The BBC’s Sherlock peaked with the episode that saw Sherlock Holmes’ (Benedict Cumberbatch) death, and two years before the show tried to explain how Holmes faked his death, another detective show revealed how. Some of the best TV shows of all time are detective shows, and most of them have a lot to thank Sherlock Holmes for. The character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has been the inspiration behind many iconic TV detectives, and he has also been adapted to TV multiple times.

In recent years, Sherlock Holmes has found great success on TV with modern adaptations, offering a different, fresh look at the Great Detective, Dr. Watson, and their accompanying characters. One of the best modern Sherlock Holmes TV shows is the BBC’s Sherlock, created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss. Sherlock brought the detective and company to modern-day London, adapting them to modern technology and more. Despite its final two seasons being a disappointment, Sherlock is still one of the best detective TV shows of all time.

Sherlock‘s decline began with season 3’s premiere episode, “The Empty Hearse”, as in season 2’s finale, “The Reichenbach Fall”, Holmes supposedly died. “The Empty Hearse” saw his return, and fans had impatiently waited for the episode to arrive as they wanted to know how Holmes faked his death. Unfortunately, Sherlock failed to answer that, but two years before season 3’s premiere, The Mentalist offered the best explanation.

The Mentalist Explained A Key Part Of How Sherlock Faked His Death

In “The Reichenbach Fall”, Jim Moriarty (Andrew Scott) did everything he could to destroy Holmes’ public image and make him look like a fraud. The final step in his plan was to push the detective to kill himself, but Holmes found a way out at the last minute. However, Moriarty, not willing to accept defeat, killed himself so that Holmes would have no other option than to do the same. Holmes jumped off the roof of St. Bart’s Hospital in front of John (Martin Freeman), but it was all perfectly calculated.

Holmes was revealed to be alive at the end of the episode, leaving viewers wondering for two long years how he faked his death so well. Two years before Sherlock season 3 arrived, and just a couple of days after “The Reichenbach Fall” aired, The Mentalist explained a key part of how Holmes managed to fake his death in front of John. The Mentalist follows Patrick Jane (Simon Baker), an independent consultant for the CBI and former “psychic”, when, in reality, he just has exceptional observational skills.

In season 4’s episode “My Bloody Valentine”, Jane uses a squash ball under the arm of crime boss Gabriel Porchetto to temporarily block blood flow, faking a lack of pulse and thus his death. This detail was brilliantly spotted by fans of both The Mentalist and Sherlock, who also pointed out that, before meeting Moriarty on the rooftop, Holmes was playing with a squash ball. Holmes using the squash ball to fake a lack of pulse when John checked became one of the most popular fan theories of how he faked his death, but the show learned the wrong lesson.

Sherlock Learned The Wrong Lesson From The Mentalist (& Fans)

Between seasons 2 and 3, fans of Sherlock went wild with theories on how Holmes faked his death, and many of them were honestly brilliant and impressive. The Mentalist provided a key element to figure out how Holmes did it, but unfortunately, as mentioned above, Sherlock learned the wrong lesson from both Patrick Jane’s show and its own fans.

The team behind Sherlock certainly paid attention to the most popular fan theories, but instead of getting inspiration from them and honoring its audience, it ended up mocking them. “The Empty Hearse” featured obsessed fans of the detective who, led by none other than Anderson, gathered to share theories about Holmes’ survival. The show made fun of its own audience through this, and even worse, it never gave an official explanation of how Holmes faked his death.

At the end of the episode, Holmes supposedly details how he did it to Anderson, and this explanation includes the squash ball, but as Anderson points out, there are many inconsistencies in that story – but this encounter might not have even happened at all, as when Anderson turns around, Holmes is gone. Sherlock learned the wrong lessons from its fans and The Mentalist, leading to its downfall.