If you can't stand the excessive "political correctness", can't stand the slow and willful narrative rhythm, can't stand the completely rewritten follow-up plot and give up "Watchmen", then you have missed the most awesome comic TV series in history.
The height of the original "Watchmen" is a palace level, so even though Zhadao's movie version has completed the most faithful restoration performance, it can only be recognized by fans. The mainstream media will still criticize it for just borrowing the original work.
And this time, the drama version is simply unbreakable, recreating a brand-new classic story with a completely original sequel.
"Savior"
Because of the complete independence of the story line, I rarely mentioned Pharaoh Werther in the previous reviews, and his experience is finally revealed in this episode.
In the continuation of the new story spanning 35 years, the old character with the most drama in the second generation of Watchmen is Pharaoh Werther.
Although we already know how he was pitted on Europa by Dr. Manhattan in the last episode, his story is much more than that.
After completing the "Salvation Project" that year, Witt lived in seclusion in the Antarctic palace, while running his own "Octopus Fresh" seafood delivery company, while recording video tutorials to guide Reeves to become the puppet president, to continue to consolidate the salvation. Results.
But in addition to pursuing peace and love , the Pharaoh did not actually try to obtain any benefits . It is really much noble than some rappers who can only talk about it today.
In the eyes of Werther, who sees himself as transcendence, he disdains the nobility of being associated with "stupid mortals". The subtext basically says: everyone here is a hot chicken.
At this time, Witt, apart from the cat storing frozen sperm in the Antarctic, there are only two things that can make him happy. Apart from appreciating his contribution to salvation on TV, he tells the visiting guests about his "great achievements" of the year.
If there are any shortcomings in the smartest people in the world, it is vanity.
In order to fill his villain's life with the protagonist's sense of ritual, Witt's words and deeds are not only full of aristocratic temperament, but also full of the tension of theatrical performance.
So when he was trapped on Europa, he also organized a "Europa Little Theater" from time to time.
Even the so-called "awakening" of the man-made servant in the first episode turned out to be just a plot arranged by him.
Since Witt realized that the heaven and earth meant two things that he and Dr. Manhattan said, he worked out his escape plan that night.
Only worried that the waiting time was too boring, so he arranged for the masked law enforcement agent to have some fun for himself.
In the escape drama "Pharaoh's Salvation" written by Werther, a scene showing his unique skills in grabbing bullets with his bare hands was added to the finale, which was just for fun.
In vain, I also wondered whether the artificial humans on this satellite meant that all humans would eventually fall because of desire. As a result, Dr. Manhattan created a 100% faithful dog.
The Pharaoh, who does not ask for money or power, has no hobbies in his life.
But on Mu Wei, surrounded by some late-stage brain fans who would only praise and praise, they almost shouted that the old constellation immortal had boundless magical power.
This kind of licking dog fan group made him have no desire to conquer, and the Pharaoh's requirements for fan quality seemed to be very high!
After returning to the earth, the newsstand owner recognized Witt’s appearance. At this time, he was obviously very proud, and he quickly asked: "I haven't been on the top search headlines recently?"
The pharaoh in the original book was portrayed with a cold divinity, but in the drama he began to show more warmth and humanity.
The Pharaoh was disconnected from the Internet because of the Muwei teleportation incident, wasting ten years.
But I recall in detail that since his seclusion in 1985, Werther has not tinkered with any new tricks other than watching TV and playing vibrato.
But the technological dividend he left to mankind is enough to successfully complete the fifteen five-year plan.
In New York, he had a Ping Kee octopus sashimi, Witt spent 3 million to check out, but he knew that these costs were not just numbers, and Huabei's balance could not be overdrawn without limit.
Therefore, the pharaoh who didn't blink his eyes after eating seafood for self-help, became more refined in saving the world, in order to set a positive example of salvation for his daughter.
When ordering frozen cuttlefish, Witt carefully controlled the quantity, and did not forget to say: I hope that the person you care about will not be there.
The Pharaoh was lucky. He prepared a plan and finally completed it at the most ambitious stage.
It is like an individual who was inspired to become a ten-thousand yuan household in the 1980s and achieved this goal during the same period.
So when the subsequent appearance of Dr. Manhattan turned 100 million deposits into small goals, Werther's ambition has been satisfied and no longer swells.
But when later generations can only use one hundred million as a small goal to plan their lives because of Dr. Manhattan’s higher average line, they will inevitably be overwhelmed by their ambitions.
After the newsstand owner laughed at the Pharaoh's disappearance, he might have gone to the jungle to be a man of Tarzan.
In fact, Werther's passing was indeed his best in his life. This luck kept him from being blinded, and finally gave him a chance of redemption.
Use depth to create perfection, subvert the original values
I have seen too many dogtails before I have to admire the magic of the continuation of "Watchmen".
From the rise of the first generation of militias triggered by the hooded judge to the passing of Dr. Manhattan, the rise and fall of the three generations has been on the screen.
The existence of these people in the play does not simply exist to promote the plot. Everyone is a member of the wheel of history. Everyone has a new understanding of life after experiencing the changes in the world.
As mentioned above, the Pharaoh restrained his desires and found a slight balance on the balance of compassion and ambition. Although he still looked down on others from a higher level, he became more humane. Old man.
Today's Werther is just fun at best.
The Hooded Judge, who has lived for more than a hundred years, said that he was a "Doctor Manhattan" when he first appeared on the scene. As a result, the plot took a lot of time, and people really didn't lie.
Faced with the injustice of the world, Will initially defended justice with a heart of justice, but had to turn into a masked righteous policeman to lynch while fighting the "Cyclops".
The pursuit of justice made him ignore the family who should have also been guarded by him. A hundred years later, Will guarded the nun's children and got the forgiveness of his granddaughter. In his later years, he also had a family that could "stay for a few days".
As for the Keene family, which has influenced three generations of masked volunteers, the old Keene’s bill put the militia on the opposite side of the law.
His son, Senator Keane, passed a new masking bill. On the surface, it was an operation to reverse the case for the righteous police, but in fact it was just an infernal act performed by the "Cyclops".
From the position of those in power, they will never be able to support people beyond their control to enforce justice they do not want to see.
Speaking of masking, the nun talked about it when she met Aunt Silk Ling for the first time. Everyone chooses to hide behind the mask for a reason.
Unexpectedly, in the finale, when Will talked about this topic with the nun again, his opinion was exactly the same as that of Silk Ling.
The nun thought that she put on the mask to vent her anger, but Will told her that the mask was only to hide her fears and scars, and the pain that needed to be hidden could never be healed under the mask.
In the end, they can only be cured by exposing them to sunlight.
Because of the racial persecution, the story’s point has returned to the common spiritual level of all people. Even the political correctness has been accomplished so fresh and refined.
As for the author's view of the mask, listen to how he said it through the mouth of the world's smartest man.
Dr. Manhattan said that to make an omelet, you have to break a few eggs.
When the world believed that Dr. Manhattan, who was transcendent, had no humanity at all, he chose to use his own life to complete the salvation of the nuns.
Dr. Manhattan may not understand human nature. He is not sure how to save the common people, so he has to go to Mu Guard to create his own paradise.
But when he even failed as the creator, maybe just saving the people around him is also a good choice.
In fact, Dr. Manhattan is also a poor man. Being able to travel freely between the past and the future sounds like a good superpower.
But when the doctor was trapped in a cage, we discovered that as a god, he had already lost his footsteps and direction in life.
The story goes to the end, when the pharaoh once again got the price of paying the lives of others in exchange for the opportunity to save the common people.
35 years ago, the insiders, including Dr. Manhattan, chose to remain silent. Only Rorschach insisted on the purest justice in his heart.
But on this day 35 years later, facing the same problem, Silk Ling did not choose to give in.
Even though the entire organization acquiesced to the behavior of the Pharaoh, this time Silk Ling decided to implement the justice denied by him. Rorschach’s multiple-choice questions were no longer his “willful mistakes”.
The method of implementing justice is actually not as complicated as we think.
The narrative structure of the "Watchmen" series version is loose and tight, and at the risk of losing a large audience, he has completed his own attempt to surpass the classics.
Regardless of the overall plot rhythm or the different themes of the sub-sets, this drama should be studied as a textbook.
The first half of the tribute to the IP is perfect. After the fifth episode began to speed up, the quality of the memories of the hooded judge in the sixth episode can be called the TV series "Schindler's List", and the eighth episode of Dr. Manhattan's time travel It is almost a reappearance of the super power version of "Shards of Memory".
In the ninth episode of the finale, "Watchmen" paid a perfect tribute to itself. For the artistic height of a series, we really can't ask for more.
In the film, Aunt Silk Ling said: People can change.
At different stages, everyone's outlook on life, world outlook and values will change.
Once "Watchmen" is a dark fairy tale through and through.
But many years later, the new "Watchmen" is more like a pure fairy tale: sin is bound to face trial, we can allow justice to be late, but we will never accept justice in a gray coat.
For truly thoughtful people, the world they saw in the first half of their lives may be dark. When they were young, they screamed the injustice of the world, but in the end they will all be sublimated into an absolute desire for light.
For the ignorant, the most tragic thing is that they are used to being in the dark, but they believe that everything in front of them is light; and when they can distinguish black and white, they spend the rest of their lives condemning the darkness, finally wasting the search The last time of light can only sink forever in the dark.
The egg mixture is ready, when will the omelette be out of the oven?
"Watchmen" is not only brilliant in terms of plot, but more importantly, it is so complete that it never leaves the slightest regret.
The last shot of the film can be seen as a foreshadowing of the second season, or it can be simply understood as an open ending.
Under the reflection of the water surface, the azure blue hue has hinted at the ending
Everyone in the play already has the staged destination of their own stories, even if the story ends here, it still does not affect its integrity.
In the original story, after Rorschach died, his diary was discovered by the media, leaving an open ending for the audience, sublimating the height of the trial of the Pharaoh in front of the Antarctic Palace.
The suspense left by the drama version is that if we give the world a new Doctor Manhattan, can we use the advent of the new god to make the world a better place.
In the original work, the image of Dr. Manhattan was portrayed as the opposite of mortals, which caused the careerists in the drama to hit him with an abacus.
If Silk takes away the pharaoh queen for a public trial, the delicate balance established after the first doomsday clock must be broken.
When the nun becomes the new Manhattan doctor, she has to face a greater challenge, a contradiction that the Manhattan doctor could not solve.
Whether the nuns who have gained divine power can still stand from the perspective of mortals and deal with problems with humanity will be the new core point of the second season that may exist in the future.
The Pharaoh and Dr. Manhattan agreed with the utilitarian approach of sacrifice in exchange for peace. In the new story, we will see from the perspective of a nun, how God makes choices for mortals.
Rewriting the classics is a world problem, and very few can produce perfect answers.
Even in the first few episodes of the show, there were many voices saying that the episode version had destroyed the "Watchmen" brand.
The audience even hoped that the episode version would be better than a simple remake.
It is true that the choice of remake is the safest choice for commercial considerations.
However, most of the classic art creations in this world are not based on the commercial level. Too much consideration of economic gains and losses will ultimately only make the works become clichés.
The original intention of the continuation is to sublimate the classics again, not to squeeze the commercial value of the classics.
Only without the shackles of capital can artistic creation have a soul.
HBO did not renew the second season of "Watchmen", and we have no way of knowing whether the story will continue.
But it is this kind of awakening that makes the drama version able to achieve today's heights.
Now that the reputation of the work has risen, and the end of the story has left enough suspense. The egg liquid is ready, when will the omelet be served on the table?
For the first time, I wrote a complete review. To be honest, on the premise of not being spoiled as much as possible, I still encountered a lot of difficulties.
But I was fortunate to choose "Watchmen", and the episode did not disappoint me in the end. I will wait for a wave of "Witcher" episodes. If you want to watch it, don’t forget to follow it~
"Watchmen" S1E09: If you can't reproduce the classic, then create a new one
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