Watson just made a strange change to a classic Sherlock Holmes character that has fans scratching their heads! What is it, and why was it done?
Caution: This article contains SPOILERS for Watson Season 1
There have been several different takes on the Sherlock Holmes mythos, including the long-running CBS hit Elementary. Watson is another that focuses not on the classic detective but rather on his long-time friend John Watson (Morris Chestnut).
The series's opening has Watson seeing Holmes and archenemy James Moriarty falling to their seemingly deaths. Rescued from the same river by Shinwell (Ritchie Coster), a former criminal aiding Holmes, Watson hears Holmes is dead and left his millions to Watson, who opens a clinic in his friend's name.
The show balances out medical mysteries as Watson uses the skills he learned from Holmes to solve strange medical conditions in patients and challenges his staff. What Watson doesn't know is that not only is Moriarty (Randall Park) alive, but he is forcing Shinwell into aiding him by spying on Watson.
So far, the series has focused more on Watson, yet Episode 6 had several revelations on Holmes…that include a major change to a famed character.
What happened with Mrs. Hudson on Watson?
Episode 6, "The Camgirl Inquiry" had team member Stephens (Peter Mark Kendall, who also plays Stephens's twin brother, Adam) struck when the woman he chatted to on video calls got sick. He got the team to aid him in tracking her down and trying to fix her condition.
The normally withdrawn and stoic Stephens was a bit embarrassed revealing how he talked to a camgirl. Watson talked to Stephens about the need for companionship, citing Holmes as an example. To no surprise, that included Irene Adler, famous in Holmes lore as "the" woman, a criminal who captivated Holmes.
What was a surprise was Watson bringing up Mrs. Hudson, who, in most tales, is the elderly landlady of 221b Baker Street. She's a supporting character who sees to Holmes, putting up with his eccentricities, and some versions have her providing some snark at him.
Here, Watson states that while Mrs. Hudson was supposedly the landlady, he knew she was a "companion" who had regular "standing appointments" with Holmes. In other words, the show turned her into a high-end escort.
It's a strange change for the character that makes little sense. That Holmes would indulge in female companionship isn't new (Elementary used that often) but making it a character more the landlady is an odd choice. It's as if the writers just wanted to use Hudson in some way and worked this odd dynamic into things.
It was a throwaway line, yet it shows how Watson isn't the typical Sherlock Holmes piece. One wonders what other changes to the mythos might be coming as the change to Mrs. Hudson proves this isn't your father's Sherlock Holmes at all.
Watson airs Sundays at 10/9c on CBS.