History Recap / SherlockS02E03TheReichenbachFall

* ArtisticLicenceChemistry: Sherlock, you are working with oil. ''Of course'' you are going to find glycerol.
* AsYouKnow: Lampshaded and justified during Sherlock's confrontation with Moriarty after the trial, when they both know what Moriarty's up to but somebody needs to explain it for the audience.

* AteHisGun: Moriarty shoots himself in the head to make sure Sherlock can't outgambit him into saving Sherlock's friends.

** Right before jumping off St. Bart's, Sherlock tells John that Moriarty's version of the story is true so that John, Lestrade and Mrs Hudson won't get offed by snipers.
** Sherlock's earlier attempt to do this was, sadly, a lot more successful. John receives a phone call telling him that Mrs Hudson has been shot. Sherlock refuses to go with him to see her and acts as if he doesn't care about her when previous events have clearly shown otherwise. Throughout the episode, people have been slowly turning against Sherlock, all except John who has been fighting his corner all the way until this moment which causes him to snap and call Sherlock a 'machine' before abandoning him as well. It turns out Mrs Hudson was fine all along and the whole thing was a ruse set-up by Sherlock to get John to leave him so he could face Moriarty alone.

** John is making a comment about Newspaper Nicknames where Sherlock points out that John already has one, "Confirmed Bachelor John Watson" which he is less than pleased with. Later on after Moriarty is arrested and newspapers are flying across the screen, if you [[FreezeFrameBonus pause it to read it]] you will see they once again address John as "Confirmed Bachelor".

* ChekhovsGunman: A literal example -- Mrs Hudson's repairman is an assassin (with his gun in his toolbox) sent by Moriarty to kill her if Sherlock does not commit suicide.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Holmes is an incredible, unbelievable detective. So Moriarty arranges matters so he's less credible, and to make people stop believing in him. In fact, people start to think he actually set up the crimes he solved.
* DidYouActuallyBelieve: There's no magic formula that can open any door. Moriarty just blackmailed and threatened a few people, and is actually disappointed that even Sherlock bought it.
** Also, at the end when Sherlock is standing on the roof of Bart's and telling John "no one could be that clever" in regards to him faking his genius. Averted by the fact that Sherlock was lying about being a fake in order to save John, Lestrade and Mrs Hudson.

** At a trial, the judge threatens to throw Sherlock into a cell for contempt of court, and asks "Do you think you could survive for just a few minutes ''without showing off?!?"'' Sherlock thinks for an instant and opens his mouth. Cut to Sherlock being thrown in a cell.

* HeroicSuicide: Moriarty's endgame isn't killing Sherlock, but railroading him into killing himself so his friends won't be killed.

* HopeSpot: Sherlock's last-minute realisation that Moriarty has a way to call off the assassins targeting John, Mrs Hudson and Lestrade. His attempt to TakeAThirdOption is brutally cut off by Moriarty's ThanatosGambit.

* LonelyFuneral: We don't see anybody at Sherlock's funeral besides John and Mrs Hudson. Either everyone left already, or nobody cared to show up because of Sherlock's self-confirmed status as a fraud.

** Moriarty's threatening but very civil discussion with Sherlock in the sitting room at Baker Street recalls his visit to 221b in "The Final Problem."

* OccamsRazor: There is no supercode for hacking into all of the world's systems; Moriarty simply used expertly-placed inside men.
* OhCrap: When John gets word that Mrs Hudson was shot, he rushes over to Baker Street to check on her. Upon seeing her fine, he realizes something is wrong and goes to find Sherlock.

* PowerIncontinence: Although not magical or a superpower, Sherlock's constant deductions about his surroundings cause trouble for him. After he is thrown out of a courtroom for contempt because he annoyed the judge by analyzing the jury and refused to stop commenting on the lawyers' questions before they asked them, John tells Sherlock that he told him "not to be clever." Sherlock irritably replies that he can't just turn it on and off.

* SmithOfTheYard: Continuing the trend of series 2, Sherlock is becoming an internationally-renowned detective. John warns him that if the press doesn't find something new to fixate on, they'll turn on him - and Moriarty takes it upon himself to make that happen.

** When Moriarty makes it appear as if Sherlock has been setting up all these crimes so he can "solve" them and look like a genius, Sherlock's jerk behaviour for a while eventually ends up helping the scheme out. A reporter he ran down as a joke gets revenge by printing the story as fact, and Sherlock discovers that when you insult police on a constant basis as being complete idiots, you're not going to get much support from them. Indeed, many of the cops are more than ready to believe Sherlock did this, rather than actually being that smart.

* VictoryIsBoring: When it looks like he's defeated Sherlock, Moriarty starts whining about how he doesn't have any challenges anymore, and has to go back to "playing with the ordinary people." He solves the problem by shooting himself in the head.

* DidYouActuallyBelieve: There's no magic formula that can open any door. Moriarty just bribed a few people, and is actually disappointed that even Sherlock bought it.

* HollywoodHacking: Subverted. Moriarty appears to have written a small string of computer code (ridiculously small, if he can give it to Sherlock by tapping his fingers) that can hack any system on the planet. He demonstrates this at the beginning of the episode by breaking into the three most secure spots in London simultaneously, using a few smartphone apps. However, it is revealed at the end that Moriarty was making it all up: There was no code, [[MundaneSolution he simply bribed his way in]]. The mobile apps merely alerted his men on the inside. Which is good, because if this had been played straight, it would have been one of the most egregious examples out there. [[note]]The "code" was simple enough that Jim could tap it out in binary on his fingers during a single conversation. For comparison, the text that makes up this very page would take well over 100,000 "taps".[[/note]] It's blatant enough that he's a bit disappointed Sherlock fell for it.

** Sherlock faces off against Moriarty on how the man came up with a super-hacking code and intends to use it in order to prove his innocence. Moriarty just laughs that there is no code, he just bribed people to open up bank vaults at the right moment and is disappointed Sherlock didn't see that.

* TooCleverByHalf: {{Lampshaded}} when Sherlock believes Moriarty has created a super-hacking bug that can open bank vaults, prison cells and the Tower of London. He confronts Moriarty on how he'll figure out how to use the bug himself. Moriarty then laughs that there ''is'' no bug, he just bribed people to open up doors at the right moment and is amazed Sherlock fell for his ruse.

* BriefAccentImitation:
** Sherlock switches from his Irish accent to an American one here and there, without much reason.
** In his final confrontation with Sherlock, Moriarty slips into an American accent for a little bit for [[AxCrazy no reason at all]].

-->'''Moriarty:''' That's your problem, you always want everything to be so ''clever''.

* HeroismAddict: Kitty Riley makes everyone believe that Sherlock is the true mastermind behind all the crimes he "solves."

* SpotOfTea:
** Sherlock and Moriarty might be mortal enemies, but they're still British (well, Sherlock is), so Sherlock makes them both a cup of it.
** During the break-ins, ''every single one'' involves ''someone'' who is drinking tea.

-->Moriarty is playing with your mind, too. Can't you SEE WHAT'S GOING ON?