Watson Premiere Recap: Did You Miss Sherlock Holmes in CBS' Medical-Drama-With-a-Twist?

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27-01-2025

CBS, the longtime home of Elementary, is hoping the game is afoot once more with another Sherlock Holmes-inspired procedural drama: Watson, which premiered Sunday after the NFL's AFC Championship Game. (It'll settle into its regular time slot on Sunday, Feb. 16, at 9/8c.)
But did the new series from Elementary's Craig Sweeny scratch your Holmesian itch, even without Sherlock present? We'll want to hear what you think in a moment; first, check out a recap of the premiere.
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We meet John Watson (Morris Chestnut, The Resident, Rosewood) as he's running to Sherlock Holmes' rescue in the woods; both men wind up in a river that dumps them over a waterfall. Watson wakes up in a hospital with his head bandaged and a man named Shinwell Johnson (Ritchie Coster, Tulsa King) telling him that he's had a traumatic brain injury. 'Wait, what happened to Holmes?' Watson asks. Shinwell gently tells him that while three men — himself, Holmes and James Moriarty (aka 'the man we've been chasing,' per Watson) — went over the waterfall, only one survived.
'You were the best friend Mr. Holmes ever had,' Shinwell reassures an upset Watson, promising that they'll properly memorialize the man later. And while they're on the topic: Despite living a rather simple life, 'Did you know that he was loaded?' Holmes' financial planning involved funding a clinic for Watson to run and for Shinwell to assist with.
Six months later, Watson has established a bespoke diagnostic medical clinic in Pittsburgh. He's doing well, physically and mentally, though the details about Moriarty and the weeks before the accident are blurry. He can recall that Moriarty has fused fingers
A young pregnant woman named Erica rushes out of her ultrasound appointment when she starts to see faces morphing into disturbing shapes. She's so unsettled that she leaves the building, runs into traffic and gets hit by a car. When Erica is brought to Dr. Watson's attention by the facility's medical director/his ex-wife, Dr. Mary Morse (Rochelle Aytes, S.W.A.T.), they learn that she hasn't slept in several days.
As Watson takes Erica's medical history himself — a point of pride for him — we learn that he's a clinical geneticist and internist. She tells him that fatal familial insomnia runs in her family, and that while she fears she's going to die, 'I don't want this baby to die, too.' She tearfully asks him to keep her alive until she can deliver her baby girl safely.
Watson quickly consults his team: Dr. Sasha Lubbock (Inga Schlingmann, So Help Me Todd), brothers Dr. Stephens and Dr. Adam Croft (Peter Mark Kendall, Chicago Med, plays both twins), and Dr. Ingrid Derian (The Night Agent).
They figure out that there's not a strong genetic argument that Erica has FFI, and that it's likely her belief that it runs in her family that is causing her ongoing anxiety. There's no test for FFI, but Watson and his team decide to lie to Erica and say that they've used a cutting-edge, newly developed diagnostic to determine that she does not have the disorder. When Mary gets wind of the deception, she rushes down to confront him and winds up overhearing him telling Erica how his desire to go on one more case with Sherlock was the breaking point for their marriage — and he regrets it. As he's talking, Erica falls asleep (yes!), but that doesn't assuage Mary's anger when he exits the room. He makes it clear that while he's sorry about a lot of the choices he's made, he's not sorry for lying to Erica.
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The next morning, though, Erica wakes up blind and she can't smile, yadda yadda lab conversation she has boy in the bubble syndrome and needs a new immune system.
Soon, Erica's cousin, Autumn, shows up and is sick with the same thing that Erica has. Watson posits that both women have songbird fever from handling dead birds killed by Erica's cat. But Mary stops by later to say that while Autumn does have songbird fever, Erica doesn't. And what's worse: The version of the fever Autumn has is resistant to antibiotics; she's very close to going into septic shock.
As Watson observes the women, he realizes that they both have webbing between some of their toes. Using that clue, and another trait (wide-set eyes) lead the good doctor and his team to realize that Erica and Autumn are actually half-sisters who share the same biotinidase deficiency. Long diagnosis short: A simple supplement will fix them up in a jiffy… unless they're Erica, who is foaming at the mouth and convulsing in her bed.
Erica has abscesses near her liver, and since the resident surgeon can't get to the hospital because of some bad storms, Mary steps in to perform the operation. Everyone survives!
At the end of the episode, Watson comes to get his remaining belongings from Mary's place and surmises that she's seeing someone. 'Is he anyone I know?' he asks, a little testily. 'You never met her,' she says. But she's got bigger stuff to tell him: He's a better doctor for spending time with Holmes, 'but the old us is never coming back.'
Elsewhere, Shinwell is riding one of Pittsburgh's funiculars when a man starts talking to him. He shrugs it off at first, but when the man starts talking about how vulnerable the city is, Shinwell pays more attention. The man is Prof. Moriarty (Randall Park, Fresh Off the Boat). 'I was expecting someone different,' Shinwell says. Then he drops a case at Moriarty's feet. 'There you go, the samples you wanted,' he explains. As Moriarty opens the case, we see his fused fingers, just like in Watson's recollection. 'I'm watching,' Moriarty promises, pointing to the logo on his polo shirt, which seems to indicate he has access to a surveillance system. 'Always and everywhere.'
Now it's your turn. What did you think of the premiere? Grade it via the poll below, then hit the comments with of your thoughts!
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