Watching HBO's Watchmen
5 out of 10
I usually do not review TV shows or movies because the experience is subjective. Like with GOT, the noise chatter about it when it came out was huge but I did not really like it much until Season 4+, then I was hooked. I did go back to watch the earlier seasons and felt they generally were not as good as the later seasons. So, it is the same with HBO's new show called Watchmen.
This is no Game of Thrones
It will never be the GOT replacement series that millions watch religiously. It is not as good as Homeland or even the Righteous Gemstones, all HBO blockbusters. Perhaps it is too early, but the first episode reveals to those who know little about the storyline or its comic book history, will find it just good with common elements found in other dramas. GOT had fabulous sets, battles, costumes, superb acting, fantasy creatures. Watchmen has none of that.
What I found disturbing was that the whole series will seem to be about racism between blacks and whites with twists. Do we need this today when POTUS clearly is a racist and perpetuates this horrible thing in America? It just seems that it will simply add to the already discord and hate.
Watchmen is also not clear cut about racism. Some of the roles are reversed where whites are hung by blacks with revenge, yet, the main crime fighter is not a super hero with powers, but a black woman who wears a ski mask to hide her identity as she is on the police force led by a white man. Instead of having the KKK, we have just some "white supremacy" group seeking to re-surge in strength as they deal lithium batteries, a contraband. Most of the police are both white and black and all use ski masks to hide their identity (I am sure the writers got this idea from either ISIS or Russia's troops that invaded Crimea and Ukraine in 2014).
As a viewer who knows nothing about the background of this show or its origins (nor should any viewer) I eagerly awaited to see if the hype of it being better that GOT was true. I was left with a show I will watch again for sure, but I cannot see this even being better than Homeland, which is a masterpiece. It is a dark show being based in racism and white supremacy. The theme is alive and well today and will the entire series be about this throughout?
The hype overly promoted this. The writers and director chose to make it about racism and white supremacy. It takes place in 2019, not some far off time. There is some alt-history storyline, but it is not at all clear unless you have read about prior to watching. While there have been rave reviews, I really think these are coming from fans of the comic book series, not from someone who is unbiased.
Like I said, I will watch it again until I decide whether the theme is not to my liking or the show just is no longer interesting.
