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Andy Trinh
Professor Lynda Haas
Writing 37
26 November 2014
Watsons Escape
There are conventions of the detective genre that Conan Doyle created along side Sherlock
Holmes and Watson. One of these is how Watson is not as knowledgeable and interesting as
Holmes, because Holmes is a genius. As mentioned by Panek, Watson squeaks out a
gentlemans C in the quiz about the hat (86). Panek states that Watson is a mere representation
of average. However, this has changed through the modern day television show Elementary with
Lucy Liu playing the female role of Joan Watson instead of the classical John Watson. It is true
that she did not start out with the same knowledge and skills of deduction as Holmes, but Watson
proved herself by the end of the first season. Claimed by Brian Chapman, The other key change
in the Watsons is that Joan isnt ex-militarythis simply opens more possibilities for story lines
(3). He explains how there are more opportunities to shape Watsons development as a character
because of her background in the show. Elementary takes advantage of this and the change in sex
of Watson by having her break out of the convention of being incompetent to Holmes. The show
alters Conan Doyles convention of Watson and turns her into a more interesting, impactful
character.
Despite Watson being completely useless when first meeting Holmes, she surprises him
here with a deduction that ultimately solves the case. In the episode Risk Management, from
Elementary, Holmes and Watson attempt to figure out the reason for a mans murder. During the
time 31:40 to 33:40, Watsons character is given the spotlight for the case. It starts out with

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Watson coming home to find Holmes puzzled about the case while staring at his display of
evidence. They break into a small argument, which leads into a close up of Holmes being slightly
heated. Then, Holmes stresses out and releases his anger out on a bulletin board. She had to send
Holmes of to the kitchen to grab some food in order to clean the mess. The racking focus from
Holmes to Watson, when he left, emphasizes that Watson is the main focus of the current scene
and is about to impact the story. This is where she develops a new idea about the situation from a
photo that fell. Watsons new thought catches Holmes by surprise by slowly relating her point
about the case, to his life. By using a deep focus with Watson far behind, the audience is able to
see Holmess reactions to what she is telling him. Holmess most shocked face was a close up on
him after a point-of-view shot was used to show the picture that Watson placed in front of him on
a table. As Panek points out, Holmes feels impelled to point out Watsons errors and to show
him how to do the thing correctly (86). This quote implies Watson is wrong and Holmes
strongly feels the need to revise her case. However, Watson has no errors in this deduction and
outshines Holmes because he struggled to come to this conclusion despite the countless hours
spent analyzing the bulletin board. Also, Holmes is usually the one who decides to work alone
and sends off Watson to do some type or errand. In this case, Watson makes Holmes eat, which
could be a type of errand, while she cleans up and studies the evidence that is picked up. Watson
slightly became Holmes in this moment because she figured out the solution alone, but the
answer was delivered to the audience when she reconnected with Holmes in the kitchen. The
deep focus not only allowed the viewers to see Holmess reactions, but it made it feel as if he
was the representation of the target audience instead of Watson. This scene revises the Watson
convention, not being as smart as Holmes, through her moment of observation and explanation to
Holmes, instead of the other way around. She breaks out of the shell created by Conan Doyle and

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develops a new definition of Watson.
Watson is shown to be just as dynamic as Holmes after slightly losing his mind at the true
identity of Irene Adler. In the last episode of season one, Heroine, Holmes and Watson split up.
Holmes finds Irene, The Woman, in an abandoned house and feels impelled to watch over her
wellbeing. The show gives flashbacks of the history between her and Holmes to let the audience
better understand his strong desire to be near her. Holmes sends Watson off to work with the
police alone and puts his faith into her. Watson is given the spotlight in the scene between the
times of 1:16:00 and 1:24:37. A man he deducted to be a criminal working for Irene just punched
Holmes in the face. When the police send him away, Holmes and Watson get a room to
themselves. The conversation between them escalates quickly while Holmes gets furious for not
being able to stop a crime from happening. There is a frequent point-of-view shot between them
to show what they are each seeing. This shot is not more focused on either character, showing
that they are both arguing evenly. Usually, Holmes is doing a lot of the talking so the point-ofview would be from Watson, therefore only showing Holmes. Watson is capable of making
points that do not automatically get shot down from Holmes, depicting her growth as a character.
Also, Holmes confesses that he almost took drugs. This took a toll on him because he is a
recovering addict. At this point of the argument, the point-of-view shot on Watson was more at a
low angle rather than even eye level with Holmes. A low angle shot makes the target seem more
important and powerful, who was Watson in this moment. Just what Chapman explained, You
need to have characters worth developing. Joan simply has more time to be fleshed out on
screen, and the character is better for it (3). He describes Watson, in Elementary, as a character
worth paying attention to. There is more reason to develop her personality in the show, which is
what happened at the end of this first season. While the argument grows, Watson keeps her calm

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and figures out that it is time for Holmes to let Irene win. At first, Holmes does not understand
because he gets ready to storm out, however, the audience is tricked into believing that Holmes
went to overdose. It is not until Holmes wakes up on a hospital bed with Irene standing across
the room, that the viewers learn the truth of Watsons surrender to Irene. She figured out that
making Holmes pretend to overdose would draw Irene out, defeating her once and for all. There
was a use of a flashback when Holmes explained to Irene the situation she was in. It consisted of
Watson pulling Holmes back in order to make him understand what she meant about letting Irene
win. Also, Holmes mentioned to Irene that there are now two people who can surprise her. These
two points clarify how Watson has grown into a detective on the same level as Holmes. She is
the change in the convention of Watson not being as capable as Holmes in the science of
deduction.
Along with Sherlock Holmes and Watson, Conan Doyle conceived conventions of the
detective genre. There are several for each character as well as the detective genre itself. For
example Watson alone has a handful of conventions just by being himself in the detective stories.
These conventions have been changed through stories and more modern versions of the Holmes
tales. The convention of Watson being less intelligent as Holmes has been adjusted through the
television show Elementary, by making Watson a female and giving more her more opportunities
for character development. Claimed by Chapman himself, I think this is one of the reasons why
Joan is so much more interesting than John has becomethe rest of the time needs to be filled
with character development (3). Chapman describes how Joan Watson is that character, because
she eventually proves herself to be at par with Holmes. In these two scenes, she shows the skills
picked up from all the time spent with Holmes. Watson is given the spotlight more and makes
use of it by escaping the whole idea of incompetence when related to Holmes. Even Handlen

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agrees when he states, Over the course of the first season, Watson helped bring balance and
perspective into Holmess world, while he, in turn, offered her a glimpse of the challenges and
gratification of investigative work. Its an equal partnership that allows Watson agency and
standing without diminishing Holmes gifts, in his article Its Elementary, Sherlock: How the
CBS Procedural Surpassed the BBC Drama. Handlen describes the partnership between Holmes
and Watson is equal. At first, it was just Watson being a sober companion for a recovering drug
addict who knew a whole deal more than she did. Then, Holmes provided and environment that
Watson latched onto, making her sort of an addict to all the crime and detective work. Watson got
so worked up in these cases that she quit her job to live full time with Holmes and be a
consulting detective herself. She started out as a mere doctor in the way of his studies, but ended
up as an equal level detective to Holmes by the end of the first season of Elementary. Watsons
progress was shown later in the show because it takes a while for a character to change and
develop a new personality. There are specific moments in the scenes when she shines, since the
science of deduction did not just choose her over night. Watson surprises Holmes by solving the
case at the end of the episode Risk Management. She figures out the truth about the situation
from one close observation of a picture while Holmes could not. Also, Watson shows Holmes
how to beat Irene, or better known as Moriarty, once and for all. In the last episode, Heroine,
the title reflects how Watson is that of a heroine and gives Holmes peace by defeating Irene. She
is his heroine who becomes someone capable of solving cases as efficiently as Holmes himself.
The audience knows this because Holmes names a new species of bees after Watson, who has
proven herself a respectable detective rather than the Watson who can not keep up with Sherlock
Holmes.

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Works Cited:
Chapman, Brian. "10 Reasons Why Elementary is Better than Sherlock." What Culture. What
Culture, LTD., 9 Jan. 2014. Web. 11 Aug. 2014.

Handlen, Zack. "It's Elementary, Sherlock: How the CBS Procedural Surpassed the BBC
Drama," A.V. Club. The Onion, 20 Jan. 2014. Web. 11 Aug. 2014.

Panek, Leroy. An Introduction to the Detective Story. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State
University Popular Press, 1987. Print.

Risk Management. Elementary. CBS. New York, United States. 9 May, 2013. Television.
"Heroine." Elementary. CBS. New York, United States. 16 May, 2013. Television.