Finally saw Watchmen.
To preface, I enjoyed it. Overall, good expansion of the universe, natural continuation of the overarching narrative, and solid story in its own right. I've placed it on my shelf of honor nestled neatly between my Ultimate Cut copy of the film, and the theatrical version I actually prefer.
However, had I not already been exceedingly well-versed with the comic (and of lesser importance, the movie), I doubt I would have made it past the first two episodes. The world of Watchmen is challenging enough (especially to explain to newcomers), without catapulting viewers into the middle of the very real Tulsa Race Massacre, then teleporting 100 years into a seemingly non-sequitur alternate future where cops wear outlandish masks, Robert Redford is a 7th term president, Vietnam is the 51st state, and squid occasionally rain from the sky.
For my part, I understood why all of those and many more oddities could be things within the Watchmen universe, but was struggling to decipher the connections and context to the story at hand. I'm aware it's the Lost "What's in the Hatch" treatment, and basking in the mystery is supposed to be the experience. But I felt more as though I'd been para-dropped into a friend of a friend's birthday party, and was scrambling to figure out how exactly everyone knew each other.
And for my wife's part, she was still asking me what a "rorschachs" was. It was about that time the scenes abruptly shifted to a seemingly random old man in the English countryside picking tomatoes from a tree and cutting a cake with a horseshoe.
Fortunately, at the start of episode three, Silk Spectre II swoops in with a literal power point presentation to get us up to speed, and then we were golden.
I admire the mini-series for its ambition. Looking Glass and Lady Trieu are especially welcomed additions. And the, I guess "soft" retconned origin of Hooded Justice (because his is really the most left open for interpretation) is a bold and exciting move, even if it might buckle from a purist perspective. Plus all the returning characters are awesome.
Although, I feel somehow the theatrics and inherent ridiculousness of the superhero genre outpaces the serious weight of the narrative its trying to weave in a way that the comic didn't suffer. And I wish other minor characters like Red Scare, Pirate Jenny, Glass's Ex, and even Crawford, Keene, and the entire Seventh Kavalry had more development beyond foils and ascended extras, the way the comic made you care about the whole universe, no matter how limited the facetime. But in all, I liked it.
Now let's wait patiently for the second season.
Good joke. Everybody laugh. Roll on snare drum. Curtains.
