Watson Season 2 Episode 17 Wasted Time With More Hallucinations Before a Predictably Tragic Reveal

Critic’s Rating: 2 / 5.0

2

I was losing patience during Watson Season 2 Episode 17.

Since we already knew Holmes was a hallucination, his appearance could only mean that Watson was unconscious and dreaming, and I wasn’t in the mood for half the episode to be fake.

Additionally, this nonsensical plot gave Watson superpowers — apparently, the man can diagnose rare conditions while hovering between life and death — before revealing a tragic diagnosis for him that left me entirely unsurprised.

Holmes’ Presence Distracted From What Could Have Been An Interesting Medical Mystery

The Mister A story could have been a compelling medical mystery, which is exactly what made me fall in love with Watson in the first place.

The man was Watson’s mentor and hero, collapsed while making a toast to Watson and Mary during their wedding, and died of an unknown illness that his daughter now seemed to be suffering from.

That was a strong plot, so why did Watson Season 2 Episode 17 ruin it with the Holmes nonsense?

Watson had already taken pains to reveal that Holmes is a hallucination, so the only logical explanation for his presence at UHOP was that Watson was unconscious and dreaming about all of these interactions.

To make matters worse, the dream sequence dragged on and on, as if the audience was supposed to suspect that Holmes was real after all.

Those kinds of fake sequences don’t do TV shows any favors, especially when there’s a solid plot that does not need weird plot twists to keep the audience interested.

It was annoying as hell to sit through, especially when the accident had been the cliffhanger on Watson Season 2 Episode 16.

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It would have been much stronger — and less obnoxious — for scenes of Watson being rescued and brought to the hospital after the accident to have alternated with the team trying to solve Reagan’s case without him.

That would also have avoided turning Watson into a superhero. It’s one thing for him to be a medical genius while he’s awake, but solving medical mysteries while unconscious is completely unrealistic.

Watson’s Saving the Triplets While Unconscious Also Cheapened That Storyline

Adam had a painful and depressing storyline in which his wife lost the triplets at 28 weeks and he cried on Stephens’ shoulder about it — but none of it happened.

Instead, Watson Season 2 Episode 17 milked the tragedy for all that it was worth, only for it to be a premonition that Watson had while unconscious.

Tricks like that are always risky, and they’re especially bad in emotionally intense scenes.

Adam’s loss was heartbreaking, especially for me as someone who feared this happening when my sister was pregnant with quadruplets.

I didn’t like that it had happened, but that didn’t mean I was glad it turned out to be a dream, so the couple could get a do-over and this time save their babies’ lives.

I wasted time and energy investing in this storyline and crying along with Adam, only for it to all be fake. Not cool.

Plus, the idea of Watson being able to diagnose Lauren sight unseen, only because of a vision he had while unconscious, changed the series from a mostly realistic medical mystery show to some type of supernatural nonsense.

Did you like the twist that Watson dreamed Adam and Lauren’s tragedy?
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I’m not against superhero stories, but that doesn’t belong on an episode of a medical drama that until recently, was supposed to be taken seriously.

And the saddest thing is that parts of Watson Season 2 Episode 17 were worth the time, but the “twist” of Watson dreaming half the episode made them harder to enjoy.

Watson and Mary’s wedding and the story of how Watson failed the father and didn’t want the daughter to die of the same illness were compelling. These elements could have stood on their own, without an imaginary Sherlock being part of the story.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, we now have the tragic, but predictable knowledge that Watson has. a brain tumor.

Let’s Hope Watson Season 2 Doesn’t End On A Depressing Note

Watson isn’t coming back for Season 3, but that’s no reason to kill off the title character.

I had a bad feeling that this was where we were headed, though, ever since Sherlock was revealed to be a hallucination.

Sherlock supposedly had a brain tumor that he was refusing to take care of, so it makes sense that Watson is really the one with that issue, but that doesn’t make this storyline any easier to take.

Wasn’t it enough that Watson had a traumatic brain injury after the accident? That, at least, was interesting, although it seems to have disappeared altogether during Watson Season 2.

A potentially fatal tumor is unnecessary and likely to lead to a depressing ending. It was bad enough going through this with The Good Doctor‘s Aaron Glassman — I don’t need this repeat on another medical show.

Plus, if Watson suggests that all of Watson’s genius is linked to this brain tumor, I’m going to be beyond angry.

The only potentially worse ending than Watson dying is a reveal that the entire series has been his dream, and he actually died when he went over the waterfall.

Let’s hope that’s not the writers’ plan for the series finale! In the meantime, what do you think about Watson Season 2 Episode 17?

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If you enjoyed this article, check out our coverage of Marshals and Tracker, which both also air on CBS on Sunday nights.

Watson airs on CBS on Sundays at 10/9c and streams on Paramount+ on Mondays.

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