Watchmen (TV)

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Now Where Was I ? wrote:
December 20th, 2019, 8:10 am
ugh, I really didn't like the final episode much. I'm deeply happy we have this wildly ambitious show and I loved much of it. I'm such a fan of Watchmen and The Leftovers (which is the greatest thing ever) that there was no way it could live up to that honestly

My problems
-Laurie’s sudden interest in arresting Veidt at the end, after years of being complicit in the lie, seemed to come out of nowhere. And there's nothing that suggest the world is ready to hear that lie. Definitely felt like a wrong character beat to me
-The morally grey themes from the comic book felt completely absent here. Especially in the final episode where everything felt very Hollywood. Lady Trieu ended up being more of a republic serial villain than anything else, just a bad guy who needed to be stopped. And let's not even talk about the 7K
-And the biggest of all is the treatment of Dr. Manhattan. I think they nailed his perception of time with his POV episode, but his integration in the story is ultimately a big disappointment knowing the full picture. To have this omnipotent future seeing god figure just inexplicably go along with this plot to destroy him, offering up no resistance to it AT ALL despite that fact that they make it seem like he doesn't want to die (as he sincerely loves Angela), doesn't make any sense to me. Why does Dr. Manhattan have to die? What prevents him from blowing the whole plot up? He literally just sits by and lets it all happen to him.
Yeah, I agree with a lot of your issues.
Lady Trieu went out as a standard comic villain who wanted to take over the world.

Also, agree, with Dr. Manhattan, who can basically foresee everything, didn't seem interested in preventing his death. Why? I guess it's what Reeves said towards the end that Manhattan could of done more good with his power. Maybe Manhattan realized that, but knew that he couldn't or didn't want to, so be him dying he could then transfer his power to someone who could, like Angela.

I also kinda wish the show would of went deeper into the Seventh Kalavary and their history and their current plans with the Senator. Have more of Angela, Laura, and Looking Glass ( who pretty much disappeared for three episodes) looking into it and stopping it. The parts that interwove America's history and current issues of racism was more interesting than the scenes with Adrian on the moon of Jupiter stuff with the game warden.

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The ambiguity is
are they doing the right thing by arresting Veidt? Is he right this will trigger WWIII? Was he wrong all along? Were we, readers of the graphic novel, wrong to believe he saved the world?

Moreover, is Veidt right about Lady Trieu? She's a narcissist, no question, yet so is Veidt... and if Veidt can be a narcissist and "save the world," then why can't she? Did he just remove her because he felt threatened by her to write over/ erase his legacy? If her narcissism is proof she wouldn't have saved the world, does that circle back to my first point, which would invalidate Veidt's own plan in the graphic novel?

these are the questions the show leaves us with. I don't think anything Laurie/Veidt/Trieu is doing is meant to be a black and white "good and bad" binary at all.

-Vader

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this show's sum is greater than the whole of each part, or however the saying goes

as a series it is a model from which every adaptation/continuation series in the future should draw from

as a Watchmen fan it is unquestionably a part of my own Watchmen canon

but i do believe that the ending was...
not as satisfying as Damon presumed it to be. the episode itself wrapped up the story but in a way that somewhat disrespected the rich world the previous 8 episodes had created. i'm talking about the episode as a whole, not the final moments with the egg which i'm super excited for. i do think Veidt's arrest creates fantastic intrigue for the future of this world, but i was hoping for a little more with 7K/Looking Glass/Lube Man (lol). i do hope another season is coming, and i don't care if it's a direct sequel to this season with Angela stepping on the water or if it's another series just like it, with new characters and setting.

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I'm fine with Lindelof not wanting to pursue the story and bless HBO for leaving it at that.

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For the best, pursuing future seasons it will be hard to maintain the social commentary vibe and it would divulge into a more standard superhero show.

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Free to watch for the next 2 days, so I guess I know what I'm finally doing now.

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It's a lot to binge in 2 days I imagine, but it's worth it.

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TeddyBlass wrote:
June 20th, 2020, 1:16 pm
It's a lot to binge in 2 days I imagine, but it's worth it.
I found a way to...save it for later ;)

Still going to start watching soon.

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