Watchmen 1.04
Nov. 11th, 2019 01:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakAnd we're four for four with interesting female leads. Show, seriously, I'm so pleased.
It occurs to me that between Will the survivor of the Tulsa Massacre and Lady Trieu the child of Vietnam, a seasonal theme could be America's sins coming home to roost. Especially if, as I suspect, Trieu's daughter isn't really her daughter but another clone (though one better treated than Veidt's are) and her nightmare isn't a nightmare but a genetic memory of an event during the actual Vietnam war.
Speaking of clones, I'm relieved to learn Adrian Veidt's going through them like an evil ovrlord on speed has in fact a purpose other than showing his callousness,to wit: he's trapped and imprisoned somewhere and trying to figure out a) where exactly and b) how to leave. Now given the opening scene introducing Lady Trieu makes a point of her ability to genetically engineer and given she supposedly bought Veidt's company and has clearly taken his place in the narrative as the rich genius scientist plotting whatever the great plot is, and given Veidt tells the latest clones he's their Master but not their Maker, the obvious answer seems to be she's the one holding him prisoner. The only reason why I'm not 100% on board with that theory but only 98% is this: she strikes me as someone eminently sensible who has internalized the Evil Overlord rules, i.e. she doesn't seem to be the type to believe death to be to good for her enemies. Why would you keep Adrian Veidt alive? Even old, that man is dangerous.
(Jon of course is the character who originally announced his intentions to create new life, a better one that humanity, at the end of Watchmen, and he'd have no trouble putting Veidt in a glass bauble on Mars or wherever, but given he didn't do so at the end of the original tale, I doubt he'd bother now.)
Back to Trieu's introduction scene, which was just the right amount of creepy, darkly humorous and effective. If she'd simply killed the farmer couple to get their farm and lands for her purposes, she'd been nothing more than a standard boring villain. But bribing them with their one unfilfilled wish in less than three minutes was truly impressive, establishes how she operates, and it makes her a type we haven't seen yet in the Watchmen 'verse. (Adrian Veidt when young could be manipulative but not in this way.)
Meanwhile, Angela continues to figure out the implications of Will being her grandfather, and we get more exposition about her background - she wasn't just born in Vietnam but grew up there long enough to pick up the language. (Which comes in handy with Trieu.) We also see more of her dynamic with her husband Cal, which is so far coming across as a good, balanced partnership, and she and Laurie continue to spar and work together in a delightful take on the "odd couple forced to investigate together" trope. Her scene with her oldest daughter is also great, and you know, despite it no longer being unique, any tale that proves in a show, not tell manner that yes, female characters can be married and mothers while at the same time being the heroes of the story as detectives and fighters is still cheered by me for this alone.
Speaking of the kids, Cal's replying to their asking where the late Uncle Jack is now by giving them the atheist version instead of giving them the usual "he's in heaven" reply has to be a first in the US tv shows I've seen.
The one thing I'm surprised by is that the otherwise understandably distrustful Angela (who has no reason to come clean with Laurie at this point and thus doesn't, and also remains politely non-committal with Senator Shady McShady) after her shock about the Klan outfit in Jack's closet does trust her (white) colleague with this secret. Yes, it's still remotely possilbe that Jack was framed, but I doubti t, and I think at this point Angela doesn't really believe so anymore, either, so to me it would make more sense if she'd hid that costume anywhere else than with another white cop.
Lastly: that scene in the car where Laurie makes her sidekick tell Angela her backstory trauma was a neat bit of writing on both a Doylist and Watsonian level. Doylist wise because the scene where Laurie figures out that particular bit of truth in Watchmen was such a central scene and incredibly emotional that doing something similar would have felt repetitive, so going for the exact opposite emotional beat was a wise decision, and on a Watsonian level, Laurie and Angela are trying to figure out each other's vulnerabilities there, Angela has just thrown Laurie's challenge back at her and Laurie is both deflecting and demonstrating how non-vulnerable she feels about this (whether or not she actually does is immaterial, we're talking apperances) by being blasé and making a third party convey the information, which allows her to maintain the upper emotional hand.
It occurs to me that between Will the survivor of the Tulsa Massacre and Lady Trieu the child of Vietnam, a seasonal theme could be America's sins coming home to roost. Especially if, as I suspect, Trieu's daughter isn't really her daughter but another clone (though one better treated than Veidt's are) and her nightmare isn't a nightmare but a genetic memory of an event during the actual Vietnam war.
Speaking of clones, I'm relieved to learn Adrian Veidt's going through them like an evil ovrlord on speed has in fact a purpose other than showing his callousness,to wit: he's trapped and imprisoned somewhere and trying to figure out a) where exactly and b) how to leave. Now given the opening scene introducing Lady Trieu makes a point of her ability to genetically engineer and given she supposedly bought Veidt's company and has clearly taken his place in the narrative as the rich genius scientist plotting whatever the great plot is, and given Veidt tells the latest clones he's their Master but not their Maker, the obvious answer seems to be she's the one holding him prisoner. The only reason why I'm not 100% on board with that theory but only 98% is this: she strikes me as someone eminently sensible who has internalized the Evil Overlord rules, i.e. she doesn't seem to be the type to believe death to be to good for her enemies. Why would you keep Adrian Veidt alive? Even old, that man is dangerous.
(Jon of course is the character who originally announced his intentions to create new life, a better one that humanity, at the end of Watchmen, and he'd have no trouble putting Veidt in a glass bauble on Mars or wherever, but given he didn't do so at the end of the original tale, I doubt he'd bother now.)
Back to Trieu's introduction scene, which was just the right amount of creepy, darkly humorous and effective. If she'd simply killed the farmer couple to get their farm and lands for her purposes, she'd been nothing more than a standard boring villain. But bribing them with their one unfilfilled wish in less than three minutes was truly impressive, establishes how she operates, and it makes her a type we haven't seen yet in the Watchmen 'verse. (Adrian Veidt when young could be manipulative but not in this way.)
Meanwhile, Angela continues to figure out the implications of Will being her grandfather, and we get more exposition about her background - she wasn't just born in Vietnam but grew up there long enough to pick up the language. (Which comes in handy with Trieu.) We also see more of her dynamic with her husband Cal, which is so far coming across as a good, balanced partnership, and she and Laurie continue to spar and work together in a delightful take on the "odd couple forced to investigate together" trope. Her scene with her oldest daughter is also great, and you know, despite it no longer being unique, any tale that proves in a show, not tell manner that yes, female characters can be married and mothers while at the same time being the heroes of the story as detectives and fighters is still cheered by me for this alone.
Speaking of the kids, Cal's replying to their asking where the late Uncle Jack is now by giving them the atheist version instead of giving them the usual "he's in heaven" reply has to be a first in the US tv shows I've seen.
The one thing I'm surprised by is that the otherwise understandably distrustful Angela (who has no reason to come clean with Laurie at this point and thus doesn't, and also remains politely non-committal with Senator Shady McShady) after her shock about the Klan outfit in Jack's closet does trust her (white) colleague with this secret. Yes, it's still remotely possilbe that Jack was framed, but I doubti t, and I think at this point Angela doesn't really believe so anymore, either, so to me it would make more sense if she'd hid that costume anywhere else than with another white cop.
Lastly: that scene in the car where Laurie makes her sidekick tell Angela her backstory trauma was a neat bit of writing on both a Doylist and Watsonian level. Doylist wise because the scene where Laurie figures out that particular bit of truth in Watchmen was such a central scene and incredibly emotional that doing something similar would have felt repetitive, so going for the exact opposite emotional beat was a wise decision, and on a Watsonian level, Laurie and Angela are trying to figure out each other's vulnerabilities there, Angela has just thrown Laurie's challenge back at her and Laurie is both deflecting and demonstrating how non-vulnerable she feels about this (whether or not she actually does is immaterial, we're talking apperances) by being blasé and making a third party convey the information, which allows her to maintain the upper emotional hand.
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Date: 2019-11-11 02:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-11-11 05:46 pm (UTC)