CBS\u2019 clever medical drama comes to an end on Sunday, May 3. The\u00a0Watson<\/a><\/em> series finale sees the titular doctor (Morris Chestnut<\/a>) face his brain tumor while dealing with the return of his friend<\/a>, sleuth Sherlock Holmes (Robert Carlyle<\/a>), a murder outside the hospital (hello, Sebastian Moran!), and a revelation from Mary (Rochelle Aytes<\/a>).\u00a0Warning: Spoilers for the\u00a0Watson<\/em> series finale ahead!<\/strong><\/p>\n In the beginning, Watson is, albeit a bit reluctantly, willing to have the surgery for his brain tumor. But when he gets word that Sherlock, whom he\u2019d been hallucinating all season, is actually alive, he hurries back to UHOP to get to the bottom of what\u2019s ailing him, all while\u00a0everyone<\/em> is just trying to get him to take care of himself.<\/p>\n So, how does\u00a0Watson<\/em> end? Does John live or die? Is everything wrapped up in a bow, or did the canceled show leave some loose threads? Read on for everything that happened in the series finale.<\/p>\n With his doctor warning him that his tumor will cause pain, memory loss, and seizures, and if he wants to come out of this still himself, he needs to have the surgery ASAP, Watson agrees \u2026 until he learns about Sherlock\u2019s return. Then, he leaves, with an \u201cI\u2019m sorry\u201d written under Care Team Communications on the board in his room for Mary.<\/p>\n His fellows aren\u2019t happy with him for not focusing on his own care, and once Sherlock, after regaining his memories, learns how bad his friend is, he, too, gets on his case. Watson\u2019s doctor, meanwhile, is willing to come to Pittsburgh to do the surgery. But Watson insists on caring for Sherlock first, even as the sleuth argues that he\u2019s already taken him a long way and he should be looking after himself. It gets even more complicated when Moran enters the picture and insists he fix Sherlock to make him useful again first \u2014 with a threat hanging over Mary\u2019s head.<\/p>\n Colin Bentley\/CBS<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But then Watson has a seizure that lands him in a hospital bed at UHOP. His brain\u2019s firing like it\u2019s stuck in a loop, Ingrid (Eve Harlow<\/a>) explains, pushing him to care for himself. The worst-case scenario is that he has a seizure that doesn\u2019t stop, which is often fatal. And if it\u2019s not, he\u2019ll lose language, memory, and everything that makes him him. \u201cDr. Watson, John. You mean something to me,\u201d Ingrid says, emotionally. \u201cYou gave me a place in this awful, beautiful world. And if I have to visit you in a long-term care facility every day forever, I\u2019ll do it. But please, please, don\u2019t make me.\u201d<\/p>\n But Watson does keep pushing to figure out what\u2019s wrong with Sherlock, to the point that he does have that seizure that won\u2019t stop, forcing him to be put on a ventilator. He\u2019s also put on medications that mimic a coma, but even if the seizure stops, they won\u2019t know what\u2019s left.<\/p>\n One by one, everyone visits the unconscious Watson. Shinwell (Ritchie Coster<\/a>) wishes him luck. Adam (Peter Mark Kendall<\/a>) tells him he loves him, a follow-up to an earlier exchange, while his twin Stephens thanks him for everything. Sasha (Inga Schlingmann<\/a>) promises they\u2019ll all be waiting for him. Ingrid walks away without saying anything. And Mary tells him that her entire world changed the day she met him, and she\u2019s always there with him. That\u2019s when Watson wakes.<\/p>\n \u201cDo you remember?\u201d he asks, and she turns back. \u201cThat day in your conference room, you were kissing Josh, and I walked in on that. You remember? I was there to say I love you. I have this picture of you and me, and we\u2019re living on Baker Street in London, we\u2019re having breakfast, but we\u2019re not talking because we don\u2019t need to talk. We have everything we need.\u201d Mary loves that picture. She tells him he\u2019s going to be OK because she can\u2019t imagine a world without him. And she kisses him before he goes in for surgery.<\/p>\n After that, we see the\u00a0Watson<\/em> title card, but the episode doesn\u2019t end there. Rather, it then ends on Baker Street, with Watson at 221B. Watson lives!<\/p>\n \u201cThere were two men, Holmes and Watson, Watson and Holmes, and they did the most extraordinary things,\u201d Sherlock says in his hospital bed, before he remembers who he is. He\u2019s in bad shape, but he does somewhat quickly get his memories back. \u201cGood morning, Watson,\u201d he greets his old friend. \u201cI understand I\u2019m quite unwell.\u201d He can\u2019t remember much but knows he wanted to fake his own death and went into the Falls after Watson.<\/p>\n The team cycles through a few diagnoses, Sherlock\u2019s heart stops, and Watson has his seizures before they\u2019re able to figure out what\u2019s wrong with the sleuth. As Sherlock had wondered, both absorbed whatever radiation was lingering during the Cobalt Fissure case, so why didn\u2019t they get sick together? Watson figures out they did \u2014 his brain tumor, and as he diagnoses before his seizure that won\u2019t stop, Sherlock\u2019s genes are being altered. Now that he\u2019s being treated, he\u2019s going to be fine. They\u2019re alike, even in illness, Holmes and Watson.<\/p>\n Colin Bentley\/CBS<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Eddie Izzard<\/a> guest stars as Sebastian Moran, who shoots, at random, a nurse entering the hospital. After Moran approaches Watson about Sherlock, the doctor turns to Shinwell, who, of course, has a history with Moriarty\u2019s former cohort. Shinwell\u2019s changed, but he can\u2019t forget that Moran killed those who took care of him \u2026 maybe? Instead of passing along the information to Lestrade (Rachel Hayward<\/a>), Shinwell tracks down Moran, who suggests that the couple isn\u2019t dead and offers up two others, including the person watching Mary. Will Shinwell beat up Moran or let the police handle it and return to the life he was living without violence?<\/p>\n The answer is sort of both. Shinwell returns to his fianc\u00e9e Carla (Margot Bingham<\/a>) \u2014 maybe not anymore? \u2014 with bloody hands, having knocked out four of Moran\u2019s teeth until he got the location of those who looked after him and are apparently alive, then called Lestrade. He can\u2019t lose this, he tells her. If there\u2019s still a home here for him, he has to come back. Carla doesn\u2019t give him an answer.<\/p>\n Yes! After we see Watson on Baker Street, it\u2019s Mary who opens the door to 221B and remarks that he\u2019s home early. He follows her inside.<\/p>\nDoes John Watson die of a brain tumor?<\/h2>\n
Is Sherlock Holmes alive?<\/h2>\n
![\"Morris](\"https:\/\/www.tvinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Morris-Chestnut-Edie-Izzard-Watson-CBS-Season-2-Episode-20-May-3-2026-855x570.jpg\")
<\/p>\nDoes Shinwell kill Sebastian Moran?<\/h2>\n
Do Watson and Mary end up together?<\/h2>\n
Where does the\u00a0Watson<\/em> finale leave the fellows?<\/h2>\n