Watson Season 1 Episode 8 recap: Irene Adler is introduced and Sherlock’s DNA plays a crucial role

Premiering on January 26, 2025, Watson follows Watson’s character from Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. The official synopsis of the show, as per Rotten Tomatoes, mentions

“Six months after the death of his friend and partner Sherlock Holmes at the hands of Moriarty, Dr. John Watson resumes his medical career as the head of a clinic dedicated to treating rare disorders. Watson's old life isn't done with him, though -- Moriarty and Watson are set to write their own chapter of a story that has fascinated audiences for more than a century. Watson is a medical show with a strong investigative spine, featuring a modern version of one of history's greatest detectives as he turns his attention from solving crimes to solving medical mysteries.”

Following a weekly release schedule, new episodes of Watson release every Sunday on CBS. Episode 8, titled A Variant of Unknown Significance, aired on March 30, 2025, and introduced the very popular character Irene Adler. Sherlock’s brother, Mycroft, also made an appearance on this episode.

Let us now explore in detail the happenings of Watson Season 1 Episode 8 and why Sherlock’s DNA plays a crucial part in the storyline.

The following article contains spoilers.

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Irene Adler and her son Agnus meet Watson in Watson Season 1 Episode 8

In Episode 8, as Watson and his team look for medical cases, they come across Irene Adler. She is not someone Watson is meeting for the first time, as they share a lot of history, which also involves Sherlock Holmes. While Irene is initially met with natural suspicion from the team, she says that she has left her fraudulent days behind and the reason she is there is Agnus, her son.

It is then revealed that Angus has some kind of a disease that makes standing up difficult for him. When Derian asks her, Irene says that the first time it happened was when he was playing a game of football. Given how sharp Angus seemed and how he helped Watson understand that the hair found in the lab was actually of a dog, Watson believed that he was Sherlock’s son.

To investigate further about Agnus’ disease, it becomes important to get hold of Sherlock’s DNA because then the team would run it up through various tests, and it would be easy to understand what exactly is wrong with Agnus. For this purpose, Shinwell is sent to London by Watson as the former needed to meet Mycroft for collecting Sherlock’s DNA.

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Irene appeares to be lying in Watson Season 1 Episode 8

While Irene mentioned that she had changed for good, it turns out to be a lie as Mycroft, with the help of his special contents, finds out that she has been associated with a number of charity frauds in recent times. This makes them realize that perhaps she is also using Agnus’ disease as a way to make money.

Following this revelation, Watson figures out that this is why Irene made them get hold of Sherlock’s DNA so that she and Agnus could run away with it. Her whole plan, from meeting Watson and his team all of a sudden to making Watson believe that Agnus is Sherlock’s son, was all because she wanted Sherlock’s DNA.

However, Watson apparently was aware of all this as he had suspected that Irene wanted Sherlock’s DNA and did so by taking help from Agnus. His suspicion came true as the team realized that Irene and Agnus had taken the DNA and run away. Thanks to the tracking device that Shinwell had planted on Irene, Watson gets hold of them at the airport.

It is then revealed that it is actually Irene who is suffering from a deadly cancer, and her chances of getting well are very limited. However, she had planned to sell Sherlock's DNA for a good price and use that money for her treatment even when it was most likely that she would not make it.

While Watson takes the DNA away, he gives her some assurance as he tells her about a medical place in Texas that might treat her. He also promises that he would look after Agnus if she passes away, despite finally knowing that Agnus is not Sherlock’s son.

Watson can be streamed on Paramount+.

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