Watchmen

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.

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.

To start off I haven't read the novel which probably make my opinions of this somewhat void. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this show maybe even more than I thought I would. I watched the movie quite a while ago, and I have to say that I liked the series better. For an "outsider" it was at times hard to follow the plot and who was who, but as a whole the story was engaging and suspenseful. The comedic parts here and there were a good balance to the more serious stuff. You wanted to watch the next episode, which is more than you can say about some series. The racial aspect was present like in many shows today, but for me at least not in a way that ruined the experience. Regina King and Yahya Abdul Mateen were the clear cut stars of the cast. Believable acting and good chemistry between them. Also Jean Smart and Jeremy Irons deserve praise for their roles. Usually have a difficult time coping with Irons, but here he's quite alright. The wheels came off a bit in the finale, which was a shame, but it didn't deter the fact that this was a well made show that would have deserved a continuation. At least I would have watched it.

For the folks out there calling this show "Woke" you actually might be a racist. This show is not "Woke"... Charlies Angels was Woke. Dark Fate was Woke... Watchmen is just great storytelling with a diverse cast and poignant, rarely discussed historical topics.

Seriously, did anyone at any point during high school and college ever once bring up Tulsa 1921? No? Yea me neither.

This show isn't preaching at us and I really appreciate. For the first time in what feels like an eternity there is a strong female lead who is believable and doesn't need to tell us she's a strong female lead. She isn't some stupid Fing supermodel who looks cute holding a gun trying to make us believe her 105lb a$$ can beat up a grown man. THAT folks is woke horsesh**.

I haven't seen this many African American actors on one show/film this mainstream since Black Panther. I love it.

Regina King is truly fantastic and I'm so happy shes the face of something so mainstream.

I'm only a few episodes in but im hooked... all I ask is please Damon Lindelof... don't "Lost" us here.

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.