Finally caught up and finished. [Season finale spoilers.]
I did too. It's one of the few shows where I actually watched the final 2-3 episodes as they aired (while simultaneously DVR'ing). So I'm glad to have enjoyed it that much.
I have to say that this show is FUNNIER than I expected it to be. I actually was laughing out loud at a lot of it -- including the opening involving the incubation of sample #2346. There's just a lot of silly, brash, "in your face" lines and actions that were shocking in a good way. Or like when the Huntsman asks Veidt if he was a worthy adversary as he's lying there, and Veidt just says, "No" (but you put on a hell of a show).
I think the writers had a lot of fun sometimes just dropping lines that were like slaps in the face, running against the conventional expectation.
Unexpected is a good word for it. I wasn't expecting anything specific, I didn't really harbor many expectations at all, and yet somehow it's still unexpected. In a good way (imo, I really liked it). I decided that I liked Irons as Veidt, because he brought a good flavor of vulnerability to an aged Veidt. I usually dislike Tom Mison (the male clone), but I thought this role was perfect for him; it made good use of his annoying inherent whimsy.
Yeah, i did not bring in many expectations either. And I think it just took some time for the show to get a head of steam. I mean, it's different and interesting off the bat, but it really kicks in around episode 5-6.
Lots of quirks (like the clones on Europa, and the Veidt backstory of Europa itself) that I'd initially thought might be presented as simply as atmospheric flair for a character's panache actually had a richer explanation that I anticipated. The explanation for how a 100+ year old man was able to lynch Judd was more satisfying that I thought it would be. All the backstories, actually, were more satisfying than I expected them to be.
Yeah. it's kind of nice to come in without expectation.
I'm not sure I felt an extremity of emotion while watching (except for the Tulsa Riot, or the Hooded Justice bit, or the relationship between Angela and Cal) -- and I guess I'm mainly thinking about the season finale -- but I still felt pleased, "this is nice." Because it also wasn't predictable or an obvious rehash. The show did a beautiful job of incorporating bits of the original book that were recognizable as they appeared, while weaving its own story and being its own thing and not a conventional story either. I felt like it contributed something of value to the cultural discussion. The finale did a decent job of bringing everything together.
It's actually kind of strange how cleanly they tied up all the loose ends presented, since that's not been a Lindlelof strength. I liked Lost and Leftovers, but for both it took a certain amount of letting go of expecting an ending to 'make sense' of the information presented throughout the series. Watching his finales is kind of like accidentally picking up someone else's glass and taking a swig of a drink that you weren't expecting; beer in itself isn't bad, but it can be in the context of expecting soda. Lost (and to a lesser extent, Leftovers) set up the expectation for a lot of loose ends to come together and be kind of mind-blowing (in a pattern that earlier seasons set), but then the point was more like "life is full of loose ends and we're all lost in them". I could only appreciate Lost after watching it all again a few years later. And then with Leftovers, I kinda went into it not expecting anything but a really vague/abstract ending, and I think that's the only reason I could appreciate it.
I did rewatch Lost about two years ago in basically a "binge" viewing over the space of a few weeks. It actually made seasons 4-5 more palatable -- they didn't stretch on interminably -- and I think my biggest problems were always with the last season. just too much trite stuff or completely out of left field (in terms of the glowing pool) that wasn't satisfying. I never had an issue with the actors. The mysteries left on the table were unsatisfying in general, and the mysteries that were resolved had unsatisfying resolutions.
(Also Leftovers didn't even set the tone of tying together loose ends in an amazing way to begin with, so there wasn't that expectation really).
Yeah, there it was really clear based on EVERYTHING -- every single episode -- that the show was never about being handed explanations but about what it means to face a life that is inherently without definition and instead finding one's own personal reason to live.
This guy's work requires consciously stopping to remember that the last sip probably isn't going to taste like the first half of the glass, so you have to go into it with a clean palate to find the value. So it's weird that everything got tied up in such a satisfying way in the finale. (Of course, if there are more seasons, this - starting out by tying up loose ends in such a satisfying way - could be Lindlelof just setting us up for another 'super untied ends' abstract whammy of a series ending). The 'bad' ending of Lost is different from the 'bad' GoT ending in that the ending of GoT was just plain bad, no matter how much one clean's one palate to remove expectations about what it should reveal.
I agree on that. they were different kinds of beasts. I don't think Lindleof ever phoned it in either, he tried but just didn't pull things together despite his efforts. I felt like the GoT just drop-kicked the final season or two off a cliff so as not to be bothered.
Anyway, about the Watchmen finale -- I'm not sure how it could have been resolved better, aside from maybe another 10 minutes to unwind / get more emotional closure. I enjoyed it and it did the best it could, I think I just wanted a little more emotional catharsis in there. And I'm not sure I buy Laurie's half-assed approach to Veidt. It's not clear whether I could trust Veidt's assessment of Trieu (who I wish we had gotten a bit more of HER backstory and how this colored her reasons for her particular goals). Is Angela trustworthy? after all she's also a masked vigilante with a lot of anger issues (reasonably so), but I think this is why Will grounded her with his memories and she is also tempered by love... so the thought is that maybe she could embody some kind of force of positive change because of this experience of deep connection with another and the social context her ancestor provided for better understanding who she is. But again, I'm surprised they had so many balls in the air and actually did draw a lot of them together and tie them up, everything kept reverberating. They even tied the shrimp storms in.
And I hadn't forgotten about the egg back in the bar either, so I was waiting, waiting, waiting for those final few minutes.... and what Cal had said that Angela had needed to see.
Regina King is so great. But much of the acting was really great.
One question: why did the white supremacists wear Rorschach's mask? I don't remember there being any connection in the book between Rorschach and white supremacy, even remotely. eta: Rorschach has actually always been one of my favorite characters, and this connection kind of sullies him in a disappointing way.
One bit:
Watchmen: Rorschach and The 7th Cavalry Explained | Den of Geek
There's a kind of severity + fringe outlook that aligns Rorshach and 7K honestly...
