I LOVE WATSON: The Pilot

 Remember when I used to blog about Elementary? 

If you do, thank you for sticking with my ramblings. If not, let me give you a summary: A "Sherlock in name only" ongoing hate-watch from which I will forever attempting to redeem myself for, after karma blessed me with an actual true love of the most disrespected Sherlock Holmes movie of modern times.

Well, I'm back again, blogging episode by episode of that new CBS Holmes-related show with Craig Sweeney attached. And guess what?

Whether it's "I LOVE WATSON: The Pilot" or the in-two-weeks "I LOVE WATSON: "Redcoat," this blog will be an ongoing attestation to how I, reformed Elementary hater and John H. Watson Society podcast host, love CBS's Watson.

Last night I watched it while Zoom chatting with my fellow Watson Society bull pups, and wanted might have not focused as much as I could have. So tonight, I rewatched it with my companion, the good Carter, and gave it my full hundred percent. And I had fun.

Sure, as USA Today said, it's "unhinged TV." And a "patient-of-the-week drama crashed together with this half-hearted Sherlock Holmes mythology," "a nonconsensual cohabitation of two ideas with entirely different tones and themes smoothed over by Chestnut's soothing baritones." Yes, all of that.

But when a poor sick girl goes, "Doctor Watson . . ." my little heart goes, "It's Sherlock Holmes's Doctor Watson! John Hamish Watson! With a picture of General Gordon in his office!" I've been a diehard Sherlockian for a good forty-seven years, and do you know how many of those years have had Dr. Watson on a TV show? So let's get to reasons to love the new Watson and his show, despite what the other kids on the playground say.

* First TV Watson to go shirtless in a scene. And have the abs to back it up.

* Mary Morstan lives! And is having her own life (and maybe wife?)

* Ritchie Coster as Shinwell Johnson, giving us hope for a Kitty Winter appearance and driving that imported car with the "221B SSH" license plate. (It it Sherlock's old car? Was his middle name "Scott" as in some pastiches?)

* "You're my Sherlock Holmes." "We're not Sherlock Holmes, whoever that was." "I'm Dr. Watson." Once you get through the medical jargon and the repeated "FFI"s, there are some lines that I'm going to quote one day.

* Okay, when not text-chatting with Sherlockians, the sick pregnant Erica, played by Anjelica Bette Fellini actually made me feel emotion when she pleaded her case to Watson. I hope they keep up her caliber of patient.

* The four doc-sketeers. One of the twins looks like Tom Hanks sometimes. Ingrid Darian is either Moriarty's daughter, his lover, Mary's lover, or just a wicked looking red herring. Lubbock, the Texan with the overly Southern accent is just purdy and needs more dialogue. And that other twin, well, okay, he's the dull one for now, but maybe he'll kick his brother's ass at some point when he's just tired of taking guff. (Yes, I said "guff." I'm old enough to do that now.)

* Did you notice the Watson logo is over an x-ray of Moriarty's hand? Moriarty!

* And by Moriarty, I mean Randall Park in a white polo shirt with an ominious "Always & Everywhere" logo is the next stage of Moriarty's evolution after Andrew Scott. The whole point of the original Moriarty was "Who could believe this harmless professor was the biggest crime boss in London?" And, aw, it's Randall Park, good old MCU Jimmy Woo, he can't be so bad! Wait for it . . . keep waiting . . . I mean, it's just the first episode. Wait for it . . .

* Morris Chestnut. C'mon! Part of my issue with Elementary was that Jonny Lee Miller just never had the charisma I wanted in a Sherlock. Put Morris Chestnut and Lucy Liu next to each other and offer me a dinner date with one of the two and I might start having questions about my life. And I love Lucy Liu!

In this horribly team-sport time of binary choices forced upon us, I'm going to make it simple and just choose "love" when it comes to CBS's Watson. And I'll be back here in a couple weeks to see how much I loved episode two. Dr. Watson is family in a way, given my lifelong ties to the character, and you don't always get to pick your family, but you learn to love them, flaws and all. And he's got a new show.

Let's go!