Watson is a Sherlock Holmes story only by name. Coming into this show I was really excited because Sherlock Holmes is a classic that I like to experience in any iteration. I also think Morris Chestnut is an underutilized actor and I’m glad that he is taking the lead in a procedural. It’s a moment for him and his career. There’s also the fact that there hasn’t been a black John Watson before, as far as I can tell or recollect from my Sherlock Holmes memory. But Watson 1×01 “Pilot” feels like a cookie cutter procedural that could have any other name and not change the plot of the show.
Chestnut himself is a good actor. It’s just his John Watson that doesn’t feel like the character we know. And when it comes to adaptations there does have to be some leeway. The show is breathing new life into a character and will take them on a journey. But besides this character being a doctor and having a relationship with Holmes, I don’t see the loyal, practical, and sensitive nature in him that helped balance out Holmes eccentricities. Instead it kind of feels like I’m watching a mashup of Holmes, Watson, and (oddly enough) Dr. Gregory House from House. And after my next theory popped into my head while watching, I couldn’t stop thinking about how odd his personality is.
I think there’s something not right about John. We don’t get to see who Sherlock Holmes is. That’s the first clue that something is wrong because shows don’t exclude a visual of something like that unless they’re hiding something. The second one is that John doesn’t remember what happened surrounding the falls accident. Third clue is that he remembers being in the water and seeing Moriarty’s hand and how it reminded him of an “M.” He was way too far from Sherlock when he and Moriarty fell over the edge of the falls. And lastly there’s everything that’s happening with his ex-wife Mary. There are holes in their history that she hopes he remembers and the way that we knew she was in a relationship but that spot was kept empty, also clued me in that the show is hiding something.
Personally, my wild and crazy theory when it comes to Watson as a show is that this isn’t John. Maybe Morris Chestnut is Sherlock. Maybe Sherlock lost John. And maybe he died. Trauma can do surprising things to the mind. So what if this broke Sherlock? And when he woke up he couldn’t handle the pain of John’s loss on top of a head injury. So this happened. I know it’s a wild theory. But my previous clues combined with his consistent headaches, holes in his life, Moriarty keeping an eye out on him, and the Doctors that are part of his team, I truly think something is afoot.
Clues about John being Sherlock aside, I don’t like any of the doctors on his crew either. They feel vacant and surface level. And again, this is Watson 1×01 “Pilot.” I have to give them some grace. But I also have to point out that if it wasn’t that I like Sherlock Holmes and Morris Chestnut, I don’t know if I would watch past the first episode. The doctors around him should complement the lead and lead to interesting dynamics. But what we’ve gotten so far is John acting a little bit too much like Sherlock and like he’s above them intellectually. And we haven’t gotten enough of John to understand why he thinks that he’s above them or smarter than them.
Finally, there’s Randall Park as Moriarty. If I were casting for this character, I wouldn’t think of Park. And it simply has to do with the fact that I’ve never seen him in anything serious. When he appeared on my screen, and I didn’t see his hands, I knew that he was Moriarty. But when he started talking I was waiting for the punchline. That works against Park. It makes it so I don’t take what he’s saying as seriously. But just because I haven’t seen him in something serious, doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have the ability to succeed. So, I’ll be back to give him a chance. And maybe he’ll convince me he’s the diabolical mastermind known as Moriarty.
Hopefully by Watson 1×02, some of the things I mentioned above will just be growing pains that happen with every pilot and that the only direction we go is up.
MORE: Want to learn more about this show starring Morris Chestnut? Here’s everything you need to know about CBS’s Watson.
Watson will begin airing at its regular timeslot on February 16 at 10/9c on CBS.
This is absolutely shite…
This series is legit crap – it’s a try-hard copy of house seemingly written by chatbots.
Anyhoo – they make a really basic statistical mistake in this “clever” pilot where the answer is basically shoved in your face half-way thru but the geniuses that are meant to be running the show don’t realise until the last minute.
I digress – the statistical faux pas is that they discount a disease based on the fact that there was 25% chance the patient could inherit it, and then reduce that to 3% based on the number of siblings she had.
That’s just not the way probability works – each birth is a separate occurrence, there is a 25% chance for each sibling, regardless of the outcomes of the other siblings. Eg if you flip a coin 100 times and get 80 tails & 20 heads – it has zero effect on the probability when you next flip the coin.
Stupid show written by stupid people for stupid people…
(Despite the strong cast)