Watson Season 1 Episode 3 Review: Wait for the Punchline

A woman hides a family history of alleged filicide on Watson Season 1 Episode 3, “Wait for the Punchline.” Yes, I did have to look the word “filicide” up, and yes, I say “alleged” for a reason.

Other doctors try to diagnose Molly with a seizure disorder, so she goes to Dr. Watson only to witness his own sudden fall during the consultation.  Watson’s recovery looms over this and possible future cases, but he presses on regardless.

The team realizes that Molly is actually Linda, whose mother is in prison for drowning her other two kids in a bathtub. But Dr. Watson meets Francessca and diagnoses the whole family with long QT, a condition where someone can be literally scared to death, as the toddlers were.

After another scare, Molly is stabilized with a brain implant and agrees to unite with Francesca again as her mother’s innocence is proven. Shinwell meets more of Moriarty’s people. They give him pills they promise will restore Watson’s heath, but they also threaten his family.

There are snippets of everyone else’s lives. Ingrid applies to lead a clinical trial but is denied. Sasha shows off an engagement ring—one she hasn’t actually been given yet. Mary turns on John for prying into her love life. And the twins reveal one is dating the other’s ex-fiancé(!)

The show is starting to find a welcome balance between the medical/episodic plots and giving us a better chance to know our main characters. The latter still comes at a bit of a rush, but makes up for it by giving us soap opera-worthy plot points.

It’s worth nothing that where other shows often introduce us to characters that have known each other well before we meet them, Watson’s team is comparatively newly formed. They’re still getting to know and trust each other, and that calls all our initial perceptions into question.

Sasha, portrayed as a sweet southern girl, seems to be trying to make her wishes happen by wearing a ring she hasn’t yet been proposed to with. But does she really want that? Ingrid, often cast as the most suspect, clearly has plenty of hidden depths.

And things get still messier. I’m not going to touch on that relationship mess with the twins just yet, but Shinwell being unwillingly set up as someone harming Watson from the inside is a strange and concerning dynamic. It’ll blow up eventually—but when and how?

Watson himself is at least as worrying to watch. Switching between his calm doctor’s persona to erratic behavior that rightfully distresses Mary and everyone in his life, there’s a real concern he’ll put his own new career at risk before anything ese can do so.

The medical mysteries and backstories that come with them are as thoughtful and climactic as ever. In this case, though, I wish we’d gotten more time to sit with the emotional impact on mother and daughter rather than rushing to a clinical conclusion.

It’s nice, especially with all the charged relations elsewhere, that Watson gets a chance to bond with patients like Molly/Linda. I’m not sure whether some of them are being set as recurring characters, but that would offer another intriguing dynamic to work with.

 

What did you think of this episode of Watson? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Critic Rating:

User Rating:

Watson airs Sundays at 9/8c on CBS.

Follow us on X and on Instagram!

Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!