S01.E02: Redcoat

[Trini]

Watson and the fellows investigate the perplexing case of a family man with a bullet lodged in his head who insists he is a Scottish soldier and seems to be hiding something nefarious. Meanwhile, Watson looks for clues to whom his estranged wife Mary is dating, and Ingrid tries to work out what her "tell" is when Watson calls her out for lying,

Airdate: February 16, 2025

[AnimeMania]

[AnimeMania]

If you are on the phone when you suspect somebody has broken into your house, stay of the phone and tell the other person to listen without saying anything.

There were fingerprints on the glass, so they probably could have figured out who was the shooter. Would the shooter be in trouble, they seemed to brush the whole crime part of the shooting under the rug.

[agathapenny]

Morris Chestnut needs to learn how to enunciate, desperately. It's killing me. It makes this so hard to watch.

Also, two episodes in and I feel like I have no idea who Watson is, aside from a cheap knockoff Gregory House or Sherlock Holmes. it's a big problem that so far Shinwell is waaayyy more interesting than Watson.

I think the problem is that he never shows any vulnerability, not really. Not when he was trying to figure out who his ex was meeting, not when he looks at the cases, not even about his own brain injury. Not even with Shinwell, who I think is supposed to serve the purpose of confidante, along with other things, so that we do see something of his inner life, but so far it's not working, at all. It never feels like Watson is revealing anything he doesn't want to. It's all this kind of superficial, glibness — in other words, all the worst qualities of Holmes and House and none of the moments of being a real person. The script isn't giving me anything and neither is Chestnut.

I think we're supposed to care about Mary and Watson's relationship, but I don't, not even a little.

I'm vaguely interested in the young doctors, so I guess that's a plus. The whole vibe and everything between the neurosurgeon and Ingrid was creepy as hell.

But the mumbling, argghhhh! It makes listening to the dialogue feel like trying to hold onto running water. Not sure how much more I'll continue to watch.

[possibilities]

I just think Chestnut is incapable of anything other than superficial robotic glibness. He should be a model, not an actor.

But it's not just him. The whole show feels like everyone is just makring their places, not actually engaged.

The most emotion I saw was when the one guy was talking for two seconds to the "cam girl" and when the child in the hallway cried over her ripped up drawing.

[Trini]

Not a fan of Watson's stalker-adjacent vibes regarding his soon-to-be ex-wife.

Still not impressed by the other doctors. Except maybe that one who screwed over that cute surgeon; but it's negative impression.

18 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

There were fingerprints on the glass, so they probably could have figured out who was the shooter. Would the shooter be in trouble, they seemed to brush the whole crime part of the shooting under the rug.

This is true; but on the other hand, at least they are staying in their lane? It's a medical show, not a cop show (or wannabe cop show).

[CoyoteBlue]

10 hours ago, Trini said:

Except maybe that one who screwed over that cute surgeon; but it's negative impression.

Yeah, so did Watson choose her because she's a sociopath?

[babyrambo]

Better than the pilot but I still think Watson is a bit bland. 

His characterization is cliche but even when he does get a good line, Morris Chestnut’s delivery is so wooden that it somewhat undermines it. 

I’ve always been aware of his career in the periphery, because he’s one of the black male actors my mother and older black women in general seem to be fond of, but he’s always been praised for his looks and not his acting and watching him in a lead role, I can see why. He has very little range. Reminds me of his character in The Resident who was similarly stoic and curt. I only vaguely remember his storyline but he was so irritating, every week I hoped he’d be killed off. 

On 2/17/2025 at 12:59 AM, agathapenny said:

It never feels like Watson is revealing anything he doesn't want to. It's all this kind of superficial, glibness

Exactly. I don’t think he’s terrible but his performance and character seem very insincere. 

I know little about Sherlock Holmes so I don’t know if this is just how Watson is, but either way I’m not all that interested in the Holmes angle.

15 hours ago, Trini said:

Not a fan of Watson's stalker-adjacent vibes regarding his soon-to-be ex-wife

I really disliked this as well. It felt like they were going for playful? maybe, but he just came off as an obsessive who kept crossing her boundaries. Plus the actors have zero chemistry so I really don’t want to see a reunion in the future. 

I didn’t mind his team as much in this episode though. The twins are still a bit much but I like Lubbock and Ingrid. Not sure if they’re actually going to formally diagnose her with aspd like they’ve hinted at, but the moments she lets the mask drop, it’s like she’s hollow, with nothing behind her eyes. The scene where she and the other neurosurgeon discuss how she interfered with his career was unnerving. I like how subtly the actress is playing it right now, and that there’s some complexity to her characterization beyond the stock evil villainy that usually comes with sociopathic characters. I hope if she does end up being dangerous like the neurosurgeon warned, future episodes don’t get too cartoonish. 

[gerdialiaVA]

1 hour ago, babyrambo said:

He has very little range. Reminds me of his character in The Resident who was similarly stoic and curt. I only vaguely remember his storyline but he was so irritating, every week I hoped he’d be killed off. 

 

Exact, he's too close to his character in the Resident. I want him to get killed off as Watson too. I've also been rewatching House and he's nowhere near as interesting. 

And Moriarty is ridiculous. 

[sweetandsour]

Not sure if people here saw Morris in Rosewood, which ran for a couple seasons years ago with Jaina Lee Ortiz, but his flippant "smartest guy in the room" demeanor here reminds me more of his Rosewood doctor character.  At least it does from memory, I have not watched Rosewood since it aired, but it's on Hulu.  Barrett "my stats!!!" Cain from The Resident was more aggressively villainous and narcissistically self-centered than Watson here.

I couldn't believe it when Watson forcefully pulled the patient back from the ledge and didn't do anything to control his fall.  Just let him land hard on his back with no intervention to protect his head.  (The actor fell with his neck craned up so his head didn't touch the ground.)  This man was shot in the head!!!  I think they said he had a craniotomy.  He has a giant head wound and a bullet lodged in his brain!!!  Not a good move, Watson.  "Oopsie, I stopped him from killing himself and then I killed him a few seconds later."  Must be Watson's BDE.  Now that was definitely a Barrett Cain thing to do.  And then Barrett would have billed the patient $500 for 5 minutes of his precious time.

I don't like anyone on the team.  Not compelling at all, don't want to know or spend time with any of them.  Derian is kind of interesting, but I really would not want to know her IRL so she makes me very uncomfortable.

I guess Watson has so much hubris that he doesn't think Derian would ever turn on him or sacrifice him in order to save herself or get ahead.  That must also be Watson's BDE talking.

Watson has no right to be harrumphing left and right about his wife moving on without him.  Even he admits he left her and just expected her to be waiting for him whenever he came back.  Just go get your own Gummi, man.  Stop this shit.  More of Watson's BDE.

Watson's BDE has way more personality than Watson himself.

[DanaK]

As I stated in the General Discussion thread, the Holmes-Watson overlay feels like it’s bogging the show down and not working for me. I’m not even sure the medical detective part of the show is working that well for me. Nearly everyone is a jerk, starting with Watson

[Cress]

On 2/18/2025 at 10:07 PM, sweetandsour said:

Watson has no right to be harrumphing left and right about his wife moving on without him.  Even he admits he left her and just expected her to be waiting for him whenever he came back.  Just go get your own Gummi, man.  Stop this shit.  More of Watson's BDE.

Yeah let go of her, man. She has every right to move on. Even in the books, Watson was only gone maybe a week at most for Reichenbach, while his wife was already out of town. In this show, Watson left her a lot longer with no explanation. Mary says going with Holmes in London was good for Watson and improved him as a doctor, but that doesn't mean she'll forgive him as a husband who abandoned her.

I liked Dr Lubbock in this episode, being all excited about solving mysteries. "My brain had an orgasm"! Less emphasis on her love life please.

Edited February 25 by Cress