Thus far, “Watchmen” has attempted to reel in viewers with intrigue, raising a multitude of questions without any sign of answers.
For the first two episodes this system worked well as there were other things to fall back on: cool action sequences, interesting dialogue interactions and references to the original graphic novel.
The same cannot be said for this episode.
Episode 3 begins with someone who is revealed to be a familiar face, former hero Silk Spectre (Jean Smart), who is now an agent working for the government to track down vigilantes. She is sent to Tulsa to find out if it truly was the Seventh Cavalry that killed their chief of police, or a masked vigilante.
Once she arrives she gets right to work, stirring up trouble among the already shaken members of the police force.
Now, before I go any further, let me just say that Smart does a pretty good job at playing the role she is given. My main complaint has to do with the character itself, special agent Laurie Blake.
She is a frustrating element to add into the mix, only made worse by the fact that almost the entire episode centers around her. Her dialogue, especially her “banter” with her partner, is difficult to stand. Her connection to the original text is confusing, and perhaps worst of all is how she interacts with the characters we have met thus far.
Despite being a new element onto the show, she proceeds to make all the other characters we have come to know look foolish in comparison. Her exchange with Angela Abar (Regina King) and Looking Glass (Tim Blake Nelson) are the worst offenders, as she makes them look incompetent and the audience is given no indication of how she figures any of her information out.
Beside that, this episode does little to further the overall plot along. Instead, it exists only to add more confusing elements that may alienate viewers who were already confused with the previous installments.
The most difficult part for me to talk about is the story surrounding Adrian Veidt (Jeremy Irons), mastermind of the events that take place in the graphic novel.
His role, more than any of the others, reveals the show’s inability to tell a cohesive narrative. While there is nothing wrong with raising questions in order to incite curiosity, his story feels confusing just for the sake of it. All will likely be answered eventually, but it’s hard to keep that in mind while sitting there dumbfounded trying to make sense of what just occurred on the screen.
All in all, this was the worst episode so far. While the other episodes were lacking in some areas, “She Was Killed by Space Junk” failed to engage in any way.
It would be hard to blame someone for abandoning the series here, but as a faithful viewer and fan of the movie or comic, I only hope that this episode is the definitive low point of the series.
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