The CBS medical drama Watson ended its run with a Season 2 finale that is now also an unintentional series finale, leaving John Watson’s fate unanswered. But creator Craig Sweeny detailed the creative decisions, giving a sense of the story’s intent.
Craig Sweeny breaks down the Watson and Mary ending in Watson series finale
Sweeny wrote the Watson ending without knowing whether CBS would renew the series. “The season finale was tricky to write in that, even while we were filming it, we didn’t know if the show was coming back or not,” Sweeny told Deadline. Production on Season 2 had already wrapped when the network made its cancellation decision.
The creative team opted to close the season with a definitive endpoint that could function either way. “We opted to treat it mostly as a season finale, with a coda appended that nods to a possible future for Watson and Mary,” Sweeny explained.
The episode follows John Watson, played by Morris Chestnut, as he travels to Baltimore with Mary, played by Rochelle Aytes, for surgery to remove the glioblastoma responsible for his season-long hallucinations of Sherlock Holmes. Those plans change when the real Holmes, played by Robert Carlyle, is admitted to the Holmes Clinic in Pittsburgh. Watson abandons his surgery, returns to treat his friend, and diagnoses Sherlock’s illness. The delay proves costly. Watson suffers a debilitating seizure, wakes to profess his love to Mary, and enters the operating room as the episode nears its end.
The finale then cuts to a vision of Watson and Mary living at London’s 221B Baker Street, the future Watson described to her hours earlier. Sweeny declined to lock that into a single meaning. “The coda, set at Baker Street, has several possible interpretations — among other things, it could be a fantasia Watson is seeing as he’s on the operating table in what may be his dying moments,” he said. “I have my own interpretation but prefer not to comment on it beyond what’s on the screen so audiences can make up their own minds.”
So, it’s up to fans to interpret what Watson’s ending means now, knowing the creator’s intent.
Originally reported by Devanshi Basu on ComingSoon.
