Watson Season 1 Episode 11 “The Dark Day Deduction” gave me something that I’ve been asking for for episodes. We finally got an opportunity to see a little bit more of John’s past and how it defined him outside of Sherlock and also his relationship with his ex-wife. John was a military man, but always a doctor first. And when you are in war, no matter what capacity, there are casualties. And “The Dark Day Deduction” saw one of those casualties refuse his help.
John and His Past
MORE: Have you read our review of the previous episode Watson Season 1 Episode 10 “The Man with the Alien Hand”?
It goes to show you what kind of man John is, that even though Dean Kett (Robert Bailey Jr.) refused to be treated by John, he still wanted to help. And he didn’t do it in a way that made it clear that he is smarter than Dean. I find that shows often make a character so brilliant that they’re cut off from their empathy. That’s not the case with John. He’s here to help Dean in any way that he can. But if Dean refuses help from him, he’ll send others that he knows are capable to assist. This makes John different from any other brilliant doctor I’ve seen on TV.
The people that he brings in to help Dean are his team, Sasha in particular. And that also goes to show you how much these doctors have grown in a season. He’s nurtured their creativity and their minds to help solve cases and care for patients. But it also goes to show you how much he trusts his team. And whenever we get back to the medical problems that John was having, they’re going to be key in figuring things out. They’re also going to be key in figuring out what is happening to Adams.
This Brings us to Shinwell
MORE: As we head towards the end of season 1, read where it started in Watson Season 1 Episode 1: The Pilot.
So far, everything that Moriarty and his minion The Rep have made him do, has kind of fallen flat. I hadn’t sensed the urgency of what Moriarty was doing and even though Watson was telling me that the relationship between Shinwell and John was super important, I wasn’t really feeling it. But I did start feeling it when Shinwell started pushing back against the orders that were being given to him. Even more so when Shinwell found out about The Rep and her daughter and how they’re all stuck in this circle of manipulation by Moriarty.
Moriarty gets people to do what he wants because he’s too much of a coward to do it himself. That’s why he approached Ingrid in Watson Season 1 Episode 9 “Take a Family History.” He saw someone vulnerable and that he thought he could bend to his will. And what makes Ingrid different from Shinwell is that Ingrid is just developing these really strong bonds with a group of people she kind of likes. This is fresh and the level of disappointment is not the same as if John were to find out about Shinwell.
The Rep did end up doing what Moriarty wanted Shinwell to do but he refused to. And that left us with Adams being the one in that bed and fighting for his life in the two-part finale. I could have sworn it was going to be Adams, but I like the little switch around and maybe it’ll give me a little bit more of Adams. Because out of all of the interns, he’s probably the one that I care the least about. But it’s only season 1. They still have work to do on that front.
Then There’s Sasha and Ingrid
In a previous review someone commented about my continued Spidey-sense tingling when it came to Sasha and Stephens. They proposed another ship that was staring at me right in the face but I wasn’t seeing as clearly. They said that they saw a spark between Sasha and Ingrid. And after watching “The Dark Day Deduction,” I can see it. It can stay as a friendship for sure. But it can also turn into something romantic just like I proposed between Sasha and Stephens.
Why?
Sasha challenges Ingrid. But it isn’t this kind of antagonistic challenge where they go back and forth and then that tension builds up into a charged explosion. Sasha challenges Ingrid because Sasha sees Ingrid for who she is and not who she presents herself to be. And Sasha also challenges Ingrid because Sasha is comfortable in the way that she walks through life, the joy she sees and seeks, and how she sees a spark of something good in Ingrid. Being vulnerable around someone like this scares Ingrid.
With these new eyes, I feel like we had some tension filled moments between them in “The Dark Day Deduction” that could just be push and pull of two different people with vastly different ways of handling situations like Moriarty or murder. But we always have to ask ourselves, if this were a man and a woman, would we ship it? Would we see the spark? The answer is usually yes. And that’s enough for me right now.
Watson airs on Sundays at 9/8c on CBS.
