Talks

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Watson Season 2 Episode 2 “Back from the Dead.”]

“My dear Watson…” Sherlock Holmes (Robert Carlyle) is back in Dr. John Watson’s (Morris Chestnut) life, and he certainly owes his best friend an explanation. After all, the doctor thought he was dead all this time!

It takes a while, but Sherlock does finally share how he survived his fall at Reichenbach Falls with Moriarty (Randall Park): He didn’t go over until after Watson went in to save him. Rather, he’d set up his enemies, Moriarty and Stapleton, and they both went in. (Should we believe him?) And it’s not just his friend who has brought him to Pittsburgh. As he shares with Watson in the final scene of the episode, a mystery there has caught his attention, and it’s all part of a bigger project. There’s only one crime that matters: who stole the world. “The whole Jenga tower could use a bit of a rattle,” Sherlock says, and he’s planning “a third act surprise.” With that, he leaves — for now.

Below, Robert Carlyle breaks down this episode, teases what’s going on with Sherlock, talks working with Morris Chestnut, and more.

There is of course, the question of whether Sherlock is truly alive or a hallucination of Watson’s. What can you say about that and why we should be considering both, or should we?

Robert Carlyle: Well, as far as I’m concerned, he’s very much alive. The whole idea of that is kind of like a Sherlock Watson type of thing; it’s a mystery in itself for the viewers to try and figure that out.

Talk about working with Morris on that dynamic between Sherlock and Watson, especially in this episode where it’s really such a two-hander between the two of you, with almost all of their scenes in Watson’s apartment.

Yeah, absolutely. It’s an absolute pleasure working with Morris. What an absolutely lovely guy he is. And he made me feel so welcome coming into the show. And I think that we, hopefully, create a nice, interesting dynamic. There’s a nice chemistry between the two of us. It’s always hard to pick that up right away because of course, these guys have known each other for many, many, many years, so you’re sort of throwing this at the audience. For them, it’s the first time seeing those two together. But we have to try and show, no, these guys are friends who’ve known each other for a long, long time. The writing certainly helped that. And I think that the audience very quickly will understand that there’s a deep and very loving relationship between these two guys.

And you can really feel that in that apartment scenes. There’s a little bit of that dance that we know and love, but also, you can definitely feel that deep emotion of seeing someone who’s meant a lot to you again for the first time in a while.

Yeah, I think so. He’s suddenly back and Watson wants to know why he’s done this, why he’s vanished for the past year. Sherlock kind of leads him on, as you say, a dance through this whole thing before he eventually tells him the truth of what had happened that day at Reichenbach Falls. They’ve missed each other. They’ve really, really missed each other. And I think that you see that once they start talking about Watson’s case, that they work with each other really, really well, very, very quickly. That’s what I was trying to do anyway, was to show how much they enjoyed that and how much they missed that.

There is precedent in the canon of Sherlock Holmes for him faking his death. Sherlock does eventually tell Watson how he survived the Falls, claiming that he only went in after Watson did to save him. But he’s also been deceiving Watson all this time into thinking he was dead. Why should Watson believe him now about all of this? How truthful is he being his best friend?

That’s a really good question. Why should he believe him? I don’t know whether he does. I think by the end of that second episode, I don’t think that’s resolved in any way. I still think that that Watson is very, very wary of what is happening, of what this guy actually is. [Laughs] You’re not quite sure what’s going on there. So I don’t know whether he should believe him, I think, to answer your question, and I think the audience also would be quite right to think, “I’m not too sure. Is this a fake? What’s going on?”

Sergei Bachlakov/CBS

Sherlock is in Pittsburgh because he has plans. How much is it also that Sherlock missed his friend, as he says he did dearly? Would he have revealed himself to Watson even without something else drawing him to Pittsburgh?

Yeah, I mean, this is all just mulling in my mind, my own kind of thoughts, but I think so, yes. I think definitely he would’ve eventually got in touch and told him that he was back. There are things that he’s there for. I don’t know whether it comes up, I think it does towards the end of the episode when he talks about the Pittsburgh mystery, there’s this mural — back in the time of the Great Depression in America in the late ’20s, ’30s, there was a series of public murals that were commissioned by the government in an attempt, an effort to keep people working. So, Sherlock believes there’s one of these murals by this artist called Charles Austin, who was famous back in the day for doing these things. And he thinks there’s one of these present in Pittsburgh that’s been lost that’s been painted over.

He does say that there is a mystery in Pittsburgh that’s caught his attention, and it’s all part of a bigger project, that the only crime that matters is who stole the world. The whole Jenga tower, he says, could use a little bit of rattle. And he’s planning a third act surprise. What can you tease about what he’s up to?

Something I can genuinely tell you: I have no idea. I really don’t know what’s going on there. I think it is the way that these TV shows are put together, that there’s a general overall kind of idea. But I think that the writers in the writers’ room start to write this stuff as they go, seeing what the actors bring to it and what they can actually stretch out of this. So, I have absolutely nothing on paper to tell me what the third act surprise is, but we can be sure that there is one for sure.

Sherlock tells Watson goodbye for now. How often are we going to be seeing him around?

I can tell you that he appears in [Episode] 5. And then I think it’s 8, certainly 10, which is the mid-season finale, which is the one that we’re shooting at shooting at the moment. This is where things begin to really ramp up, and there’s a problem with Sherlock. I can tell you that there’s a problem with Sherlock, and Watson wants to try and help his friend through this.

In last season’s finale, Watson, in dealing with Moriarty, ultimately caused their nemesis’ death. How much does Sherlock know what Watson did, and how would he feel about it if he had all the facts?

That is a good question. I don’t actually know how much he knows. I think Sherlock believes that Moriarty is gone. But you never know.

In the world of Sherlock Holmes, as we’ve seen in every iteration, you never know.

You don’t know. He could be back. Is it possible for Sherlock to have a life without Moriarty? I mean, he talks about that. I can’t remember [which] episode, but he talks about, the life that he’s led has been difficult, and with a nemesis lurking in every alleyway and stuff like this. And Episode 10, it is really, really beautifully written that he talks to Watson and tells him how it’s not been easy. What he says is, “Look, I’m Sherlock Holmes. I can solve any crime. I’m not afraid of anything. It’s not been easy.” This thing has taken its toll on him. Maybe this whole life of catching criminals and solving crimes and stuff has taken a toll and maybe ultimately all of this, what has all this been for? And it happens. I mean, I understand that in my age as well because I’m in my 60s now; when you start to get older, you think, what are you leaving behind? And with Sherlock, it’s like, “Well, what is it I’ve actually achieved?” There’s a beautiful, beautiful bit in Episode 10. And he says, “One thing’s for sure. At the exact literal moment of my death, someone somewhere will murder somebody else. So what’s it really all for?” That’s where his mind is. He’s not what he was. He’s older and he’s thinking about his legacy and whether that’s worth anything. Maybe this Pittsburgh mural is actually worth more than all these crimes that he solved in the past.

And mortality is obviously a looming presence, a constant weight on your shoulders, really, no matter how old you are.

Exactly, exactly. That’s what Craig [Sweeny] and the writers are trying to do with Sherlock.

What does Sherlock think of Watson’s life as it is now?

I think he’s saddened that he’s not with Mary Morstan [Rochelle Aytes]. I think he’s saddened by that because he thought those two would’ve been together by now. The fact that there’s someone else, I don’t think he’s very happy about that.

Yes. He seems skeptical of Laila (Tika Sumpter). Why is that? Is he just a big Watson and Mary stan at this point?

[Laughs] That’s exactly what he is.

How intrigued do you think Sherlock is by someone like Ingrid (Eve Harlow)?

Well, who knows. I mean, at this point he’s only going by what he hears and what Watson’s telling him. I think it’s very funny when he calls her your nemesis. I love that. So, I don’t think he trusts her at all.

Watson, Mondays, 10/9c, CBS

—Additional reporting by Avery Thompson