Watson Season 1 Episode 13 Review: Your Life’s Work, Part 2

By the end of Watson Season 1 Episode 13, “Your Life’s Work, Part 2,” two major characters are either likely or definitely leaving, and one does die. It might not be who you expect.

After deciding to use their only sample on Adam by literal coin flip, the team turns to desperate measures to save his brother, too. Stephens is on the brink of either death or brain damage and Shinwell soon also arrives seriously ill.

They turn to Hannah, Moriarty’s assistant, and her daughter’s oncologist, Laila, to offer treatment in exchange for her help uncovering Moriarty’s true plans. That those plans include assassinations may partially condone what follows.

Ingrid confesses her sabotage of the samples and works with Watson on a plan. Soon after, Moriarty stumbles half-blind into the clinic. They’re created a disease that targets only him and only they can save him—in exchange for equal information.

Both Stephens and Moriarty recover. The former shares his first kiss (at least when he’s not in a coma) with Sasha and forgives Ingrid while still asking her to leave the clinic. The latter wakes to find John sitting ominously at his bedside.

Two weeks later, Watson will be dating Laila and putting Moriarty’s shirt in a box with Holmes’s name on it. He has it after “saving” Moriarty only to inflict another fatal condition. As Mary waits to help with the cover up, he calmly watches the man die.

So…yeah. A unique Moriarty is gone before the final credits of the season. And our hero, who has largely followed canon by being less bombastic than Sherlock, has technically committed murder. His “victim” is a much more monstrous killer, but the point stands.

Though this is only one of many complications for season 2, the core of the episode is still the team saving Stephens. After ending the last hour with a real chance of tragedy, the possibility basically evaporates when we see how far they’ll go.

Still, we’re left with some crushingly emotional moments before that solidifies. Adam faces a lifetime of survivor’s guilt for a choice totally beyond his control. Sasha’s moment with a comatose Stephens makes us fear permanent damage even if he survives.

And then there’s Ingrid. I’m pleasantly surprised by her coming forward. Her leading the charge to do whatever needs to be done both offers an outlet for some forgiveness and solidifies how ruthless she can be, whether she’s seeking revenge or absolution.

This is our first peek at a likely casting shake-up. Though she may find a way to remain on the side in tangential way, it now seems impossible she’ll return to the Holmes clinic. And having confessed to murder, too, she might not even return a free woman.

Moriarty’s demise also has implications for both all the characters and the entire vibe of the series. John has plenty of justification for his actions and seems at peace with it later, but he’s a doctor who places conscience above all. How long until it rears its head?  

On a broader level, where will the show turn without a Moriarty, a climactic point that most adaptions usually wait much longer to portray? True, we saw very little of the man on screen, but he was influential in nearly every extended plot.

Will we move on to some of Sherlock’s other most famed adversaries? Is this a way to leave much of canon behind and strike out into new territory? And does this increase or decrease the odds of the consulting detective returning from the dead? We’ll have to wait months to find out.

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Watson airs Sundays at 9/8c on CBS

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