'Sherlock-The Reichenbach Fall' Theory

Part 2- Staying Alive

Now things are getting interesting.  How exactly did Sherlock survive his fall?  The answer could be many things, but there is one solution that I keep coming back to.  Many theories talk about drugs that slow heart rate, loosen muscles, etc.  However, if Sherlock had taken a drug, the medical people (for lack of a better term) would have noticed, even with Molly's help.

This brings us to an important point:  Molly.  Sherlock asked for her help, and many speculate how she did that.  Interestingly enough, she wasn't one of the three friends that Moriarty was targeting, probably because he saw firsthand how Sherlock treated Molly (I found a video of Sherlock being Sherlock; it's off to the side) and probably didn't think of her as Sherlock's "friend".  This works to Sherlock's advantage.  I think that she helped him in more ways than just one.  Again, drugs come to mind, but she works with dead bodies, which means that she files coroner's reports.  She could have easily filed a fake report for Sherlock.

Also, there is a key moment that none of the theories I have read have mentioned.  While Moriarty is still alive, and Sherlock is standing on the ledge of the hospital roof for the first time, he looks down.  You can see a rectangle marked near the road on the sidewalk.  Maybe, since Molly wasn't being targeted by the assassins, she drew that rectangle on the sidewalk.

You may think, "So what?  It's a rectangle."  It's an important rectangle.  Later, you see an open-roofed rubbish truck near where Sherlock lands.  I believe that she drew it to point the rubbish truck to where it needed to go.

That's another important detail: the rubbish truck.  It provided Sherlock with an ideal landing spot when he fell.  Along with garbage, it could have had something soft to break his fall hidden inside.  Many other theories, you may notice, point this out.  However, there is something they have all missed.

Think back to the very beginning of the episode.  You have just recieved your first glimpse of Moriarty, decked out like a tourist taking pictures with his smartphone.  Right after that, you travel to 221b Baker Street, where John enters, while Sherlock is busy at his microscope.  John sits down in a recliner, then casually asks about the dummy hanging from the ceiling behind him.  Sherlock looks up from his microscope and remarks that the dummy committed suicide.  It just seems like some random Sherlock experiment, nothing new.  Somehow, everyone forgets about the dummy by the end of the episode.

Aha!  The dummy, however, is a key point in Sherlock's fall.  If you look at a picture of the dummy's face and compare it to Sherlock's body, they are eerily similar.  With some makeup and a wig, the dummy has transformed into a bloodied, dead Sherlock.  The dummy could have been in the rubbish truck. When Sherlock fell into said rubbish truck, he could have very easily pushed the dummy out, making it seem like it was the real Sherlock.

Another fact that is probably false but is important not to overlook:  the reporter, Kitty.  Both times she and Sherlock speak, they say three words:  "You repel me".  While the rubbish truck may have broken Sherlock's fall, it is still a long way down from the hospital roof.  Yet at the end of the episode, Sherlock (the alive version) looked fine.  Although it shows Sherlock's fall, he could have repelled down to the rubbish truck.  If you don't know what repelling is, it's what mountain climbers do to get down the side of the rock.  It's possible that sneaky Sherlock could have done this, but with John and everyone else watching, he most likely wouldn't have.

That's another problem:  John.  Sherlock couldn't let him in on the plan, so he had to take care of him a different way.  Most of the Internet has already solved this problem, but it's worth repeating.  You'll notice that the whole time Sherlock is talking to John on the phone, he wants John to stay in exactly the same spot.  Every time John deviates, Sherlock tells him to stay where he is.  This may partly be because of the sniper, but I don't think so.  Instead, just after Sherlock jumps, John tries to go to his side but is knocked down by a biker, probably one of the Homeless Network.  If John hadn't been in that exact spot, John wouldn't have been knocked down.  Since John seemed to have hit his head fairly hard, he probably didn't take Sherlock's pulse as accurately as he should have, thus pronouncing Sherlock dead when it was really the dummy.

One thing that bothers me:  Sherlock's crying.  Or rather, some theories' explanation for the crying.  They say that Sherlock Holmes is a great actor, which is true, and that he did what needed to be done.  However, since we are speculating, I do not agree.  Even though Sherlock has said time and time again that he has no time for sentiment, John is his closest friend.  Maybe it did start out as acting, but maybe Sherlock was genuinely regretful about deceiving his friend.  You never know, especially with Sherlock.  : )

*Note:  I find it hard to believe that someone as smart and used to keeping secrets as Mycroft would tell their brother's life story to anybody.  This leads me to think that somehow, Mycroft helped Sherlock fake his death.  I don't really know how, but it's something to be considered.