The Physics of Mary jumping in front of Sherlock

riteofashkente:

Mary jumping in front Sherlock is impossible from a Physics standpoint - an average bullet travels at 400 m/s (I took this as an estimation, it can be from about 300 m/s to 800 m/s and more depending on the gun, but since the gun used is a small handgun and the distance is very small, 400 m/s is a good estimate). Mrs Norbury stands about 5-10 m from Sherlock (my estimation skills are appalling, but they are no further apart than 10 m, as you can see below),

which means Mary has 0.0125-0.025 s to see the bullet and jump in front of it. The average reaction time of a human is about 0.2 s, the world’s fastest being 0.101 s. She would literally have to be superhuman to jump in front of Sherlock, let alone to react to the bullet being fired.

As Sherlock is a show that relies much on reality, then this has to be made up (remember Moriarty and his binary code?). The casual viewer who is used to Hollywood flicks with Physics-defying stunts doesn’t really bat an eye at this, but once you look at this scene again the jump from slow-motion to normal time is rather odd.

The effect used in the shot above, by the way, is called a Dolly zoom or a Hitchcock zoom. It has been used before in Sherlock, namely in the shot of Sherlock kissing Molly (meta). Here the use is justified - Sherlock realises that he will be shot. But in the previous case, it was used for a scene that ended up not being true, just a figment of someone’s imagination. Not definite proof in any way, but just something more to consider.

Sherlock doesn’t move - his expression stays the same, he doesn’t react because this is happening in the span of milliseconds. Also you can’t even see Mary in the gif above - she is nowhere close to Sherlock.

You can see Sherlock trying to dodge the bullet, but even that is rather unrealistic, since the bullet had made most of its way towards him before we can see any reaction.

The only way Mary could have done that jump in time was to move before the shot was fired, which doesn’t happen either, as you cannot see her in the slow motion gifs.

But maybe Sherlock does use Hollywood Physics? Then surely it has done so all along, since this series has been planned long ago and there is no need for sudden adjustments. We luckily have a very similar scene to compare this to, in real time, no less:

Notice how Sherlock blinks AFTER the bullet hits him?

(You can see the bullet hole in the first photo, he blinks only in the second one).

By the time he sees the shot being fired he is already hit. This is a very realistic depiction of someone getting shot - you don’t have time to see the bullet, even with the flash of light that doesn’t happen in real life. Yes, the distance is bigger in TST, but it would need to be hundreds of meters for any jumping to be remotely possible.

In conclusion: whatever went down in the aquarium wasn’t what we were shown. Slowing down time to make decisions, plants moving of their own accord - this happens in Sherlock’s mind palace, not in reality. Otherwise we may just consider the entire show to be science fiction and expect the Doctor to pop up in the next episode. 

Also notice that Mary got shot basically in the same place as Sherlock - if Sherlock was unconscious in three seconds, then why does Mary have time to deliver a Shakespearean death speech and the dramatically die in John’s arms? This is what happens in Elizabethan tragedies or operas, not in BBC TV series with the action set in the 21st century.

Some Mythbusters Physics about this: video, text. Note that they are in fact hundreds of meters away - any distance closer is not worth considering unless you happen to be Quicksilver.

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Thanks to the OP for putting this together. It is totally impossible! Which leads us back to episode fuckery of one type or another.