Rumors of Sherlock Holmes’ death in CBS’Watsonappear to have been greatly exaggerated, but his return to corporeal form in season 2 might not be the positive development that it seems. It’s been announced thatOnce Upon a TimeactorRobert Carlyle plays Sherlock Holmes inWatsonseason 2, yet the news carries with it some rather unfortunate connotations.
Thus far,Watson’s cast of charactershasn’t comprised a particularly large number of characters from the books, as the series has made a point offocusing primarily on the medical mysteries investigated by Watson and his team. That was even largely the point of Moriarty’s death in theWatsonseason 1 finale, yet Sherlock’s return risks compromising that very effort.
Watson Season 2’s Sherlock Holmes Revival Negates The Series’ Original Intentions
When first asked about the possibility ofSherlock Holmes’ appearance in CBS’Watson, series creator and formerElementarywriter Craig Sweeny said in relatively certain terms thatthe series intended to treat Holmes’ death as fact unless strongly compelled to do otherwise. Sweeny provided a more than reasonable explanation:
“If you have Watson front and center, to allow that character to shine, you definitely don’t want him competing with the most famous character in all of literature, so a very natural construction for me was to begin with the death of Holmes at Reichenbach Falls. Now, of course, even in Conan Doyle’s stories, Sherlock is not truly dead.
My belief is that Holmes is gone. I don’t want to be held to that if there’s some great story that presents itself, but I don’t believe that we’re ever going to feature Sherlock as an ongoing character in the show Watson at this time.”
To be sure,it wouldn’t be easy to treat the series as a John Watson show with Sherlock Holmes kicking around UHOP, in the same way, it’s hard not to get distracted by JD’s appearances inScrubs: Med School. But Sweeny’s remarks toDeadlinewere followed by a much more concerning exchange that most secondary reports at the time left out:
DEADLINE: “Well, let’s talk after Season 5 when you’ve run out of ideas…”
SWEENY:“That’s why I’m hedging, I’m waffling, of course.”
Perhaps this was merely said in jest, and Sherlock appearing inWatsonsooner than expected doesn’t necessarily suggest the series is already short on ideas. Yet it’s not unreasonable to take Sweeny at face value whenMoriarty’s death was specifically meant to move the series further away from Sherlock. When askedwhy Moriarty dies inWatsonseason 1, Sweeny remarked:
“And so I really did like, narratively, the idea that season 1 was the story of Watson becoming his own man outside of the shadow of Sherlock Holmes by confronting Holmes’ nemesis and defeating him. That made sense to me as a way to firmly establish that Watson deserved the spotlight.
When you have a show called Watson, right, the question of, ‘Well, why should we follow that guy?’ hangs over it. One way is you cast Morris Chestnut, but the ideas that he would earn his worth, and this is from the character’s point of view, he comes into his own confidence by defeating the nemesis that had bedeviled him and Sherlock.”
In point of fact, Moriarty didn’t bedevil Watson to half the extent he did Sherlock, making his death an even smarter means of achieving Sweeny’s goal. Unfortunately,establishing Sherlock’s survival whileWatsonis still finding its audience raises the precise question Sweeny wished to avoid. With the world’s most famous detective around, following Watson’s UHOP team feels underwhelming by comparison.
Sherlock Holmes’ Return Is Likely A Response To Watson Season 1’s Middling Success
Despite achieving high ratings at the time of premiere,Watson’s initial success quickly took more of a plunge than a taper. Critical reception was split firmly down the middle, andnetwork viewership soon fell by roughly half with even greater drops in the ratings share. That’s not unusual activity following a series premiere, but there’s a bigger picture to consider.
WhenCBS canceledThe Equalizer, which aired in the same primetime block,Watson’s take of the ratings was only higher than Queen Latifah’s procedural by an average of one-tenth. This was when the network was already on a bit of a cancelation spree, with onlyS.W.A.T.andFBI: Most Wantedearning lower average ratings thanWatson.
This already suggests a very real need to boost the numbers inWatsonseason 2. And, to cap it off,Sweeny announced Carlyle’s casting as Holmes scarcely two weeks after the network axed Stephen Colbert. Even in light of speculation as towhy CBS canceled Colbert, it’s still an uncertain time for any show on the network to risk under-performing.
Assuming Holmes’ revival is indeed a ratings stunt, that might raise the question of why the show cast Carlyle instead of keeping the arguably much more popular Matt Berry. However, barring availability issues,choosing not to retain Berry as Holmes could have been a cost-saving measure, sinceCBS canceledBlue Bloodsover production budgets.
It’s necessary to add that this speculation remains unconfirmed, but it would be unfair to include the exchange about Sweeny running out of ideas without at least examining other possibilities.There’s also the possibility that Sherlock’s “resurfacing” is secretly an escalation of Watson’s post-TBI hallucinations, but none of that changes what the series truly needs to save its concerning numbers.
How Watson Season 2 Can Save The Show’s Future – With Or Without Sherlock Holmes
Putting aside the pilot,Watson’s next two highest-rated episodes both make use of the series’ most unique hooks.Episode 8 introduces both Mycroft Holmes and Irene Adler while revealing Sherlock had a son, tying the series into the mythos through characters strong enough on their own not to rely on Sherlock’s presence to generate interest.
It’s actually rather curious thatWatsonseason 1 doesn’t do this more often. Shinwell Johnson does occupy a role in the main cast, buthe acts as little more than Moriarty’s proxy with surprisingly few references to his history with John. The series makes mention of characters like Sebastian Moran andSherlock Holmes’ landlady Mrs. Hudson, but neither appears onscreen.
The series’ best connection to the literature could have been the introduction of Lestrade, butthe show’s version of Lestrade has never met John before and resembles her literary counterpart in name only. Otherwise, Lestrade could have been one of few characters who knows John well enough for their appearance not to shiftWatson’s spotlight too far over to Holmes.
After Irene’s introduction, the next highest-rated episode is “The Camgirl Inquiry.” Other than being the episode that bizarrely rewrites Mrs. Hudson as a prostitute,episode 6 was one of the best-marketed episodes in terms of highlighting the series’ investigative approach. Specifically, its plotline calls for a focus on largely non-medical clue analysis directly inspired by Sherlock’s deductive method.
This is arguably the series’ strongest hook, helping to distinguish the medical mystery premise ofWatsonfrom that ofHouse. Were this type of investigative approach employed more frequently and effectively,the show could potentially succeed with few references to the literature at all.
Shifting more toward either of these directions might have been enough to keep the ratings high enough thatWatsonwouldn’t need to rely on Holmes’ revival so early in its run. If Sherlock’s return does boost the series’ ratings, Sweeny will hopefully buy enough time to experiment with these changes in the future.
Watson
Cast
Watson follows Dr. John Watson a year after Sherlock Holmes' demise as he leads a clinic for rare disorders. Despite his return to medical practice, Watson is drawn back into the mysteries and challenges of his past, suggesting that his association with Holmes is far from over.
