Season 1
- Regina King as Det. Angela Abar
- Don Johnson ( Boy And His Dog ) as Chief Judd Crawford
- Jean Smart as Agent Laurie Blake
- Tim Blake Nelson ( Ghosts of the Ozarks ) as Det. Looking Glass
- Louis Gossett Jr. ( Enemy Mine ) as "Old Man" Will Reeves
- Andrew Howard ( The Outpost ) as Red Scare
- Jeremy Irons ( Dungeons And Dragons ) as Adrian Veidt
- Tom Mison ( Sleepy Hollow ) as Mr. Phillips
- Sara Vickers as Ms. Crookshanks
- Frances Fisher as Jane Crawford
- Jacob Ming-Trent as Panda
- Yahya Abdul-Mateen II ( ) as Cal Abar
- Hong Chau as Lady Trieu
- James Wolk as Senator Keane
- Dylan Schombing as
Watchmen [Season 1, Episode 1]
It's Summer And We're Running Out Of Ice
Shown 20 Oct 19
This starts with a black-and-white silent movie of Bass Reeves, a real-life African-American who served as one of the marshals in Oklahoma. This is ironic for a couple of reasons. One is that this movie is being shown in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Another is that African-Americans, instead of being heroes to the white community, now under attack from some of those whites.
The main story is set thirty-five years after the events of the book. Unlike the movie ( Watchmen (2009) ), this uses the Giant Squid storyline.
Det. Angela Abar ( Regina King ) is a costumed hero called Sister Knight. She abducts suspects without a warrant or a Miranda reading, then brutally beats confessions out of them. Real Rorschach stuff, although in this reality the villains wear Rorschach masks so there is a bit of a double standard going on. In episode three we discover that Angela’s police personnel file states she is only 5ft3 and 120lbs. Yet despite this, she is tough enough to kick the ass of any grown man she runs into.
Chief Judd Crawford (Don Johnson - Boy And His Dog ) and his wife Jane Crawford ( Frances Fisher ) attend an all-black performance of the stage musical Oklahoma!. This is ironic on a number of levels. The character of Judd Fry, portrayed as a villain, occupies the oppressed level of society in the wild west that would have been reserved for African-Americans. As a result, Judd in the movie may be a villain but he is also the only sympathetic character. So is Chief Judd a hero or a villain?
Adrian Veidt (Jeremy Irons - Dungeons And Dragons ) is living in a remote mansion, run by servants Mr. Phillips (Tom Mison - Sleepy Hollow ) and Ms. Crookshanks ( Sara Vickers ).
Watchmen [Season 1, Episode 2]
Martial Feats Of Comanche Horsemanship
Shown 27 Oct 19
This starts in the First World War, with a German propaganda letter that targets African-American soldiers. One soldier saves a copy of the letter, and it is the page that he gives to his son in Episode One. Finally the letter is now in the hands of Will (Louis Gossett Jnr – Enemy Mine ), who turns himself in for the murder at the end of the previous episode.
In the main storyline, "Old Man" Will Reeves (Louis Gossett Jr. - Enemy Mine ) turns himself in for the murder. However, Det. Angela Abar ( Regina King ) is not convinced. Will gives some exposition, which seems unlikely. For example, he claims that Dr Manhattan is back on Earth, posing as a regular human being. Sister Knight claims this is impossible, although anyone who has seen the film or read the book will know his powers to be virtually limitless.
The cops surround Nixonville, the local trailer-park which has an enormous statue of Richard Nixon. Red Scare (Andrew Howard - The Outpost ) instigates an outrage of Police brutality, leading an attack on the trailer park because the 7th Kavalry community lives there. This is race-reversal of how US Police treated African-Americans in the Twentieth Century, but apart from the obvious comparison there is no real commentary. The obvious response would be that, as in The Hunt , the right wingers are the victims and therefore the good guys.
Andy (Jim Beaver - Supernatural ) claims his visitation rights to Angela’s children.
Everyone in the show seems to watch a TV show named American Hero Story, which is preceded by a massive trigger-warning. This show-within-a-show is the story of Hooded Justice, a previously-ignored character from the original graphic novel.
Watchmen [Season 1, Episode 3]
She Was Killed by Space Junk
Shown 03 Nov 19
Agent Laurie Blake ( Jean Smart ) is head of the FBI's anti-vigilante unit. She takes down rich men playing dress-up, so the world will be safe for ordinary decent criminals.
The FBI briefing gives lots of much-needed exposition on the show’s world. Well, this is the third episode so showrunner Lindelhof (best known for Lost ) is actually toning the mystery-box aspects down for a change. The new US President instituted reparations for descendants of the Tulsa Race Massacre. This influx of newly-wealthy African-Americans means the local white working class fell victims of gentrification. The whites were forced into trailer parks like Nixonville, and their guns were confiscated by the cops. This race-reversal seems almost deliberately intended to alienate the white, driving them into the arms of the 7th Kavalry.
Laurie is sent to Oklahoma to lead the investigation. The two powerful females face off against each other. Det. Angela Abar ( Regina King ) trusts one of her cow-orkers, Det. Looking Glass (Tim Blake Nelson - Ghosts of the Ozarks ), enough to hand Judd's secret costume over.
Predictably, the 7th Kavalry stage an attack on the funeral. Despite the best law enforcement officers being present, only the two females actually do anything.
Adrian Veidt (Jeremy Irons - Dungeons And Dragons ) uses one of the clones to test a space-suit. When it fails, he seeks a buffalo-hide to insulate it. Unfortunately the Game Warden prevents him, and will not tolerate further escape attempts.
Watchmen [Season 1, Episode 4]
If You Don't Like My Story, Write Your Own (52 min)
Shown 10 Nov 19
We finally get to meet Lady Trieu, the woman who bought Veidt Industries ... and whose name is a reversal of his. She has also mastered cloning technology, which is exactly what Veidt’s speciality was. Her plan involves something mysterious that is about to land from outer space.
Sister Knight is being stalked by a creepy superhero ... Lube Man. He is the most interesting character in the show. What are the chances that he never appears in any other episode?
We see Adrian Veidt (Jeremy Irons - Dungeons And Dragons ) grow some more clones. The bad news is that he goes though them quite quickly, but the good news is he can always grow more.
Watchmen [Season 1, Episode 5]
Little Fear of Lightning
Shown 17th November 2019
This episode centres on Det. Looking Glass (Tim Blake Nelson - Ghosts of the Ozarks ). It starts with a flashback to 1985, when he was a missionary in Hobokken, New Jersey. We finally get to see the original Squidfall, the key moment in the comic-book which was left out of the 2009 movie.
In the modern day, Glass works for a market research company. This is his cover, while his real job is to use the same skills as chief interrogator of the Tulsa Police.
Even after thirty years, Glass is still obsessed with the squidfall. He lives in constant fear of another psychic blast, living in a bomb shelter and wrapping his head in protective material. In the evenings he runs a group therapy session for survivors of the original Squidfall. One night the group has a new member, Renee ( Paula Malcolmson ).
It turns out that Ozymandias AKA Adrian Veidt (Jeremy Irons - Dungeons And Dragons ) made a videotaped confession in 1985, intended to be delivered to Robert Redford on his election as President in 1993. Even stranger, all members of the US Senate's Appropriations Committee - even the newly-elected Senators, who have had no background check - are shown the confession. Yes, a project that was so secret that everyone who knew was killed in Watchmen (2009) now has videotaped evidence.
Back in the English countryside mansion, Ozymandias has catapulted lots of corpses through the forcefield. Now he sends himself though, clad in a homemade pressure suit.
Watchmen [Season 1, Episode 6]
This Extraordinary Being (61 min)
Shown 24 Nov 19
Det. Angela Abar ( Regina King ) took an overdose of her grandfather's nostalgia pills, which are made of his memories. This severe dosage puts her in a coma, but at least it allows the episode to become an extended flashback.
It turns out that Hooded Justice, the most obscure character in the comic because he has the best costume and the fewest lines, was the original costumed hero who inspired the others. The TV version of his story portrays him as a gay white man who murders FBI Agents who try to blackmail him to cover up J Edgar Hoover's closeted homosexuality. It turns out that the real-life Hooded Justice was Black ... and bisexual.
It also turns out that being Black is a superpower. Our hero is dominant during anal sex, always the giver and never the taker. He only gets defeated in a fight when the plot requires it - after getting mock-lynched and having to walk miles home, he is still strong enough to defeat four thugs single-handedly. Then he defeats three white cops (clad in KKK robes). Yes, he never loses a fight ... and when he needs to look weak, the audience see Angela Abar instead of her grandfather.
Hooded Justice joins the Minutemen, a gang of White vigilantes. He has to keep his Blackness a secret, because even though they live in New York City they are still somehow a gang of segregationists. His plan is to get their help to defeat Cyclops, the KKK conspiracy. When the racist plan is revealed, the use of subliminal messaging in a motion picture to get the Black audience to kill each other, the white vigilante dismisses this as Black unrest.
This is a bit reminiscent of the opening scene in The Naked Gun , when all perceived enemies are gathered as a vast conspiracy, then swiftly despatched by a two-dimensional hero of unlimited power.
Watchmen [Season 1, Episode 7]
An Almost Religious Awe (58 min)
Shown 01 Dec 19
This starts with a brief into Dr Manhattan. A young Angela watches a biopic while waiting to buy a copy of Sister Night, her favourite blaxploitation movie available on VHS. Her father was part of the US Occupation Forces in the 1980s after Dr Manhattan annihilated the Viet Cong in the 1960s. However, there are still resistance fighters. This is intercut with her grandfather's memories, violent scenes from the previous episode, to make the NVA seem akin to the KKK.
It turns out that Angela has survived the Nostalgia overdose. She is in the custody of Ms Trieu, the only one with the technology to have saved her. After the previous episode, which centred on her grandfather's memories, we now relive Angela's life. We learn that Angela wanted to be a cop because her role model, a female Vietnamese police officer, was party to a murder. The reason she liked Sister Night as a pre-teen girl is because she looks like me ... logic for a child, perhaps, but not an adult.
Adrian Veidt (Jeremy Irons - Dungeons And Dragons ) is put on trial by the Game Warden (Tom Mison - Sleepy Hollow ). The prosecutor, Ms. Crookshanks ( Sara Vickers ), gives exposition which should allow everyone to catch up on his storyline.
Det. Looking Glass (Tim Blake Nelson - Ghosts of the Ozarks ) is MIA after the Kavalry came after him. Red Scare (Andrew Howard - The Outpost ) is posted outside Trieu's base, under orders to arrest Angela whenever she emerges. Agent Laurie Blake ( Jean Smart ) goes to interview Judd's wife.
It seems all plots centre on Dr Manhattan. The Kavalry want him so they can replace him. Somehow, he is already on Earth. And in a masterful work of the Untruthful Narrator, Angela turns out to have known the biggest secret all along.
Watchmen [Season 1, Episode 8]
A God Walks into Abar (63 min)
Shown 08 Dec 19
Angela Abar ( Regina King ) is an off-duty cop in Vietnam. Dr Manhattan walks in and starts talking to her. He experiences time in a non-linear fashion, so he narrates things in order of interest and not order of chronology.
As a child, Jon Osterman was a refugee who stayed in a familiar-looking manor-house in England. He met the real-life Mr. Phillips (Tom Mison - Sleepy Hollow ) and Ms. Crookshanks ( Sara Vickers ), which is why he chose to clone them as Adam and Eve on Europa.
Angela helps Manhattan pass for human by letting him pass as a dead man, using one of the corpses in the morgue. This way she can commit necrophilia with a man who reminds her of her father.
By 2009, Adrian Veidt (Jeremy Irons - Dungeons And Dragons ) was bored on Earth. POTUS Redford refused to give him any credit, and the rest of humanity would rather have faulty nuclear power plants than use Veidt's safe renewable energy. Adrian agrees to trade places with Manhattan, so to speak, but gets just as bored ... and eventually has to be rescued by his daughter.
Watchmen [Season 1, Episode 9]
See How They Fly (67 min)
Shown 15 Dec 19
Angela tries to save Manhattan by killing all the working-class white men. Up to a point, that is. Eventually she realises that she should try to bargain with them. Will they team up against the mutual enemy - Lady Trieu?
Det. Looking Glass (Tim Blake Nelson - Ghosts of the Ozarks ) and Agent Laurie Blake ( Jean Smart ) are still obsessed with taking revenge on Adrian Veidt (Jeremy Irons - Dungeons And Dragons ), a man who has served a decade in house arrest. But what about Will (Louis Gossett Jnr – Enemy Mine )? They are both mass-murderers, but Veidt has arguably done better since he literally saved the world ... twice. Laurie expresses a survival biased argument that the world never actually ends ... although that is only true because Veidt was around to help.
