The Watson - Television Tropes & Idioms

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alt title(s): Cabbaging; The Rick

"All great science is done by teams. Bell, Crick, Holmes. They would be nothing without their Watsons."

Daisy Owl, "GBI"

"You are beautifully and perfectly balanced. In you sanity is personified. Do you realize what that means to me? When the criminal sets out to do a crime, his first effort is to deceive. Whom does he seek to deceive? The image in his mind is that of the normal man. There is probably no such thing actually - it is a mathematical abstraction. But you come as near to realizing it as is possible...how does this profit me? Simply in this way. As in a mirror I see reflected in your mind exactly what the criminal wishes me to believe. That is terrifically helpful and suggestive."

Hercule Poirot, to his Watson and Life Partner Captain Hastings, in "Lord Edgware Dies"

The Watson is the character whose job it is to ask the same questions the audience must be asking and let other characters explain what's going on. Distinct from Mr Exposition in that The Watson allows another character to become Mr Exposition.

Generally, female variants of The Watson will have a bit more character development and a larger role within the story (but not too much larger). She will be inevitably attractive, serving a dual role — giving the children someone to like and the adult men someone to tune in for. She commonly has something of a Damsel Scrappy about her, although you don't usually end up wishing for her death. She will have a far higher probability of being captured or kidnapped by the opposition than the male variants do.

Children have it easier. The Elephants Child is a popular device, and may even force Mr Exposition into that role.

Playing The Watson is also referred to as cabbaging, since this role could be played by a head of cabbage.

Science fiction fans may know this character as The Sarah Jane, after (arguably) the most popular of the many companions who had things explained to them on Doctor Who. In fact, actress Louise Jameson, who played one of the Doctor's companions, explained her decision to leave after a relatively short tenure as being motivated by the fact that, "There are only so many ways you can say 'What is it, Doctor?'"

On occasions, you get The Watson being cleverer than Mr Exposition, which results in some problems, but occasionally works.

Often in fantasy settings, The Watson is the character with more "real world" sensibilities (Sometimes because he's been transplanted from the real world: John Crichton (Farscape) often got to act as The Watson in early episodes, for example), prompting Mr Exposition to explain the "rules" of the fantasy world.

In parody, it is becoming increasingly common for The Watson to be a character who isn't genre blind to the sillier tropes, often making Mr Exposition look like something of a buffoon (as in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, where Scott Evil asks why his father doesn't just shoot Austin, instead preferring to put him in an easily escapable Death Trap). See Genre Savvy.

See also The Daria, who makes similar observations but is less inclined to assist afterwards.

Examples:

The trope namer is Dr. John Watson, the narrator from the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, who would often ask the title character to explain his baffling logical leaps. Holmes would then lecture him on how "elementary" the logic used in solving the case was, thus allowing Holmes to explain the finer points of the story without disrupting the narrative flow.
- In the stories, and the better adaptations, the deductions in question had the manner of a magic trick and Watson would make logical steps towards the solution, then agree that it was rather obvious when he knew the answer. In the poorer adaptations, he is depicted as a clueless dogsbody and the device is much more tedious.
- A hilarious subversion was when Watson proved he'd learned enough to make deductions about Sherlock Holmes himself! Double-subverted, in that he was wrong on every single count!
  - However he does improve considerably throughout the Canon and can make observations about their clients and cases, leading Holmes to compliment him on his reasoning even when Watson draws the wrong conclusions.
- Not to mention the fact that Watson saves Holmes's life plenty of times.
Captain Hastings in several of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot stories, on the other hand, was most definitely The Watson - in fact, he resembled the flanderized Watson more than the original Watson did.
In Magnum PI, Magnum had an annoying friend named Rick. His function in the series was to serve as a sort of surrogate for the audience on the more outrageous story points. He was always protesting, "C'mon, Magnum..." as in, "C'mon, Magnum, there's no way those crooks would trust us with $7 million in gold coins. It's ludicrous." (And this is exactly what the audience was thinking at that point.) Magnum would then calmly explain to Rick just exactly why the crooks would, indeed, hand over $7 million in gold. Rick would be convinced, and in theory, the audience protests would have been addressed as well.
Speaking of Ricks, Rick Jones of various Marvel Comics sidekick roles may be the original 'Rick'. Though sometimes his leading Hero would be the Sherlock, sometimes various experts would be the Sherlock, but most commonly after getting captured, Mr Exposition would be the one who was supposed to be interrogating him.
In the newer episodes of Doctor Who, the Doctor himself is often The Watson, asking the natives of whatever time and place he's landed in what's going on.
In Death Note, Ryuk, a shinigami, often acts as The Watson to Light's plans. That is, when he's not just standing behind Light silently chuckling. Or standing on his head.
- Matsuda in the same series is used as The Watson for the police side of events, mainly due to his being a male version of The Ditz.
On House MD the role of House's Watson is played by every single character. One memorable example had House saying his staff's diagnosis was wrong, because they weren't wearing the right shoes — if the diagnosis was right, they'd all already be at a bowling alley.
- Of course, since Gregory House is heavily based on Sherlock Holmes, James Wilson is the main analogue to John Watson.
  - Wilson is an accomplished doctor in his own right and Watson, while not a genius like Sherlock, is still good at his job. As noted above, the fact that House (and Sherlock) are both incredibly good at what they do makes Wilson (and Watson) look like morons, even when they're not.
Real Life example: Mike Rowe of the documentary series Dirty Jobs is a professional Watson, learning the ropes of his latest dirty job from his bemused temporary co-workers.
Hiyono in Spiral tends to get dropped into this role, and if she isn't, Kousuke is. Hiyo-Hiyo is reasonably clever, and Kou-chan even more so, but that doesn't say much when the entire main cast is made up of child prodigies.
In the DVD commentary for Ghostbusters, Ivan Reitman says the character of Winston Zeddemore was intended to serve this purpose.
Ron in Harry Potter was constantly making suggestions, forcing Hermione to sigh and explain that, if only he'd read Hogwarts: A History, he'd understand why it's impossible to... Rowling said she would never have Harry or Ron read Hogwarts: A History because it was too useful an expository device.
Rick Wheeler in F-Zero: Falcon Densetsu. (You know this show as the source of "FALCON PUUUUUUUNCH!!!")
Normally inteligent Chachamaru in Mahou Sensei Negima was always and entirely uninformed of any fighting style during the Mahora Tournament. Giving us Explainer Goutokuji for this portion of the series. Normally Asuna, Nodoka, Konoka, and Chisame serve this purpose. Yue bounces between this and Mr Exposition depending on where in the series you are. When it comes to fighting Negi takes this role, giving the big Exposition talk to Kaede (Ninja), Ku Fei (Kung Fu Master), Kotaro (Dog Demon Brawler Ninja), or Evangaline (Really Old Vampire).
The various Snakes of the Metal Gear Solid franchise seem to serve this role well, although the exact reason why is pretty obvious. The original idea behind the protagonist switch was that Snake would have someone to be The Watson for him instead of being The Watson himself, letting him come across as more astute and mature. (Hideo Kojima even cited inspiration from Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Who for the idea.)
- And he happens to be the most (only?) reality-grounded character in Super Smash Bros Brawl to boot.
The entire premise of Futurama is Fry ending up in situations that need to be explained to him because of the thousand years that went by without him. Holy crap, there's a theme park on the moon!? Hilariously, on multiple occasions a new character will be thawed out (Fry's ex-girlfriend and That Guy from The Eighties) and become Fry's Watson, which not only demonstrates his considerable ability to acclimatise (read: there's still TV and beer, so he's just dandy), but also gives him a chance to show how little he retains of what he's learned.
The classic (1963-1989) series of Doctor Who featured countless characters that filled this role. The female companions evolved as the series went on, tending more towards the Action Girl; the last before the series was cancelled was Ace, a punk-rock teen who loved explosives and was willing to rush at a Dalek with a baseball bat if she saw one.
- The contrast between that and Rose (who originally looked like she would be an Action Girl and ended up just getting held hostage a lot) is the first and only thing that has ever got This Troper considering whether society's views of acceptable roles for women have regressed a bit.
- To be fair, Rose does her part plenty of times; she just gets a lot of vitriol.
- Gwen gets to fill this role on Torchwood.
- Funnily enough, Sarah Jane herself gets her own Watsons The Sarah Jane Adventures; in the form of Maria, Luke and Clyde. Though in this show it's the boys, and not Maria, who tend to get captured more often... though they are still savvy enough to get themselves out of it too.
The ditzy lab assistant in the Monty Python "Science Fiction Sketch" is very much a parody of the type; she exists simply to look pretty and have Graham Chapman's character explain the plot to her. He eventually becomes so frustrated with her stupidity that he knocks her out and explains the plot to himself instead.
Gus from Psych, one of the few characters in on the Masquerade, whose fair intelligence and relative lack of observancy make him just short of an Expy of Watson himself.
Despite being from the same magical world as everyone else, Gourry from Slayers was enough of an idiot to have to ask questions about what the other characters would consider basic, everyday facts, giving them a reason to explain the rules and mythology of their world.
The titular character of Naruto frequently had to play this role early on, being a shining example of Book Dumb. It's almost mystifying that ten episodes in you'll probably know more about the geography, Functional Magic, and infrastructure of the story's world than he did when he graduated.
Most stories about a Utopia, particularly those written before the mid-twentieth century, tend to feature a lead character who is a Watson combined with a Naive Newcomer. The plot generally consisted of the Watson being led around the utopia asking questions about how it works. The Exposition Fairy who lived in the utopia would then explain how the utopia worked in exhaustive detail. Really poorly thought out utopian novels did not combine this trope with the Naive Newcomer and hence had the Exposition Fairy tell The Watson things they already knew for no apparent reason. Generally declined in usage after modern exposition techniques, (ie "Show, Don't Tell) were developed. Examples include Julian West from Looking Backwardby Edward Bellamy, Guest from News from Nowhere by William Morrison, and the Botanist from A Modern Utopia by H. G. Wells. An example of a Watson who isn't combined with the Naive Newcomer is Alice from Ralph 124C 41+ by Hugo Gernsback.
- Slightly subverted in The Twenty-One Balloons, where the Naive Newcomer only needed the weirdest elements of the utopia explained to him.
In Final Fantasy X, the Player Character Tidus fakes amnesia so that he can play the Watson to the rest of the cast (he actually has a real reason for not knowing the the things he asks about, but it doesn't fly too well with the xenophobic people he hangs around with). Unfortunately in order to make sure that every player is keeping up with the plot, Tidus finds himself constantly bugging people for exposition, to the point where his friends aren't sure if he's actually amnesiac or just an idiot.
In the webcomic Erfworld, the character Parson acts as both The Watson inside the narrative and Mr Exposition through a diary.
Little Sally from the musical Urinetown is a parody of this.
In Red Dwarf, the Cat, Lister and Rimmer tend to share Watson duties, with Holly and Krtyen acting as Mr Exposition.
Eragon is always asking questions, to the point where a description of him one character gives to another includes "always asking questions".
Massively subverted by Donnie in The Big Lebowski, who is utterly Locked Out Of The Loop.
Forget it, Donnie, you're out of your element!
Tom Swift generally has one of these on hand. In the "Tom Swift, Jr." series of books published in the 1950s, it was Bud Barclay. The Recycled INSPACE! series which followed in the early 1980s had Benjamin Franklin Walking Eagle. One Continuity Reboot later, The Watson was Rick "test to destruction!" Cantwell.
In the movie Fantastic Voyage, and in the Isaac Asimov novelization, The Watson is secret agent and former combat swimmer Charles Grant. Asimov's version makes him a bit less of a dunce; on occasion, Grant can actually figure something out from his general knowledge of human anatomy, instead of needing the knowledge spoonfed to him.
In Lost, it's Hurley. Officially; it was lampshaded by the executive producers in a podcast.
In The Thrawn Trilogy Captain Pellaeon serves as the villainous (somewhat) Watson to Grand Admiral Thrawn. He's also the best possible versions of Commander Contrarian and The Ishmael and, arguably, a protege.
- Definitely a protege. In the later duology, he may not reach Thrawn-levels of skill, but his tactical sense and intuition have clearly been honed.
Dr. Karen Jenson in the first Blade film.
In Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose, Adso (the narrator) is the assistant of a Medieval detective named William, and inquires into the latter's deduction methods as the reader would. Both characters were somewhat inspired by Watson and Sherlock Holmes.
Any human in Transformers ever.
Order Of The Stick has a procession of short-lived hobgoblin cleric assistants that can cast Transmute Redcloak to Mr Exposition at will.
Terminator SalvationMarcus
- The Terminator, Sarah Connor
- Terminator II, John Connor
Akari from ARIA has some of this. Alicia could have picked a local girl for an apprentice, but instead she chose someone who needs a lot of explanations about the planet she moved to—which then of course raises the question why Akari didn't read a travel guide beforehand.