Review: 'Watson' moves Holmes' sidekick into the spotlight of a medical drama

When you make a quality arsenic cleanable arsenic Sherlock Holmes, arsenic Arthur Conan Doyle did successful 1887 — and not conscionable a quality but a full situation, with a sidekick chronicler, Dr. Watson, a housekeeper and an code — you springiness the satellite an armature to physique on, a template to play off. And truthful the satellite has built and played, crossed countless adaptations, pastiches, reimaginings, animations and updates. There whitethorn beryllium nary characters successful English lit much wide recognized and good understood.

Television has done Holmes consecutive — the 4 play bid starring Jeremy Brett, which ran from 1984 to 1994 and adapted 43 of 60 Holmes stories — and has brought the characters into the 21st century. Steven Moffat’s modern “Sherlock” (2010-17), with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman arsenic Holmes and Watson, respectively, paid homage to the archetypal stories much than it adapted them. “House” (2004-12), with Hugh Laurie, formed the maestro detective arsenic a doc successful a aesculapian drama; references to the archetypal stories were obvious, explicit and portion of the fun. And “Elementary,” which aired connected CBS from 2012 to 2019, pictured Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) arsenic a recovering cause addict attached to the NYPD, with Watson (Lucy Liu), a erstwhile surgeon, hired to support him sober.

CBS has gone backmost to that good present with “Watson,” premiering Sunday aft the AFC title game. Created by Craig Sweeny, who wrote for “Elementary,” “Watson” moves Holmes’ almost-as-famous doc person into the spotlight. And what we get is, much oregon less, a warmer, fuzzier mentation of “House.” The basics are substantially the aforesaid — John Watson (Morris Chestnut), a objective geneticist, leads a squad of young doctors sleuthing their mode to the bosom of hard cases, arsenic helium fences with an exasperated superior who, successful this case, is Watson’s astir ex-wife, Mary Morstan (Rochelle Aytes).

We conscionable him astatine Switzerland’s Reichenbach Falls, moving done the woods, shouting “Holmes!” arsenic gunshots detonate successful the distance. Even those moderately acquainted with the canon volition cognize that this is wherever Holmes and his nemesis, Professor Moriarty, plunged to their evident deaths successful Conan Doyle’s “The Final Problem”; but present Watson jumps successful aft them. He awakens successful a Swiss infirmary sporting “a traumatic encephalon injury” and immoderate representation loss, attended by an animated East End Londoner named Shinwell Johnson (Ritchie Coster) — “the astir ridiculous name,” says Watson, who doesn’t retrieve it — a minor, somewhat transgression quality pulled from “The Adventure of the Illustrious Client” and, successful this telling, a benignant of 3rd spouse successful the Holmes gang.

Ritchie Coster, left, arsenic Shinwell Johnson and Morris Chestnut arsenic Dr. John Watson.

(Colin Bentley / CBS)

Holmes, Johnson tells Watson erstwhile helium has got immoderate of his wits back, was seemingly “loaded” (“had the bees and chromatic to look aft america both,” helium says, utilizing Cockney slang for money) and has funded a session for Watson to run, with a wage for Johnson to enactment arsenic his aide. Six months later, we are successful Pittsburgh and the Holmes Clinic is up and running, with 200 applications coming successful a day. Sweeny has loaded his doc with tons of other business: He’s inactive recovering from his fall, treating himself with surreptitiously acquired drugs, portion moving to cure his patients successful sometimes unorthodox, unethical oregon amerciable ways; he’s dragging his feet connected a divorcement from Mary, who bushed of him moving disconnected to London to play detective whenever Holmes called. And it is soon revealed — to us, not to him — that Moriarty lives, and has compromised Johnson successful immoderate mode the bid does not uncover successful the 5 episodes retired for review.

Like Gregory House, Watson has his unit of variably anxious young experts slash students slash acolytes, each with a specialty. Identical twins Stephens and Adam Croft (both played by Peter Mark Kendall, rather seamlessly) are ohio truthful acold isolated successful character: Stephens is simply a survey bug with nary societal life, the ant to Adam’s easygoing grasshopper. (Adam is besides dating Stephens’ ex.) Sasha Lubbock (Inga Schlingmann), adopted from China by affluent Texans, sports a wide Southern accent. They are there, Adam suggests, arsenic examples of quality versus nurture: “Watson thinks the full satellite is an experimentation successful familial medicine; we’re conscionable portion of it.” And past there’s Ingrid Derian (Eve Harlow), who is besides acting arsenic Holmes’ neurologist, whom Adam classes arsenic “a mystery.”

“We’re doctors and we’re detectives,” Watson tells them. “Mysteries are what we do.” There are throwaway references to the Baker Street Irregulars and the Red-Headed League. Watson pronounces Holmes’ celebrated dictum that erstwhile you destruct the impossible, what remains, nevertheless improbable, is the truth; helium indispensable accidental it a lot, fixed the kids’ reaction.

“Watson” has each the hallmarks of a CBS procedural. The web has a sensation and a endowment for a benignant of airy superior amusement successful which a likable formed of sometimes hard characters lick a occupation successful an hour, portion other, darker events percolate underneath. These reliably entertaining shows — “Matlock” and “Elsbeth” and “NCIS Wherever,” besides moving present — tin make a bully spot of hostility portion remaining pleasant connected the whole, and though superficially heavy tin sometimes elicit a existent affectional response. There’s thing similar a life-and-death concern turning retired “life” to moisten one’s eyes, particularly if you oregon a loved 1 has spent immoderate clip successful the aesculapian system, oregon feared the possibility.