I was unprepared. Even with all the praise it's been getting I was completely unprepared for the excellence that is Watchmen from the very first episode. Lately I've been watching Andromeda season 2 which is cheesy scifi that doesn't pretend to be anything else. I've been toggling between Evil and Prodigal Son neither of which in the maybe 13 episodes I've seen of them total can match what Watchmen has done in one episode.
I've read that this takes place after the events of the comics and although I have read the comics, I'm not comics-nerd enough to have memorized enough to be able to really confirm that in this single episode. I'm sure there are all sorts of Easter eggs that I'm missing. What I do see is an alternate history that does the same world building that Watchmen did. For all the talk about the Black Wall street scene it didn't feel as big as I expected it to be which is fine because it does give me an anchor point historically.
The jump to the present is when things really start to kick off though. The police wear masks. Some of these are uniform and some of them are customized giving some of them the appearance of being superheroes. But there's not a lot said about them. Squid rain from the sky regularly which was the 2nd strongest hint I saw linking the timeline to the narrative of the Moore books. The other of course being a multipart documentary the final part of which is about to air in the timeline of the show.
Regina King ... wow. I liked Regina King. I've liked her since 227. I've loved her in other roles Boyz in the Hood, Miss Congeniality 2, Jerry Maguire and plenty of other roles. All over the place in terms of character and she's a delight in all of them. Andrew Howard as Red Scare was equally surprising. I recognize him as the Russian gangster from the many roles in which he plays a Russian gangster including Limitless. Louis Gossett Jr is barely recognizable but I'm glad to see him. Don Johnson was pretty solid as the police chief. There's a great scene in The Legend of Korra where Korra is falling from an airship and rather than find a way to land safely Lin Beifong grabs her and uses her momentum to launch Korra back into the fight. It's a small scene that show Korra can be trusted and is valuable in a fight. There's also a scene where Angela has to go meet someone dangerous and she gives a gun to her husband to shoot anyone who isn't her and he accept it and her leaving alone without challenge and it's also an interesting scene that shows Angela is not to be played with.
The action is actually relatively light in this episode but you don't miss it because the narrative is so compelling. Just trying to figure out what's going on and how we got here is enough to ride for at least 3 episodes but I doubt Watchmen will keep us waiting this long.
Review by wolfkinBlockedParent2019-11-12T16:02:09Z— updated 2020-06-17T21:59:30Z
I was unprepared. Even with all the praise it's been getting I was completely unprepared for the excellence that is Watchmen from the very first episode. Lately I've been watching Andromeda season 2 which is cheesy scifi that doesn't pretend to be anything else. I've been toggling between Evil and Prodigal Son neither of which in the maybe 13 episodes I've seen of them total can match what Watchmen has done in one episode.
I've read that this takes place after the events of the comics and although I have read the comics, I'm not comics-nerd enough to have memorized enough to be able to really confirm that in this single episode. I'm sure there are all sorts of Easter eggs that I'm missing. What I do see is an alternate history that does the same world building that Watchmen did. For all the talk about the Black Wall street scene it didn't feel as big as I expected it to be which is fine because it does give me an anchor point historically.
The jump to the present is when things really start to kick off though. The police wear masks. Some of these are uniform and some of them are customized giving some of them the appearance of being superheroes. But there's not a lot said about them. Squid rain from the sky regularly which was the 2nd strongest hint I saw linking the timeline to the narrative of the Moore books. The other of course being a multipart documentary the final part of which is about to air in the timeline of the show.
Regina King ... wow. I liked Regina King. I've liked her since 227. I've loved her in other roles Boyz in the Hood, Miss Congeniality 2, Jerry Maguire and plenty of other roles. All over the place in terms of character and she's a delight in all of them. Andrew Howard as Red Scare was equally surprising. I recognize him as the Russian gangster from the many roles in which he plays a Russian gangster including Limitless. Louis Gossett Jr is barely recognizable but I'm glad to see him. Don Johnson was pretty solid as the police chief. There's a great scene in The Legend of Korra where Korra is falling from an airship and rather than find a way to land safely Lin Beifong grabs her and uses her momentum to launch Korra back into the fight. It's a small scene that show Korra can be trusted and is valuable in a fight. There's also a scene where Angela has to go meet someone dangerous and she gives a gun to her husband to shoot anyone who isn't her and he accept it and her leaving alone without challenge and it's also an interesting scene that shows Angela is not to be played with.
The action is actually relatively light in this episode but you don't miss it because the narrative is so compelling. Just trying to figure out what's going on and how we got here is enough to ride for at least 3 episodes but I doubt Watchmen will keep us waiting this long.