Watchmen

[33anda3rd]

I know literally none of the backstory, but I'm enjoying the mystery. Not to surprising, since it's from the creator of The Leftovers, one of the most moving and enigmatic shows I've ever seen.

Glad to see this - was wondering if I could start watching it without knowing a damn thing about it.

I asked this upthread. I've watched the HBO show as appointment viewing, I really love it, and I've done a tiny bit of Wikipedia U learning about the backstory, nothing too heavy, and I really love it and don't feel confused or uninformed about these particular characters, their motivations, etc.

[33anda3rd]

This show has 90% of the set pieces and bravado moments of Breaking Bad with 90% of the the character-analysis of The Sopranos and all the political fury re Race In America of The Wire.

[Smith Corks One]

This show has 90% of the set pieces and bravado moments of Breaking Bad with 90% of the the character-analysis of The Sopranos and all the political fury re Race In America of The Wire.

Well that’s a hell of a pedigree.

[33anda3rd]

This show has 90% of the set pieces and bravado moments of Breaking Bad with 90% of the the character-analysis of The Sopranos and all the political fury re Race In America of The Wire.

Well that’s a hell of a pedigree.

It's a remarkable show. Every Sunday I watch it then I watch it again. It's as jam-packed with stuff as any TV show, it's everything I hoped Westworld would be, it's just great I hope they make it forever. It's literally perfect, there is not one wasted moment or word or glance or camera angle or anything. It's the kind of show that can be like "part of the backstory is that a blue superhero won the Vietnam War and we turned Vietnam into the 51st state" and you don't feel like you're doing any work giving them narrative/believability slack, which is kinda vital when a show is more dystopian than sci-fi/futuristic.

It's also (and, seriously, don't read the below if you hate spoilers)

[SHOW]

unlike some other shows where their heads get lost up their butts w/r/t their own mythology, very simple. They keep it crazy simple. The Senator and the Police Chief are white supremacists who want to gain the power of the world's greatest superhero because "It's really hard being a white man in the world right now"--much like Trump voters, they insist with a grin as a precursor to saying this, "we're not racist." The plot is literally that simple it's like the hanger from which they hang all the articles of clothing in the form of these short tales of humanity dressed up like origin stories.

[SHOW]

So viz the above, and simplicity think about something like Westworld that wasted so much energy and time trying to be narratively interesting, like we hadn't all figured out by like Ep 5 that the McPoyle Bro was just Young Ed Harris, and that they were so invested in confusing us over timelines that they neglected a big chance to further explore the idea of What If I'm, Like, Totally In Love With This FckRobot? By the time season 2 came around McPoyle was sparsely used, mostly for weird setpieces if at all, and I'll be damned if I didn't want to learn more about his young yearning for that FckRobot. For a while I assumed everything I was seeing w/ Jeremy Irons was from years ago and it turns out not, and that I'm probably a little trained with shows like this to think I'm being narratively deceived or that there's some fractured narrative showmanship going on that I feel compelled to look into when it's not there. Think about the confusion and silliness of late Lost. Everything this Lindelof guy got wrong in Lost he fixed in Leftovers and perfected here. He's not trying to dazzle us with narrative sleights of hand (the trapdoors in Watchmen are literal), he's trying to tell us a story about a handful of folks and race in America.

[heyzeus]

I gotta say, ep 7 made me like Hall and Oates to a much higher degree.

[InvincibleCakeEater]

I can't adequately explain how [expletive] great this show is.

[heyzeus]

I can't adequately explain how [expletive] great this show is.

It really is delivering on every level. Visually stunning. Great characters, writing, and performances. Enigmatic storytelling that withholds mysteries without relying on vague and incomplete writing -- in time, you either figure out each puzzle on your own, or the show gradually reveals it to you in a meaningful way.

But most importantly of all, it's reimagining the very idea of "caped crusaders" within the context of race in America. It asks a really great question at the heart of why superhero comics appeal to so many of us: What would motivate someone to put on a mask in order to fight crime? Why would they need to hide their identity?

It also touches on the idea of generational trauma, and how the racial traumas of our past influence our social dilemmas of the present.

Man, this show kicks ass.

[Gashouse]

Finally watched episode 1 last night. I'm hooked.

[Jocephus]

[cardsfantx]

guess I never realized before this was just a limited series/just this single season

they wrapped everything up pretty damn well, but there's some unanswered questions I'd like answers to, plus there seems to be more story left to tell

lindelof said he hopes someone else will pick it back up/continue it eventually, but he said he's done/out of ideas...don't know how good it'd be if someone else picks it up