WiC Watches: Watchmen
Mark Hill/HBO
Episode 101: “It’s Summer and We’re Running Out of Ice”
Watchmen opens with a flashback to the Tulsa Race Riots of 1921, and we’re abruptly slapped in the face with the realization that the show won’t be about costumed heroes rescuing kittens from trees. The story here is much more grim, and much more contemporary. In 2019, police officers have to wear masks for fear that they and their families will be butchered by a white supremacist terrorist organization called the Seventh Kalvary.
In this world, Robert Redford has been the President of the United States for nearly 30 years. Vehicles run on battery power, and the police must request permission to use their guns. At the top of episode, a black police officer can’t get permission fast enough, and is gunned down by a member of the Seventh Kalvary. Already, the series is playing with some heavy themes.
Van Redi/HBO
Oh, and while I didn’t take full notes on every Easter egg in the premiere episode, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that the police officer called the mask in the racist’s glove compartment a Rorschach mask. I look forward to digging into that original graphic novel lore and why these assholes have chosen Rorschach, an uncompromising hero from Moore’s comic, as their muse.
Tensions are at an all-time high. When Angela Abar suits up for the first time as the badass Sister Night, she brings a perp back to the police station to be interrogated by Looking Glass in a windowless room while images of Americana are projected onto the walls. Complete with Looking Glass’ mirror mask, it’s an uncomfortable scene.
There’s also an overweight guy named “Panda” with a very large and very filthy panda head for his mask. He’s the least-liked cop at Tulsa P.D. because he’s the one who decides whether to let officers use their weapons; Chief Crawford releases all of their guns after the shooting, so the heat is on.
Other officers include Red Scare and Pirate Jenny. Wearing the masks and having to hide their identities seems to have pushed these officers into becoming superhero-like figures, complete with superhero names. Later in the episode, the lot of them help Sister Night infiltrate a Seventh Kalvary ranch where watch batteries are being harvested so they can be put to some sort of diabolical use.
Mark Hill/HBO
The resulting scene is complete chaos as the Kalvary opens fire with a truck-mounted heavy assault weapon to try and stop the cops from raiding their stash house, only to end up mowing down an entire herd of cattle. Archie — Nite Owl’s ship from the comics, and Zach Snyder’s film adaptation — also makes an appearance, piloted by the police chief. Does this mean that Crawford is Nite Owl? Or maybe this was just a version of Archie. Either way, it was a very cool scene.
Although a couple of terrorists escape, the raid is mostly a success. Later, Chief Crawford and his wife celebrate by having dinner with Angela and her family. Weirdly, Crawford snorts some powder that appears to be cocaine, and not only does his police subordinate and friend Angela not seem to care, but neither does his wife, really. So Robert Redford is president and superheroes are real and drugs are legal. What a weird world Lindelof has created.
Anyway, the episode ends with Crawford learning that the police officer from the start has woken up. But he doesn’t make it to the hospital. Instead, he’s stopped on the way by — I’m assuming — the Seventh Kalvary and hanged from a tree. Abar is summoned to the scene by a mysterious caller, and sees her dead friend. Will Reeves, who’s presumably the aged version of a boy we first saw in the Tulsa Race Riot flashback, sits below the corpse in his wheelchair.
Van Redi/HBO
The episode’s final moment shows us blood dripping on Crawford’s badge, reminding us of the blood dripping on the smiley face pin from Watchmen.
All in all, I’ve got to hand it to Damon Lindelof, because he really captured the feeling of the original story while also forging his own path. This episode kept me on the edge of my seat, and I can’t wait to see how the Tulsa Police Department deals with Chief Crawford’s death.