What is bothering me for a long time...

[caribou]

I don't remember a lot of details from the earlier cases to add value to the discussion, but I think that was a pretty big thing you picked up on texascoffeegirl, and am now quite convinced that Yoko Okino must be in with the BO. More than the cigarettes and ashtray (though they are significant too) I realised that the Statue of Liberty lighter is something that Holmes might call "most singular"... since Yoko is known to be very popular in Japan but I don't remember any mention that she is famous internationally - so I doubt she travels out of the country a lot. And as you've pointed out, Yoko doesn't smoke as far as we know. So the lighter signifies a friend from the US (New York - which immediately takes me back to the Golden Apple case), or who frequently travels there, but is in Japan quite a bit too..and I wouldn't be surprised (now) if it is Vermouth.

I think the theory that Yoko was Akai's girlfriend may be taking it a little far though...

[Chekhov MacGuffin]

I don't think so. You forget that Vermouth messaged "The Boss" first then got the reply to come back. She most likely told him everything that happened(minus Conan and Ai) and he judged that she went overboard. If someone was trailing Vermouth, they would of informed "The Boss" that Conan=Shinichi since he practically revealed it himself. They would also inform "The Boss" that Vermouth located her target(Sherry) but did not report that or the fact that a 5 year old Detective bested her. This would probably have Gin doing his happy dance because he would receive the order to kill her. You can just tell Vermouth hurt Gin deeply somehow, probably refused his chocolate at the annual B.O. dance.

I don't know the anime, but in the manga, the phone rings first then she answers. At least it looks like it to me. And I think you misunderstood me here. I think Vermouth is watched or works together  by or with another BOmember. This person watching her must not have been necessarily in hearing distance.

The boss texted -not called- Vermouth. The ringing was probably the text received chime. Yes, I know it rang multiple times, but the boss couldn't have called her regardless. At this point, Conan was awake listening to Vermouth since he heard the seven children tune she made while typing a reply text to the boss's number. In a quiet car in the woods, Conan could have heard what the voice sounded like on the other end. Since Conan has no idea about any physical characteristics of the boss still, she must have not called him.

Spoiler:

I don't think anyone was nearby when she called (except Agasa who was listening with a radio.)

I don't think so. You forget that Vermouth messaged "The Boss" first then got the reply to come back. She most likely told him everything that happened(minus Conan and Ai) and he judged that she went overboard. If someone was trailing Vermouth, they would of informed "The Boss" that Conan=Shinichi since he practically revealed it himself.

My guess is she told the boss absolutely nothing about what she was up to. Araide would have been killed when he returned if this was the case. My guess is she told a story similar to the one she told Gin: she was found coincidentally by Akai and he took out some of her ribs. The boss, suspicious about what she has been up to, has recalled her since he probably suspects there was more to her story than she informed him of.

Correct, but with a little spot on it: Vermouth doesn't walk around freely anymore. In Vol.34 chap. 2 p. 7 Conan states that since the Pisco arc, Chris Vineyard hasn't make any public appearances. Why suddenly now? And moreover, why does she wear a bulletproof vest (like Gin)?

She went into disguise as Araide after the Pisco arc. It would be difficult to double time as a star so she chose to leave the spotlight for her undercover work. She wears a bullet proof vest because she doesn't want to be shot.

That's an interesting look at it. I always assumed Calvados was knocked unconscious and restrained, which explains why it took him so long to kill himself.

That's what I assumed happened. Akai was probably busy dealing with him which is why he showed up a bit late saving Jodie.

[kkslider5552000]

She wears a bullet proof vest because she doesn't want to be shot.

I'm not exactly sure why, but sigged.

[TheBlind]

That's what I assumed happened. Akai was probably busy dealing with him which is why he showed up a bit late saving Jodie.

Actually that reminds me, what did the FBI do with Calvados' body? They probably couldn't get any I.D. off it, and assuming he shot himself in the head, maybe that was the body Akai used for a switch during the explosion(if he really didn't get shot in the face and died).

Another theory would be that Calvados isn't dead. Akai really turned him into a informant and staged the suicide. Calvados could be Okiya or scar-Akai working for real Akai, I have no evidence to back it up since the last chapter I read was "Red Wall" but might be the curve ball Gosho was holding.

P.S.- One more theory would be that there is no Calvados. Calvados was really double agent Akai. Explains why a sharpshooter couldn't land a clean shot on a moving target outside of "Ran is a main character"(a killing shot would be difficult, but a good sharpshooter would be able to make contact..especially with all the tries Calvados had on Ran), why a sharpshooter let Jodie out of his vision of fire(we all assumed it was because Akai already took care of him by this point but was it?), and why Akai wasn't upset that Calvados killed himself. All fun speculation but Gosho could be cursing up a storm now because he has to redo the next arc.

[Abs.]

All fun speculation but Gosho could be cursing up a storm now because he has to redo the next arc.

Are you implying that Aoyama-sensei has spies in this very forum!?!?!?!?! 

8)

[TheBlind]

All fun speculation but Gosho could be cursing up a storm now because he has to redo the next arc.

Are you implying that Aoyama-sensei has spies in this very forum!?!?!?!?!   :o

8)

Gosho has spies everywhere. He cannot be trusted.*Runs as men with G's on their back give chase*

[buemudkipz]

Eh, to all of you who are joking around saying that Aoyama has to change his next arc because we know TOO MUCH *LE GASP*, it's okay.

I posted once that if Aoyama caught wind of us saying all this stuff about DC coming to an end soon, he would put in more fillers. I posted that during Eri's Misfortune. The ending of that case? Nothing happened. I jinxed it, apparently. 

[CTU]

Eh, to all of you who are joking around saying that Aoyama has to change his next arc because we know TOO MUCH *LE GASP*, it's okay.

Of course it is ok since by changing it Aoyama will only make the next arc that much better



I can dream, can't I?

[Chekhov MacGuffin]

Eh, to all of you who are joking around saying that Aoyama has to change his next arc because we know TOO MUCH *LE GASP*, it's okay.

Of course it is ok since by changing it Aoyama will only make the next arc that much better
I can dream, can't I?

I think it would be interesting to have an arc where there is a known bad guy instead of the usual "suspicious suspect whose allegiance is unknown". The arc revolves around collecting information about this person, figuring out what their plan is, interfering with it without getting caught, and taking him/her down. It would be the equivalent of a howdunit instead of a whodunit.

[CTU]

Eh, to all of you who are joking around saying that Aoyama has to change his next arc because we know TOO MUCH *LE GASP*, it's okay.

Of course it is ok since by changing it Aoyama will only make the next arc that much better
I can dream, can't I?

I think it would be interesting to have an arc where there is a known bad guy instead of the usual "suspicious suspect whose allegiance is unknown". The arc revolves around collecting information about this person, figuring out what their plan is, interfering with it without getting caught, and taking him/her down. It would be the equivalent of a howdunit instead of a whodunit.

Wow you just did halve of Aoyama  job for him...expect that to be the next case....lol.

[Abs.]

I think it would be interesting to have an arc where there is a known bad guy instead of the usual "suspicious suspect whose allegiance is unknown". The arc revolves around collecting information about this person, figuring out what their plan is, interfering with it without getting caught, and taking him/her down. It would be the equivalent of a howdunit instead of a whodunit.

You want 425 all over again?

[Chekhov MacGuffin]

I think it would be interesting to have an arc where there is a known bad guy instead of the usual "suspicious suspect whose allegiance is unknown". The arc revolves around collecting information about this person, figuring out what their plan is, interfering with it without getting caught, and taking him/her down. It would be the equivalent of a howdunit instead of a whodunit.

You want 425 all over again?

Except with one B.O. agent as the focus and extended into a whole arc and made epic. I'll try give a weak example. Let's suppose the scenario is there is a Syndicate spy in the police force.
 The start of the arc could be an open ended type of mystery. Conan could get wind of some shenanigans because a case he was in has some unexpected discrepancy, say Conan expected the forensics to come to Conclusion A about some piece of evidence but they came to Conclusion B. Conan knows there is something wrong, so he looks into it. Conan's investigation yields several suspects, say three, in the police force whom could have tampered with the case.
   At the start of part two of the arc, Conan looks into each of his suspects but finds nothing extremely conclusive. Then, out the blue, Conan makes a shocking discovery, this tampering case is B.O. related. After getting over the shock, Conan gets serious. After investigating all the suspects and gathering clues over a short period of relevant cases and fillers, Conan runs into a case which nets him the critical connection he needs to figure out which suspect is the B.O. member. After bugging the mole, Conan also finds out that the B.O. member has some specific task he is trying to carry out, but Conan doesn't know what it is.
   Now Conan has a conundrum: he knows who the bad guy is, but he doesn't have the evidence that he can use to drag the guy out into the open. Furthermore Conan knows that the member is up to no good, yet has no idea what they are trying to accomplish. And to add icing on the cake, the mole has figured out someone had investigated him and is doing his own counter investigation because Conan slipped up slightly. (Conan bugged the suspect and the bug was found perhaps? That's been done before though...) There is no way Conan can leave the guy on his own, but investigating him will only rouse the target's suspicions: the only solution is to walk the knife's edge. Thus begins the third act of the arc, with the readers trying to figure out 1) what methods Conan will use to get close enough investigate the mole, 2) what the B.O. operative's assigned task is, 3) how far that operative's counter investigation has gone, 4) how Conan can throw him off the scent. It is a slow motion battle (i.e. takes place over a dozen cases or so) with successive cases revealing more useful clues as Conan gets sidetracked by various mysteries. Finally Conan gets all the clues together and figures out the plan.
The fourth part is the clash arc where Conan will attempt to stop whatever it is the mole is intending to do without getting caught. The readers will attempt to deduce what is going on, somewhat like the confrontation with Vermouth. Things won't go exactly as planned and someone unexpected makes a surprise move to shock the reader/Conan. An assistant sleeper operative (Vermouth in disguise again?) among the earlier suspects that Conan ruled out would fill this role. There were subtle hints pointing to it, and only now were their repercussions made clear. Maybe Conan knew and planned for it, or maybe he didn't and compensates. In any case though, Conan's plan to drag the guy into the open doesn't go quite right and Gin steps in to kill the mole and maintain his reputation for derailing Conan's plans. The surprise agent gets recalled or something like that. In one sense, Conan suceeded in stopping the plan, but it is also the org's win because Conan is unfortunately left with no one to cuff and no information that can be used to bring the Syndicate to light. Back to square one, mostly.
Then Gosho starts another arc and the cycle of DC continues. Not the end.

[TheBlind]

I think it would be interesting to have an arc where there is a known bad guy instead of the usual "suspicious suspect whose allegiance is unknown". The arc revolves around collecting information about this person, figuring out what their plan is, interfering with it without getting caught, and taking him/her down. It would be the equivalent of a howdunit instead of a whodunit.

You want 425 all over again?

Except with one B.O. agent as the focus and extended into a whole arc and made epic. I'll try give a weak example. Let's suppose the scenario is there is a Syndicate spy in the police force.
 

Spoiler:

  The start of the arc could be an open ended type of mystery. Conan could get wind of some shenanigans because a case he was in has some unexpected discrepancy, say Conan expected the forensics to come to Conclusion A about some piece of evidence but they came to Conclusion B. Conan knows there is something wrong, so he looks into it. Conan's investigation yields several suspects, say three, in the police force whom could have tampered with the case.
    At the start of part two of the arc, Conan looks into each of his suspects but finds nothing extremely conclusive. Then, out the blue, Conan makes a shocking discovery, this tampering case is B.O. related. After getting over the shock, Conan gets serious. After investigating all the suspects and gathering clues over a short period of relevant cases and fillers, Conan runs into a case which nets him the critical connection he needs to figure out which suspect is the B.O. member. After bugging the mole, Conan also finds out that the B.O. member has some specific task he is trying to carry out, but Conan doesn't know what it is.
    Now Conan has a conundrum: he knows who the bad guy is, but he doesn't have the evidence that he can use to drag the guy out into the open. Furthermore Conan knows that the member is up to no good, yet has no idea what they are trying to accomplish. And to add icing on the cake, the mole has figured out someone had investigated him and is doing his own counter investigation because Conan slipped up slightly. (Conan bugged the suspect and the bug was found perhaps? That's been done before though...) There is no way Conan can leave the guy on his own, but investigating him will only rouse the target's suspicions: the only solution is to walk the knife's edge. Thus begins the third act of the arc, with the readers trying to figure out 1) what methods Conan will use to get close enough investigate the mole, 2) what the B.O. operative's assigned task is, 3) how far that operative's counter investigation has gone, 4) how Conan can throw him off the scent. It is a slow motion battle (i.e. takes place over a dozen cases or so) with successive cases revealing more useful clues as Conan gets sidetracked by various mysteries. Finally Conan gets all the clues together and figures out the plan.
The fourth part is the clash arc where Conan will attempt to stop whatever it is the mole is intending to do without getting caught. The readers will attempt to deduce what is going on, somewhat like the confrontation with Vermouth. Things won't go exactly as planned and someone unexpected makes a surprise move to shock the reader/Conan. An assistant sleeper operative (Vermouth in disguise again?) among the earlier suspects that Conan ruled out would fill this role. There were subtle hints pointing to it, and only now were their repercussions made clear. Maybe Conan knew and planned for it, or maybe he didn't and compensates. In any case though, Conan's plan to drag the guy into the open doesn't go quite right and Gin steps in to kill the mole and maintain his reputation for derailing Conan's plans. The surprise agent gets recalled or something like that. In one sense, Conan suceeded in stopping the plan, but it is also the org's win because Conan is unfortunately left with no one to cuff and no information that can be used to bring the Syndicate to light. Back to square one, mostly.
Then Gosho starts another arc and the cycle of DC continues. Not the end. 

I was expecting something..a bit smaller. . Well I read it and though I liked it, I think what Abs. said still applies. This scenario seems more like a combination of the Vermouth confrontation arc and 425, only difference is that the viewer is made fully aware of the deduction battle that is going on instead of it happening in the background.
It also ends similar 425. I say be different and imagine an arc where Conan just gets caught with his pants down and the only thing that spares him and everything he loves is that the mole finds Conan so interesting he gives him a time limit. "All my recon information is located somewhere on a timer, when the timer expires it will signal a courrier to pick it up and deliver it to my contact. I can no longer stop it, so even if I'm removed it will still go through, you have XX days to defeat the B.O. before your world comes crashing down, now let me see how you tackled this problem Mr. Detective."

Of course I'm assuming that Bourbon would be the one saying all of this but ANY scenario where Conan is caught FULLY of guard would be a breath of fresh air.

[Chekhov MacGuffin]

Well, if we are talking arcs where Conan gets caught with his pants down, the locker scene in footsteps of darkness fits the bill. He was saved by dumb luck, plain and simple, unless Gin has something up his sleeve, but Gin hasn't shown any evidence of that yet.
I'm not a fan of villains being sympathetic or giving the hero chances when they are characterized as ruthless. We have a sympathetic chance giver already: Vermouth. If there was another, I would be questioning the boss's hiring decisions/people reading skills. I wouldn't mind though if the villain decided to give the hero a chance if the villain had no way out himself. You could work in the idea that the Conan was completely caught out of the blue, but did just enough so that the boss/Gin knew the mole had messed up. The mole realized they were coming for him and escape was inevitable and thus decided to spit in the eye of the org. by giving Conan a chance to interrupt the plan and keeping Conan's secret. That reminds me a bit of Irish by the way.
I think what DC needs is a sleeper agent. We kind of got one with Akemi and her relationship with Akai, but I want a full blown malevolent sleeper agent.

[Abs.]

How about this: someone from the B.O. finally offs Kogorou.  Seriously if they don't do it soon, HOW BADASS CAN THEY BE?

Chekhov, what is your definition of "sleeper agent"?