Watson Season 2 Episode 1 Returns Better Than Ever Despite Some Soap Opera-Like Elements

Critic’s Rating: 5 / 5.0

5

I’d forgotten how much I missed Watson until the premiere.

Watson Season 2 Episode 1 did almost everything right, centering one of its most emotional medical mysteries instead of the Holmes-related intrigue (for the most part, anyway.)

Hopefully, the series’ sophomore season will continue to shine despite the cliffhanger, but this first story is promising.

Elizabeth’s Case Was One Of The Most Interesting, Despite That Soapy Resolution

Watson began with a story that seemed like a rerun because so many medical shows address dementia nowadays: Mary’s mother collapsing while baking and waking up with a seemingly advanced case of the neurodegenerative disease.

I have a love-hate relationship with dementia stories because my grandfather had the disease, and by the time he passed away, it felt like he had died a long time ago.

I was curious, however, whether this episode of Watson would address racial disparities in how the disease is diagnosed and treated.

While Watson didn’t go there, the series did offer a unique twist: dementia that came out of nowhere and progressed rapidly, only for it to turn out it wasn’t dementia at all.

This is what Watson needs to do more of: medical mysteries that require Watson’s detective skills, making this show the perfect tribute to Sherlock Holmes’ best friend.

I had expected it to be like that last year, but Watson Season 1 was hijacked by the Moriarty storyline, leaving the show far short of its potential.

Also, maybe it’s me, but I don’t feel the need to research further when other medical dramas offer esoteric diagnoses.

With Watson, though, I wanted to know more about diabetes and fatty liver disease, partially because I’m diabetic, but also because I was curious.

I was also surprised that bitter almond extract can risk cyanide poisoning since I knew almond extract is sold commercially. However, a Google search taught me that trying to make it yourself can indeed cause the problem that Mary’s mother had.

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Anyway, this story had so many emotional subplots because the patient was Mary’s mother.

Mary couldn’t accept that her mom could be dying and that she couldn’t help her, and that emotional throughline made the episode compelling.

I especially liked her reaction to her mother not remembering her and, in fact, thinking she was pregnant.

I will say, though, that I have mixed feelings about the pop-up brother storyline.

Secret siblings are a soap opera trope. Since I watch both Days of Our Lives and General Hospital, I’ve had more than enough of it in recent years.

And in this case, it was all too convenient and easy.

It started out more realistically, with Miles doubting Mary’s story and not wanting to donate part of his liver to a woman he had no emotional connection with.

But Miles quickly decided to visit his birth mother before making that decision, and while his realization that she came to his coffee shop every morning for years was emotional, it also sped things along.

There’s only so much time in a 45-minute show for nuance, so it’s understandable that Miles had this turnaround — without it, there would be no happy ending.

Still, I’m not a fan of super-convenient resolutions to stories like this.

The Subplots Held My Interest… Even Shinwell

I wasn’t a fan of all that intrigue during Watson Season 1, where Shinwell was playing both sides.

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I found it weird that he was still working with Watson as if nothing had happened, and was studying to become a nurse on top of it.

However, his impassioned defense of Ingrid made it clear that Watson had made the difficult decision to forgive him, and that was why he expected the group to stop focusing on everything Ingrid had done.

I doubt Ingrid will be interested in returning to work for Watson, though.

She first admitted to her therapy group that she had antisocial personality disorder and that she wanted to fix the mess she’d made out of her life.

It doesn’t seem like the right time to return to a high-stress job, especially one that would put her in regular contact with a group of people who judge her for her past behavior.

However, Watson won’t accept anyone else, so he may be working on getting her back to the Holmes Clinic throughout the season.

The Holmes Cliffhanger Was Expected, And I Can’t Say I’m Too Annoyed With It

Holmes’ return was well-publicized before Watson Season 2 premiered, but I still found the cliffhanger effective.

Yes, returns from the dead are also a soap opera staple, but this one didn’t annoy me as much as Mary’s long-lost brother.

This particular back-from-the-dead trope is faithful to the source material.

I forget which story it was, but at some point, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was tired of writing Sherlock Holmes mysteries and decided to have Moriarty throw Holmes off a cliff.

However, his fans wanted more Holmes, so he had to write Holmes’ miraculous survival into the next book.

So now, on Watson Season 1, Watson struggled with his guilt after Moriarty pushed Holmes off a cliff (by the way, what happened to Watson’s TBI?), and on Season 2, Holmes returns, very much alive — one of the most accurate renderings of a book plot on TV.

As long as Holmes doesn’t derail the show the way Moriarty did, I don’t mind his return one bit. I’m curious as to where this goes.

Holmes is back, Watson has a new girlfriend, and Watson Season 2 kicked off with one of its best medical mysteries yet.

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Are you a mystery fan? You might enjoy our coverage of Elsbeth or Only Murders In The Building. If the medical drama side of Watson is more appealing to you, check out our thoughts on other medical dramas like Chicago Med and Grey’s Anatomy.

Watson airs on CBS on Mondays at 10/9c and streams on Paramount+ on Tuesdays.

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