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ununpentium:

baker-street:

Identity in The Reichenbach Fall

The theme that runs right through The Reichenbach Fall is that of identity.

• John’s discussion of their media image
• Sherlock is suspected of being a kidnapper after a little girl seems to recognise him.
• The children are fans of Grimm’s fairy tales, a recurring theme of which is identity and disguise
• Sherlock is accused of being a fake
• Both Jim and Kitty employ disguises
• Jim fakes a new identity and claims Moriarty is an invention
• In their final confrontation Jim describes himself and Sherlock as the same person

The idea that Sherlock was mistaken for the kidnapper intrigued me. If the little girls terror was genuine then someone must be disguising themselves as Sherlock to ruin his reputation. Sherlock visits the kidnappers hideout with John and Lestrade to recover the children. Could Sherlock have also found the kidnappers disguise?

Then there’s Sherlock and Jim’s final confrontation. Sherlock sends Jim a text to meet him on the roof and follows up with the text PS above. I first assumed that what belongs to Jim is the security code he stole to access all those IT systems but that text can’t refer to the code. For starters it didn’t exist and secondly why would Sherlock need to return something that Jim has memorised anyway?

Finally there’s canon. In the original story BOTH Holmes and Moriarty fall over the Reichenbach Falls. In Sherlock Jim tells Sherlock that they are one and the same person before shooting himself in the head. Who else do we see in that scene with a head would? Apparently it’s Sherlock, but I’m starting to suspect it’s Moriarty, dressed in the disguise that Sherlock has returned to him, before simply walking or perhaps driving away from the scene.

Very interesting points.

Still not convinced about Moriarty being the body at the end, but love these points :)

(via artisticindulgence)