Watchmen “It’s Summer And We’re Running Out Of Ice”

Sometimes, I love irony.

Watson did nothing but bitch and moan over the very concept of a Watchmen TV series, saying that no such thing should exist and so on and so forth.  He promised to watch it if for no other reason than to hate on it with knowledge as to why he was hating on it, and then a funny thing happened:  he became Gabbing Geek’s biggest booster for the show.

Well, I might as well see what the fuss is all about.

And, well, much of that critical praise may be warranted if the opening is anything to go on, as we see the real-life incident of a 1921 massacre in Tusla, Oklahoma’s “Black Wall Street” by white supremacists.  One little boy gets away that we can see, and he finds a baby girl nearby where he crashed.  This kid got out of Tulsa pretty fast all things being equal, considering he was just minutes before he left town enjoying a silent movie about another historical figure, Bass Reeves.

We then cut to the present, see how much Tulsa’s local law enforcement has it with the present day white supremacists, the Seventh Kavalry.  Turns out they like to wear some Rorschach masks instead of hoods.  Cops in turn wear masks to protect themselves from retaliation, and they need electronic permission to draw their guns.  That doesn’t stop a Kavalryman from killing a cop.

Man, there is a lot of tension here.  This is one well-executed first episode.  I mean, we have Regina King as a cop/superhero named Sister Night, Tim Black Nelson as another cop/superhero named Looking Glass for his reflective mask, and Don Johnson as the chief of police, Judd Crawford while Jeremy Irons does stuff on a remote estate for some reason.

Look, I expect mystery from creator Damon Lindelof.

What I don’t expect is for the episode to end with Don Johnson strung out dead after Angela Abar/Sister Night gets a call from parties unknown telling her to come out and find something without her mask.

Killing off one of the more recognizable members of the cast before the first episode is over?  That takes some balls.  But so does the opening few minutes.  I get the impression Watchmen isn’t going to pull any punches.