TV Review - Watchmen (2019)

It might be a good idea to watch the 2009 film by Zack Snyder or in the least read the Wikipedia page about that flick to remind oneself because this series is essentially a sequel to that movie. It's been ten years and unless you're a person who has been demanding the Snyder cut to Justice League (2017), then the backstory and the context to everything that's happening here will be lost on you. Of course, fans of the comic book by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons will be the most prepared and most invested in the world that Damon Lindelof who created this series continues here. Lindelof is pretty faithful to that world, but, like most comic books and adaptations of comic books to films or TV shows, that world or the portions of the world presented have predominantly white protagonists. The original cast in the Snyder film as the dramatis personae in Moore and Gibbons' story were all or mostly white people. Lindelof though takes a different direction, while still being faithful to the world that's already been established.

Lindelof is probably best known as being the creator of the ABC series Lost (2004). That series had an incredibly diverse cast. Lindelof also created the HBO series The Leftovers (2014), which started off focusing on a white family. The Leftovers was an adaptation of a novel by Tom Perrotta. However, Lindelof covered all the material in the book in the first season. For the second season of The Leftovers, Lindelof stayed faithful to the material but he took things into a different direction, meaning he created new characters, placed them in the same world and followed their experiences instead. Those characters were notable because they were African-American and it was interesting as we followed their perspective in this same world. Lindelof does the same thing here. It's almost as if though Snyder did the first season for Lindelof, but Lindelof picks things up by creating new characters, characters who are African-American and places them in the same world and follows their experiences instead or in addition to the others. In that, he's able to explore the black experience in the United States, especially from a historical perspective, which is amazing, and I would be more impressed if the world, the fictional world were more original like The Leftovers was and not the more derivative comic-book and super-hero world that is now Moore and Gibbons' story.

Oscar-winner Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk and The Leftovers) stars as Angela Abar, a woman who is about to open a bakery in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2019. She's married and has three adopted children. What's important to know is that her story, as well as the story at large begins in Tulsa in 1921. What transpires between 1921 and 2019, which is nearly 100 years, is the result of real, historical moments, particularly involving black people, and fake, historical moments that have been injected by Moore and Gibbons, as well as Lindelof. Those fake, historical moments mainly involve the injection of super-heroes or masked crime fighters into that 100-year timeline. Those so-called heroes being in existence have altered the timeline and changed things. For example, instead of losing the Vietnam War, with the help of super-heroes, the United States won that war and made Vietnam the 51st State for the USA. Angela was subsequently born and raised in Vietnam but she's still as American as anyone else.

However, after her parents died in a suicide bombing, she learned that her father was born and raised in Oklahoma. She got married and moved there. She started her own bakery, but first she worked as a police officer for Tulsa. She did so because her father was a police officer in Vietnam. Unfortunately, a terrorist attack forced her out of the police force. Several years ago, a white supremacist and terrorist group known as the Seventh Calvary launched an attack against the police force, killing a lot of them in their own homes. Since then, a law was passed, which allowed police officers to wear masks in order to conceal their identities, making them seem like super-heroes or masked crime fighters. If one remembers the Snyder film, then one knows that super-heroes and masked crime fighters were made illegal after the Vietnam War. Now, because that line is blurred, Angela embraces it completely and she becomes a masked crime fighter called Sister Night, based on a blaxploitation flick she liked back in Vietnam.

Emmy-winner Jean Smart (Frasier and Designing Women) co-stars as Laurie Blake, a FBI agent who is the head of the Anti-Vigilante Task Force. Ever since the government made super-heroes and masked crime fighters illegal, it's been her job to track down people who still want to be super-heroes or masked crime fighters and stop them. Many American people still support super-heroes, so she isn't very well liked in her job, which contributes to her anti-social behaviors. Yet, fans of the Moore and Gibbons comic book will recall the name Laurie. Unlike Angela Abar, Laurie isn't a new character. She was a character that was already established. Ironically, Laurie used to be a super-hero or masked crime fighter herself. Her alter ego was Silk Spectre, but that was 30 years ago and now she's a FBI agent who arrests people like Silk Spectre.

There's a lot about her to unpack, but she's a hard-nose, no-nonsense detective who doesn't really care about people. She does her job and then goes home alone to her pet owl. Those who are familiar with the comic book or even Snyder's flick knows that there is significance to that. Laurie used to date a super-hero called Nite Owl who was basically like Batman. However, the true love of her life wasn't Nite Owl. It was a man named Jon Osterman. Jon was also a super-hero named Doctor Manhattan. Doctor Manhattan is the most powerful super-hero who is distinguished from everyone with his blue-skin. Supposedly, he left Earth to go live on the planet Mars.

Hong Chau (Homecoming and Big Little Lies) also co-stars as Lady Trieu, a very smart and very wealthy person from Vietnam who rose to power after becoming a very shrewd businesswoman. She took over Veidt Enterprises after it was believed that Adrian Veidt died. She comes to Tulsa though and begins buying up land. She does so because she wants to build what she calls the Millennium Clock, a huge tower whose purpose is unknown. She claims it's going to save humanity. Yet, her company already has tons of technology and advanced technology at its disposal, both in the field of medical technology and automotive technology. One of her best products is a pill called Nostalgia, which seems to be a cure for Alzheimer's as it allows a person to retrieve their lost memories. She is revealed to be very interested in Angela.

Now, all of this is very intriguing. All of it is well-written and well-acted. Yet, I never fully connected with the series for several reasons. One of which isn't the fault of the series, but I fear I might be suffering from super-hero fatigue. This series is just one of tons of TV shows about superheroes. This one is based on characters owned by DC Comics. Currently, on the CW, there are six superhero shows. Recently, there were over a half-dozen, superhero shows based on characters owned by Marvel Comics. Most of those shows were either on Netflix or ABC. Amazon Prime has also gotten into the superhero TV show business and Disney+ is going to launch next year some more superhero shows, so there has just been a bombardment of superhero programs.

For me, these superhero shows get tiresome after a while. What helps is if they can stand out, be progressive or handle the basics extraordinarily well. Lindelof and the people working on his show do handle the basics well, not extraordinarily well, but it comes close. This show is progressive, but I'm not so sure that even with all that, it stands out in a way that is all that different or more compelling than other shows have done recently. I think it tries and I think Lindelof is bold, especially in regard to what's he's doing here with race relations and racial politics. I have some nitpicks about the sexual or rather sexual orientation politics. If anything, his attempt to tether all of this to the comic book world and superhero stuff ultimately sinks it. Episode 8, which explains Doctor Manhattan's new life on Earth, is a prime example of just the super-hero stuff being nonsense and more frustrating than interesting.

Lindelof recreates the Tulsa race riot in 1921 in which white people attacked black people, injuring hundreds if not thousands and killing tons of black people, as well as looting and destroying tons of property. It was a massacre. It's been described as one of the worst racial attacks in American history, if not certainly in the 20th century. It's an event that's nearly 100 years old, yet it's only recently that media attention has been put on it with this series being the grandest example. In Episode 4, the show talks about legacy and this show certainly explores the trauma that can be passed down as legacy, as well as the bonds and patterns between parent and child. We see this all through the lens of people connected to the Tulsa massacre.

All of that is intriguing and starts to push this series apart from recent superhero shows featuring African-American leads, such as Luke Cage (2016) and Black Lightning (2018). Yet, those shows do touch upon and indeed dive into those themes. What makes those shows stand out is the fact that the characters in those shows are more empowered than the characters here. The black characters in this show that become superheroes like Angela Abar aren't different from anyone else. They have no supernatural powers or have characteristics that give them any more advantage. It's arguable to call them superheroes when vigilante is probably the better word.

This show does have a dialogue about vigilantism, what it means and if it should be legal or accepted in society. That's a good conversation to have, but it's a conversation that most if not all of these superhero shows have, so that's not new and only adds to my fatigue.

The series also makes white supremacists the main villain here, which is a little on-the-nose. Considering the protagonist is a black woman, having her fight white supremacists as the bad guys feels almost cliché. It's almost too easy. Later episodes reveal that the white supremacists aren't the true nemesis but a tool or stepping stone for a villain named Joe Keene, played by James Wolk (Mad Men and Political Animals) with more personal motives, but even he feels lame for the most part, a fact pointed out by Laurie.

There's a side plot with Jeremy Irons who plays a man surrounded by clones that feels unnecessary. It might dovetail with the other plot lines later, but it feels so superfluous for most of the series. One thing that I have to point out is Episode 6. It's mostly a flashback episode that goes back and explains the history that leads up to what Angela is experiencing. The episode focuses on the early life of her grandfather named William Reeves, played by Jovan Adepo (Tom Clancy's Tom Ryan and The Leftovers). It's revealed that her father was also a super-hero or at least a masked crime fighter named Hooded Justice. The episode is good for exploring why he became a vigilante and how he discovered the conspiracy involving white supremacists that persist into Angela's life.

My criticism of the episode is the fact that it's revealed that William is married to a black woman but he has an affair with a man, another super-hero named Captain Metropolis. The affair almost exists to demonstrate the racism that exists even among the so-called super-heroes, which is fine, but otherwise the episode dismisses William's same-sex attraction or possible queerness. While we are firmly planted in the black community. We have no sense of the queer community either in Tulsa or New York City where this affair happens. William's homosexuality is treated more as a shocking twist or plot point that is brushed over and not developed or really explored further.

Rated TV-MA.
Running Time: 1 hr. / 9 eps.
Sundays at 9PM on HBO.