firecat

I watched episode 1 of the new medical mystery show Watson. Three-word review: Flawed but satisfying.

I really enjoyed the character of Shinwell, played by Ritchie Coster.

I understand that the character Dr House in the show House is based on Sherlock Holmes. So throughout this ep I kept thinking "This is House only with Dr Watson being House instead of Holmes." I have only watched a couple of episodes of House but I'm thinking I should watch more to see if there are any House/Watson crossover opportunities.

I thought they threw too much at once into this ep. Yes, we needed to be introduced to the regular characters but by the end of the ep I knew not only what each one did in the clinic Watson heads, but also more about their character arcs than I typically expect from a single ep.

Also there were too many conflicting medical symptoms/diagnoses. They didn't mess up terribly on most of the conditions that were discussed (I looked them up afterward since I'm all geeky like that) but the timing seemed rushed.

Watson isn't like canonical Watson at all. He's keeping too many secrets and he's not affable. That's not unreasonable since Elementary had a Watson who wasn't very much like canonical Watson and it still worked for me. But she wasn't the star of the show! Without a visible Holmes, the only things tying the show to canon so far are the names of some of the characters, Reichenbach Falls, "whatever remains must be the truth," and Watson's use of some of Holmes's deduction methods.

I am excited that genetics will feature in the show. I love genetics. I hope they don't mess that up too badly.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

senmut

It's from the creators of Elementary so I am curious how they do shift the flavor of the show from what they did there.

From:

bibliofile

That's interesting. To me it felt more like House fanfic than any-flavor-of-Holmes fanfic.

Still, thanks for posting, Stef! It hadn't crossed my radar yet.

From:

firecat

Hope you enjoy it! <3

From:

firecat

Aha, I did not know that!
Maybe someone will have a fashion sense to rival Joan’s!

From:

stonepicnicking_okapi

Interesting! I don't think I'll watch it, but I am glad I know it exists.

From:

firecat

Keeping up with EVERYTHING Holmes related is getting to be a full time job.

From:

feurioo

I agree about them throwing too much at us. I wouldn't have minded the insights into the John/Mary relationship but they didn't have to spell out what is special about each member of Watson's team.

Moriarty was the only thing that truly intrigued me, particularly because there was a level of mystery left.