Watson Season 1 Episode 8 Review: A Variant of Unknown Signifiance

On Watson Season 1 Episode 8, “A Variant of Unknown Significance,” the Holmesian canon expands with the introduction of the show’s Irene Adler—and Mycroft Holmes.

Irene arrives to the kind of mixed reception many of her interpretations receive. She drops a bombshell, claiming her highly educated young son is Sherlock’s child. The boy displays a range of strange medical symptoms like partial paralysis.

John quickly bonds with Angus and sees a lot of Sherlock in him, but doubts about Irene’s motives send Shinwell to London to get a DNA sample from Sherlock’s brother. The debate also stirs more team tensions, especially between Ingrid and Stephens.

Sure enough, the sample disproves Irene’s claims, but she snatches it and runs away with Angus, who has been faking his condition at her direction. Turns out she’s the one who is sick with a form of cancer that leaves her with a couple years to live.

Watson first offers her an advanced treatment plan that will keep her and Angus in the States and then agrees to become Angus’s guardian if the procedure fails to extend her life. If the series lasts long enough, this agreement could be a game-changer.

Irene Adler has been fodder for various bombastic and controversial depictions over the years. By comparison, she’s relatively tame here: conniving and manipulative, but ultimately only gaming the system to protect her son when she’s gone.

Between her introduction and the glimpse of Mycroft we get (also true to his canonical roots), Watson is wasting no time bringing in as many familiar characters as possible and setting up its full version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s world.

Now that the series has secured a season two renewal, this also means we’re going to need to do more with all these people. We’re clearly being set up to see Irene again, and potentially under very emotional and possible life-changing circumstances.

Though it all seems to be coming a bit early in the show’s run, I’m generally happy with the choices being made here. A slightly over-the-top Moriarty aside, most of these figures feel like real people who fit naturally into the show’s worldbuilding.

Even before we learn the truth about Angus’s “condition”, there’s much less medical plot than in other episodes. It feels closer to an episode of Elementary or BBC’s Sherlock than to a medical drama. It’s good to know we can work in either genre.

Once again, my only real disappointment in the hour stems from the “tagged on” feeling that the inter-team drama has. This time, I don’t even know exactly how Ingrid and Stephens got so upset with each other I the first place.

This isn’t quite a bottle episode, but it has a lot of similar elements. Shinwell’s dealings with Moriarty’s men are mentioned only through a flashback to the suicide of a pharmacist used to cover them up. Other ongoing plots are ignored entirely.

With this level of effort put into adding nearly everyone Sherlock ever knew to the cast, the question of his own fate remains a constant underscore to everything. But until we get more hints (perhaps in a season finale), all we can do is wait and see.

---

What did you think of this episode of Watson? Share your thoughts in the comments below, and don’t forget to leave your own rating!

Critic Rating:

Audience Rating:

 

Watson airs Sundays at 9/8c on CBS

Check out our latest TV recommendations, updated weekly!

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