Who watches the watchers? It’s the central theme in the epic graphic novel Watchmen, but it has been expanded on by the TV series which spans a period of pushback against superheroes and their vigilantism. Zack Snyder’s 2009 film was a faithful reproduction of the graphic novel, including the gigantic metamorphised Doctor Manhattan, and followed the comic’s narrative.
The 2019 TV series is a reimagining of the Watchmen universe and the underlying principles of anonymous superheroes who are essentially do-gooders.
But this is an age where superheroes have run into what some financial markets would call headwinds. Public sentiments have turned against the brave heroes, who must now hide their identities. As we comic book-reading geeks know, however, that’s what the authors do during a rough year when they need to shake it up a bit and throw in some dramatic tension. But it makes for a great premise (if you haven’t seen The Incredibles what have you been doing with your life?), and one that the series gives plenty of airtime, too.
What better way to explore the hypothetical possibility that superheroes have gone rogue, in some instances overstepped what’s acceptable, but generally behaved as badly as we normal humans do? There has been a backlash from the non-super folk, so the remaining good guys do it incognito.
Part of the reason Watchmen is so good is because its original author was the genius Alan Moore, a fountain of creativity. He imbued his comics with depth and nuances, which have given them longevity. These include The Ballad of Halo Jones (my favourite of his), Swamp Thing, Watchmen, V for Vendetta, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and From Hell. Many of these have been made into hit movies or shows. In the case of Watchmen, both.
What it gave you was a different perspective on this new class of superhero who appeared in comic books in the 40s and 50s. By the time Watchmen arrived, there was a more nuanced approach to how superheroes were viewed.
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What is remarkable, however, is how well done 2019’s Watchmen TV show is. The Guardian newspaper called it “such a masterpiece it’s almost too much to bear” and that the “adaptation of the DC comic is like eating a steak after months of chewing the gristle off mince”. I agree.
The principal character is Angela Abar (Regina King), a detective who moonlights as a superhero. She may be better known as Cuba Gooding Jr‘s wife in Jerry Maguire (1996) and also appearing in Enemy of the State (1998) as Will Smith‘s wife. Now she is the protagonist in a fascinating narrative that revisits the Tulsa massacre, in which her grandfather (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) was involved.
I had only recently become aware of the Tulsa massacres myself, in no small part because of Tom Hanks’s own exposé of this remarkable episode of racial hatred and terror and its devastating knock-on effects.
The series explores the nature of what cops do in a fractured society where right and wrong have become so paralyzingly grey. But it does it in a way that makes for excellent television because of how realistically these threads are developed and the conflicts the characters themselves go through. Regina King’s skilful performance is matched by the equally excellent Looking Glass (Tim Blake Nelson with an excitingly excellent screen presence and a handy Southern drawl). His superpower is telling whether people are lying or not. He wears a fabric mask over his head that makes his head look like a mirror. His transition scenes between working with the cops to his normal life are a fascinating riff on the changes between hero and everyday alter ego.
These heroes are themselves everyday people trying to make sense of the world while trying to make it a better place. Just like everyone.
