How ‘Watson’ Puts a Twist on Doc’s Partnership With Sherlock Holmes

The biggest liberty Watson‘s first season took with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s original Sherlock Holmes stories was resurrecting the villainous Moriarty (Randall Park) after he and Holmes both tumbled into the rushing waters of Reichenbach Falls. That set up the season-long cat and mouse games between Moriarty, Dr. John Watson (Morris Chestnut), and the medical team of the Holmes Clinic in Pittsburgh. Watson, Holmes’ partner-in-crime solving, was left with a hole in his heart after Holmes’ presumed drowning but eventually won a kind of revenge by hastening Moriarty’s death by pathogen in the season finale.

“Watson is definitely a different person as a result of that life-altering event,” says Chestnut, about breaking the Hippocratic Oath by killing a patient — albeit an evil one. “We’ll see throughout the course of the season how and if he comes to terms with that.” As part of coping with Moriarty’s death, Watson early on destroys the collected database at the Holmes Clinic that Moriarty had stolen for ill use, deciding to cut his edgy research in favor of patient care.

A new game, however, is afoot when Watson gets another very unexpected guest in the second season. This time hewing more closely to Conan Doyle’s later Sherlock stories, Sherlock Holmes (Robert Carlyle, Trainspotting, The Full Monty) comes back from the dead, so to speak, and walks into the clinic named by Watson after his beloved mentor.

Watson may be relieved to find the world’s greatest detective alive, but there are lots of questions. The deep friendship they shared, says Chestnut, “is a work in progress.”

It’s clear that Holmes, who will recur this season, “very much has his own agenda,” Craig Sweeny, the series’ creator and showrunner shares. Whatever that scheme is, “it keeps him dropping in and out of Watson’s life in Pittsburgh,” he adds. “Holmes doesn’t share [everything] with Watson at first, and the parts he does share leaves Watson a little unsettled.”

Another Conan Doyle dynamic has changed: Their relationship is more equal. Watson is now an acclaimed medical detective in his own right. “Morris is so commanding in the role of Watson that I stopped worrying about the character sharing the spotlight with Sherlock Holmes,” Sweeny notes. How each of the men will deal with that has yet to be seen. Adding to any tension on hand, another Holmes appears: Sherlock’s older brother Mycroft (Vincent Gale) pops up this season in what Sweeny says “is his usual adversarial role.” Don’t fear, far worse antagonists will appear.

In good news, though, the long separation won’t destroy the Holmes and Watson working relationship, Sweeny promises: “The two love to collaborate, and Watson often can’t resist bouncing ideas off his former partner.”

Everything isn’t copasetic in Watson’s clinic, however. Watson’s brilliant team of fellows “[feel] suddenly cut out at key moments of cases,” Sweeny reveals, “but they are maturing as young doctors and [medical] detectives, and you will see growth professionally and personally.”

The three remaining researchers are indeed evolving. Squabbling twins Adam and Stephens Croft (both played by Peter Mark Kendall) are finally friends again after surviving a near-fatal Moriarty-fueled infection. Stephens is finally dating their colleague, Dr. Sasha Lubbock (Inga Schlingmann), and has seemingly forgiven Adam for dating Lauren (Amanda Crew), Stephens’ former girlfriend.

Colin Bentley/CBS

For good reason, they have not yet forgiven former colleague Dr. Ingrid Derian (Eve Harlow), who was blackmailed into helping Moriarty with his devious plans to hurt, and perhaps kill, Watson and his team, after he learned she had murdered her abusive father years earlier.

Things could be looking up for Ingrid, “who is currently working at another job in Pittsburgh,” Sweeny reports, “and making a genuine effort to change her behavior by participating in group therapy with people like her who are diagnosed with antisocial personality disorders.” She meets fellow reckless risk-taker Beck Wyth (Noah Mills) there, and they form a bond which could help them rebuild their lives — or it could be just another dangerous adventure for both.

Despite all the personal storylines, including Watson’s relationship with his current girlfriend, pediatric oncologist Laila Bynum (Tika Sumpter), and a deepening friendship with the canon’s now gender swapped Det. Lestrade (Rachel Hayward), there’s plenty of diagnosing and healing of mysterious illnesses each week.

The first patient this season is the mother of Watson’s boss and former wife Mary Morstan (Rochelle Aytes). “She is suffering from a mysterious and fast progressing form of dementia,” says Sweeny, “believing that she is 25 years old and pregnant with her first child.” Other baffling cases include that of a 30-year-old woman whose body stopped developing at the age of 10, and a man with locked-in syndrome who was conscious for years without anyone realizing he is conscious. “Miraculous cures of rare deadly diseases are the lifeblood of Watson,” Sweeny affirms. “They’re a huge factor in why we love writing the show.” Happily, millions of fans feel the same.

Watson, Season 2 Premiere, Monday, October 13, 10/9c, CBS

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