The first season of Watson tried way too hard to cram Sherlock Holmes mythology into a what could have been an interesting medical mystery procedural. But it seemed that some of the mythology was cleared in the Season 1 finale by the death of Randall Park’s version of Moriarty. But just when you think Watson and his team are free to cure people with strange illnesses, the Holmes of it all comes back with a vengeance.
Opening Shot: We see a woman in her kitchen baking, talking to her daughter on the phone.
The Gist: The woman is Elizabeth Morstan (Juanita Jennings), and she’s taking to her daughter, Dr. Mary Morstan (Rochelle Aytes), medical director of the hospital in Pittsburgh that sends cases to Dr. John Watson (Morris Chestnut) and his colleagues at the Holmes Institute. She is also Watson’s ex-wife. As they talk, Elizabeth keeps putting teaspoons of the same extract into the mix and taking a taste. Eventually, she throws up and passes out.
Watson, since his confrontation with Moriarty (Randall Park), has been concentrating on the medical cases the Institute handles, as well as his newish relationship with Dr. Laila Bynum (Tika Sumpter). Mary calls him in when her mother comes in after being found unconscious. Watson has his team come in, as well: Dr. Stephens Croft and his twin brother, Dr. Adam Croft (Peter Mark Kendall), and Dr. Sasha Lubbock (Inga Schlingmann).
There is evidence that Elizabeth is experiencing memory loss, which is one of the reasons why she kept putting that extract in her batter, and the memory loss is accelerating. By the time she’s revived, for instance, she no longer recognizes her former son-in-law. Two weeks later, she’s not even recognizing Mary, and thinks she’s 25 and pregnant with a baby she wants to name Miles. Watson is convinced that this memory loss is due to something other than dementia, and determines that her liver is dying and she needs a transplant.
In the meantime, the team tries to find a replacement for Dr. Ingrid Derian (Eve Harlow), the neurologist and pathological liar that was dismissed from the Institute after the Moriarty incident. Both of the Crofts and Lubbock wonder if Watson is looking for the best candidate or a candidate that also has a mystery about them Watson can solve. Also in the meantime Shinwell (Ritchie Coster), who is studying to become a nurse, thanks Watson for giving him yet another chance after his role in the Moriarty disaster.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Watson is essentially House and Brilliant Minds crossed with Elementary (Craig Sweeny, the creator of Watson, also wrote for that Sherlockian procedural).
Our Take: As we thought at the start of Watson‘s first season, the show is trying too hard to squeeze Sherlock Holmes mythology into a show that’s at its essence a medical mystery procedural. Sure, other shows in this genre, like the ones we mentioned above, tend to wiggle in personal stories among the stories of the week about the latest patient with a malady that stumps mere mortal physicians. But the Holmes mythology is too big and too complicated to throw into a show like this.
Remember, this isn’t just about Watson, but about his up-and-down relationship with Mary, plus the doctors that are on his staff in the Institute. The Crofts and Lubbock continue to be there as more caricatures than real characters, even with a full season under their belts. Sure, Moriarty almost killed one of the Crofts, and Lubbock and Stephens Croft are still deep in their relationship. But the doctors are still there more for their personality and upbringing quirks than for anything their characters can bring to the stories. Derian holds more possibilities, but she’s not part of the team as the season opens, so how much we’ll see of her is anyone’s guess.
It’s no spoiler to indicate that Sherlock Holmes (Robert Carlyle), whom Watson thought was dead, returns to his life. This is not long after Sweeny indicated in interviews that he didn’t find a reason to bring Holmes into the story. What changed between then and now? And how will this affect Watson as he and his team try to help patients?
All of it feels like Sweeny and his writers aren’t giving Chestnut a chance to make Watson his own, which, given the veteran actor’s many charms, is a bit of a shame. The Holmes mythology certainly has a place on this series, but it just feels like it continues to be crammed in just because, without it making any sort of sense storywise.
Sex and Skin: A little bit of network-sanctioned loving between Watson and Dr. Bynum.
Parting Shot: Watson hears a noise in his kitchen in the middle of the night; he grabs a bat and goes down there, only to find Holmes rummaging through his refrigerator.
Sleeper Star: As much as it might be too soon to have Holmes in the mix on this show, it’ll be interesting to see how Carlyle plays him.
Most Pilot-y Line: “When it’s something you want, you’ll go to any risk, but when it’s someone else…” Mary says to Watson, when Watson advises her it’s to dangerous to give her mom a piece of her liver.
Our Call: SKIP IT. Watson feels like a show that just isn’t confident enough in its version of Dr. Watson and his team to let them stand on their own.
New episodes of Watson premiere on Monday nights on CBS, and are also be streamed live for Paramount+ Premium subscribers. If you have the Paramount+ Essential plan, you can watch Watson next day.
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Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.