Watchmen

I absolutely loved Watchmen! It's a thrilling dramatic series that will absolutely keep you entertained throughout the series with its powerful storytelling! It's just a shame that they're only limiting it to one season. I know it was only suppose to be a one season limited show to begin with but you would think with how good the ratings were, how good all the reviews were, and all the awards it's won they would've tried for a 2nd season anyway. I mean this show broke records for how many award nominations it got including 26 Emmy nominations (it won huge awards such as Best Limited Series, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Writing, etc., etc.). Oh well, we were lucky to have such an incredible show even if just for the one season.

I'm actually surprised by "Watchmen." Pleasantly surprised. It wasn't spectacular, but it was cohesive, relevant, and impactful.

"Watchmen" spans roughly 100 years but mainly takes place in current day Tulsa, Oklahoma. To set up some of the current day events, the show takes us back to 1920 and the destruction of Black Wall Street. In 1920 quite a few race riots occurred, but none more destructive than the one in Tulsa when angry white people razed the Black part of town.

Oh yeah; race, racism, and historical injustice is a big part of "Watchmen."

In current day Tulsa the police wear masks to hide their identity after a racist organization called the Calvary killed nearly every cop and their families in a coordinated attack. The Calvary are known for their extremist views and Rorshach masks. The main character is Angela Abar (Regina King), a Tulsa police officer who is in the center of converging storylines.

The show is very well written. It deals with a few delicate subject matters and doesn't stumble. The script was helped with the aid of veteran actors like Jeremy Irons, Louis Gossett Jr., Don Johnson, and Jean Smart. Also competently chipping in are Tim Blake Nelson and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. The show has a few pleasant twists in it to keep it fresh and forward-facing. I'm almost glad they didn't continue the show because at least it finished on a high note.

Max.

Not only is it an incredibly well-crafted series on all the best fronts of cinematography, story, effects, editing and acting performances, the way it spun the original Watchmen storyline around itself was mesmerizing. New, interesting characters combined with old favorites, and even a few shadows of their ghosts.

The performances by Regina King, Don Johnson, Time Blake Nelson and Yahya Abdul-Mateen III just to name a FEW of the outstanding roles, were award-worthy across the board.

Jeremy Irons, Jean Smart, Hong Chau, Louis Gossett, Jr...these were revelatory performances. Now a weak link among them.

Like a good book, I couldn't put it down and it left me wanting more. If you haven't seen it, you don't know what you're missing. I'm gonna go rewatch the series for a fourth time now.

So aparently everyone is trashing this show because of the race issues? Come on people, now taking that aside, this show has really started strong, respecting the characters of the original graphic novel but also introducing new ones, and if you're a big fan of Watchmen, you will love the references, can't wait for the next episode.

The series brilliantly creates a world similar to ours but with a unique parallel history in which events happened but with different starts or ends. In modern times, the cops takes white supremacists way more seriously than they do in our reality, which is why people are screaming about "wokeness." But it's far more complicated than that, because its masked cops ignore civil rights and can be fairly lawless, which - guess what?! - is not what we social justice types are after.

The complex morality is echoed in the complex plotting, with a bunch of dark characters in a very strange, dark, violent world and a story arc chockfull of mysteries.

The cast is first rate, most notably Jeremy Irons as a peculiar aristocrat and the phenomenal Regina King as the ultimate ass-kicker.

As for its relation to the graphic novel and movie, I read/watched them but it was years ago and honestly I don't remember much of anything about either one except they were both quite good. I may like this series better than either so far (based on the first 5 episodes), but I couldn't even hazard an opinion on the debate as to whether it is to the source material. As an entity of its own though, it is absolutely brilliant, and I highly recommend it.