are being held at gunpoint and you can only save one of them" sort of thing...maybe even literally with Mycroft).

I was too horrified at first to wonder about Mycroft past the first part of the anime, but that's a good point; what ever happened to him?

I hope the Mary and Watson scene is a fake-out; Watson had definitely been holding something in his right hand (the way his hand was curled when he was lying on the floor), and the bloody handprints on Mary's hands seems to only match up with a scenario that it was either faked (they were in the place that made a bunch of various products from the looks of it, and Mary is cunning) or that Watson held her hands at some point (perhaps to tell her something) after either participating in the trick or stabbing himself.

Certainly, the scene with Lucy feels too easy. I had expected Trevor to come up behind them and lock them in or knock them out, but he's missing. One of the detectives did get a good look at Lucy's face (I just went back and re-watched the scene...it's odd that they didn't say Lucy's name past their initial exclamation)...and someone I had spoken to on Reddit talked about a swap (their theory was that Moriarty swapped Lucy with Kate or himself)...maybe there's something to that theory after all, but perhaps it was Mycroft whom Lucy was swapped with.

Oh. Just thought of something. Maybe Moriarty plans on trying to force Sherlock to kill either Kate or Lucy...or have to choose between Mycroft and Lucy.
The problem I had with the "swapped" theory was that there wasn't enough time for Moriarty to logistically swap Kate with whomever is tied up at the docks there (and it would also require Moriarty to realize that the detectives all had tracking devices on them...wouldn't put it past him, of course).
My biggest issue with the "swapped" theory is that lack of time. Moriarty went on his killing spree during the time the call was dropped with Sherlock on the West side while (presumably) Lucy and the others were still on the East side. Unless that wharf was on the West side as well...and the increase in security between the sides delayed the two detectives long enough for a swap to occur.

Hrm...if the wharf was really on the West side and the detectives were held up by security while Moriarty was able to move freely, then it might have been possible for him to perhaps dress Kate in Lucy's clothes and lay the trap for Sherlock having to choose whether Mycroft or Lucy dies. Maybe partially break him via Watson's "death" so he won't hold back, then get him to choose...
I dunno.
Click to expand...

Lots of cool ideas- it'll be interesting to see what they do.
I think what bothered me most about the whole Lucy thing (I never questioned that it was actually Lucy tied up) was the whole conversation when the detectives were trying to figure out where everyone was in the chaos and Sherlock seemed not only unsurprised that Lucy wasn't responding, but also seemed to think she was somehow trying to benefit from the whole thing- that was a weird conversation. I mean, Lucy doesn't seem the type to side with Moriarty, even if he somehow managed to convince her to do it using her sister or something. I guess he could have hypnotized her, but that's not what Sherlock's comment seemed to indicate. That's what had me confused.

SakuraMitsutsuki said:
Does anyone know why is Irene Adler not added to the character list??
Click to expand...

Probably because you haven't added her! Get on that! (Or I can, I guess). That's a good question though- is it a spoiler or something? Hmm. I can't remember that far back.
 
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Never trust Santa even if he brings gifts...Moriarity is creeping me more each passing episode, his obsession with the teapot with a hole is insane but I am glad Sherlock did not waver this episode like last time.
Poor Watson always gets shot, punched etc xD can't they give the guy a break.
F*** they had to use the ending simultaneously with his suicide..;-; that ending song makes me emotional ffs.
 
Episode 21

I think some of us here should be mystery writers, because some of the ideas we were bouncing off each other would have been far more interesting/entertaining than what we got. XD

That was spectacularly disappointing.

It kept building up and building up to some sort of struggle and showdown (and Watson appearing out of nowhere confused me), and it could have just been so much more or shown the depth of Moriarty's "mastermind"...
But in the end, he only booby-trapped the building and rather abruptly changed from wanting Sherlock to kill Watson to wanting Sherlock to kill him.

The entire set-up with Mary having to kill Watson to save Lucy also wound up completely unused and pointless.

I had expected both of them to fall and for Watson to be able to save Sherlock, so just Moriarty jumping was a bit out of my predictions for what would happen this episode...though as soon as the beam fell through and destroyed the outer part of the building, I knew that Moriarty was going to jump.

Sherlock stepping out in front of Watson was probably one of the best parts (as well as the mess-up with them spelling out "dog" instead of "great"), showing the depth of his character and how he's different from Moriarty.
I don't think Sherlock has a problem with his "teapot" like Moriarty did. If anything, Sherlock just didn't really know how to relate to others or have an answer to their feelings. Though he was the closest Moriarty had to "someone like me", he still wasn't the same as Moriarty was.
That's because Sherlock has the ability to sympathize with others.

The problem with stereotypical psychopath villains is that they're all one-pattern types. Some of them are a little more cunning than others (like in "Trickster"), but in the end they all just fall into the same patterns, stereotypes, and predictability. They're also extremely one-dimensional; I don't remember if I said it here or on the reddit, but psychopath/sociopath villains are the easiest to write because they're so shallow in terms of character depth.

Speaking of lack of character depth...Albert. Well first off, that riddle was the easiest riddle I have ever seen in a mystery anime. Second was that I had hoped he would perhaps give his own "villain motive rant", but he had almost zero lines.
The reason I wanted to hear his own villain speech was because what we learned these past couple episodes and what we saw of the prison scenes involving Moriarty previously don't match up.

In particular, the scene where Moriarty is treated at the infirmary and cries about how alone he is. Also, why did Albert beat Moriarty up if they were on the same side? How did Moriarty manage to poison that unnamed inmate?
With all of the 7th Prison escapees dead (and Albert also dead), there is nobody who can explain the discrepancies to the viewers.

I could say that "oh, the writers were just showing the audience what we think is happening", but that doesn't fly for the mystery genre. It's one thing to mislead viewers (such as how many people were mislead into thinking that Moriarty was Jack back in the first arc due to what they showed, or tricking me into thinking at first that Moriarty could still be innocent of the first suicide crimes), but it's not okay to show something which never actually happened.
And if it did happen, it doesn't align with Moriarty's character.

It's not like he was trying to get sympathy from that guy; he already had the dude under his thumb (and the man was released soon after anyway). Then, there was no need for him to carry on like that. Even for acting, that went to a far extreme...especially acting in front of someone already on his side.
It's fine if they wanted to hide his unexplained hypnosis powers, so they didn't show us too much of that...or for them to just show us brief clips of the prison so that we wouldn't think that he was behind the prison break...
...but it's not okay to show things on screen which never even happened in the first place (or have zero explanation later on).

Also...where are Kate and Mycroft?

Three episodes left to fill in the other holes, but it irks me that we'll never find out why many of the things we saw happen at the prison were different to what actually happened.
It's a case of the "unreliable narrator", but horribly done.
 
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mdchan said:
Episode 21

I think some of us here should be mystery writers, because some of the ideas we were bouncing off each other would have been far more interesting/entertaining than what we got. XD

That was spectacularly disappointing.

It kept building up and building up to some sort of struggle and showdown (and Watson appearing out of nowhere confused me), and it could have just been so much more or shown the depth of Moriarty's "mastermind"...
But in the end, he only booby-trapped the building and rather abruptly changed from wanting Sherlock to kill Watson to wanting Sherlock to kill him.

The entire set-up with Mary having to kill Watson to save Lucy also wound up completely unused and pointless.

I had expected both of them to fall and for Watson to be able to save Sherlock, so just Moriarty jumping was a bit out of my predictions for what would happen this episode...though as soon as the beam fell through and destroyed the outer part of the building, I knew that Moriarty was going to jump.

Sherlock stepping out in front of Watson was probably one of the best parts (as well as the mess-up with them spelling out "dog" instead of "great"), showing the depth of his character and how he's different from Moriarty.
I don't think Sherlock has a problem with his "teapot" like Moriarty did. If anything, Sherlock just didn't really know how to relate to others or have an answer to their feelings. Though he was the closest Moriarty had to "someone like me", he still wasn't the same as Moriarty was.
That's because Sherlock has the ability to sympathize with others.

The problem with stereotypical psychopath villains is that they're all one-pattern types. Some of them are a little more cunning than others (like in "Trickster"), but in the end they all just fall into the same patterns, stereotypes, and predictability. They're also extremely one-dimensional; I don't remember if I said it here or on the reddit, but psychopath/sociopath villains are the easiest to write because they're so shallow in terms of character depth.

Speaking of lack of character depth...Albert. Well first off, that riddle was the easiest riddle I have ever seen in a mystery anime. Second was that I had hoped he would perhaps give his own "villain motive rant", but he had almost zero lines.
The reason I wanted to hear his own villain speech was because what we learned these past couple episodes and what we saw of the prison scenes involving Moriarty previously don't match up.

In particular, the scene where Moriarty is treated at the infirmary and cries about how alone he is. Also, why did Albert beat Moriarty up if they were on the same side? How did Moriarty manage to poison that unnamed inmate?
With all of the 7th Prison escapees dead (and Albert also dead), there is nobody who can explain the discrepancies to the viewers.

I could say that "oh, the writers were just showing the audience what we think is happening", but that doesn't fly for the mystery genre. It's one thing to mislead viewers (such as how many people were mislead into thinking that Moriarty was Jack back in the first arc due to what they showed, or tricking me into thinking at first that Moriarty could still be innocent of the first suicide crimes), but it's not okay to show something which never actually happened.
And if it did happen, it doesn't align with Moriarty's character.

It's not like he was trying to get sympathy from that guy; he already had the dude under his thumb (and the man was released soon after anyway). Then, there was no need for him to carry on like that. Even for acting, that went to a far extreme...especially acting in front of someone already on his side.
It's fine if they wanted to hide his unexplained hypnosis powers, so they didn't show us too much of that...or for them to just show us brief clips of the prison so that we wouldn't think that he was behind the prison break...
...but it's not okay to show things on screen which never even happened in the first place (or have zero explanation later on).

Also...where are Kate and Mycroft?

Three episodes left to fill in the other holes, but it irks me that we'll never find out why many of the things we saw happen at the prison were different to what actually happened.
It's a case of the "unreliable narrator", but horribly done.
Click to expand...

If there really are three episodes left, I expect some answers to these questions. I think what happened at the prison actually happened- the show has never outright lied to us before- misled and thrown numerous red herrings at us, but not outright lied. I had assumed the whole abusive relationship with Albert was 1. because Moriarty didn't have him under his control at that point or 2. Moriarty got some sort of weird satisfaction out of it. But it may actually be because news of this was getting to the detectives, which would throw them (or more accurately, Sherlock) off the scent of his big prison break and inmate suicide plan long enough to get away with it for a while. Or the show may have just massively misled us on what was actually happening in that prison by showing us only certain scenes and leading us to believe they were connected- they could certainly explain that, but I doubt at this point that they will.

I don't believe Sherlock actually KNEW for certain it was Moriarty at the beginning, I think he may have had doubts for a bit, and then his natural thrill of solving a mystery kicked in and he let it go on for a while to see what Moriarty would do. Plus, Moriarty was only killing criminals at the beginning of that part- when he escalated to more innocent people, I think that's when Sherlock realized this was not a game he could play.

MaxwellCoffeeCat said:
I honestly think unless they show his dead body, he's not dead. Don't trust that, but DAMN OK, I thought we would get more time spent on this tbh. Oh well, let's see what comes next
Click to expand...

I also don't think Moriarty is dead- he may not be able to empathize with others, but he is very good at manipulating other people's emotions- as shown just before when he sheds tears to get Sherlock to save him from the falling helicopter. Why do that only to suicide seconds later? Methinks he has a parachute somehow hidden under that jacket or something. He knew Sherlock couldn't kill him.
 
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