Watchmen (2019)

:

Season 1
  • Network: HBO
  • Series Premiere Date: Oct 20, 2019
User Score
5.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 504 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 279 out of 504
  2. Mixed: 40 out of 504
  3. Negative: 185 out of 504

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  1. Gts08
    Nov 7, 2022
    8
    Not gonna be everyone's series, but for me, it is a masterclass of bending imagination, blending style with substance perfectly, ambitiously creating a world, telling a non-linear story from many perspectives, spiced up with loads of creativity and a first-class music & editing taste. Watchmen will remain Lindelof's unique work for the ages, which, while being a fabulous adaptation of theNot gonna be everyone's series, but for me, it is a masterclass of bending imagination, blending style with substance perfectly, ambitiously creating a world, telling a non-linear story from many perspectives, spiced up with loads of creativity and a first-class music & editing taste. Watchmen will remain Lindelof's unique work for the ages, which, while being a fabulous adaptation of the even better graphic novel (written by Alan Moore, illustrated by Dave Gibbons) and an Orwellian sci-fi mystery, succeeds as one of the top-notch cinematic performances from the 2010s. 85%… Expand
  2. All_ButTrU4
    Dec 22, 2021
    8
    Amazing TV show. Super high production quality, incredible complex and interesting story, fascinating to see an alternative history play out, definitely makes you think. btw that episode ''a god walks into abar'' is one of the best episodes I've seen in my life
  3. pur__0_0__
    Apr 20, 2021
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Initially it was a bit confusing, but it picked up pace slowly. And that's exactly what's so good about this serial. It doesn't rush at any point. It goes slow, elaborating everything in detail, even the boring parts (which later turn out to be a big plot part). Earlier I wasn't able to understand the whole Ozymandias part, till the Dr Manhattan episode, and as soon as I understood my mind was blown. Same goes for Angela's husband. He seemed kinda annoying and unnecessary, but the moment it was revealed he was Dr Manhattan, my opinion about him took a complete U-Turn.

    The action scenes, the visual appeal, the story, the message, literally everything about this movie is amazing. A recommended watch for all 18+ audience who can appreciate dark stories.    … Expand
  4. mathias860
    Feb 26, 2021
    3
    I didn't know anything about watchmen before watching this. Here is my view of how the show works:

    episodes 1 - 2: a very cool and emotional crime x police story to trick you to watch the rest of the show

    episodes 3 - 8: introducing new characters and crazy nonsense background stories while you slowly forget to care about the main characters

    last episode: the actual story
  5. geewah
    Feb 9, 2021
    10
    An ambitious follow up to the Watchmen story but pulled off with aplomp while staying true to the stylings of the graphic novel.
    One of 2019's best shows.
  6. Lacroix666
    Jan 21, 2020
    5
    In original comics - gray moral and philosophizing about human nature. This all good but... Serios? Reverse racism - in this serial in each episode. Bad guys - all white people and aggressive animals. All who have power, who work on government - new KKK. Rorschach stand for them like icon. Why, what the hell?!?! Bud guys - only white people. Idiots - only white people. Aggressive animalsIn original comics - gray moral and philosophizing about human nature. This all good but... Serios? Reverse racism - in this serial in each episode. Bad guys - all white people and aggressive animals. All who have power, who work on government - new KKK. Rorschach stand for them like icon. Why, what the hell?!?! Bud guys - only white people. Idiots - only white people. Aggressive animals - only white people. This is crap, that we didn’t should see. No one in whole world can’t do same agains peoples with black skin color. But against white - no, it’s not the racists **** ”sarcasm”! I think - we must say - reversible racism - same that racism and it’s real.… Expand
  7. Tgc
    Nov 20, 2020
    2
    Basically it is show about strong black woman killing bad white men. If it wasn't loosely based on cult comic book, probably no one will care about this series.
  8. Bertaut1
    Nov 15, 2020
    9
    Exceptional in every way; thematically rich, aesthetically breathtaking, and emotionally devastating

    Written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons, Watchmen (1986) is well-known for its deconstruction of the superhero genre, dismantling and interrogating virtually every generic trope so as to question the very purpose of such stories. At the same time, its depiction of Cold War    Exceptional in every way; thematically rich, aesthetically breathtaking, and emotionally devastating

    Written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons, Watchmen (1986) is well-known for its deconstruction of the superhero genre, dismantling and interrogating virtually every generic trope so as to question the very purpose of such stories. At the same time, its depiction of Cold War paranoia and condemnation of right-wing idolatry are front and centre without ever seeming forced. Created by Damon Lindelof (co-creator of Lost and The Leftovers), the most significant thing about this adaptation is that it isn't an adaptation; it's an original story set 33 years after the events of the comic. And is it any good? It's not as good as The Leftovers (what is?), but it is an exceptional piece of work. The acting is immense, the writing is challenging, the aesthetic is stunning. All in all, Watchmen is that rarest of beasts – a show which lives up to the hype.

    Familiarity with the plot of the original isn't a requirement so as to appreciate the sequel, as you're given all the world-building back-info you need, but it can certainly help you get the most out of Lindelof's intricate narrative and thematic tapestry, especially in the earlier episodes. The world of Watchmen is a slightly different version of our world, in which the 1930s saw the rise of "costumed adventurers"; ordinary people who took to the streets to fight crime. The show is set in Tulsa, OK in 2018. White supremacist groups have been on the rise, and police are now allowed to wear masks and remain anonymous. In essence, the story follows the fallout from a murder, which is soon discovered to be much more complex than originally thought.

    Lindelof has stated that he wanted to tackle whatever socio-political issue that was to 2019 as the Cold War was to 1985, and to him, it "felt like it was undeniably race and policing". Politically then, the show does much the same thing as the comic did – it deploys a real-world socio-political problem in a not quite 1:1 fictional milieu. In Reagan's America, it was apocalyptic Cold War paranoia, whereas in Trump's Divided States, it's the rise of right-wing extremism.

    The theme of white and black comes up time and again throughout the series. For example, in "An Almost Religious Awe", a member of the KKK offshoot, Seventh Kavalry, asserts that "white men in masks are heroes. Black men in masks are scary," whilst in "See How They Fly", another member of the group proclaims, "it is extremely difficult to be a white man in America right now". In the same episode, speaking of the President, who has introduced a system of reparations, it's stated, "first he took our guns. And then he made us say sorry. Over and over again. Sorry. Sorry for the alleged sins of those who died decades before we were born. Sorry for the colour of our skin."

    Another major theme is how racial tensions are manifested in law enforcement. As the show begins, we're watching Trust in the Law, a 1921 Oscar Micheaux film about Deputy Bass Reeves, aka The Black Marshal (Bass Reeves was a real marshal and Micheaux was a real director, although Trust in the Law is not a real film). Here, the bad guy wears white (and is white) and the good guy wears black (and is black), thus inverting assumptions. The first scene set in 2018 does something similar as a menacing black cop pulls over a nervous white driver. These two scenes form a beautiful bit of visual story-telling, establishing the centrality of racial tensions, conveying that such things are often more complex than they appear. The show's aesthetic, especially, the cinematography and editing, is also worthy of praise. "This Extraordinary Being", for example, is shot primarily in black and white, and takes place in the 30s and 40s, with the cinematography employing the odd bit of colour here and there within the black and white photography to focus our attention on particular objects. As for "A God Walks Into Abar", if you're interested in learning about editing, watch this episode. Cut by Henk Van Eeghan, it essentially tries to give a visual representation of how Doctor Manhattan experiences time – with every moment in his existence happening all at once, so he can 'remember' things that haven't happened yet. It's a spellbinding exercise in stylistic control, with flawless time jumps that fold organically into one another to form a single cohesive template.

    Watchmen is an exceptionally good show. There will be fans of the comic who'll dislike it on principle. There will also be those who accuse it of pandering to a liberal PC agenda, and there'll be those who simply don't like the idea of a Watchman TV show with a black woman at its centre. Make no mistake, however, this show has been put together by people who know, appreciate, love, and understand the comic. Thematically complex, aesthetically breathtaking, brilliantly acted, Watchmen is an exceptional piece of television.    … Expand
  9. JRjr
    Sep 28, 2020
    8
    Really enjoyable show, would have given 9/10 but for the old woman playing agent Blake being really annoying. The rest of the casting was spot on. Regina King and Jeremy Irons were particularly good.
  10. metacritiqueur
    Sep 2, 2020
    0
    Watchmen, Lovecraft Country ... HBO acquires materials that are too white for his taste, then blackens them. By emphasizing that the white man is evil in 2020.
  11. umaumai
    Aug 18, 2020
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. UPDATED:

    I have had several people, from colleagues to screen writers that I admire, suggest that I give a few more episodes of "Watchmen" a try. I dove in and found the next episodes were at least entertaining allowing me to rethink my initial 0 score and have raised it up to a 3. I will say that upon finishing the series I can see a lot thought went into the over arching plot, but it never felt like anything more then fan fiction and made many of the surface mistakes that the movie adaptation made. In retrospect though this show is an almost prothetic vision of what was to come in the new year in the real world. Because of its implications on race and the fact that they put the genocide in Tulsa, in the Greenwood district, on full display I would actually still recommend that people over 16 watch some of this series. Beyond that it is still easily skippable for the causal comic fan who won't be missing out on much.

    ORIGINAL:

    The first episode was garbage and I will not be watching any more. They are just taking the interesting and good parts of the comic and blandly shoehorning them into the story. What crap writer came up with the cops chanting “who watches he’s the watchmen” in Latin? Lame. While that’s a minor theme in the comic it’s out of place here. The rehashing and paraphrasing Rorschach’s best journal entry for the terrorist was awful. And the idea of cops letting anyone, ANYONE in a mask stroll up to their precinct is f@#king dumb. The only thing that was interesting at all that was the nod to the comic of the squids falling from the sky much like the fake “alien” attack.    … Expand
  12. maje90
    Jul 6, 2020
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The comic is great, the 2009 film was good (and a nice adaptation of the comic, i think), but this is just trash.
    Noone will remember this series, plot is boring and nonsense.
    This doesn't exist.
    Original Watchmen have no sequel.

    3/10 just because some part with Ozymandias were not totally boring.    … Expand
  13. dermac
    Jun 14, 2020
    0
    Yes, we get it, racism is bad. We knew that before. Please give us some content.
  14. Gabe062490
    May 4, 2020
    0
    There's nothing about this show that is remotely close to it being a "comic book". They adapted "Watchmen" just so they could use names, places, and events from Alan Moore's brilliantly designed comic book universe.

    I RARELY write negative reviews about anything I dislike but Damon Lindelof's "Watchmen" is the hottest piece of garbage I have ever seen. HBO's "Watchmen" is an    There's nothing about this show that is remotely close to it being a "comic book". They adapted "Watchmen" just so they could use names, places, and events from Alan Moore's brilliantly designed comic book universe.

    I RARELY write negative reviews about anything I dislike but Damon Lindelof's "Watchmen" is the hottest piece of garbage I have ever seen.

    HBO's "Watchmen" is an injustice to the original comic book and Zack Snyder's adaptation.

    I hope this show gets canceled immediately.

    Nothing about what happens in the show makes sense. It is all written rather conveniently and non-sensically just for the sole purpose of connecting all the characters together.

    Pretentious, meaningless garbage.    … Expand
  15. boredboredbored
    Apr 26, 2020
    2
    If you are utterly bored in lockdown, or literally have nothing else going on in your life, give this series a watch. The action sequences are entertaining and well choreographed, and the cinematorgraphy is well done and oft times downright beautiful. The writing occasionally brushes up against a good idea before veering away with screeching tires. Right, now on to the butchering:

    The    If you are utterly bored in lockdown, or literally have nothing else going on in your life, give this series a watch. The action sequences are entertaining and well choreographed, and the cinematorgraphy is well done and oft times downright beautiful. The writing occasionally brushes up against a good idea before veering away with screeching tires. Right, now on to the butchering:

    The story jumps about in time frequently, but only tells you so with about half the jumps. Someone needs to tell these geniuses that confusion does not equal mystery. Especially not when the confusion stems from the story breaking it's own storytelling rules! Multiple events and characters are treated as signifcant, only to be instantly dropped and never mentioned again (I call this "Lost Syndrome"). It's like there was no consensus among the directors as to how the story is supposed to unfold ("Disney Star Wars Syndrome").

    The lead actress is miscast. Her character demands a certain energy from the actress which she - Regina King - fails to convey in nearly every scene. The constant braying of muh racism gets a little boring as well, unless you're really into that, or get off on ethnomasochism.

    But the worst sin of this series is the way the themes of both comic and film are missed, and the character of Dr. Manhattan is mishandled (really if you know even the slightest thing about him, this series is a 9-episode urination on his character). It was as if the writers were told the story this series is supposedly a sequel to by a drunk friend who skips over the most pertinent details. And don't get me started on the denouement of the final episode: let's kill a whole bunch of people to prevent X from happening...hey you know what would be a great idea? Let's make X happen!

    Eh...on second, if you're really bored, rather watch paint dry.    … Expand
  16. voodoo-goose
    Apr 23, 2020
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I give this series 2 points for good acting, good story-telling and good tension. Also, it gets the two points: one for each of the original watchmen in the story. Sure, Silk Spectre is there, but she isn't Silk Spectre anymore anyway - she's joined the government (working for the enemy, as far as original Watchmen is concerned).

    First, the good. It really is good acting, it's quite nicely paced and the tension doesn't really let up.

    Now, the bad. It's got absolutely nothing in common with the original Watchmen, which if you read (or saw the movie) was very anti-government, anti-liberal and very pro-individual-rights. In fact, the very first page of original Watchmen says this: "Now the whole world stands on the brink, staring down into the bloody hell, all those liberals and intellectuals and smooth-talkers... ... and all of a sudden nobody can think of anything to say."

    This series is the exact opposite of that, the exact opposite of what the Watchmen were, and what they wanted to do. The series has none of the conflict or the profound paradox of the original Watchmen. The deep questions about morality and politics and war and love that was in the original Watchmen are missing from this series. All of that has been replaced by an almost endless litany of preaching; the message of "white men bad, everyone else good" is reinforced in every episode. All the women are strong or black or both, all the men are neutered, even if they're black.

    Speaking of neutering, the two remaining watchmen in this series, Ozymandias and Dr Manhatten, have been reduced in apparent power and intelligence (can't have the legends overshadow the new characters, I expect).

    Ozymandias, for example, is not the almost-prescient thinker and strategist from the original Watchmen. He doesn't have any of his reputed fighting skills (bar one scene) and is easily taken down with a blow to the back of the head **after being told he was being arrested**. The original Ozymandias would not, after being told he was going to be arrested, have let one of the two officers calmly walk around him and bop him on the head.

    Dr Manhatten gets an even worse butchering of his character. For absolutely no reason at all, he leaves Mars, comes to earth and tells a woman he has never met that he is in love with her. At the end, when he knows that they are about to capture and kill him, he simply stands for a few seconds in front of their trap while it energises to capture him. Everything he does is out of character for Dr Manhatten. There is no conflict in him; in the original Watchmen we get the sense of an almost godlike being, someone capable of seeing through time, dealing with internal conflict as he loses his humanity and tries to hang on to his morality. The Dr Manhatten of this series is almost completely human since arriving from Mars, and only cares about the falling in love bits of the plot.

    They really should have called this series something else; it is not done in the dystopian atmosphere of Watchmen. It has an altogether different feel to it. The society feels more like George Orwell's 1984, where the arrested have no right to a trial; where, in a US state, the arrested can be judged and executed on the spot by the arresting officer; where the police wear masks; where the guns have been confiscated from the population ... and this series tries its best convince the viewer that all of this **is a good thing**.

    I would say watch this if you like superficial storylines, plot holes you could drive a truck through, never-ending politicisation ... and good acting. Do not watch this if you were expecting the complex and intricate world of the original Watchmen to be continued. This series does not do that.    … Expand
  17. Voodoo123
    Feb 8, 2020
    1
    While there are certainly some interesting choices in the setting characters and drama, Watchmen 2019 chose the path of the original comic book material in name only and serves as an 'imagined sequel'. It noticeably lacks the wonderful prose of Alan Moore, and the visual stylistic tones of the (still excellent) Zack Snyder movie. Simply put this reads as just another average action/scifi.While there are certainly some interesting choices in the setting characters and drama, Watchmen 2019 chose the path of the original comic book material in name only and serves as an 'imagined sequel'. It noticeably lacks the wonderful prose of Alan Moore, and the visual stylistic tones of the (still excellent) Zack Snyder movie. Simply put this reads as just another average action/scifi. If it went by a different name I would score higher. The original graphic novel and movie still hold up. This is simply a byproduct of that initial success.… Expand
  18. DwayneHawkins
    Jan 26, 2020
    5
    Episode 1 was boring, as well as most of episode 2, but at the end of this episode, it became interesting.
    Episode 3 and 4 were pretty decent and I had high hopes.
    But alas, episode 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 were boring.
  19. metachirrup
    Jan 26, 2020
    9
    One of the best series out there at the moment. Some of the best twists through re-contextualisation I've seen in any series. Great acting, diverse characters and great music. Regarding the bad reviews... regretfully this outstanding series seems to be caught up in the hyper-sensitive, anti-woke and polarised culture. It isn't pushing an agenda. It is just good story telling.
  20. electronicoffee
    Jan 16, 2020
    2
    Good. **** afrocentric SJW TRASH!!!! Black Manhattan was sooooo **** lame. Don't waste your time on this utter garbage.
  21. ziGihouse
    Jan 16, 2020
    3
    Very poor story with less moments from original Watchmen and just few good moments
  22. rob_vz
    Jan 13, 2020
    8
    The politics are definitely black and white, with lots of sinister white people and angelic black heroes, but the film-making is superb, awesome sound design, and it builds to a great finale.
  23. Neil_D_Forrest
    Jan 12, 2020
    10
    A powerful and engaging series taking the watchmen universe into new territory.
    Great performances, visually stunning and my favourite show of 2019. I hope they make many more.
  24. GrimChaos
    Jan 7, 2020
    9
    Surprisingly, it was really good. I was a little worried when I saw the trailer. I'm a big fan of the comic and I feel like it was a worthy sequel. Was it perfect? No, but still worth a watch.
  25. PedroMorgan1234
    Jan 4, 2020
    10
    This show its to much good,Hbo created one of the best show about hq of all time,so this is MY OPINION
  26. The3AcademySins
    Jan 2, 2020
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I am going to make a bold claim and say that HBO's first season of Watchmen is one of the best sequels I have ever had the pleasure of watching. It's also an incredible return to form for HBO after the complete misfire of Game of Thrones Season 8 and the let down that was Euphoria Season 1. Damon Lindelhoff is an absolute genius to find everything that he does in the original text of Watchmen and adapt it for the screen. There are some fanciful elements near the end of the show that do stray from the original message of the Watchmen comic, and it is important for me to note that this is a true sequel to the Watchmen graphic novel, NOT the movie. I can't stress enough how intelligent this show is, but if you haven't read the comic, you will probably be pretty lost. Also, the first episode of this show is a real life racist detector, and all these reviews that trashed the whole series after the first episode definitely failed that racist detector. Watchmen was already woke back in the 80s, some of these reviews are just mean.… Expand
  27. mintlo
    Dec 30, 2019
    1
    What a pile of bizarre, foul **** Don't waste your time. Run. Run away....blah blah blah blah
  28. cgrossi
    Dec 26, 2019
    10
    One of the best new series I've seen.Not what I expected and took me a bit to get into but it was really well done.
  29. Bubber
    Dec 26, 2019
    1
    Just No, this is another example of what happens when diversity and progressive values become more important than creating good entertainment. Besides the name it's got nothing to do with the original Watchmen comic. I hope this series is cancelled so we never have to talk about it again.
  30. Cristianfuentes
    Dec 23, 2019
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This show kept me interested for some episodes but then I found its negative aspects too overwhelming to keep giving Watchmen my eye and time. Pity, because it has several ingredients for a succesful TV show like high production values and invested actors. However, the underside includes flaws like badly designed lead roles -most of them are creepy, egostistical and generally repulsive-, unnecesary complicated and convoluted plot -one character gets to die three times!- and general nonsense like the tipical one-person army battle against many stupid and weak foes.… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

18
#18 Best TV Season of 2019
3
#3 Most Discussed TV Season of 2019
70
#70 Most Shared TV Season of 2019

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
85

Universal acclaim - based on 35 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 33 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 35
  3. Negative: 0 out of 35
  1. The Times
    Reviewed by: Carol Midgley
    Jan 7, 2020
    80
    Weird, weird, weird, but definitely not boring.
    Read full review
  2. The Guardian
    Reviewed by: Lucy Mangan
    Dec 3, 2019
    80
    It is a bravura series that interrogates power, storytelling and the former embedded in the latter. It has a (still unusually) diverse cast, writing team and cohort of directors in terms of both sex and class, and, even as it strays from Moore and Gibbons’ original content, it honours their underlying ambition: to deconstruct our legends and our myths, ask where they come from, what purpose they serve; and to make us think and think again about who tells us what, why – and why they are the ones who get to do so.
    Read full review
  3. TV Guide Magazine
    Reviewed by: Matt Roush
    Nov 6, 2019
    70
    You may not always be sure what you're watching, but good luck taking your eyes off Watchmen. [28 Oct - 10 Nov 2019, p.8]
See all critic reviews »