The Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland play a prominent role in the original Sherlock Holmes stories. It’s the place where it comes to the final confrontation with his archenemy James Moriarty. ‘The greatest crisis of my career’ Holmes writes in his farewell letter to Dr. Watson in the story titled ‘The Final Problem’. One of the most interesting deviations from ACD canon in the modern Sherlock BBC adaptation lies in the considerable time difference between the first meeting of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson and the introduction of James Moriarty, which ultimately leads to the dramatic events at the Reichenbach Falls and Holmes’ hiatus after his faked death.
While in canon Holmes and Watson know each other for 10 years before Moriarty enters the story (X), Sherlock BBC introduces that famous antagonist of the great detective already in the first episode and sets the Reichenbach Fall only eighteen months later, thereby replacing the Swiss waterfall with Bart’s roof. Jim Moriarty compares falling to flying ... ‘falling’s just like flying except there’s a more permanent destination’ … and indeed, both topics play a major role throughout the story told so far and are constantly repeated in the series and episodes. Appart from S1, each series ends or starts with a ‘fall’ or ‘flight’.
However, whereas strangeness, improbability, drama and violence increase in a lot of other repeated scenes, the outcome of the ‘fall’ seems to decrease.
TBC below the cut …
Series Two: The Reichenbach Fall
Sherlock and Jim maneuver each other into a position of stalemate. Both commit suicide. Jim shoots himself. Sherlock spreads his arms as if ready to fly and throws himself from Bart’s roof. He falls and lands hard on the pavement in front of the hospital. Both characters end with their skulls cracked open. It’s the beginning of Sherlock’s (and Jim’s) hiatus.
Series Three: His Last Vow
Sherlock doesn’t fall at the end of this series, he flies instead. He takes a plane into exile, which turns round and returns after a few minutes. Sherlock lands safely on the same tarmac where he’d entered the plane. Somehow Jim is back as well on every TV screen of the country.
Special: The Abominable Bride
Sherlock, John and Jim have their showdown at the Reichenbach Falls inside an imagined victorian setting. John pushes Jim over the brink of the waterfall and Sherlock jumps after him out of his own free will. This time Sherlock doesn’t fall though. He flies ... with a broad smile on his face. Someone who is able to fly like a bird, should also be able to land safely, I assume. :)
Series Four: The Final Problem
In contrast to the other episodes, neither ‘fall’ nor ‘flight’ happen at the end but near the beginning of TFP. When the ‘passions’ grenade explodes Sherlock and John are catapulted through fire and flames out of the windows of 221b right onto a ship somewhere on a stormy ocean. Both men become pirates.
SHERLOCK: My name’s Sherlock Holmes.
BEN: The detective!
SHERLOCK: The pirate.
FISHERMAN: This man stole my boat. ’e’s a pirate.
JOHN: Yeah, I really am.
The ship takes them to the island Sherrinford and subsequently, to modern Sherlock’s ‘final problem’ … followed by a long, still ongoing hiatus ...
(Thanks @gosherlocked . Without your reminder I would have concentrated on the episode-ends only and forgotten the most important ‘fall/flight’ caused by the ‘passions’ grenade.)
Instead of a ‘fall’ or a ‘flight’ the fourth series ends with a race. This makes even more sense because Sherlock had been able to land Eurus/his plane safely. The last picture of TFP shows Sherlock and John running side by side full speed out of a building with a high arched opening, onto 'Rathbone Place’.
Back to Series One
Among the promotion pics for the first series there are two which display a great resemblance with the final shot for S4. Sherlock and John are running full speed under vaulted arches (source of pic). Appart from the location there are some interesting differences:
While the first race takes place inside or even underground with a seemingly dark destination, the other race goes out into the open and into sunlight
Sherlock and John have switched places from left to right. It’s a mirrored position.
While in the pic for S1 Sherlock runs slightly ahead of John, in the final pic for S4 both characters run exactly side by side and completely in sync with each other.
A balance has been found and something has definitely changed …..
I leave you to your own deductions. Thanks @callie-ariane for the scripts.
