In\u00a0Watson<\/a><\/em> Season 1, the titular doctor\u2019s (Morris Chestnut<\/a>) righthand man, Shinwell Johnson (Ritchie Coster<\/a>), was among those forced to do James Moriarty\u2019s (Randall Park<\/a>) bidding. Now, in Season 2, Shinwell is looking for \u201cpenance,\u201d according to the actor portraying him.<\/p>\n He\u2019s certainly finding ways for just that. For example, he has a bit of a career change: He\u2019s now a nursing student. In fact, he plays a central role in the medical case for the Monday, November 3 episode, \u201cHappy When It Rains.\u201d Watson and his team of fellows try to figure out what\u2019s going on when four new patients are brought to UHOP with wounds that appear to be infected with a flesh-eating bacterium following a tornado.<\/p>\n Below, Ritchie Coster discusses Shinwell\u2019s Season 2 arc, previews the next episode, and more.<\/p>\n At the start of the season, Shinwell says he\u2019s not sure he can properly thank Watson for keeping him on after last year, and Watson assures him that he has thanked him enough. How is Shinwell feeling about himself and the events of last year?<\/strong><\/p>\n Ritchie Coster:<\/strong> I think the events of last year come on top of a lifetime. So, when they\u2019re talking about penance\u2026 I have a different opinion about last year because I was so thoroughly on Shinwell\u2019s side, and he did what he did because he was being blackmailed and trying to protect people he cared about. So, it was hardly the worst thing he\u2019s ever done in his world, in his life. I think Shinwell has done despicable things in his life. So, the penance is for a lifetime of ill deeds, which is a fascinating story to tell. I had a brother who was a very smart man who once said to me that the only stories worth telling are the ones about redemption. It is a very interesting story to play and something to keep in my mind.<\/p>\n Colin Bentley\/CBS<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Shinwell is a nursing student now. How much did he need something like that at this point in his life because that is part of that penance? It\u2019s helping to save people, right?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah. I think in the first season, there are moments where Shinwell almost stops in his tracks at just witnessing the benevolence on display in this medical institution. And I think it\u2019s a tectonic shift for him that life can be spent in service of others instead of being a predator towards others. This all happens off-screen, but there\u2019s a completely 180 shift in Shinwell\u2019s life. And like I say, it\u2019s a very compelling thing to play because which of us doesn\u2019t understand the need to make things right, to fix past mistakes? So, playing the last season and this season have been deeply satisfying.<\/p>\n The logline for this next episode says that he\u2019s searching for meaning in being a nursing student. He\u2019s really tested in this episode with the case and patients. What can you preview about how that\u2019s going to test him as a nursing student?<\/strong><\/p>\n The big test is, I think, in the episodes previous to this. I think it\u2019s been established, hopefully, that Shinwell discovers a natural capacity for empathy and for caring and to be outside of himself, but that\u2019s easily done when the pain that you are witnessing isn\u2019t that great. And to witness somebody that he\u2019s fond of [in pain] and to actually force himself to be present and to be a witness there and to be the hand to hold and the shoulder to cry on is something that I don\u2019t think he\u2019s ever done before. It\u2019s testing you when you don\u2019t know what to say. And the big lesson that I think we all have to learn in life is, the only requirement is that you show up and you be present and that you recognize you can\u2019t actually fix something. You can only be present for it and be there as a support, even if you don\u2019t know what to say.<\/p>\n
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