Spoilers are ahead for the fifth episode of Watson Season 2, called "Lucky" and available streaming now with a Paramount+ subscription.
The game was afoot yet again in the latest episode of Watson on CBS, with John and his team tackling the case of a patient suffering from locked-in syndrome and unable to communicate valuable information about a traveling nurse/murderer. John wasn't as involved his with team as usual, because Sherlock Holmes had returned for the third time in the fall 2025 TV schedule, and the doctor is continuing his old friend's ruse of being dead. The episode effectively debunked a fan theory that's been circulating about Sherlock for some time, and also reminded me of what Robert Carlyle told CinemaBlend.
How "Lucky" Debunked A Theory
The fan theory actually seemed pretty feasible, with the idea that Sherlock hadn't come back from the dead at all, but John was hallucinating. After all, Sherlock's "appearance" in Season 1 was just John hallucinating his friend's voice (then provided by What We Do In the Shadows' Matt Berry), and it's been hard to overlook that nobody else was present for any of the duo's Season 2 interactions.
I wasn't really on board with the theory after what Robert Carlyle told me earlier this season, but I could also see clues that could fit with the idea of a hallucinated Sherlock. Even "Lucky" seemed like it was adding fuel to the theory, as John hid Sherlock when Mary unexpectedly dropped by, with his ex-wife seeing the dinner table for two but not spotting anybody else in the apartment. At that point, nobody other than John had yet seen Sherlock, and it didn't feel too outlandish that he might have made the leaps of logic himself without realizing it.
But Sherlock himself proved that he was real before the end of the episode. John needed his friend's help to figure out how to stop the plane carrying a murderer to Vietnam before she could escape justice. The world's greatest detective didn't solve the issue with a genius breakthrough, but by making a phone call to Scotland Yard to pose as a "concerned citizen" with a "tip" about a bomb on the flight.
A slightly aghast John noted that Sherlock had just called in a terror threat, but my takeaway was that Sherlock placing a phone call, speaking to somebody on the other end, and getting results is definitive proof that he is in fact 100% real. Despite this, Sherlock still left John by the end of the episode with a hug and no sign of intending to let anybody else in on the secret.
That doesn't mean Sherlock is gone for good, with Robert Carlyle set to appear in future episodes. Plus, with Mycroft asserting his control over Watson's clinic, the who team is set to be mixed up with the Holmes family as Season 2 continues.
What Robert Carlyle Said About Sherlock's Honesty
I spoke with the Once Upon a Time vet earlier in Season 2, and Robert Carlyle opened up about Sherlock's explanation of how he survived going over the Reichenbach Falls. According to Holmes, he'd arranged the whole situation to lead to the deaths of his nemeses, Moriarty and Stapleton, while also giving himself the out of faking his death and escaping all the pressure of being the world's greatest detective. At the time, I'd asked Carlyle how forthright Sherlock was really being with John about how he'd arranged everything to fake his death, and the actor shared:
I think he's being honest about what happened. I think he did go over in order to save Watson. I think that's what he wanted. Sherlock wanted out, and he saw an opportunity of how to do that, to kind of fake his own death and go. He's left no strands of his DNA anywhere. He can go out and live an entirely different life. As the season progresses, people will understand that he's not exactly happy with his life.
Despite Sherlock's plan immediately going awry insofar as Moriarty surviving until his permanent death in the Season 1 finale, he did successfully sell John on his death up until his surprise appearance at the end of the Season 2 premiere. (I'm still curious to see if Watson has more on the way with the Stapleton mention.) According to Carlyle, his character was being honest... for the most part, and being dead hasn't been all he'd cracked it up to be before going over the Falls. Carlyle went on:
[Being] this super sleuth, this guy that can solve any problem, any mystery, that has taken its toll on Sherlock. He's not happy in that world, not happy in that life. He doesn't think that it's really been for anything that's really been worth anything. So he's honest with [John] in terms of the physicality of what happened. But is he being honest with him as to the reason why he did it? That's the question that's to be answered.
Well, we got our answer about how he survived going over the Falls, and as of "Lucky," I think we can firmly believe that Sherlock is 100% alive and not a figment of John's subconscious. I wouldn't say that the latest episode fully answered why Sherlock did what he did, however, so that question still needs to be answered. He does seem to have some unfinished business with Mycroft; could that be a means of Sherlock returning to the land of the living for more people than John?
Only time will tell on that front, and the promo for the next episode indicates that John will have a case to focus on without hiding a British detective from the people in his life. Take a look:
New episodes of Watson will continue airing on Mondays at 10 p.m. ET on CBS, directly after new episodes of FBI Season 8 at 9 p.m. ET. If you want to brush up on Watson's version of Sherlock lore, you can find every episode so far streaming on Paramount+.
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