Diksha Sundriyal
CBS’ new take on a popular character created by Arthur Conan Doyle concocts a new engaging mystery with each episode. The second episode of ‘Watson’ brings the titular character back into play with his team of experts learning the ropes of how to approach a case from a detective’s point of view rather than purely medical terms. It gives us more insight into the dynamics of the characters that were established in the first episode while also keeping the mystery of Jim Moriarty and his intentions alive. SPOILERS AHEAD
A New Case Baffles John Watson and His Team
The episode focuses on the medical dilemma of a man named Andrew Tanner. He arrives at his house dressed as Patrick Ferguson, the British army officer from the 18th century. He finds the door ajar, which means that something is amiss, and sure enough, moments later, a gunshot is heard. It turns out that Andrew somehow survived the gunshot to his head, with the bullet getting lodged in his head. It hasn’t been removed because it is a very sensitive procedure and requires only the best surgeon to tackle it.
The bullet, however, is the least of all problems. Since waking up in the hospital, Andrew has started behaving like Patrick Ferguson. He used to play the role in a theatre group, but now, it seems that he has completely dived into it. He uses a British accent and refuses to recognize his wife and children. The doctors believe that he has some psychological issues, or perhaps the bullet in his brain has something to do with this new development in his personality.
Andrew Tanner’s Case Turns Out to be More Complex Than Initially Imagined
When John Watson and his team are brought in to find out what exactly is wrong with Andrew and how to treat him, they use unconventional ways to get to the bottom of the truth. Watson pushes his team to think like detectives, which means diving into the patient’s past and finding the things that could unravel the entire mystery. Meanwhile, they also have to find a surgeon who can operate on Andrew and get the bullet out of his head. At first, Watson approaches a man named Brody Davis Emerson, who is a genius but also an eccentric, and not necessarily in a good way. Despite his pleas, Emerson refuses to take up the case. This leads Watson to another option. He sends Ingrid to reach out to her old friend and flame, Issac Niles.
Meanwhile, Watson and Sasha go to the crime scene. According to the cops, Andrew was the victim of a home invasion, where the intruder shot at him. Two bullets were fired. One hit the clock on the wall, which broke and revealed the time of the crime. The other is still in Andrew’s skull. As Watson pays attention to the details, he comes to an interesting conclusion. It seems that the time between the firing of the bullets is a bit off, which leads him to come up with a different theory about what may have happened on the day of the crime.
Watson believes that Andrew knew the shooter and actually hired them to kill him. The first shot was not the shooter missing but having cold feet about the killing. But then, the duo opened a bottle of whiskey, and after a while, both came to the same terms, and the shooter did his job, though he didn’t count on Andrew surviving. The question now is why Andrew would want to kill himself. The answer comes from his social media post. Stephens discovers a video in which Andrew’s hand has tremors. He confirms his findings at the hospital, where the patient has a ball in his hand to control the tremors. This leads him to the conclusion that Andrew has Huntington’s disease, and he can’t live with the future in store for him.
He wanted to kill himself, but that would keep his family from getting the insurance money. So, he staged a shooting. Once his motive to lie becomes clear, the team now has to find a way to keep him from trying to kill himself again, which Watson knows he will try again. The solution to this problem comes when the doctor stops Andrew from throwing himself off the roof and notices his eyes. It turns out that the man has Wilson’s disease, not Huntington’s. Both have very similar symptoms, but while Huntington’s cannot be cured, Wilson’s can be. Because Andrew was self-diagnosed and never consulted with a doctor, he never realized that his condition was curable. Once this revelation is made, the whole problem is solved.
More Layers Are Unpeeled About Watson’s Team and Their Past
While Andrew’s case is the focus of the investigation, it also becomes a tool to unfold several things about the characters. For instance, Ingrid’s quest to get Isaac Niles to operate on Andrew leads to an interesting discovery about her past. In the previous episode, it was hinted that she is not exactly a good guy and has the potential to do bad things. It seems she already has done some very questionable things, and Isaac knows all about it.
He and Ingrid went to college together and even dated. But then, she sabotaged his career at a critical point by getting him arrested for drunk driving when he was significantly under the limit and should have been considered fine to drive. Though Ingrid doesn’t accept it, Isaac knows that she was the one who called the cops on him, giving them false information, and the racist mentalities of the cops did the rest. He is still angry with her about it, but he must accept that this is the only chance for him to get another shot at having a great career in medicine.
Despite some initial doubts, he eventually shows up for the operation and is successful, saving Andrew’s life. Considering the significance of the operation and the methods used by him, he immediately catches the attention of top medical establishments and starts receiving offers from them. Mary Morstan tries to get Isaac to work for her hospital, and while her offer is pretty good, he refuses it because he doesn’t want to be anywhere near Ingrid. He even warns Mary that if she and her establishment continue to collaborate with Ingrid, they will find themselves in a ton of problems sooner or later.
Moriarty’s Shadow Lingers on Watson and His Clinic
Another questionable character in the show is Shinwell Johnson, who has already proved himself to be a fickle one. While he shows care and loyalty for Watson and reverence for the seemingly dead Sherlock Holmes, he is also in cahoots with Jim Moriarity, even if unwillingly. In the last episode, he gave something to Moriarty, and in this episode, too, his services are called upon. One of Moriarity’s accomplices shows up at the clinic under the guise of a representative of a pharma company. She makes an offer to Watson, which she knows he will certainly refuse, but that gives her enough time to interact with Shinwell.
She knows that he is giving Watson the meds to cope with his injury. All he has to do is switch up the meds with the ones she will give to him. Because both pills look the same, Watson would have no idea that he is consuming something else. Again, what exactly these new pills do remains a mystery, but it is clear that if Moriarty has anything to do with it, it cannot be anything good. What’s worse is that Shinwell actually seems to go forward with it. He is almost caught in the act by Stephens, who comes looking for his boss. In the end, we see Watson taking the pills, and so does Shinwell, though with a pained look on his face, which shows he has guilt but not enough to keep him from doing it.
Read More: Where is CBS’ Watson Filmed?
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