Warning: This post contains spoilers for the fall finale of “Watson” Season 2. Proceed accordingly.
“Watson” is really making us work for it, eh?
The CBS drama’s fall finale, which aired Monday, didn’t get us any closer to the truth about its iconic sleuth; at least now, though, John is no longer alone in his search for what’s really going on with Sherlock Holmes. But Season 2’s central mystery remains in play: Is Holmes (played by Robert Carlyle) really around, or is he merely in Watson’s mind? And if so, what do the hallucinations mean for John’s health?
Don’t worry, show boss Craig Sweeny tells us: Everything will become clear in the second half of Season 2. More on that in a minute, but first, a quick recap.
During the episode, Watson feared that Holmes’ erratic body movements and tendency to repeat himself was evidence of a health crisis for his old friend. He eventually got the detective to agree to be seen at the hospital, but Sherlock slipped away before anyone could attend to him. In frustration, Watson let Shinwell in on the news that Holmes had returned.
Elsewhere, Sasha decided to communicate with a woman claiming to be her birth mother, Ingrid ended things with Beck and a return visit from Hobie (the glowing chest dude played by Nat Faxon) spurred Watson to make a romantic overture… but to whom?
“Watson” won’t return for the back half of Season 2 until March, when it will begin airing on a new night: Sunday. The midseason premiere is slated for March 1 at 10/9c, following “Tracker.” To tide you over until then, I asked series creator Craig Sweeny for a little scoop on what to expect when the series comes back. Read on to see what he said.
TVLINE | Watson is worried about Sherlock. I’m worried that Sherlock isn’t actually there, and that Watson’s concern for Sherlock is actually concern for his own health. My thoughts are all crossed over, my mental murder board is insane. Please give me anything to go on here.
CRAIG SWEENY | You’re right that there are things that indicate that Sherlock is not there, and there are things that indicate that Sherlock is there. And that will all be squared in a coherent way that speaks to their friendship, speaks to the state of Watson, speaks to everything that’s happened to him since he went over the waterfall. It’s a story about a real friendship that happens in a in a in a very unusual way.
TVLINE | There was even that bit of dialogue in last week’s episode, where Watson said something like, “Maybe I’m talking to myself when I’m talking to Sherlock.” I love it when a show acknowledges in real time how it’s messing with us.
Well, yeah. I mean, Watson hallucinated Sherlock in Season 1. And you know, you’re both talking about what audiences’ expectations are, and telling them this is a mystery show, and also trying to be surprising. So, I don’t know. We spent a lot of time on it. We’re super happy to have Robert playing the role of Sherlock. It’s one of many things he was born to do, and we feel we obviously we owe a debt to canon, and to fans, and, I’m psyched about what we have. I hope people are happy with it.