Watchmen - Episode One

 

“Watchmen takes place in an alternative, contemporary reality in the United States, in which masked vigilantes became outlawed due to their violent methods. Despite this, some gather around in order to start a revolution while others are out to stop it before it is too late, as a greater question rises above them all; who watches the Watchmen?”

Four episodes downloaded so I have to watch and it's a hell of a sweet bit of business. Fresh, original and just as terrifying as the real Watchmen. Who watches the Watchmen, right? There cannot be a balance but those who will fight for a balance. A balance that is worth dying for because things have tipped too far the other way. I don't have to like it to understand it.

The masks are the first things to freak me out. Everyone wears masks because their identity is a weakness and a hazard doing the law enforcement work they do.

"Pull your face down."

The whole thing is creepy and subversive and like living in an insane police state on the edge of collapse.

Don Johnson is especially good here as a the Chief of Police.

Regina King is a former cop who was shot during the White Night when a bunch of cops were all shot in their homes one night. She survived. But her job is not finished. She is an elite police enforcer now who gets pulled into the chaos.

Damn there are a lot of weird things going on like the raining of squids. (Don't ask).

"Panda, release the guns." The cops need their guns released by central command when they call for one and can justify the use of having a gun released to them that stays looked in their cars. It's an insane overreaction. But now cops have their guns released to them in the wake of the return of a group of white supremacists called the 7th Calvary. And informal peace between them and the cops has lasted for three years but exists no longer. The battle has begun.

That is except for an elite group of masked cops that each have their own identity and mask and carry all manner of weaponry. They are the deadliest weapons law enforcement has.

Hey that's cool. Now I know what a fifty caliber machine gun can do to a herd of cows. I wish I hadn't seen that but I did.

And then the owl ship appeared and Calvin wet his diaper. I am in the Watchmen universe regardless of what they show me on the screen. I am so sold on this one that I can barely stand it.

Finally some intelligent storytelling from a literary universe that was never static nor was ever meant to be. Thank you HBO for doing it right again. Just don't ruin it for me by introducing dragons.