WARNING – FULL SERIES 2 FINALE SPOILERS

Just how did Sherlock Holmes survive? That’s the question on everyone’s lips following the third and final episode of Sherlock’s second series, The Reichenbach Fall. Unfortunately, it’s something we’re unlikely to see answered for a while. Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch both have a busy time ahead of them on other projects. A third series is unlikely to air until 2013 at the earliest. Until then all we can do is speculate.

The biggest scene that offers a clue is before Sherlock’s (supposedly) fateful meeting with Moriarty when he goes to see Molly and asks for her help.

Sherlock: “Molly, I think I’m going to die.”
Molly: “What do you need?”
Sherlock: “If I wasn’t everything that you think I am, everything that I think I am, would you still want to help me?”
Molly: “What do you need?”
Sherlock: “You.”

This seems to be a key moment and is never touched on again. So who better than a morgue attendant to make sure that the world thinks that Sherlock is dead? Somehow he survived and Molly was the one that helped him to pull it off.

Another possible clue is when John gets knocked down. Sure, it could be a coincidence, but something doesn’t sit quite right there. Did something else vital happen whilst our attention is on John? Was he knocked out for longer than we thought? Did he only think he saw Sherlock’s body?

Of course, one other scenario is that it wasn’t Sherlock that fell. We only saw the back of someone that looked a lot like Sherlock, so could a switcheroo have occurred? Someone willing to die? Seems a bit far fetched though.

How do you think Sherlock survived? Let us know your ideas in the comments.