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Netflix’s new original Watson and Holmes series, The Irregulars (Netflix; 2021), gives new life to the original stories of the famed detective. The show takes place in an alternate version of nineteenth-century London in which a hole in the universe has opened up, unleashing evil into the world. The lives of a group of seemingly ordinary teenagers living on the streets are unexpectedly changed when Doctor Watson approaches them to assist him in investigating a new paranormal case that he’s working on. The series is very complex, and the subplot that shows the relationship between John Watson and Sherlock Holmes is one of the most captivating elements. Instead of the standard mystery case story, The Irregulars explores a romantic theme as well. Shows like Sherlock, which also expands on the original plot of the 1887 classic novel A Study in Scarlet, already have large fan bases that view the relationship of Watson and Holmes being more than just a platonic pairing. The Irregulars, on the other hand, made their relationship a canon aspect of the plot. It is interesting to watch how their story is displayed in this setting, and it makes you think that this pair was always meant to be more than just colleagues.
Watson & Holmes’s History
Throughout his entire life, Sherlock Holmes was a genius who worked on his own; that is until he met the Doctor. Holmes explains their history with each other in a series of flashbacks after Bea approaches him about finding the truth about what really happened to her mother. He goes over the series of events that lead to her mother’s death, starting from the time he was assigned Watson as a partner for investigations. Sherlock explained that once they turned out to be incredibly productive together on a case, they began to live together and pursue cases as partners, more popularly known as the duo, “Watson and Holmes.” This partnership continued without complications until he and Watson met Alice Cook.
Drifting Apart In The Irregulars
The main focus of The Irregulars was on the story of the five teenagers who got involved with John Watson and the paranormal, and two of them enlisted to help on the cases by Watson were Bea and her younger sister Jessie. Jessie was an Ipsissimus (a person with strong psychic abilities) just like her mother, Alice, and this relation connects the main point of the story to the Watson and Holmes subplot. Their mother had died when Bea was a toddler, and Jessie was just a baby, leaving them to grow up on their own. This was very damaging and hurtful for the two of them and left them constantly wondering what their lives would have been like if their mother had remained alive, but it did end up having the sisters form a closer bond over the years.
A bond as strong as their’s was crucial as Jessie learned how to utilize her powers more and was forced to cope with the new abilities she had just learned how to harness. Like her daughter, Alice made the most of her powers to gain a deeper understanding of the universe than what could be attained by ordinary people. Watson and Holmes found these abilities valuable, and she joined them to solve the paranormal cases that were increasingly appearing around London. This mirrored how Watson would later go on to enlist the help of the teenagers to solve the new cases, using them as somewhat of a stand-in for Alice and Sherlock’s individual talents, including investigating skills and psychic powers.
Although Alice and Watson were friends, she was always closer with Sherlock. When the two fell in love, they decided not to tell Watson at first to prevent any changes that could come to their work dynamic. Despite their efforts, the relationship was revealed after Watson caught them kissing after they solved another mystery. Even though Watson appeared happy for the two friends, there was a change in the group’s dynamic, especially after Alice became pregnant with Sherlock’s child. It was difficult for things to remain the same way between Watson and Holmes after one of them became a father, and this shows the start of how they drifted in different directions.
Watson was a jealous character throughout the series, particularly when it came to Alice and Sherlock’s relationship. The Doctor’s heartbreak when he caught them kissing was evidently shown on his face, and it was clear that he had been pining for Sherlock. This is partially the reason why he felt the constant need to impress Holmes and to “one-up” everything that Alice did, an example being how as she was struggling with her visions in her sleep, Watson attempted to do his best work at this time to show perhaps that he was stronger and more capable than she was.
He wasn’t jealous of Alice’s psychic abilities; he was jealous of the way Sherlock idolized her. A major piece of this jealousy that is often displayed in queer stories is that it isn’t blatantly spelled out word for word. It was also largely possible that Watson himself wasn’t exactly sure why he felt all of this resentment towards Alice and her romantic involvement with Holmes. He could’ve considered it as him just feeling annoyed by all the attention Sherlock was giving her, that made it more difficult to work on the cases as they had done before until he, later on, realized his true feelings for Holmes by the point where it was far too late to do anything about it.
Watson’s Betrayal In The Irregulars
Through every investigation they conducted, Alice experienced terrifying nightmares, much like the ones Jessie later on dealt with, that led them to discover a rip opening in the universe was the reason for all of the madness. These night terrors eventually became so intense that she feared falling asleep. Because of his constant need for success, Sherlock was determined to find out where the rip was and what was causing it and urged Alice to return to the horrible visions in her head so she could gather more information. However, he eventually stopped pressuring her to continue after their daughter, Jessie, was born. The now parents concluded that it would be best for their children to stop investigating and move to a safer place where they could lead less dangerous lives. This news understandably upset Watson, and he began to look for ways to convince them to stay potentially.
He ended up approaching Sherlock and telling him that he had located where the rip was and that if they went there, they could close it, and everything would go back to normal. After much convincing, Holmes reluctantly agreed to the plan, and when the three of them reached the exact place that Watson had pinpointed, sure enough, the tear was there. Alice was relieved that there was finally an end in sight and was eager to shut it once and for all, but the energy in the cut in the universe was too powerful and began to pull her through. Sherlock called out for Watson to grab her, but the Doctor grabbed him rather than Alice, who was thrown out of the dimension leaving Watson and Holmes behind.
The Irregulars Depicts A Man Living In A Shadow
They always seemed to be the perfect partnership throughout their time working together, but that was not true. Even though Watson and Holmes were partners, it was always evident who was the hero and who was the sidekick. Despite constantly trying to prove his worth, Watson found himself constantly in the shadow of Sherlock. After hearing about the possibility of forming a bridge between realms, the Doctor became intrigued and saw this as a way to prove his capability as an investigator.
During all of the mysteries Watson and Holmes had been investigating in an effort to figure out what was causing the surges of evil throughout London, the Doctor was aware that they were caused by the gateway he had opened. He kept this knowledge to himself after realizing how horrific his actions truly were, but he let his emotions get the best of him when he learned that Holmes planned on moving away. Watson was so desperate to keep Sherlock near him that he risked revealing the truth about the opening of the rip and was ultimately responsible for Alice’s death, to try to get Holmes to stay.
The End Of The Duo
Watson’s supposed goal in opening the rip was to get Sherlock and everyone else to see him as more than just an assistant to the investigations, but this ended up failing terribly. Once Alice was gone, Holmes had no idea what to do with himself. She was the love of his life, and so he was unable to function without her. This led him to turn to drugs as a coping mechanism, to numb the pain that he was experiencing. After a while of using these substances, he became horribly addicted to the point where he could no longer continue investigating. This took away his career, the second most important thing to him after Alice.
Alice had such a strong impact on Sherlock’s life, and he gave her everything he had. He was willing to give up his career that he was passionate about to protect her and their new family, which was a huge sacrifice considering he viewed his talent as an investigator as one of the main things that defined who he was. Ultimately, he was willing to separate himself from something he had devoted to the better part of his life to be with the woman he loved. Although the amount Holmes cared for Alice was sweet, in the end, it harmed him more than he could have ever expected. Without her there, he crumbled, seeing himself having no purpose without being with her. This was devastating to Watson in a different way, however. He devoted almost his entire adult life to trying to make things work out the best way possible with Holmes, only in the end to be faced with the realization that the man he was after cared far more about a different relationship.
The Story Comes Undone
When Bea approaches Watson for the truth on why he opened the rip all that time ago, he reveals that it was because he was in love with Holmes and that his jealousy of Alice’s relationship with Sherlock was the fuel behind it. Sherlock always saw Alice in a glowing light of perfection and accomplishment. This played into Watson’s thought process of thinking that if he accomplished something massive like finding a passageway between dimensions, Holmes would start to see him in a similar way. While Alice was being pulled into the portal, Watson was faced with the decision of who he was going to save, and in the end, he decided that he couldn’t bear to let go of the man he loved and let Alice fall through the rip.
Although Watson’s goal was to protect Holmes, he ended up destroying him but letting the love of Sherlock’s life slip away. All of this pain resulted in Sherlock becoming depressed and developing a drug addiction that fundamentally ruined his career. Watson felt guilt for this, knowing that it was partially his fault Sherlock ended up this way. These guilty feelings mixed with the Doctor’s love for Holmes was why he devoted the remainder of his life to taking care of Sherlock. The impact of Alice’s death on Watson was different than how it affected Sherlock. He was never as close with Alice as Sherlock was, so he wasn’t extremely heartbroken with her departure. Watson at the time was overcome with guilt and shame for starting the entire mess that ended with her disappearing. His love for Sherlock worsened the culpability he felt because knowing it was his fault that Holmes was in pain broke his own heart even more.
Letting Go In The Irregulars
Once the group locates the rip again, Jessie goes to close it, but Sherlock stops her as Alice returns to their dimension. It is then revealed that Alice had been the one reopening it so that she could return to her old life. She had been trapped in purgatory, where souls who were unable to let go of their pasts resided until they were able to move on. By breaking through the skinny line between dimensions, she began to crumble the barrier that divided the living world from the afterlife. Alice’s idea was that if she were fully able to break down the wall, there would no longer be separate worlds for the living and dead, making it so no one would ever be able to die. After explaining this plan to the others, she received strong opposition from Watson, Jessie, and eventually Bea. She tried to fight against them but eventually realized that she had to let go of them and entered the rip once again.
Sherlock follows after her, knowing that he cannot live with her gone again, but Watson attempts to pull him back. At the same time, Bea is fighting to keep hold of her sister as Jessie begins to be sucked into the hole by the strong energy. Bea calls out to Watson for help as she begins to lose her grip, and he realizes that even if he were able to save his partner, Sherlock would never be happy without the woman he loves. Although Watson cared deeply for Sherlock, he understood that some people could not live without the person that they love. Sherlock was that person for Watson, but Watson would never be his. In the end, Watson lets go of his partner and helps save Jessie.
The only information given about Sherlock’s sexual orientation during The Irregulars leads to the conclusion that he is straight. Watson, on the other hand, is shown as being queer. It is entirely possible the Sherlock might not be straight and that he truly could have ended up with Watson, but their story is cut short due to Holmes leaving through the rip. Another possibility, however, is that Sherlock could never truly return the affection because he is simply just not attracted to the same gender, or if he is, he might just not see Watson in that way and continued to love Alice as he did before. Either of these possibilities, unfortunately in the end, still leaves the Doctor heartbroken.
The Irregulars: Are Sherlock And Watson Forever Unrequited?
Even if Sherlock had survived, Watson’s affection for him would never be returned. It would be improbable for Holmes to stop loving Alice, especially after seeing her again after fifteen years of her being away. She was the center of his universe, and without her, he was unable to take care of himself. In Watson’s solar system, Sherlock Holmes was the Sun. Everything the Doctor did from the moment he met Holmes was to try to care and impress him. He spent so much time and effort trying to make the famous duo “Watson and Holmes” into something more than just a work partnership. He had even opened a rip in the fabric of the universe to get Sherlock to notice him, but it still wasn’t enough, and it never would be. This shows the audience that sometimes you have to let go of someone for them to be truly happy, despite your own feelings.
Unfortunately, this ending is nothing new to the queer romance genre, and a large majority end tragically in a similar way as The Irregulars. The popular novel, They Both Die at the End, tells the story of two teenage boys who fall in love over the course of a day, and right when they finally get together, they both pass away. Another Netflix original series, I Am Not Okay with This, has the main character finally gets a chance with the girl she had been pining after. Except when they begin to dance together, a catastrophic event prevents yet another LGBTQIAX+ couple from getting the happy ending they deserve.
As more and more shows and novels are created with same-sex couples, it could be a popular assumption that a good portion of them would end positively with a happy relationship, but that is often not the case. At the end of the season finale, Bea and Watson have dinner together and talk about everything they had gone through. This happened soon after the boy Bea was in love with left her, for which she was understandably upset. Despite her original adverse feelings towards Watson, he had become a figure she could look up to and trust, and because of this, she asks him for guidance on how to stop loving someone that she is unable to be with when it hurts too much to bear. Watson’s response perfectly captures all of the pain he had gone through with Sherlock in two words that left every viewer heartbroken:
“You don’t.”