Summary: Holt doesn't get the commissioner job. Jake and Amy go for their honeymoon in Mexico but are shocked to find a depressed Holt there. Terry is in charge at the precinct but questions his own abilities when Rosa comes to him with a difficult problem. Charles goes to Gina for help when he learns that her mom is divorcing his father.
The Good: The main story was superb. The idea of Jake and Amy running into Holt during their honeymoon is hilarious, and Holt's constant self pity bringing down the mood was a fantastic use of the character. It made perfect sense as well with Holt falling into depression after he failed to achieve his life's goals. I also really liked how Amy managed to bring Holt back to normal with a surprise outburst of frustration at how her mentor was behaving. It's solid storytelling that manages to have a bunch of awesome jokes along the way like Amy's Die Hard costume and Holt's increasingly ridiculous shirts. The side stories weren't as effective but they were decent enough. Terry as top dog had some funny moments as he tried to get into Holt's computer, and the Charles/Gina story is pretty solid for what it is. The Bad: The side stories aren't anything special. It's familiar stuff that really isn't too big of a deal. Best Moment: As awesome as pretty much all of Holt's lines were in this episode, the funniest moment for me was the "this B needs a C in her A" joke which was executed really well and even cleverly broke some of the show's rules with the unexpected censorship. Character of the Episode: Holt. Conclusion: This was a great season premier. The Holt/Jake/Amy plot was the definite highlight and everything else was solid enough. An excellent way to kick off the new season. Score: 75
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Summary: A flashback shows Will's father OB getting a letter which he keeps in his pocket. In the present, Angela smuggles Will away, not believing he killed Judd. Will claims to have psychic powers and that Judd was part of a conspiracy. Angela grieves and leaves Will in her bakery. The cops find Judd and Wade questions Angela. Angela reflects on the White Night, a day that 7K members coordinated a series of attacks on cops, killing dozens of them, forcing them to all wear masks to protect their identity. Angela barely survived the night. Red Scare goes to Nixonville to attack the white supremacists he suspects murdered Judd. Angela gets a DNA sample from Will and tests it at a center. She then goes to a wake for Judd and pretends to feint so she can investigate him. She discovers a KKK suit in his closet, which she takes before leaving. Angela returns to Will who has freed himself. She also learns that Will is her grandfather. She goes to turn Will in but suddenly her car is taken away by a magnet from the sky with Will inside. Elsewhere, the Master gets his servants to perform a play about Dr. Manhattan. His servants are revealed to be clones.
The Good: There's quite a bit to like about this. Will is a very interesting character already and I'm enjoying Louis Gossett Jr's performance. The character's arrival amped up the intrigue massively, and his relationship to Angela adds even more to an already exciting dynamic. Will single handedly drove the plot forwards in this episode, suggesting a deep conspiracy involving Tulsa which should be fun to explore. The first steps taken in this episode were through the reveal that Judd is likely part of 7K which took me by surprise. It seems that Will murdered him to make a statement against the 7K. The twist that Will is Angela's grandfather is an interesting one. We still know very little about Angela (which is consistent with the idea that these masked heroes are very defensive about their identity), so we don't fully understand the significance of this reveal yet. But I am certainly interested to get to know her family history a little bit. One scene in particular that stood out was when Angela moved Will into the car, which was framed as if she was giving him a loving hug. This suggests there are more family problems to this character than what meets the eye, and that she may be in dire need of a grandfather who cares for her. I was impressed with how the show conveyed this message to me through visuals alone rather than through exposition. I also really liked the flashback to the White Night which solves some of the early mysteries of the show. This nicely explains why the 7K are so feared and detested by the cops, since they have been shown to ruthlessly act against them and murder them. It also explains why Angela and Cal have adopted 3 white children, since they were Angela's partner's kids. I liked these answers and I thought that the White Night was presented to us in a pretty good way. I also liked what this flashback sequence did for Angela, suggesting that like all other masked heroes, what really fuels her is anger for what the 7K did and what they can do in the future. This idea that anger is what fuels heroes is an interesting one and I'm curious to see how the show explores it from here. The Bad: Unfortunately the perspective that this show takes is at odds with the message it is sending. It's difficult to root for the police to beat racism when in our world they are a primary cause of systemic racism. As such, it feels strange to root for the police to resolve racism, especially when there is explicit police brutality in this episode with Red Scare's attack on Nixonville. Additionally, the view that all racists are white supremacists is a very short-sighted perspective to take, and it does not do justice to the complexity of racism in society. As a result of these issues, it gets difficult to buy into the problems presented in the show and it's hard to root for the heroes to solve these problems. I think that this show hiding character from us will be a big problem. Keeping Angela as such a mystery seems like a big mistake since she is the main character of the story, and we view the show from her perspective in most scenes. Not knowing who she is and what she wants makes it difficult to fully invest. For example, it's very unclear why she didn't inform anyone about Judd's body and why she is hiding Will. Sure she knows he couldn't do it because he is really old, but he himself confessed! As a cop, surely she should be working to solve who really murdered Judd rather than attacking some white supremacists. It's unclear why she keeps all of this secret, and as such, I can't invest in her story since I don't understand why she is doing all of this. The Unknown: Who is Will? How did he hang Judd? Does he actually have powers? Who were his friends in "high places" that seemingly saved him at the end of the episode? How did they know where he was? Who is the master? What is this play? It seems to be telling the origin story of Dr. Manhattan. Why is this important? What is the significance of the watch? It seems that Mr. Phillips and Ms. Crookshanks are clones. How have clones been created? What is the master doing with them? Where is this all happening? Was Judd corrupt? Why was he fighting the 7K if he was one of them? Could the robes have been planted in his closet? Was he even an active member, or was it just an heirloom of some sort? It wasn't the Rorschach mask, it was the old school KKK outfit. Is this an important detail? Best Moment: Angela finding Judd's robes. It was a big reveal that opened up the story in a big way. Character of the Episode: Will. Conclusion: There wasn't a whole lot to this episode, but some questions got answered, the story was built up, and we learned more about the characters. A decent episode overall. Score: 61 Summary: A flashback to Tulsa in 1921 shows a black boy escape the 1921 Tulsa massacre. In 2019, a police officer pulls over a man suspected of being involved in the 7th Kavalry, a modern day KKK organization. The officer is shot but he lives. The police chief Judd is informed by this. Elsewhere, Angela is enjoying a quiet life with her family. However she is secretly a cop who hides her identity to remain safe. She learns of the 7K's return and brings in a suspect to the police. The suspect is questioned by Wade and beaten by Angela, revealing the 7K's location. The police attack the 7K and kill most of them. Judd's family joins Angela's for dinner and Judd and Angela discuss the upcoming war with 7K. Later that night Judd hears that the injured police officer has woken up and goes to see him, but his car is stopped. Angela receives a phone call and is told to come to a specific hill. Once she arrives she sees that Judd has been hanged and there's an old man in a wheelchair next to him, likely the same person from the Tulsa flashback. Elsewhere, a master lives in a castle with two servants who constantly praise him.
Before I get into things, I want to mention that I have never read the Watchmen comics or seen the 2009 film. My reviews for this show will be from somebody who knows nothing about this universe. So if you want somebody who will appreciate all the connections and callbacks in this show, you've come to the wrong place. The Good: I thought that the presentation of 1921 Tulsa was magnificent and it started the show in an affecting and horrifying way. I'm not a big fan of most modern superhero films and TV shows, but I was surprised to see this superhero show start with a big focus on racism, showing that there is perhaps a bigger message here than just showing us cool superhero characters doing cool things. This subversion continued throughout the episode. I came into this show expecting superheroes, but so far all we have seen are ordinary people, making this one of the more unique takes of superheroes I have seen. The parallels between the masked 7K members and the masked cops are not lost on me, and it seems like the show is already setting up to make a point about how these masked heroes aren't so different from the people they are putting away, particularly when we see how the cops beat down a suspect without even a shred of evidence to get what they need to catch the bad guys. It feels more like vigilante justice than legal justice. I was not expecting any themes like this, so it was a welcome surprise. That being said, I can plainly tell that this is a Damon Lindelof show. There are so many genuinely strange and confusing moments throughout this episode, such as the squid rain and the master (see: The Unknown) which I'm really unsure how to feel about currently. I think this stuff could have been implemented better (see: The Bad), but it catches my interest as really creative worldbuilding that lets me know that it is worth learning more about this world and its history. I thought that the action and writing in this episode was solid. I enjoyed the ridiculous action sequence against the 7K which decided to butcher dozens of cows. I also really appreciated the foreshadowing of the final reveal with Judd saying "my funeral" and the old man being seen earlier in the episode asking Angela if she thinks he can lift 200 pounds. It's really satisfying to see the twists and reveals telegraphed in advance, just you don't notice it at the time. I hope the rest of this show's complexity is revealed as satisfyingly as this. The Bad: This might be because I'm not a comic reader, but this was too much for me. The world has so many differences from our world but none of these differences were presented in a way that felt easily accessible to me. I feel like I'm drowning in an ocean trying to learn the rules of this world and it is far too difficult. Seeing that I know nothing about this universe at all, I would have liked the show to offer some information on how superheroes operate in this world and why things are the way they are. Instead all I've been given are tons of questions as the show builds mystery. There's nothing wrong with mystery but I need to be given something to grasp onto before I get invested in the mystery. This show hasn't given me enough detail about the world to really care. Furthermore, I thought that the characters were really weak in this episode. Nobody has caught my eye yet and I feel like there isn't anything for me to emotionally engage with currently. Lindelof likes to create his mysteries, but there's one thing that he seems to be lacking, as he did in "The Leftovers" as well: creating compelling characters in the first episode. The story in "The Leftovers" was brilliant but it took me 9 episodes before I was fully engaged in the overall narrative. It looks like that is going to happen here as well since all we have gotten in this episode is mystery and intrigue without even a hint of relatable characters. A show like "Lost" was far better in this regard because it spent the pilot episode making likeable characters before delving into mystery. I wish this show had done the same. The Unknown: It's a Lindelof show so I already have plenty of questions. Was the old man at the end of the episode the same boy from the Tulsa flashback? He was holding the same "watch over this boy" note so I think that's a fair assumption. Who is the baby he picked up in the flashback? Anybody important? What is causing this squid rain? It's very strange and I'm not sure it will be explained. I'm hoping that it's not something I should already know from the comics. Why does everyone hide their face in this world? Where did the 7th Kavalry come from? What else is different about this world from our world? I'm sure there are many other questions I had that I can't recall right now. We are thrown into the deep end as we are introduced to this world. I've heard the name Dr. Manhattan thrown around before. Who is he? What is his story? A newspaper shot says he is on Mars. Will he be important? Are Angela's children all adopted? Will this have importance in the story? Who is this master character? The scenes with him were incredibly strange and left me baffled. I have no clue what to think of this character so far or the people who serve him. I can only assume that he will become important later on. Perhaps this is the main villain of the story. Best Moment: The final visual of Judd hanging while the mysterious old man from before sits next to him, his words from earlier in the episode finally coming clear. It's engrossing and it was the moment that really got me interested in this mystery. Character of the Episode: Judd. Conclusion: This was an interesting pilot. There's lots of mystery to get engrossed in, but unfortunately there hasn't been nearly enough characters to get engrossed in. I am interested in the show for sure, and I think there is plenty of potential for it to be good. But none of that has been realized yet, and this first episode proves to be frustrating more often than it is compelling. I'm interested in the show, but that doesn't mean that what I've seen so far has been particularly good. Score: 59 |
Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
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