John Watson and his team have to deal with a man who believes he’s a Scottish soldier in Watson season 1, episode 2. There was something much bigger going on.
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS from Watson season 1, episode 2.
People lie. That’s something this episode reminds us of as we learn more and more about the man who believes he’s a Scottish soldier after being shot in the head. He miraculously survived the shot, only to find out that he has lost all memories of who he really is.
But there is something much bigger going on. It’s up to Watson and his team to figure it out, with Lubbock getting her first lessons in being a detective—and loving it of course.
John Watson figures out what’s really going on in Watson season 1, episode 2
When Mary has a patient for John, it takes some time for him to figure out what’s really going on. The man has survived a gunshot to the head. No neurosurgeon is willing to remove it due to the location, and that means this man may never remember who he is.
Only John realizes that the man is lying. He doesn’t believe he’s a Scottish soldier. With some questioning, he can tell that the man is lying. The question is why. It means a trip to the man’s house, where he sees that there is a vintage bottle of whisky in the cabinet that’s been opened. The man’s wife says that would never have happened.
The shot wasn’t due to a home break-in. Whoever “broke in” shared a glass of this expensive whisky with the victim. It takes the Crofts to help get to the bottom of this situation. Lubbock shares that whoever shot the victim had an unsteady hand, which was why the first shot went into the clock. Stephens noticed that the victim has an unsteady hand and a family history of Huntington’s Disease.
John has figured it out. Knowing that he likely has Huntington’s Disease, the victim wanted to die on his own terms. He just needed to make sure his family got the life insurance policy, and the majority of policies don’t pay out in cases of suicide. A home break-in makes it murder, right? Well, when that failed, the victim decided to pretend that he had gone mad and he was going to throw himself off the hospital roof. Described as a “mad man,” there’s no way the life insurance policy wouldn’t pay out.
John stops him from jumping, and that’s when the man has a seizure. John realizes that it wasn’t Huntington’s after all. It was Wilson’s disease, which does share symptoms of Huntington’s. Sure, the man still may have Huntington’s, but not for a long time. Wilson’s Disease is treatable, and he agrees to go through the treatment and be reunited with his family.
I’ve got to say, that man went through a lot to make his family believe he didn’t know them. I don’t think I could completely forgive that, especially when it came to the way he hurt his kids. I get why he did it, but that was definitely not the right way to go about things.
Watson searches for information about his wife’s lover
John refuses to give up on Mary. He wants to celebrate their 16th wedding anniversary. You can’t celebrate that when you’re separated. Mary has every right to move on considering how John openly admits that he abandoned his family. John does not have a right to stalk Mary’s new partner.
And yet, that’s what he does. When he sees that Mary has an appointment with someone called Gummi, John goes on a mission to find out who that is. He even tells Mary that he’s figured out who she is dating.
Well, that’s when he realizes that maybe Mary is just having lunch with a friend from work. Gummi is the head of HR, who John was called in to speak to after dealing with the patient all episode.
I do wonder if Gummi is still Mary’s new partner. However, this show seems to hint that John and Mary will get back together. There has to be a reason Mary was more amused than annoyed by John’s stalking. John is making it clear that he is not giving up on her or their marriage this time. And in all this time, the talk of an official divorce hasn’t come up? It certainly hints that a reconciliation can happen.
We learn more about Derian in Watson
One of the most interesting characters in the series is Derian, who is a clear sociopath. When there’s a need to find a skilled neurosurgeon, Derian has to face someone from her past, Dr. Isaac Niles. There is a lot of history between the two of them. They used to be friends, but it’s clear that Derian screwed Niles over for a fellowship grant.
Part of me doesn’t blame her for wanting to get ahead. I understand that need, and to use whatever you can to do that. However, to her, it’s a game. She doesn’t feel an ounce of guilt for what she did, and she won’t even give Niles the closure he needs to know that she definitely called in to the police that night he was pulled over for drink driving.
This is sure to come up in the future. Mary offers Niles a position at the hospital, noting just how skilled he is. However, he turns her down, warning her about Derian. Mary isn’t going to take that lightly.
Shinwell needs to make a switch of pills
We knew from the promo that Shinwell was going to end up getting an order from Moriarty. It turns out that the woman is one of the pharmaceutical reps that John refused to work with earlier in the episode. This woman has a message from Moriarty for Shinwell. Shinwell needs to switch out John’s pills, noting that Moriarty knows that Shinwell is getting pills prescribed to him that are really for John.
We have no idea what this new drug is. Moriarty wants to test something, and I get a sense that he’s playing a bit of a long game. I don’t think he actually wants to hurt John just now, but play with him and get inside his mind.
I just want to know what Moriarty has held over Shinwell at the moment. Why would Shinwell go against John? This doesn’t make sense until we know more about the man.
I like the way the characters are leaning into detective work. This isn't necessarily about rare diseases, but about psychology and figuring out the lies people tell. It really is House with a Sherlock Holmes twist. But seeing the characters excited about the research in a way we didn't se in House is refreshing.
I also like the mention of The Irregulars. I makes me wish the Netflix series was renewed again.
Watson airs on Sundays at 9/8c on CBS. Catch up the following day on Paramount+.
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