Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for Watson Episode 5.
After four weeks of so-so episodes, Watson Episode 5 is where the series finally comes into itself, delivering an episode that hooks the audience from start to finish. It’s also the first episode to really say something about the medical field and how tech giants have priced patients out of life-saving medicine. Despite the title, “The Man with the Glowing Chest,” this week’s patient is a young Black woman suffering from a debilitating case of sickle cell anemia. The episode opens in 2016, where Taryn (Brittany Adebumola) is practicing her valedictorian speech in her childhood home. As she speaks, she begins coughing and gasping for air. Taryn is rushed to the hospital where she spends the next eight years of her life in and out of the hospital, receiving treatments that are never enough. But, she hasn’t met Dr. Watson (Morris Chestnut).
In the present, Watson meets with the titular “Man with the Glowing Chest,” Hobie McSorley (Nat Faxton), who has biohacked his way into having a glowing green chest. It seems inconsequential at first—and completely ridiculous—but Hobie’s experiment proves paramount in saving Taryn’s life. Shortly after Hobie leaves, Dr. Mary Morstan (Rochelle Aytes) comes to meet with Watson about Taryn. She wants to get her patient into a trial for treating sickle cell anemia, but Taryn is too sick to qualify, so she enlists Watson to make her better. Watson is quick to agree to take Taryn on as a patient, and Mary seems surprised by how cooperative he’s being. Perhaps she’s still reeling from last week’s episode, where he relented to an uncontested divorce.
Watson’s Fellows Finally Show Their True Colors in Episode 5
Episode 5 marks the first episode where the fellows haven’t been majorly involved in treating the patient of the week. From the moment Watson meets Taryn and sees how the sickle cell anemia has ruined her future, he doesn’t really let anyone else in. Aside from Shinwell (Ritchie Coster) who is on board for aiding and abetting Watson’s crime spree. While the fellows are largely relegated to the background of the episode, there are a handful of revelatory moments with them throughout — particularly Dr. Derian (Eve Hollow).
In Episode 3, Derian was devastated to learn that she wouldn’t be running the Spinal Signal Program, but it seems she has at least gotten into the study — and it’s not going her way. While the other fellows buzz about the man with the glowing chest, Derian furiously types up emails to the study, which catches Dr. Lubbock’s (Inga Schlingmann) attention. Derian reveals that she has been recommending patients for the study, but her recommendations keep getting ignored. This becomes a conversation for them throughout the episode. Lubbock gives Derian advice about how she should be approaching her recommendations, namely how she should be making a case, and pulling at the heartstrings, not just simply recommending a patient. Lubbock also reveals that when she was at university, she would always take over a class project to ensure that she got an A+, a skill she continues to use as a fellow. Toward the end of the episode, Derian learns that one of her recommended patients — a woman named Gigi — has gotten into the program thanks to a recommendation submitted by Lubbock. But the real revelation comes at the very end of the episode, when it is revealed that Derian knows Gigi and actually lives with her.
The Crofts (Peter Mark Kendall) remain difficult characters to really understand. In previous episodes, we’ve learned that there was a bit of a fallout from Adam getting with Stephen’s ex-fiance, but this episode seems to suggest that the twins have been disconnected from each other’s lives for years. Stephens invites his brother to join him on a trip to celebrate five years of sobriety, and Adam seems surprised to learn that it’s only been five years and Stephens admits that he relapsed five years ago. While we may have to wait an episode or two to see if Adam goes on the trip with Stephens, Adam does attend an AA meeting with his brother once Taryn’s case is closed.
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Chestnut also talks about how important Moriarty will be to Watson’s story this season.
Watson Is Willing to Risk it All for a Patient in Episode 5
When Watson first meets Taryn, she is in extreme distress. Her sickle cell has caused her to have a stroke, and the hospital was so busy that she was left in her bed for hours without help. The stroke has also left her with blurry vision, which Watson discovers is actually caused by bleeding from the inside of her eyes. They discuss their options, which are few and far between, and Taryn expresses frustration about all of the new gene therapies for sickle cell that are priced at over $2 million, making them largely inaccessible for patients. Watson shares her frustration, especially given the fact that, as a geneticist, he could likely do the therapy himself without an astronomical price tag.
Watson and Shinwell head to NYC to convince someone Watson knows at a biotech firm to get Taryn into the trial, but before they can get there, Taryn’s condition worsens. When they return to UHOP, the fellows report that her hemoglobin levels are plummeting. Essentially, the best course of action would be to provide her with palliative care to manage the pain, until her body decides to shut down. That isn’t an option that Watson is willing to take. After running a few tests in the lab later that evening, Watson knows what he has to do. Shinwell finds Watson in the clinic and Watson confesses that he is going to do something that will mean going around Mary, the FDA, and the law. Shinwell is all for breaking the law, but he cautions Watson that they shouldn’t get the fellows involved. They’re good at their jobs, but Shinwell doesn’t trust them not to crack under pressure. So, they enlist Hobie as their accomplice, given his experience with CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) and biohacking.
Watson consults with Taryn about what his plan is. He believes that the procedure will be successful and that she will finally be free of the disease. He also thinks the method will be safer than what’s on the market, particularly that it won’t make her sterile like the alternatives. Taryn is heartened by this aspect, and reveals that she’s struggled with relationships because of her disease, and feeling like a burden to the people she loves. Watson admits that by doing this procedure on her, he is risking his job and freedom if anyone finds out. But he’s willing to do it because she deserves a better life.
The procedure is relatively non-invasive. Watson will drill a small hole into her ankle, masking it as a mole removal, and then inject genetically modified blood into her bone which will start to replicate within her system and, in a matter of days, cure her. Shinwell lies to the fellows and claims that Watson is transferring Taryn back to her hematologist, which immediately raises red flags with them. That’s something a normal doctor would do, not Watson. As they leave for the night, Stephens spots Hobie stepping onto the elevator, and he realizes that Watson is up to something. When Watson wheels Taryn out of the clinic, the fellows are waiting for him. Naturally, they’re concerned that he has done something that has broken the law, and will jeopardize their careers. He leaves them to talk amongst themselves, and they all essentially arrive at the same conclusion: it isn’t fair to have technology that isn’t being used to cure people.
Watson Cracks the Code Again in Episode 5
As with most of the episodes, things get worse before they get better. Taryn spends more time in the hospital, before her condition improves enough for her to be discharged. When Mary comes to check in on her, Taryn’s ex-boyfriend, George Carver, is waiting in her room. Despite what Taryn said about having a hard time maintaining a relationship, it’s clear that George cares for her, sickle cell and all. Mary questions Taryn about the mole removal, skeptical of Taryn’s miraculous turnaround, but Taryn lies through her teeth for Watson. Before Taryn is discharged, Mary orders a few additional vials of blood to be taken, and then confronts Watson. Mary threatens to send the blood off for testing, which will inevitably reveal that something was done to her that isn’t in her medical records. Watson maintains his lie, at least to keep Mary out of his illegal activities, but he does voice his frustrations about how awful it is to know of procedures that could save someone’s life and not be allowed to perform them.
In a matter of days, Taryn is back in the hospital for a pulmonary embolism that everyone believes is because of the procedure. But Watson isn’t convinced. After a few additional tests, they discover that Taryn is pregnant. When Mary tells her, she’s overjoyed, albeit worried about her body’s ability to sustain a pregnancy, but Mary assures her that whatever cured her has given her a second chance at starting a family. Taryn’s happily ever after is enough of a reason to make Mary throw the blood samples away and drop the investigation into what Watson did. However, Watson is not out of the red yet. As the episode winds to an end, we’re shown that Derian has been taking copious notes about the entire case — from Hobie to the illegal procedure. Surely Watson intends to pay off this revelation down the line, especially after Derian has been such a thorn in Watson’s side about his off-the-book style of treating patients.
New episodes of Watson premiere Sundays on CBS and next day on Paramount+.
Watson
Breaking bad for the genetic code.
- Release Date
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January 26, 2025
- Network
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CBS
- Showrunner
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Craig Sweeny
- Directors
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Larry Teng
- Watson finally hits its stride with Episode 5, delivering a compelling story from the patient to the main cast.
- Morris Chestnut gives a incredible performance as he speaks to the issues within the medical industry that impacts the Black community.
- The supporting cast still feels largely underdeveloped, though they are starting to feel like real characters.
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