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Eunice Kim
Professor Lynda Haas
Writing 37
December 12, 2014
Out With the Old Watson, In With the New Watson
As Conan Doyle was writing his short stories and novels during the Victorian Era, he
created conventions that made Watson relatable to the audience. Watson, unlike Holmes, had
many traits that portrayed him as a normal person, which led to the creation of that bond. One of
the traits that made him relatable to the audience is the way he observes and deduces things.
According to literary scholar Maria Konnikova, in her book Mastermind: How to Think Like
Sherlock Holmes, System Watson is the habitual one (23). This system is our nave selves,
operating by the lazy thought habits the ones that come most naturally, the so-called path of
least resistance that weve spent our whole lives acquiring (Konnikova 18). Unlike Holmes,
Watson doesnt pick up on the details or looks into things very lightly. When Holmes deduces
crime scenes or evidence, he takes everything into consideration; however, when Watson looks
at a crime scene, he looks into it with the bare minimum. Over a century has passed since Doyle
wrote his stories, but the characters he created are just as popular today, thanks to adaptations,
such as BBCs Sherlock, written by Steven Moffat, and CBSs Elementary, written by Robert
Doherty. In Sherlock, Martin Freeman, who portrays Dr. John Watson, personates the original
conventions of Watson from Doyles stories, but in Elementary, Lucy Lu, who acts as Joan
Watson, plays an updated version of them. One convention thats different from the original and
updated version is System Watson and his way of observing and deducing. Sherlock mirrors

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Watsons method of deduction and observation, while Elementary portrays an updated version of
it.
BBCs Sherlock mirrors the convention of Watsons system of observing from the
original of Doyles stories. Watson doesnt have the capabilities of deducing evidence and crime
scenes with many details in mind, unlike Holmes. But when he tries to observe some evidence,
Watson can only seek for the bare minimum of details that may or may not have anything to do
with the actual crime case itself. He doesnt try matching the pieces together to figure out
important clues for a crime either, unlike Holmes. In the third episode of the first season, The
Great Game, from 20:14 21:30, Watson and Holmes are in a laboratory, with a pair of shoes
they found that might lead to another clue to find out the case. Holmes asks Watson to observe it,
considering all the elements he can find. Watson, then, states everything he can see with his bare
eye, but after he finishes making all the conclusions he made about the shoe, Holmes states that
Watson stated everything that was unimportant to the case.
System Watson and Watsons poor skills of deduction are shown throughout this scene.
With in the first few seconds of the scene, Watson is already stating his opinions of the pair of
shoes hes observing. The medium close up of this scene helps establish this convention, by
showing how hes looking at the shoe and the conclusions hes making. Although he maneuvers
the shoe to make an observation, he doesnt thoroughly look at the shoe to find the extra details
that will help with the actual case. For example, he states that the shoe is a pair of trainers and
that the soles are worn out. These statements are basic, where any normal person with a general
view of the shoe can make. System Watson is shown in this section from the idea that hes not
working too hard to find the specific details for the case and just stating the obvious. From 20:40
21:06, the scene is filmed where there is a deep focus of Watson and Holmes, back and forth.

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During this part, Watson is still stating his observation to Sherlock. But as Watson comes to an
end, Holmes says that all of what Watson said was facts that were unnecessary to the case. This
deep focus establishes the importance of the conversation between Holmes and Watson. The
conversation is important because it shows that Watsons conclusions of the shoe dont help with
the case overall. Watsons overall conclusions of the shoes are standard and typical. Holmes
wants to test Watson to see if Watson is able to understand and pick up on all the details, but at
the end, he ultimately fails. From 20:50 20:52, there is an extreme close up of the shoe, while
Watson is looking to find some clues. He states that the shoe belongs to a kid because there was
a name that was written with a felt tip pen. This scene does show that hes looking into all the
details of the shoe, but hes not looking close enough to find important information that will be
beneficial to the case. All in all, this scene exemplifies the idea of System Watson in a sense
where Watson isnt going through a detailed process to figure out what the background
information of the shoe is. Martin Freeman shows a true portrayal of the original Watson from
Doyles novels, from the idea that he doesnt go the extra mile to figure out the precise details
that will help with solving the case. But on the flipside, Elementary portrays Watson as an
updated version of the original one.
In CBSs Elementary, Joan Watson is the updated version of the original Watson, from
Doyles books, and is considered to be equal to Holmes, since she can deduce and observe
evidence just like him. In the article, Battling Super-Sleuths: The Awkward Case of Sherlock,
Elementary and Building the Better Adaptation, the author Emily Asher-Perrin states that both
Watson and Holmes are equals according to the shows premise Sherlock even recruits
Watson as an apprentice because he believes she can develop a skill set much like his own and
become a detective. Watson is considered to be the one who helps Holmes try to figure out

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clues, which will then help Holmes figure out the case. The old Watson would never have done
that because Holmes was able to do everything on his own. In Doyles novels, Holmes asks for
Watsons input here and there, but it is never the situation, where Watson can actually find the
answers to solving the case. In the 22nd episode of the first season, Risk Management, from
30:16-32:48, Joan Watson is coming into the room and Holmes is quite frustrated from not being
able to answer why Darren Sutter killed Rourke. But as Watson looks at a picture of Darren and
Katie Sutter, she comes to a realization that Katie Sutter has something to do with the killing of
Rourke. Darren Sutter actually is tricked into killing Rourke because she believes that Rourke
was the one who killed Leah Sutter, Darrens sister, but actually didnt. Katie wants to give
Darren peace from the death of his sister, but in reality, causes Darren to kill an innocent man.
Throughout this scene, there is an updated image of Watson, from the fact that Joan
Watson is actually noticing certain clues that Holmes usually does. Before Watson creates final
conclusions of Katie and Darren Sutter, Holmes decides to push down the board filled with
evidence to display his frustrations. The cinematic element of foley is used because it establishes
the amount of force Holmes uses to push down the board. Since he pushes down the board,
Watson comes in to pick up the papers that fell off from the board, which leads her to look at the
evidence more thoroughly. After, from 31:50 32:00, there is a medium close-up of Watsons
face. This cinematic element helps the audience see what shes looking at, as she is picking up
the rest of the evidence that is on the floor. The medium close-up also shows her facial
expression as she is looking into the picture. It shows that shes making an observation, by
connecting other clues, which eventually leads to Holmes furthering in actually solving the case
even more. With this section of the scene, Watson figures out that Katie Sutter actually
influenced Darren Sutter into killing Rourke because at the time, Katie believed that Rourke

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killed Leah, who is Darrens sister. But in actuality, Katie was wrong all along. Without Watson
looking at that picture and making that conclusion, Holmes probably couldnt have figured out
that clue. This shows that Watson is making observations that help Holmes solve crimes or
answer certain questions. From 32:08 32:49, the scene has deep focuses on Watson and
Holmes face, back and forth. This element establishes the importance of the conversation
between Watson and Holmes, after Watson makes her conclusion about Katie Sutter. She states
that Katie tricked Darren into killing Rourke, which is an important clue, since it leads to Holmes
and Watson solving the actual case. All in all, this scene shows the updated Watson that CBS
wants him to be portrayed as. Lucy Lus version of Watson is very different from Doyles
Watson, in the idea that Watson can make conclusions that can be beneficial to solving the case
and find many details that are being involved in making those conclusions. She can put
everything together to help answer the final question of the case. The old Watson in Doyles
novels isnt able to do what Joan Watson does in Elementary. In Elementary, Sherlock even
takes Watson to be his apprentice, which shows that Watson has the capability to deduce and
make reasoning like Holmes. He sees the potential that she has to be like him one day, which is
very unlikely for the old Watson in Doyles novels.
Both Sherlock and Elementary present System Watson and the convention of Watsons
observational skill. But, Elementary presents an updated version of this convention. Both Joan
and John Watson are different, by displaying the type of conclusions they make; for instance,
one conclusion can be helpful to solving a case, while the other one might not be. In Elementary,
Joan Watson is able to make deductions similar to Holmes. She helps Holmes figure out cases,
unlike in Sherlock, where Watson makes conclusions that are neither very detailed nor helpful.
Also, Holmes and Watson, in Elementary, are considered to be equal, since they are both

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talented to figuring out the cases together. Throughout the evidence from the modern-day texts, it
is shown that this convention can either be mirrored or updated. Both of these adaptations of
Watson help with the creation of what Watsons role can be in the detective genre today.

Works Cited
"The Great Game." Sherlock. BBC Wales. 8 Aug 2010. Television.
Asher-Perrin, Emily. "Battling Super-Sleuths: The Awkward Case of Sherlock, Elementary, and
Building the Better Adaptation." Tor.com, Macmillan, 24 Feb. 2014. Web. 11 Aug. 2014.
Konnikova, Maria. Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes. New York: Viking, 2013.
PDF File.
Risk Management. Elementary. CBS. 9 May 2013. Television.