Editor’s Note: The recap below contains spoilers for Watson Season 2, Episode 3.

With Sherlock Holmes (Robert Carlyle) in the rearview mirror (for the moment),<em> Watson</em> has returned to what it does best: addressing strange and unusual medical maladies. Since the Morris Chestnut-led series debuted earlier this year, it has drawn comparisons to the early-aughts hit drama House, which took less obvious inspiration from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s iconic mystery series. One of the long-running bits in Hugh Laurie’s series was that his patients’ illnesses were never lupus — but that isn’t the case in tonight’s episode of Watson.

Episode 3, titled “Expletive Deleted,” opens with Mary Morstan (Rochelle Aytes) handling an unusual case in the ER. The patient, Max, claims to be a 30-year-old woman; however, she appears to be no older than ten. Everyone in the ER is skeptical about her age, despite her being there for wrecking her Mustang while traveling through Pittsburgh alone. Naturally, Mary calls upon the one person she knows who could help her unravel the mystery with enough time to operate on Max before her broken arm causes further issues.

It’s unclear how much time has passed since last week’s episode, but Watson (Chestnut) seems to have moved on from Holmes’ sudden appearance and is now immersed in a new mystery that is wreaking havoc on his personal life. When Shinwell (Ritchie Coster) comes to retrieve Watson from his office for remote consultations with the interns, he finds him sleeping on the sofa. He checks his texts and finds two messages: one from Mary about her medical mystery, and another from Laila Bynum (Tika Sumpter), who is concerned about his sudden disappearance that morning.

Unsurprisingly, Watson chooses to focus on Mary’s text and rushes down to the ER, offloading the consulting work onto the interns. But before diving headfirst into the medical mystery of the week, Watson teases a new mystery that’s keeping him up at night: “The Pittsburgh Mystery,” which — for some unknown reason — he has scribbled onto the window pane in his office. Shinwell seems intrigued by whatever it is, but Watson shuts down his questioning in favor of focusing on the patient in the ER.

‘Watson’ Brings Dr. Derian Back Into the Fold

From the beginning, Watson has struggled with figuring out how to handle its core cast of characters — namely, Dr. Derian (Eve Harlow), Dr. Lubbock (Inga Schlingmann) and the Crofts (Peter Mark Kendall) — and Season 2 hasn’t necessarily improved upon those narrative issues. Derian’s plotline has been ill-conceived from the start, largely because Watson has attempted to pack five seasons’ worth of character development and plotlines into merely sixteen episodes. It would be like <em>Bones</em> condensing Zack Addy’s (Eric Millegan) storyline into one season and then having him get off scot-free.

With Episode 3, Derian is officially back in the clinic after nearly killing both Crofts at the end of last season. Despite both brothers advocating for her return, they express reservations about it actually happening, which exemplifies Watson‘s inconsistent writing. The characters constantly seem at odds with previous writing, which can work but rarely does in this series. The smartest move Watson has made with Derian’s character is introducing a second space for her development. At the top of the episode, she has an opportunity to discuss her feelings about returning to the clinic during her group therapy session.

The series quickly rushes into a new subplot for Derian that appears to set up trouble for her. A fellow group member — Beck (Noah Mills) — arrives late and immediately seems intrigued by Derian’s persona. He appears again at the very end of the episode, waiting for her outside the clinic. She is put off by his presence and tries to politely dismiss him, but he persists. He attempts to convince her they should get to know each other because he runs a tech incubator that could complement Holmes clinic’s offerings; however, she is aware they met at a meeting for sociopaths. When he doesn’t take “no” for an answer, she warns him off by threatening him, yet he remains unfazed by her claim of having killed before. This raises concerns that Watson‘s plot may be setting Derian up with another Moriarty-like storyline.

This episode primarily focuses on Watson’s patient and his not-quite love triangle with Mary and Laila; however, Derian shares a few nice moments with Lubbock. Their black cat/golden retriever friendship from Season 1 was a rare highlight, and some of that dynamic returns here. When Derian first arrives, she brings a cake for Lubbock that she remembers as being his favorite; this is a nice touch. Later on, she expresses disappointment that her absence from the clinic has deprived her of gossip about Lubbock and Stephens’ relationship, which Lubbock remedies by revealing how great their love life is behind closed doors. This illustrates how great Watson could be if it didn’t constantly feel like it’s rushing through key character moments in favor of advancing plotlines.

‘Watson’ Leans Too Heavily on an Awkward Gimmick

The question of Max’s age is quickly resolved once Watson examines her mouth. Not only does she swear like a thirty-year-old, but her teeth are evidently those of an adult woman. Mary quickly rushes her into surgery but not before Watson gets a chance to question her about her condition. Max explains that she stopped developing at age ten and attempted hormone therapy to remedy this issue, which only made her sick. Although other options were presented at that time, her mother couldn’t afford traveling to different clinics for treatment, forcing Max to deal with being treated like a child for life.

The mystery surrounding Max’s medical condition and how the plot unfolds represents one of the better episodes that Watson has delivered; however, it undermines its writing’s power by employing a cheap gimmick. Max swears excessively in a misguided effort to be taken seriously, but since Watson, airing on CBS cannot repeatedly drop “F-bombs” at 10 PM on Monday nights,, they cover her mouth with animation and bleep out her swearing like an episode of SNL.. This approach feels jarring and out-of-character for Watson, completely pulling audiences out of the moment. While it may seem cute in theory, it also comes across as juvenile and symptomatic of Watson’s insecurity regarding its identity.

The situation surrounding Max is compelling — extending far beyond just her broken arm. When Mary performs surgery on her arm, she discovers what appears to be lymphoma. After surgery, Mary and Watson speak with Max who seems nonchalant about her potential cancer diagnosis. In fact, she has known something was wrong for quite some time now and, she’s completely content with dying.. She was heading out west with her mother’s ashes and last $7,000 hoping to die soon because she feels she has no quality of life or real prospects due to being unable to make friends or hold jobs or even rent an apartment. While Watson empathizes with her desire to die peacefully, he tries to persuade her instead to live.

The task falls on Watson’s shoulders as he assigns Shinwell to inspire Max while pairing interns into two teams: “How to Stay Alive” (Lubbock and Derian) and “Why Stay Alive” (the Crofts). They work together to uncover more information about Max’s medical history while also tracking down other patients with similar conditions. Max manages to pull one over on Shinwell by exploiting his good nature before making a break for it. Ultimately Watson tracks down Max and convinces her to live by betting on the fact that she can’t possibly be alone in living with this condition. After running additional tests,, they discover it isn’t cancer but rather lupus — which can be treated with medication.. Furthermore, Watson finds another woman named Pauline who is 41 but looks roughly ten years old — giving Max renewed hope for living on.
This conclusion provides a sweet resolution to an otherwise heartbreaking situation.

‘Watson’ Is Setting Up the End to One of Its Worst Plotlines

The dynamics between Mary-Watson-Laila are pushed forward by Max’s character as she articulates what viewers are thinking — similar to how Holmes did last week. After this episode,, it doesn’t feel like Watson and Laila will remain coupled much longer.

This episode opens with Watson seemingly ignoring Laila’s concerned text regarding his absence that morning when he runs into her at the hospital. Laila appears slightly upset about him leaving without so much as a note but remains composed about it all. When he promises to make amends over the weekend she informs him that her son Micah is staying with her now due to changes in plans with his father — prompting Watson’s awkward attempt at inviting himself along on their plans which Laila politely declines.
Laila later brings him coffee and pastries after he pulls another all-nighter at the clinic where he tries apologizing for his blunder only for Laila acknowledging their awkward interaction while calling him out for being weirdly distant lately.
The cause behind Watson’s behavior seems tied back Sherlock’s comment regarding Mary.

Toward episode’s end Mary walks in on Watson changing in his office where he makes a glib remark about how it’s nothing she hasn’t seen before — an innocent comment given their past marriage yet feels like heavy-handed foreshadowing typical of what viewers have come expect fromWatson.. They both brush off this comment yet, there remains palpable chemistry between them suggesting it’s only a matter of time beforeWatson dismantles any roadblocks between them.

The new episodes ofWatson premiere Mondays on CBS followed by availability next day on Paramount+ app while Season 1 streams currently.

[nospin]Here you can find the original article where photos used also come from this source solely for informational purposes.[nospin]

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