Spoilers ahead for Episode 8 of CBS' Watson Season 1, called "A Variant of Unknown Significance" and available streaming next day with a Paramount+ subscription . Watson has been slowly but surely adapting famous elements of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes lore into its medical mystery/detective drama in the 2025 TV schedule , including the early reveal of Randall Park as Moriarty. In "A Variant of Unknown Significance," Watson went all out by introducing not only Irene Adler , but also Mycroft Holmes.
The doctor himself even name-dropped Baron Adelbert Gruner, a character from one of Doyle's short stories. The episode ended by getting rid of what I thought would be the Chekhov's gun of Season 1, but I also see a way that the storyline could continue. Unsurprisingly, Irene Adler came to UHOP as part of a long con.
Her son Angus wasn't sick with a mystery illness after all, as Watson ultimately proved medically and Ingrid proved somewhat more crudely by giving the young boy a shove. Irene's attempt to pass Angus off as Sherlock's son who he'd never known about was a ploy to gain access to Sherlock's DNA, which was hard to come by due to his cremation. Watson in fact had to send Shinwell to Mycroft, Sherlock's brother, to get it.
Morris Chestnut's character connected the dots that Irene wanted the DNA to sell to Baron Gruner in Austria, who had a habit of purchasing the DNA of remarkable people. She did have a sympathetic reason, as she needed the money to leave to her.
