I don’t know if the version Sherlock was telling Anderson was the correct one, but I do feel that he was deliberately messing with Anderson. At the end Anderson appeared to be in a complete breakdown. I think Sherlock meant to drive Anderson over the edge in retaliation for what he did to Sherlock.
StG
I think by the end of S3E3 you can see the writers were pushing conventions this time. Moffat seems to be effectively borrowing David Simon’s line a about "fuck the casual viewer … ". Certainly the resolution to this arc isn’t tied up in a pretty bow.
I suspect there’s no other significant reason to keep this whole ship afloat; pretty well everyone involved could be doing other significant projects if they wanted.
The writers should have had Watson saying, “Yes, I know you were still alive, so fuck off. I’m proposing.”
The show has become too tortured by half.
Keep watching.
When Gatiss chats casually in his own voice, it’s fun to hear him revert to his native accent. As Mycroft or other characters, he has an elegant Oxfordian speaking voice. When he relaxes and speaks as himself, he starts to sound more like John Lennon or Ringo Starr.
It’s all very simple. The death and resurrection was a macguffin, a bit of fluff to move the plot along, and something to maintain fan obsession during the off season, and past it.
And he went into the laundry bags, not the air bag. We only have his word that the truck was too far away, and he is an accomplished liar. Duh. 
Sherlock Holmes is not a sociopath. He does not meet the criteria. He was messing with the detective he didn’t like when he said it, which he is more than willing to to.
Now this is true! Probably on the very high end of the autism scale, he understands social conventions and most human interactions, but he doesn’t bother with them unless it will help him. Which is why he only has Watson for a close friend.
Watson is the only person that was fascinated by his deductive abilities, which surprised Sherlock. Everyone else is put off by them. So Sherlock has never bothered using the social conventions, they are a waste of time since people will hate him anyway.
He told Anderson the correct version. He had no reason to lie to Anderson, and probably even felt a small bit of guilt at the way the deception destroyed Anderson’s life. (See above about Sherlock not being a sociopath.) And Anderson wasn’t having a break down, he was celebrating. Realizing he hadn’t driven Sherlock to suicide and he was free to start living again. He didn’t need all that stuff on the walls.
dropzone, he had no reason to lie about the truck. If it would have worked, he could could have used it then said that he used it. (Although a better reason to not use it was the impossibility of getting out of the back of it quickly. He only had a minute or two to get out of the back, get the blood done, then get on the ground for Watson to check him. The bag he just slid off of. The back of a laundry truck, with the wind knocked out of him (Softer than the ground and survivable yes. Soft, no.) trying to climb over the bags to get out? Way too much time.)
And for whoever said just drive the truck onto the sidewalk, the large truck on the sidewalk were Holmes supposedly landed would have been way too noticeable from where Watson was standing.
Oh, like giant air bags inflate instantly!
How about–it didn’t happen. Mycroft implanted a false memory in Watson’s head…
A fun thing about fiction is that it can be anything the author wants it to be. There is no requirement that it be internally consistent, and if Moffitt and Gattis promise it will be they may be lying. I just sit back and enjoy the ride. And Episode 2, broadcast tonight on PBS, will be a fun ride.
No one said they inflated instantly, and the scene showed them inflated in an area that was blocked from Watson’s view. That was why they needed him to not move from that spot. He couldn’t see the bag and he couldn’t see the exact spot that Sherlock landed from there.
So far there is nothing in the shows to say that Mycroft can implant false memories. If that shows up at some point in a show, you can make an argument for it in this case.
Now that I’ve seen this episode, I’ve read the latest entry and you’re right. This wasn’t my favorite episode, but it’s the best of all the blog entries!
I don’t like Sherlock’s explanation - too many moving parts, too many people in on it.
My big concern for how Sherlock could pull off the fall without dying was not Watson, but rather the shooter who was watching Watson. Because the whole point of Sherlock going off the building and dying was not that Watson would see him, but that Moriarty’s network would see him.
So now they say Mycroft’s people took out that shooter. Except that kinda makes the whole point fail.
However, as far as Holmes staying dead for two years to take out Moriarty’s organization, that at least made some sense. The whole point was not that Moriarty had his three friends in the immediate crosshairs - he did, but that wasn’t the threat. Because even if Holmes anticipated it and got Mycroft’s people in place to take out those killers, Moriarty’s threat was that he had a hit out on those three people. One set of killers fail, another set of killers would try again. That is why Holmes needed to die - until he could remove the future threat by dismantling the organization enough to be sure there was no one left to come after his friends.
I suppose if everyone on that block just happened to be either a few of Holmes homeless folk or else part of Mycroft’s organization and thus totally trustworthy in keeping the secret, it might be conceivable. Nobody is going to be asking the homeless what they know about it. But really it seemed too many bodies, too many possibilities for uncontrolled spectators to see the exchange.
But ultimately that was the problem with any scenario. How does Sherlock not hit the pavement and nobody notice he landed in the laundry truck first or the giant airbag getting shuffled around or the bungee cord? Too many possibilities for other witnesses.
And there’s no way they closed off the streets. Moriarty’s gotta have people watching what’s going on to get the word out, to ensure Holmes follows through. That was what Moriarty said - his people see Holmes fall.
So ultimately I’m left disappointed, but I didn’t expect any answer to be able to beat the challenge they set for themselves in that story.