Watson (2025)

The world has a fascination with Sherlock Holmes. Besides the original Basil Rathbone films of yesteryear, there are modern adaptations, mostly for television: Elementary, Sherlock and now Watson.

Premise

One year after Sherlock Holmes’s apparent death at the hands of his archenemy Moriarty in Reichenbach Falls, Dr. John Watson resumes his medical practice by opening the “Holmes Clinic” in Pittsburgh to treat patients with strange and unidentifiable issues. Soon however, Watson must face his past when evidence surfaces indicating that Moriarty is still alive.

Wikipedia

We started watching this show on Global TV at episode 5. It seemed intriguing and the group dynamics of his team needed to be explored, so we began binge-watching the earlier episodes from the beginning to catch us up-to-date. Episode 6 was where we stopped last night. Episode 7 (which aired last night) isn’t available on Paramount+ until today. So far, so good.

Yes, it takes some getting used to having someone from a different ethnicity playing Watson, but they changed Moriarty, too: he’s Asian. I guess being an Executive Producer, as well as the lead actor, allows Morris Chestnut some latitude. Although American, his speech patterns are very British, and he wears a waist coat which is anachronistic in a modern setting. His ‘protector’, Shinwell Johnson, played by Richie Coster, has a very thick London accent, so sometimes the full meaning of his delivery is hard to grasp. The rest of the cast are mostly American, and one individual gets to play a set of twins, one with glasses and the other without. The giveaway was the camera shots hardly featured them together, unless one was in the background but out of focus. I’m not sure how they got this photo of them together.

I suspect you’ll enjoy the mysterious illnesses and their cures, since this show is not your regular medical soap opera. You also might learn a thing or two about Shakespeare and British culture.

Just sit back, relax and enjoy the ride.