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There's no timelier follow up to Alan Moore's stance on superhero culture than Damon Lindelof's Watchmen which is currently in the middle of its first (and like

There's no timelier follow up to Alan Moore's stance on superhero culture than Damon Lindelof's Watchmen which is currently in the middle of its first (and likely only) season run on HBO: https://www.hbo.com/watchmen https://www.hbo.com/watchmen It's not only a high-flying feat of television writing, acting, and directing. It's something Moore will likely never endorse or even see (he's apparently denounced any adaptation/continuation of his work) and yet embodies the spirit of Watchmen better than anything I've ever seen in the genre. Lindelof and Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin records an hourlong podcast (https://www.hbo.com/watchmen/watchmen-listen-to-official-podcast https://www.hbo.com/watchmen/watchmen-listen-to-official-pod...) for HBO talking about the genesis of show, its relationship with the Zach Snyder movie (respect for the form, detachment from the execution and alterations), and the very subject of this BBC piece: people who wear masks to enact vigilante justice are and should be concerning. The parallels between 1985 and 2019 malaise, worldwide unrest, and that awful feeling that something's not quite right with the way the world is running are incredible well capture by the show. Whether you've read the graphic novel or not, I can't recommend watching HBO's Watchmen enough. Even if you dismiss it as an unworthy heir to Moore and Gibbon's work, you will without a doubt be blown away by the show and how impeccably crafted it is. For detail-hungry folks, the show's writing staff is release ancillary material that expands on the world (re)building within the show at https://www.hbo.com/peteypedia https://www.hbo.com/peteypedia. Obviously don't read this before you watch each specific episode. PS: I found the premise of the Amazon's The Boys interesting but beyond some impressive sequences and shocking twists, the show's writing is a bit too cynically shallow for its own good. There's not much commentary beyond the rottenness of (almost) every character in the show and that ends up feeling a little too much of one-note throughout the whole season.

beart 7y ago
Also - the music in Watchmen is incredible and really sets the tone.
- olivierlacan 7y ago
  Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross definitely deliver the goods. It kind of baffles me how little I see this show discussed. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/trent-reznor-atticus-watchmen-soundtrack-901981/ https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/trent-reznor-a...
deckar01 7y ago
> I can't recommend watching HBO's Watchmen enough. Fair warning though: Damon Lindelof is responsible for Lost and The Leftovers, which had notoriously unsatisfying conclusions. Some of the plot arcs are starting to terminate with actual plot movement, so there is hope that the season might achieve some form of closure. If this show finishes after one season and succeeds in telling a coherent story, I will be surprised.
- olivierlacan 7y ago
  You shouldn't be. The show was explicitly designed to be self-contained in a single season and satisfyingly tie loose ends. I recommend Alan Sepinwall's Rolling Stone piece on the show if you can't take my word for it. https://www.rollingstone.com/tv/tv-reviews/watchmen-hbo-review-897290/ https://www.rollingstone.com/tv/tv-reviews/watchmen-hbo-revi... I don't think most people who've watched The Leftovers would agree that it had an unsatisfying conclusion but, yes, you could argue that every single event in the show wasn't clearly explained or that ambiguity remained concerning one important disagreement on the course of events towards the end of the show. This ambiguity, in my mind, is precisely what made the emotional conclusion of the show so great. Unlike Lost, which resulted in a brazen (and IMO tone deaf) cop-out with many more loose ends left either unresolved or haphazardly resolved in a way that seemed to avoid popular (and better) fan theories. I think a few people throughout the years have posted accounts of people who were on the writing staff of Lost saying "they were just making it up as they went along" as if that's somehow a shameful thing to do. Some of the best writing (especially for TV) isn't constructed with a clear ending scaffold in mind but rather iterated on to allow for believable character evolution and movement in the direction of the plot. The Leftovers was Lindelof's redemption song. And I think he's earned back the trust required to give Watchmen a serious consideration. More importantly, if you listen to him talk about how the show came about, you'll see a much more mature writer who has learned to rely on a diverse team of writers who challenge him away from some of the problematic instincts he showcased on Lost. It really feels like a musician who's slowly honed their craft after years of being a popular hothead and no longer plays to show off how clever they are but instead to deliver a tight emotionally resonating set.

beart 7y ago

Also - the music in Watchmen is incredible and really sets the tone.

olivierlacan 7y ago
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross definitely deliver the goods. It kind of baffles me how little I see this show discussed. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/trent-reznor-atticus-watchmen-soundtrack-901981/ https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/trent-reznor-a...

deckar01 7y ago

> I can't recommend watching HBO's Watchmen enough. Fair warning though: Damon Lindelof is responsible for Lost and The Leftovers, which had notoriously unsatisfying conclusions. Some of the plot arcs are starting to terminate with actual plot movement, so there is hope that the season might achieve some form of closure. If this show finishes after one season and succeeds in telling a coherent story, I will be surprised.

olivierlacan 7y ago
You shouldn't be. The show was explicitly designed to be self-contained in a single season and satisfyingly tie loose ends. I recommend Alan Sepinwall's Rolling Stone piece on the show if you can't take my word for it. https://www.rollingstone.com/tv/tv-reviews/watchmen-hbo-review-897290/ https://www.rollingstone.com/tv/tv-reviews/watchmen-hbo-revi... I don't think most people who've watched The Leftovers would agree that it had an unsatisfying conclusion but, yes, you could argue that every single event in the show wasn't clearly explained or that ambiguity remained concerning one important disagreement on the course of events towards the end of the show. This ambiguity, in my mind, is precisely what made the emotional conclusion of the show so great. Unlike Lost, which resulted in a brazen (and IMO tone deaf) cop-out with many more loose ends left either unresolved or haphazardly resolved in a way that seemed to avoid popular (and better) fan theories. I think a few people throughout the years have posted accounts of people who were on the writing staff of Lost saying "they were just making it up as they went along" as if that's somehow a shameful thing to do. Some of the best writing (especially for TV) isn't constructed with a clear ending scaffold in mind but rather iterated on to allow for believable character evolution and movement in the direction of the plot. The Leftovers was Lindelof's redemption song. And I think he's earned back the trust required to give Watchmen a serious consideration. More importantly, if you listen to him talk about how the show came about, you'll see a much more mature writer who has learned to rely on a diverse team of writers who challenge him away from some of the problematic instincts he showcased on Lost. It really feels like a musician who's slowly honed their craft after years of being a popular hothead and no longer plays to show off how clever they are but instead to deliver a tight emotionally resonating set.