Watchmen

HBO’s Watchmen is the latest offering into the world of the Watchmen. Taking place 34 years after the events of the original graphic novel, it offers a new and modern look into the world that was created by the incredible Alan Moore. It isn’t a direct sequel to the original comic, but is instead looking to tell a brand new story set in the same universe. I’ll be talking about each episode and my thoughts about it. Let’s begin with the pilot.

The episode begins with a flashback sequence showing the Tulsa race riot of 1921 from the eyes of a child. It shows a realistic look at the horrors of racial violence and also sets up the show as an extended look into racial tensions. This scene also sets the tone of the show as dark and brutal.

The show then transitions to the present day Tulsa, Beginning with a policeman being shot by a member of the Seventh Kavalry, a white supremacist group, who also wears a Rorschach mask. The show isn’t clear on why Rorschach’s mask is used as the identity for the Seventh Kavalry. I’m sure we’ll learn more as more episodes roll out. but anyway, the news of the shooting reaches the other police officers who by the way have begun to wear masks to protect their identity so as to lead a normal life outside of work without endangering themselves or their loved ones.

This news leads the police officers to believe that the Seventh Kavalry has returned after a three year period of dormancy. Meanwhile, we see the life of Angela Abar, a retired cop who now says she’s a baker when in fact she is actually a crime fighting vigilante/cop known as Sister Night. I personally think Sister Night has one of the best superhero costumes ever! It just looks so cool and daunting. Anyway, Back to the show. When Angela receives news of the Seventh Kavalry’s return, she dons her costume and goes and captures a man who she believes is a member of the Seventh Kavalry and brings him in for questioning.

Before going any further let me introduce you to some of the other side characters. There is Judd Crawford who is the chief of police and a good friend of Angela’s. Looking Glass, another vigilante/cop who wears a reflective mask thus giving him his name. There are some more who as of now haven’t become too important.

Through a very interesting and intimidating method of interrogation, Looking Glass deduces that the man Sister Night has captured was indeed part of the Seventh Kavalry. With this confirmation, Sister Night carries out a more conventional method of interrogation (beating the crap out of him) to find out the whereabouts of the person who shot the policeman and the rest of his cohorts.

This leads them to a farmhouse where a shootout takes place leading to the death of all the Kavalry members. This firefight was quite gruesome showing a cow getting absolutely shredded by bullets… It was kinda disgusting. This fire fight also had a reference to the original comics when some of the shooters try to flee on a plane but were shot down by something that closely resembled the vehicle that Night Owl used.

After this they show a bit more of a humane moment involving Angela, Judd and their families. That night, when Judd was on his way to see the injured officer, a spike strip causes him to stop in the middle of nowhere. The show then cuts to Angela receiving a phone call telling her to come to a tree that apparently has some kind of significance to her. When she reaches there she finds Judd hanging from the tree and an old man waiting for her below the presumably dead Judd. Oh I forgot to mention, the same old man had appeared previously in the episode. I don’t know his significance but apparently he is important.

Oh and there was also a scene showing an older Adrian Veidt, also known as Ozymandias from the original comics and he appears to be celebrating some sort of anniversary along with his servants in his big lonely mansion.

Overall, I don’t think that this pilot was anything special. It basically sets up the rest of the show but doesn’t do much to pull me into this vague and mysterious world that this show presents. it’s almost too vague at times and just leaves viewers a bit confused… at least it left me confused. I will watch the coming episodes though just to see the how the story progresses.