Editor’s note: The recap below contains spoilers for Watson Episode 4.
This week’s episode ofWatsonis the first to break away from the format established in the first three — at least that’s how it initially seems. Episode 4 opens with Dr. Watson (Morris Chesnut) presenting his interns with another “signal-to-noise” exercise they’re allthrilledabout wasting their time on. The exercise involves them trying to identify if one out of a trio of patients that were recently seen at UHOP has particulars that might be of diagnostic interest, and it’s implied that each time they’ve been presented with this exercise, it’s all noise and no signal.
While Watson worries about the abnormal number of green markers that he suddenly has in the office, Dr. Lubbock (Inga Schlingmann) is fixated on the tongue of one of the patients, William Betancourt.His tongue shows signs that he has Cowden Syndrome, which is a rare genetic disorder that leads to an increased risk for cancer. Dr. Lubbock reveals that she saw the same papillomatosis on the first cadaver she cut open in medical school. Dr. Derian (Eve Hollow) is immediately dismissive of the idea and spends most of the episode trying her damnedest to disprove thatanyonecould remember their first cadaver vividly enough to identify someone else’s medical malady. Even the Crofts (Peter Mark Kendall) join in on the ribbing, but this week proves to be another win for Dr. Lubbock.
William Betancourt is called back into the hospital for additional testing, and he’s rather aloof about the seriousness of the matter. He’s “Call Me Bill,” the billboard lawyer, and his time is money. He even refuses to go under for a colonoscopy, which unfortunately reveals that he has tumors that need to be operated on immediately. While Bill is on the table, he crashes, and they aren’t able to save him. There is a silver lining to his death, as their Cowden Syndrome diagnosis leads to his relatives getting tested. With the patient dying before the episode’s title card even appears,it’s clear that this week’sWatsonis mixing things up— and it’s a welcome change of pace.
Watson’s first three episodes were quite lackluster, butEpisode 4 is where things start to finally pick up, particularly for Watson’s interns. Afterlast week’s revelationthat Dr. Lubbock is faking her engagement, the series finally starts to peel back the layers on her, and surprisingly, it’s all thanks to Dr. Derian. And, if I’m correctly picking up whatWatsonseems to be putting down with Lubbock and Stephens, we could have anotherAngela and Hodgins, but only ifWatsonis willing to invest in these characters and make them more than just glossy stereotypes.
‘Watson’ Goes Amish in Pursuit of a Mystery Patient
Bill’s death hits Dr. Lubbock hard, and it makes her think about her cadaver and how she wished she had known what she was looking at when he was on her table. Dr. Watson seizes on the opportunity and suggests that they should work backward to identify who Lubbock’s cadaver was and attempt to contact his next of kin to test them for Cowden Syndrome. While the Crofts dissect Lubbock’s notes from university, she, Dr. Derian, and Dr. Watson head to the morgue to talk with the medical examiner, Brenda (Karen Robinson), in hopes that she might know exactly who it was on Lubbock’s table that day. Brenda isn’t particularly thrilled about seeing Lubbock or Derian again, given that they both misbehaved in university, but, with a pair of Steeler’s tickets as a bribe,Watson convinces her to give them access to the records, and they scour through hundreds of possibilities looking for the right cadaver. Derian and Watson push Lubbock to try to remember more about than man, beyond his tongue, and she does piece together a general description of what he looked like, based on various things that happened during the class.
Meanwhile, back at the clinic, the Crofts discover that there are a handful of pages pulled out of one of Lubbock’s journals. She reveals that she recently took those pages out to give to an artist friend who wanted to revisit his old work. It turns out, when she was at college, she let this guy she was seeing — Micah — join her in the morgue, which led to the bad blood between her and Brenda. They head over to his gallery to see if he still has the pages, and discover a lot more than who their “John Doe” is.Dr. Lubbock is Micah’s muse and every wall in his art gallery is covered in beautifully crafted paintings of her. Lubbock shows off her engagement ring to her old flame and easily brushes aside the fact that she’s his artistic inspiration, but Derian doesn’t let this piece of information go.
Micah shows the three doctors the sketches and Dr. Watson spots a tattoo on the man’s body that reminds him of a quilt he was gifted by an Amish community where he and his soon-to-be-ex-wife Mary (Rochelle Aytes) got engaged. So away they go on whatever the reverse of a rumspringa is. In Lancaster,the Amish folks identify the sketches of Lubbock’s cadaver as a man named Jasonwho broke away from them years ago. While Jacob is dead, they point the doctors in the direction of his sister, Rachel Smith, who lives in Harrisburg.
That Major Twist in ‘Watson’s Premiere Just Changed Everything About the Show
The new CBS series picks up six months after the death of Sherlock Holmes.
When they finally locate Rachel, she doesn’t show any outward symptoms of carrying Cowden Syndrome like her brother, but she reveals that her son, Amos, has been ill — and he has a mysterious lump on his thyroid that has doctors puzzled. As they transport Amos and his mother to Pittsburgh for further analysis, the child starts to have difficulty breathing. Once he’s at the hospital, it’s clear that there’ssomethingwrong with him, but it’s not the syndrome they were convinced he had.Dr. Watson orders Lubbock and Stephens to go dig through the trash at the Smiths’ houseand to search the entire house for anything suspicious, and this feels very much like the unethical practices ofHouse.
Lubbock and Stephens discover a bouquet of flowers sitting on the table, which seems suspicious at first because the lily is the only flower that hasn’t wilted, butthatisn’t the revelatory part of their discovery. Rachel had placed the flowers in a milk jug from the dairy where she purchased camel milk. Watson is able to quickly deduce thatthe unpasteurized camel’s milk that the Amish apparently love was what caused Amos’ illness. While Jason’s Cowden Syndrome led the doctors to identify a number of Amish patients with early forms of cancer, Rachel and her son were not carriers for the disorder.
‘Watson’s Characters Are Finally Starting to Get Interesting
Since the start of the series, there have been hints that Stephens has a crush on Lubbock. It’s hard to tell if it’s reciprocated, but she does seem to preen under his attention, and given the way her faux engagement is going, she’s in dire need of a little TLC.The pair spend a lot of time together throughout the episode, and some of that time involves Stephens asking politely probing questions about her wedding plans and lingering looks. The revelation about her not-quite-ex’s artistic obsession with her and the easy way she brushes off the obvious affection of someone whoactuallywants her sheds quite a bit of light on who she is as a person. And, surprisingly, it’s Dr. Derian who sees through the bullshit.
Toward the end of the episode, Derian asks to meet Lubbock at Micha’s gallery, where she calls her out on her fake engagement and accuses her of only chasing after people who don’t actually want her. Derian (who is a character in sore need of actual character development)warns Lubbock that her boyfriend is stringing her alongand that she deserves better than that in a move that almost passes for genuine care for another human. Whether this warning will serve as a wake-up call for Lubbock and set the stage forsomethinghappening between her and Stephens is yet to be seen.
But Lubbock and Stephens are far from the most compelling not-couple inWatson. That honor goes to Watson and hisverysoon-to-be-ex-wife Mary. Before the title card even appears, Watson — with the help of Shinwell (Ritchie Coster) — deduces that his curious collection of green markers is actually Mary’s way of getting his attention. He’s been lax on setting up a meeting between their lawyers to begin mediation, and annoying him with green markers was the only way to get his attention.Watson agrees to attend their next mediation meeting, but he fails to show upbecause he’s on the road trying to solve their “Patient Question Mark” mystery. It’s possible thatthisis one of the main reasons for their divorce and not just his friendship with the late Sherlock Holmes.
There is some tragic irony in the way things play out in Episode 4, as their trip into Amish country resurfaces a lot of old memories for Watson, particularly where Mary is concerned. After all, they got engaged in Amish countryand— as a flashback reveals — the two met over their first cadaver. By the end of the episode,Watson has made peace with the fact that his marriage has seemingly run its course. Once the case is solved, he heads over to her house to apologize for missing mediation and promise he won’t miss another meeting, mostly because he has decided he won’t contest the divorce. If Mary wants to be done with their marriage, then he won’t stand in the way of her decision. It’s a noble decision, but after only four episodes with these two, it’s a criminal offense if their chemistry doesn’t lead them back into wedded bliss.
But bliss seems to be a largely unachievable thing for this cast of characters — particularly Shinwell who is still doing the bidding of the mysterious Moriarty (Randall Park), who Dr. Derian reveals was one of the few people that Watson saw as a peer. While we are far from understanding the particulars behind Moriarty’s torment of Watson, Episode 4 finally starts to delve deeper into what she (Kacey Rohl) has Shinwell is doing. The pair have another clandestine meeting whereshe gives Shinwell a phone to use in the labthat will sync with the laboratory robot, Clyde, and upload information about the genomes of the patients they’re working with. The reason behind the directive isn’t exactly explained, but at least it’s a start. Shinwell is also curious about what she is up to, so he sticks a tracker on her car and follows her to the hospital. Instead of nefarious criminal activity, Shinwell watches her wheel a sick child into the hospital, which doesn’t entirely match up with her duplicitous nature. Evidently, it’s a mystery for another week, becauseWatsongoes no further with this subplot this week.
After three episodes,Watsonis finally starting to stake its claim in the network TV landscape, though it remains to be seen if it can live up to the various series that it’s taking a page from. But one thing is for sure, new episodes ofWatsonpremiere Sundays on CBS.
Watson Episode 4 is mixing things up — and it’s a welcome change of pace.
