I recently rewatched the drama version of Watchmen. After knowing the direction of the plot, I found that there are many foreshadowings and details worth recalling in the first and middle stages, but in the ninth episode, I was still as disappointed as I did in the first episode, and I didn't vomit unpleasantly.
The ninth episode is qualified in terms of telling the story. After all, it brings together all the previous clues and gives a reasonable explanation, but it doesn't stop there. If this is the end of a Marvel movie, a complete happy ending plus the foreshadowing of the protagonist gaining new abilities is obviously perfect, but for Watchmen, this ending is far from strong enough.
The biggest problem with the last episode is the rush. The beginning quickly reveals Ms. Zhao's true motives and characterizes her as a big villain. Decades of historical issues and racial conflicts centered on the Knights and Cyclops are turned into one with Keene. The topic was terminated with blood in the pool. The Pharaoh hurriedly called "save the world" again and was knocked out by a wrench in a comedic manner within a few minutes. I still think there are problems. (I didn’t mention Manhattan because, in my opinion, the more the show’s portrayal of Manhattan is, the more far-fetched it becomes, which involves the understanding of Manhattan’s characters themselves. I will explain this issue later.)
The series hinted at the existence of Manhattan in the seventh episode, and the return of Manhattan was undoubtedly exciting for fans (including me when I was chasing the series at the time), but as Manhattan gradually became the center of the series' contradictions, the previous The historical and racial conflicts have gradually faded away, and the clues that paved the way ultimately point to the battle of the blue men between keene and trieu. The characters such as laurie and looking glass who spent an entire episode in the early stage were also completely reduced to the background. The quality and potential that the Watchmen episodes have shown before is an oversimplified treatment of contradictions.
Speaking of Pharaoh, I remember seeing the three of them being teleported to the South Pole for the first time. I thought it would be some kind of reenactment or tribute to the ending of the original work. After all, the silk soul of Pharaoh and a Rorschach-like character have been collected. , in fact, it can be understood in this way, but the problem is that the whole process is too fast and simple. "The world's smartest pharaoh once again saves humanity from a possible crisis", at this point the show's take on the original is fitting, as laurie says people keep saying the end of the world is near but it never Come, whether it's the cold war threat in the original or the catastrophe that trieu could bring to the world when trieu has Manhattan power in the series, they are threats that never actually happened, and this is what makes the answer to the question of whether the pharaoh is a hero or a sinner even more. confusing. I think the show itself is trying to recreate the moral dilemma and thinking brought about by "Pharaoh saves the world" in 1985, but in fact the operation of Pharaoh's frozen squid rain shows little other than destroying Ms. Zhao's device and herself. What is the negative effect, changing "whether to pay the price of countless lives to eliminate a potential threat" into "I have successfully eliminated the villain and saved mankind and everyone is satisfied", completely losing the spirit of the original work.
I can understand the idea of wanting to bring the pharaoh to justice, the existence of Looking Glass and his traumatic small group has shown that the damage caused by the pharaoh is not only the loss of three million lives, but also the guilt of the pharaoh It will also be a very interesting question in ethics, and it is hard to imagine what kind of verdict will be given to him as a jury. However, the process of arresting Pharaoh was so simple and rude that Pharaoh, like his daughter and many losers in the history of the superhero, was reduced to a cartoon villain who died too much. (I can completely imagine the scene where Rocket Raccoon or Star-Lord knocked people out while the villain was talking in the Marvel feature film)
Now let's talk about laurie and wade. Both of them have excellent single episodes in the front and also enriched their character settings, but from the sixth episode onwards, these two people have retreated to the edge of the plot, and their existence or not is irrelevant. Affecting the development of the main line is really not a good way to deal with characters in my opinion. Especially looking glass, there are many places in the play that intentionally compare him to Rorschach, (such as full-face mask with philosophical meaning, no friends, masked to eat Pacman, etc.), in the middle, he killed the Knights and put on The hint of Rorschach's mask makes people look forward to his follow-up, thinking that such a strong looking glass and Rorschach's hints will inevitably lead to some results, but the ninth episode shows that the sneaking into the knights of the looking glass has no practical effect. And at Karnak, Antarctica, where Rorschach died, Looking Glass, as one of the victims of Pharaoh's lies, also did not perform well, and completely failed the previous Rorschach foreshadowing. (Although knocking out the smartest person in the world who can catch bullets with his bare hands is probably an achievement, if the plot is not handled too lightly, it may be a bit fateful to avenge Rorschach)
Back to tulsa, the love line between Manhattan and the heroine is undoubtedly one of the most dazzling originals in the show, and the foreshadowing of eggs is also admirable, but the problem is that at the end of the show, Angela really needs to eat the Manhattan ability egg? (screenwriter Damon has already said in the interview that the ending is very clear and there is almost no openness, so it is presumed that the heroine must have acquired the Manhattan ability instead of falling into the swimming pool after eating the egg. The reason why I ask this question is because it is different from the In the gray area where the characters of the original work are located, the heroine Angela of the drama runs through the whole drama as a positive protagonist. To a large extent, what the drama tells is actually her story, and it can even be said to be the origin story of the female Manhattan. But the ability of such a positive character to have Manhattan actually greatly limits the continuation of the series. The reasons are as follows: It is very clear in the original work that the human world will not be better because of the existence of superheroes, Rorschach Yexiao and others are ordinary people, Pharaoh tried to save the world but got a reply from Manhattan nothing ever ends, Manhattan With the power of God but not caring about human beings, with such a pessimistic tone of heroes, what could happen if Angela, the positive protagonist of the show, became Manhattan? The stripping of humanity after becoming Manhattan in the first place seems inevitable, people complain that joe has abilities but doesn't care about humans, but in fact he was once a person with feelings, and it was Manhattan's abilities that made him detached from humans, the same Wouldn't this be a problem if it happened to angela? Secondly, it is very clear in the original book that even an almighty God cannot save mankind. Even if Angela has Manhattan ability, she will not be able to solve the intergenerational trauma caused by history and race and other world problems that her grandfather and others hope to solve (although I think human beings complain It doesn't make sense for Manhattan not to care about the human world, who cares about termites?), where is her character going? I think there are still a lot of foreshadowings worthy of a sequel, such as the night owl in prison, the trial of the pharaoh, the reorganization of the police station, the heroine's son, etc., but for the heroine with Manhattan ability, any sequel in any direction Writing will inevitably violate one of the spirit of the original book (God is hard to save the world) or the drama (justice and bravery) (of course, this is just my feeling, if there is a screenwriter who can balance these two to give a satisfactory drama today Timeline sequel I will certainly not begrudge praise)
Finally, let’s talk about Manhattan. Why did Manhattan fall in love with humans again? The answer given in the play is that ten years later, even if Angela knew that she failed, she would still sacrifice herself for joe, which moved him. However, fighting for her life for her lover, this reason for falling in love is very reliable in ordinary love stories, and it is true in Manhattan. established? Would a god who has lost interest in humans really fall in love with humans just because of that? I feel untenable when I think about it. Moreover, Manhattan's perception of time means that when he is in love with the heroine, he is also in love with his ex-girlfriend, in love with his ex-girlfriend, being decomposed by Adrian, destroying Rorschach, and creating man on Mars , In the disappointment of human beings, it is even more difficult to understand why he would fall in love with a woman again just because the other party would truly love him. Such an analysis of Manhattan's shaping in the drama seems to be untenable.
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