I’ve thoroughly been enjoying the first 3 episodes of HBO’s Watchmen. I actually enjoyed the film by Zack Synder too. That one gets a lot of flack however, mostly from the comic book readers. In so many ways they remind me of the people who read the books for A Song of Ice and Fire. Each week they would complain about how parts of the book got left out. The comic fans do this as well, and have done so for quite some time. However, I’ve always enjoyed what they gave us in the adaptation, having never read the comic first.
Before I get into Episode 3, “She was Killed by Space Junk”, here is a quick scene from the opening of Episode 2 …
I say all of that, to preface my review of Episode 3: “She was Killed by Space Junk” –
The biggest change between the films and the comics, is the ending. I hear there are several small details missing from the original story, including the tales of the Pirate on the Black Freighter. At the end of the film, a nuclear bomb goes off with Dr. Manhattan’s ‘signature’. The point was to bring about world peace, as humanity would unite against a common enemy. In the comics, they went with a giant trans-dimensional squid …………
My feeling about that, is they know their audience.
We live in a society who felt confused by the speech given by The Architect in The Matrix Reloaded. Even though that speech sums up what is happening in all 3 films, most people got bored by all the words, and checked out. The nuclear bomb was the right approach for the ‘masses’ ….
That being said this HBO series is a follow up to the comics. So that means… squids … and also, space junk.
Wrote a few thoughts in a post on facebook; but decided those should go here —
I wonder if people who didn’t see the Watchmen movie are able to keep up with everything …
super SPOILERS for those watching that did not catch last nights episode; please scroll past 😀
……….. The Comedian’s daughter telling jokes.
Super nice ironic twist there; the joke was awesome too; didn’t see it coming till the end; and the ‘end’ tied right on in with it all; something all 3 episodes have done so far;
First show starts off with a sheriff caught up; by a rope; ends with the lead sheriff hanging, by a rope; Second show goes into how Germans dropped propaganda on black soldiers; explaining they were fighting a foolish war; on the wrong side; (notes that actually were dropped on them) — and ends with Angela getting that same note dropped on her, like it did for her great, grandfather …. Third show starts off in the phone booth … ends in the phone booth … with the girl who threw the brick.
I loved it; it’s following the ‘movie/comic/story’ in a lot of ways; Rorschach told that joke after the Comedians funeral; seems like Lori Blake told hers, after Judds funeral; which was like damn – NO ‘body’ left to examine; has me wondering if Keen is in on it all; is Judd’s wife guilty? I’m even starting to wonder about Angela’s husband … the vast insidious conspiracy – makes me suspicious of everyone;
Lori is really acting like her father; it would seem at the end of the film she was learning to understand her mother better; perhaps she finally accepted who her father was; and learned to understand him better as well – it’s great writing … for real.
Then we have “Smarty Pants”
… in what seems to be ‘year 3’ of whatever he’s up to; seemingly unconnected but I’m sure it’s going to tie right in; how many Clones does he have? Is the games warden another clone of his or ….. Dr. Manhattan??
We know he shows up eventually; the trailer gave that away; almost feel like he appears in episode 4; maybe while on Mars; ‘maybe’ HBO will tease our minds and show him in another dimension at the same damn time. Nice nod to Nite Owl, … in the cage … guess that’s where police are getting their tech from; lots still a mystery; lots more to be revealed; I am enjoying it all … so far.
Awesome video break downs, help one to fully appreciate all of the ‘thought’ put into this story.
The Watchmen show on HBO, picks up 30 years after the end of the comic. Just as it always has, it continues to examine the ‘role’ people playing dress up would have in a world such as this. Adding layers to the story by suggesting the ‘what if’ that ‘might be’, should this nation ever get the kind of conscious to correct the wrong doings of this nations racial past (and present).
Being that it’s an alternative universe, due mostly to the presence of Dr. Manhattan, in how that changes up the entire course of ‘history’, we are still seeing a reality that ‘may’ come to pass, some day. How would white people react to blacks finally getting reparations? Watchmen isn’t afraid to go there, and already the first two episodes have a lot of ‘racist’ white people ‘in their feelings’.
Like so much of 2019, various events and people’s reactions are ‘revealing’ their true selves. Watchmen asks us, while asking the ‘heroes’ just who ‘they’ truly are. The joke, that Lori tells, even goes into the ‘talents‘ that certain heroes had, and how they chose to use them. In so many ways the choices they made, told us ‘who’ those heroes were.
That joke tells us who Lori Blake is too, 30 years later, after all that has happened …
Other Movie and Television related “Reviews” on SoPoCo:
- Tekashi The Agent Plant They Sat By The Door
- Brie Larson (Captain Marvel) Looks Like Virginia Gardner
