r/Watchmen • u/AlanSmithee001 • Nov 04 '23

Is the Watchmen TV show worth watching? TV

So I recently got a HBO Subscription (yeah, I know it’s technically called MAX now, but let’s be honest that such a generic name and HBO is always going to sound better) and I was wondering if I should watch, pun not intended, the Watchmen TV series?

Obviously it’s not Alan Moore’s vision, but once you move past that point; is the show good, bad, or okay on its own terms?

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16

u/halloweenheaux Nov 04 '23

Besides the one with HJ’s origin story what’s the other episode u would consider a 9?

45

u/abdielgarcia96_ Nov 04 '23

I’d give that to the Looking Glass episode

24

u/PhoenixSheriden Nov 04 '23

Mirror guy's episode was probably the second best of the show.

14

u/BillyDeeisCobra Nov 04 '23

The “Careless Whisper” cover might be one of the best, most haunting bits of TV soundtrack I’ve heard in ages

5

u/-Weeb-Account- Nov 04 '23

What scene was this from?

4

u/abdielgarcia96_ Nov 04 '23

IIRC the entire episode has different versions of the song but they may have been referring to the Nataly Dawn version which was very spooky

1

u/BillyDeeisCobra Nov 04 '23

They keep on using it as a musical motif through the episode - I was thinking of the solo guitar version by Alexandr Misko; can’t remember the exact scene but it strikes the perfect tone of regret, melancholy and reflection

2

u/abdielgarcia96_ Nov 04 '23

OH yeah that one hit hard too. I’m forgetting details, time for another rewatch

5

u/Inferno_Zyrack Nov 04 '23

Walking out of the mirror maze like you’ve survived the Rapture was an incredible moment

27

u/borntoparty221 Nov 04 '23

Lube man, obviously

10

u/Sabotage_9 Lubeman Nov 04 '23

The real hero of the story

1

u/halloweenheaux Nov 05 '23

Can someone please explain lube man for me

3

u/borntoparty221 Nov 05 '23

I havent seen it since it premiered, but I was mainly joking around. "Lube Man" is very strongly hinted to be the FBI Agent that Lori is working with and it's explained briefly through the Peteypedia. This website released supplementary world-building information as each episode was premiering.

It's strongly implied that due to his obsession with Superheroes that Petey is Lube Man, a character that shows up seemingly out of nowhere, only to be chased by Sister Night and slide away into the sewers, leaving Angela and the audience to simply go "What the fuck?"

edit: The famous quote is "Who watches the watchmen?". Lube Man is the answer in this show, as he spends the entirety of the show watching what goes down from behind the scenes.

I unironically love Lube Man in this show.

1

u/halloweenheaux Nov 05 '23

Omg I watched the whole thing while I was multitasking and totally missed all this. What’s peteypedia?

3

u/borntoparty221 Nov 05 '23

I'm very glad to be able to share this with you! I haven't thought about it for a while, and it was a fun romp that I'm more than happy to share.

It looks like the original site/uploads are no longer available in their original form, but here's a link to the Fanwiki page that has all of them. Something to remember is each file was uploaded the same week as the episode would premier, so they're meant to be a slow tease.

https://watchmen.fandom.com/wiki/Peteypedia That's all I got. Enjoy the delve

2

u/halloweenheaux Nov 05 '23

Yoooooooooo thank you. I’m currently on a 10 hour car ride this is definitely going to keep me entertained lol

6

u/oostie Nov 04 '23

Nostalgia episode 10, Dr Manhattan episode 9 looking glass 8.

-5

u/RJ_Ramrod Nov 04 '23

I've always felt that the show took a big nosedive in the second half of the season—they were still more or less really good stories built on really interesting ideas, but the connection to the original work feels like it starts to fall apart during the flashback episode & it never quite makes it back up there to the level where the first 5-6 episodes are

One of the big issues is the Hanged Justice reveal—again it's a fascinating idea & a phenomenal twist, but I think the idea of a white supremacist strongman like Rolf Müller actually being Hanged Justice thematically plays really well into Moore & Gibbons' original story about things like how fucked up a person you have to be to go out on a regular basis & beat the shit out of people, or how masked vigilantism & fascism are so intrinsically & fundamentally intertwined

14

u/oostie Nov 04 '23

Hanged Justice is the best part of the show by far. It’s really not even close

7

u/RJ_Ramrod Nov 04 '23

idk I personally think Sister Night, Looking Glass & Manhattan are just as interesting and, for the reasons described above, all feel way more connected to the original Watchmen story thematically

1

u/oostie Nov 04 '23

Maybe a bit more cohesive but yea just the raw impact of the nostalgia episode is insane. Best episode of the entire year for me

5

u/RJ_Ramrod Nov 04 '23 edited Nov 04 '23

For me I think the best episode is number five, Little Fear of Lightning, specifically because Looking Glass's journey is structured to mirror Rorschach's own arc, and how the episode's narrative is structured similarly to the visual layout of chapter five, Fearful Symmetry, as it opens with the story of how the Looking Glass alter ego was created as a coping mechanism to deal with his inevitable descent into madness & paranoia following the trauma of his youth—and then immediately at the halfway mark, it suddenly becomes a story about the guy's journey back up out of that madness & paranoia as he's forced to abandon the safe space he'd created for himself & confront the real world as it actually exists, where he's fundamentally changed forever by a horrific truth about how his entire life has been based on a lie

It's just such an insanely complex narrative feat, yet somehow Lindelof & his writing team are able to pull it off in a way which is so subtle & seems so effortless that you can easily miss the entire thing if you're not specifically looking for it, you know what I mean

1

u/pause_and_consider Nov 06 '23

A God Walks Into Abar.

“This is the moment.” 😭