In 2025, CBS’s latest series Watson delivers a bizarre mix of medical drama and Sherlock Holmes mythology: chaotic yet oddly compelling to watch. With Morris Chestnut as Dr. John Watson, the show tries to marshall the detective’s legacy and a procedural medical drama placed in Pittsburgh.
The series follows the faithful sidekick of Sherlock Holmes, Watson, who survives an event that turns his life around by falling into Reichenbach Falls and finding himself back home. In this version, Watson comes into an inheritance of Sherlock’s wealth, as well as a rather eccentric plan to establish a medical clinic for diagnostic mystery. This situates Watson in a lead position with a team of offbeat doctors who solve complex mysteries like House but with far less execution power.
While Chestnut could easily make it work, the show fails to find its place in terms of identification. The mosaic attempt to link the medical whodunits with elements from Sherlock feels quite forced and disjointed, and the story can lose its direction. Supporting characters such as Watson’s ex-wife, Dr. Mary Morstan (Rochelle Aytes), and quirky Shinwell Johnson (Ritchie Coster) do feel somewhat connected to the Arthur Conan Doyle universe but come off as very underdeveloped.
The pacing of the show is uneven, at times managing to entertain an audience but most of the time settling into predictability. Critics have said that Watson lacks the depth and ingenuity of its predecessors, such as Sherlock and Elementary. Its hybrid concept, although intriguing, doesn’t quite wholly capitalize on either genre, leaving viewers puzzled rather than captivated.
Despite its flaws, he is so audacious and brazenly conceived that it manages to capture the viewer’s attention. Whether this will resonate with audiences is unclear, but one thing is: that he is a bold experiment in television that does not shy away from taking risks, even if it stumbles along the way.
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