Watson Season 2 Episode 15 Offers a Shocking But Unnecessary Holmes Twist After a Bizarre Medical Case

Critic’s Rating: 3.5 / 5.0

3.5

Twins who were secret sperm donors. A debate over who gets Stephens’ name. Questions about whether Holmes is real.

Is Watson a medical drama or a soap opera?

Watson Season 2 Episode 15 relied on too many weird tropes, then followed it up with a twist that seemed more like it was for shock value than anything else.

Despite Serious Flaws, Watson Season 2 Episode 15 Did Have Some Things Going For It

The episode wasn’t all bad — it’s just that it had far too many soap tropes for my liking.

The initial premise that Stephens and Sasha were trying to save the daughter of a hospice patient who had just died was one of the more emotionally charged stories of Watson Season 2.

Additionally, this story had a baked-in ethical question, although it was barely touched: how should DNA information be used if someone urgently needs an organ transplant but doesn’t know who their biological father is or if they have any siblings?

These were ingredients for a fascinating story, although Watson Season 2 Episode 15 sailed past most of these more interesting points in order to tell the weird story of twins who broke the law to prove how fertile their sperm were.

The Doctor as Sperm Donor Story Could Have Been Weighty Instead of Silly

The idea of a doctor who supposedly impregnates women with other people’s sperm using his own is one that appears on TV from time to time.

On shows like Law & Order: SVU, the focus is on the consent issues, where it belongs, but that didn’t happen on Watson Season 2 Episode 15.

Do you like the way we sometimes look beyond the show in question to the bigger TV landscape?
If so, our newsletter is for you. Hit the button on the top right to subscribe.

Instead, the doctors quickly traced the sperm to Dr. Oliver Day because of his unusual eye color, which was a telltale mark that he had the DNA they were looking for.

They somehow got around consent and privacy issues to see him — there was some on-screen explanation that I don’t quite remember — and Watson was then able to return with LeStrade, who didn’t waste time before accusing him.

That’s not really how any of this should work, at least not legally speaking, but Watson is a medical drama, so I can forgive them taking liberties with the law.

It’s annoying, though, because inaccuracies about what rights people have become part of TV culture when shows repeat them enough, and sometimes people mistakenly think that’s the way it really is and make decisions they shouldn’t in real life.

Anyway, far less forgivable is the weird turn this all took once they got to Dr. Day.

Instead of having to get around him or try to prove that he was both Hollis’ donor and a match for a kidney transplant, the team quickly shifted gears because Dr. Day attempted suicide and purposely didn’t complete it so that his daughter could get his kidney.

That unnecessary twist was just as quickly followed up by the idea that his kidney was damaged… and that he had an identical twin who was also in the sperm donation business.

All of these coincidences were discovered off-screen, and Watson learned about them when people told him, and the same for the complication that Hollis couldn’t tolerate the only form of dialysis that could keep her alive.

This is supposed to be a medical drama! The medical problem should have appeared on-screen at least.

But it didn’t because the writers preferred to focus on the shocking story of the more evil twin (another annoying soap trope!) and how he would only donate a kidney if he was given immunity for his crimes.

Did you like the evil twin twist?
Hit the comments with your thoughts, and don’t forget to share this article with your Watson-loving friends.

That allowed Watson to try to do an end-run around this before having to use this guy’s kidney, settling for making the guy lose his medical license instead of going to jail.

I was glad in a way that Harris’ son wasn’t a donor match. It’s annoying when TV medical dramas pretend that being genetically related magically makes you a guaranteed match.

Meanwhile, Sherlock Solved Every Open Murder In Pittsburgh, But…

…apparently he doesn’t really exist.

That doesn’t make much sense since we all saw him write that note on the board during the midseason finale, Shinwell went after him not that long ago, and Watson ran tests on him.

Are we supposed to believe that Watson is the one with the brain tumor or that he’s been hallucinating all this time?

It’s bad enough that Brilliant Minds Season 2 went in that direction without Watson doing it too.

Since Watson isn’t returning for a third season, this kind of twist makes me nervous, too.

The writers have to end the show somehow, and I feel like it’s going to be on a sad note, like Watson being proven to have a serious mental disorder or a brain tumor and having to stop practicing.

Either way, this type of twist ending is a disservice to fans who have been more than patient while Sherlock disappeared for long stretches of time, and the series seemed to forget he existed or that he left a cryptic message.

It’s almost as bad as the “it was all a dream” ending that St. Elsewhere made so famous with its awful yet iconic series finale.

I also couldn’t care less a bout who will be named after Stephens or what Adam was going to name his babies. What happened to the more interesting subplots that were set up in the first half of the season but still haven’t been resolved?

Sasha getting tricked, Sherlock’s message? I’d even settle for some type of resolution to Ingrid deciding to date the cute EMT right after losing her therapist at this point.

What did you think, Watson fanatics?

Am I being too hard on Watson, or did you also feel it was lacking something?

Hit the comments with your thoughts, and don’t forget to share this article with your Watson-loving friends so they can join in.

Vote in our poll below to rank the episode.

If you enjoyed this article, check out our coverage of other CBS dramas like Matlock and Tracker.

Watson Season 2 airs on CBS on Sundays at 10/9c and streams on Paramount+ on Monday.

TV Fanatic is searching for passionate contributors to share their voices across various article types. Think you have what it takes to be a TV Fanatic? Click here for more information and next steps.