Dynamic

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Watson Season 2 Episode 3 “Expletive Deleted.”]

Uh-oh, it seems like there may be trouble on the horizon for the Holmes Clinic yet again on Watson. Ingrid (Eve Harlow), as she’s leaving at the end of the day after her first case back with the team, finds a fellow group therapy member, Beck (Noah Mills), waiting for her. He’s someone with a similar sociopathy to Ingrid, about whom Watson’s (Morris Chestnut) question in Season 1 was, is she more like sleuth Sherlock Holmes (Robert Carlyle) or the villain James Moriarty (Randall Park).

Beck wants a look at the clinic — he’s opened a start-up in town, connecting tech kids with his people out west — and what’s going on behind the closed doors. But as she points out, they met in group therapy for sociopaths, so there won’t be any sort of business relationship here. She also rules out a personal one when he asks her out for coffee. When it becomes clear he’s not taking that as a hard no, she warns him if he comes back, maybe she’ll kill him — and it wouldn’t be the first time — but that still doesn’t scare him off.

Below, Eve Harlow explains why Ingrid is intrigued by Beck, her dynamics with the team, and more.

How does Ingrid feel her first case back with the team went? Does she still feel like it’s her place, like she said in the group therapy session?

Eve Harlow: Yes. I think the feeling of the clinic being Ingrid’s place has never gone away, even through everything that happened at the end of last season, the beginning of this season. It’s the only place that has challenged her and I think that feeling has been really difficult to let go of. It’s the place that feels like home.

But speaking of group, Beck. This character is so intriguing. What is Ingrid’s impression of this guy so far who came into therapy late, was waiting for her outside the clinic, wants to know more about the clinic, asks her for coffee, and isn’t bothered by her murder threat?

I think that because of his response or lack of response to the murder threat, that’s what hooks Ingrid because I think there are very few people that come along that challenge her in any way. And so she meets this person that isn’t intimidated by her, that stands up to her and it’s someone who she feels that can play the game with her.

Yeah, he’s more intrigued by her because of all of this.

Yes. It’s kind of like meeting your match. I think that with Watson, the reason why she has so much respect for him, the reason why she has respect for the fellows, it’s their intelligence, they meet her at the same level. And with Beck, it’s that same sociopathy. He meets her at her level.

What’s the dynamic like going forward? What’s coming up there?

It’s fun, without giving too much away. [Laughs] Ingrid is trying to be better. She’s trying to deal with this symptom of hers, this condition of hers, and she wants the respect of the fellows, of Watson. She wants to play well with them, but also she very much has this other side of her and I think that Beck is a way of still kind of having that.

Is romance possible?

I guess you’re just going to have to wait and see.

It’s almost a test for, does she tell the team about this guy who’s interested in the clinic? That could be another threat like Moriarty last season. So is she telling anyone about Beck?

Of course. I mean, I think that she says that she wants to get better. She is trying, but obviously there are actions versus words and what will ultimately win out, and it’s a constant thing with Ingrid as in the first season of which side will win the good side or the bad side, the side that sees the way that she should be versus the way that nature wants her to be, which is lack of shame, lack of guilt, the ability to do really cruel things.

Ingrid and Sasha (Inga Schlingmann) have a couple nice moments in this episode, which I loved. Does Ingrid truly miss Sasha as much as she can miss someone? Was she being completely honest about that?

Yes. I think it’s the first time that Ingrid has been seen by someone and has had someone care so much. It’s not something that she’s used to. And so even though it was difficult to incorporate initially and she was pushing it away in the first season, she kind of got used to it and then it went away and you don’t know what you’re missing until it’s gone. She didn’t know what was missing until it went away.

Then there’s Ingrid diagnosing Stephens (Peter Mark Kendall) with depression. Did she really think he knew?

I think that she thinks that he was in denial. He knows, but it’s not something that’s easy to admit. So, it’s like shining a flashlight on the thing that was so obvious.

It seems like the tension between Ingrid and the team is at least lessening by the end of this episode. They’re finding their footing again and everything. How are things going forward? Are they settling into this new dynamic?

Yeah, I do think that what Shinwell [Ritchie Coster] said to them in the first episode about Ingrid being the only one who really lost anything, it resonated and that’s also part of the reason why they put her profile forward when Watson was saying that he needs a neurologist because they all recognize how much she adds to the team and that they’re giving her another chance essentially.

Something I noticed was there wasn’t a conversation between Ingrid and Adam (Kendall) in this episode. Is one coming? I feel like Adam has stuff to say about what happened.

Yes.

What can you say about it? Who has the upper hand in that conversation?

I think all of the conversations that Ingrid is having with all the fellows, they are taking place from a space of good faith because they have accepted her back in, they’ve said yes to her, and I think that everything moving forward is just an attempt to help her on this journey.

What’s coming up between Ingrid and Watson?

I think it’s the same thing, that Watson sees the danger of Ingrid but also sees how much she brings to the clinic, how much her dynamic is necessary there. So, you can’t say yes to somebody and then be rejecting them at the same time. So it’s a full on, yes, you’re part of the team again. Yes, you’re working together and hopefully there won’t be another betrayal.

Sergei Bachlakov/CBS

Is Mary (Rochelle Aytes) the most cautious about Ingrid, would you say, at this point?

Yes, without a doubt.

What can you say about what we’ll see there?

Actually, we haven’t had anything together yet, but I think that just from energy wise, when Mary and Ingrid are in the same room, it’s kind of like, I have my eye on you.

How willing is Ingrid to continue these therapy sessions as she’s really settling back into the Holmes clinic and I feel like that could take precedence.

I do think that the therapy is very important and I think it’s because if she doesn’t continue with the therapy, she knows that her career at the clinic is in jeopardy because she can’t have the same thing happen again that happened last season, obviously not to the same extent, but acting selfishly or putting anybody at risk at the clinic. She got a second chance. There’s not necessarily going to be a third.

Sherlock being alive — I feel like Ingrid would be so intrigued to just pick his brain. If she were to hear about him being alive, what would she want to know?

Oh my God, I think I’d want to be Sherlock’s right hand woman. “I’m here to solve mysteries with you, sir.”

That would be really interesting because last season was about, is she like Sherlock or Moriarty? Could Sherlock have the most power to sway her in a direction?

I definitely think that the people that Ingrid is drawn towards and can be influenced by are people who challenge her and challenge her intelligence, like I said, the way that Watson does and Sherlock is another one of those people that would definitely do that.

Is anything coming up there?

You know what, I told Craig [Sweeny] that I want scenes with Bobby Carlyle.

What else is coming up for Ingrid?

I think adventures with Beck, let’s say that. Also, integration of this new personality and this new kind of life and approach to things that was foreign to her before.

Is she out of her comfort zone around Beck?

I don’t think it’s out of comfort. I think it’s thrilling. And scary in terms of he is everything that she’s trying to walk away from.

Watson, Mondays, 10/9c, CBS