‘Watson’: Ritchie Coster Reveals What Shinwell Didn’t Get From John That He Needed in Key Moment

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Watson Season 2 Episode 4 “Happy When It Rains.”]

“Shinwell needed Watson to be a little more human at that point,” Ritchie Coster admits of a key moment between the doctor (Morris Chestnut) and his righthand man.

The latest Watson episode offered a look at a day in the life of Shinwell as a nursing student, and that included being unable to do anything when a patient he was fond of had to have his leg amputated due to a flesh-eating bacteria/fungus. He wondered if it was his fault, and Watson assured him it wasn’t — he was the only one who realized something was going on with multiple patients showing similar symptoms. Watson also told him that, to deal with the heartbreak of the job, he remembers that for every sad outcome, there are dozens of good ones. Spending time on the roof, watching the rain, doesn’t hurt either. A flashback revealed that Watson and Mary (Rochelle Aytes) met up there after their first date, danced, and kissed.

This episode also introduced Senior Charge Nurse Carlin DeCosta (Margot Bingham), who’s the student preceptor at UHOP. Near the end of the episode, he asked who takes care of her since she looks after her girls (her students). He also shared that he figured out what to say to his patient, that he knows what it’s like to have to rethink everything about yourself. She told him he did good and he’ll make a great nurse. While she didn’t know who he was before, she was glad to get to know who he is now.

Below, Ritchie Coster previews Shinwell’s new romance and breaks down that important Watson and Shinwell conversation.

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DeCosta’s character description says that Shinwell’s commitment and loyalty catch her off guard, stirring curiosity and perhaps a bit of desire. They have that great conversation at the end of this episode. What is that dynamic like going forward?

Ritchie Coster: It moves slowly, and I like it for that. I like relationships that build up over the course of a season or a couple of seasons. So, when they actually come to fruition, so to speak, you are dying for it to happen. We are filming Episode 12 at the moment. Things are moving slowly.

What’s the appeal of that relationship for him? It seems like it’s simpler than everyone else in his life.

Yeah, I think that’s right. It is simpler and it’s clearer. What I like about — we’ll call it the romance for the moment — the romance and it moving slowly is that it strikes me as a couple of grownups meeting each other and recognizing instantly that they have some sort of connection to each other. But they’re both grownups, they’ve both been around the block, so, it’s lovely to play because it’s not ripping one’s shirt off and it’s not Wuthering Heights. It’s like two grownups in the place where they work and there’s something modest about it I really like.

How much is he struggling though with the fact that she doesn’t know about his past?

That is a good question, and there’s a moment at the end of this episode where Shinwell says to her about completely rethinking oneself. And I think that’s as far as he can go with telling her who he actually was. It’s a struggle and I don’t know how it is — I am waiting to see how that is, how that develops, and how much of a problem that actually does become. Because the worse the crimes are, the more fun it is to play. The heavier the baggage that I’m carrying, the more satisfying it’s going to be when I actually get to release that baggage and move on, having forgiven myself.

Then there’s that great conversation between Shinwell and Watson, which, I just love that dynamic in general —

Me too.

Watson talks about the heartbreak of the job and remembering the good ones and why Ben is both. How much did that help Shinwell and how much did Watson’s words actually get through to him? He’s still in the early stages of seeing this.

That was really well spotted. I like that scene. Shinwell comes to Watson for something for help with this, and Watson is so very encouraging and magnanimous and benevolent and says, “It’s not your fault. This is just — you’ve got to remember the good things.” And it sounds a little like Watson speak, and I think Shinwell was coming to him for something more personal, for something that could be said between Shinwell and John, between two old friends. I think Shinwell needed Watson to be a little more human at that point.

Colin Bentley/CBS

And so the way we played it is that towards the end of the scene when Watson’s wrapped up, Shinwell walks away and he hasn’t quite got what he needed, which was just some sort of a really personal connection, a real intimacy, and a secret perhaps of Watson’s. And he goes away kind of dissatisfied, and Watson says this thing about, you know what the other thing is, you can just go up to the roof and sit in the rain, which talks of a humanity and an honesty, and it’s not quite a revelation, but it’s a hint of the things Watson does to deal with. And I think that’s enough, just enough. The shot that we use for when Shinwell finally departs, there’s a little smile that I hope says, “Oh, that’s it. That’s what I needed.”

Yeah, especially because we see at the end with the flashback why the roof is so special to Watson and to Mary.

Yes.

Watson did give something to Shinwell, even if he doesn’t realize it at that point because it’s like, how much does he know about that past? He may not, but I think if he did, he would feel that he did really get what he wanted.

That’s really perceptive of you and I hadn’t thought of that. Watson actually gives Shinwell his personal space that he uses, and Mary uses as well for their very personal reasons. And I think I hadn’t realized, I hadn’t recognized that it’s a personal invitation from Watson to say, you can have this little part of my life.

The thing is it doesn’t seem like Shinwell knows that. So it kind of feels like Shinwell might feel like there’s still a bit of distance then between the two that maybe because of the events of last year, even if they seem to be moving forward. So that’s still not something that Shinwell would know necessarily.

No, but I foresee perhaps a scene that will probably never get written with a similar conversation and Shinwell just reaches out and slaps Watson and says, “Can you just be honest with me for one minute? I don’t need a pep talk. I don’t need encouragement. I need to see who you are.”

Watson, Mondays, 10/9c, CBS