Episode 6 of Watchmen is titled The Extraordinary Being, referring to Hooded Justice, the man we've met through the TV-show-within-a-TV-show that's been teased and playing in the background of Angela's mystery since Episode 1.
In true Watchmen style, we get a whole of answers and a hell lot of questions in Episode 6. Let's dig in...
Episode 5 left us with Looking Glass betraying Angela, followed by Angela popping all her grandfather’s memories via a full pill jar.
This leads us to an entire episode dedicated to those memories so there's no Veidt and his masochistic ways.
It's all about the Young Will Reeves (aptly played by Jovan Adepo) and Angela's experience of her grandfather’s memories, both as a witness and partaker - ala
the Quantum Leap
scenario but not as self-aware as Scott Bakula.
Man, is this episode a trip! - visually: the skill and boldness of director Stephen Williams is only akin to what Noah Hawley has been doing on FX's Legion.
His techniques include one-take-shots, where backgrounds are used to composite shots within shots. Also, clever blocking where spaces are altered to create very unworldly, dream-like spaces: doors in the middle of nowhere.
Yet the power of this episode was not the technical wizardry but the story and the themes that came out of it.
Damon Lindelof and Cord Jefferson, who are credited with writing the episode, are unapologetic in dealing with transgenerational trauma, erasure of the black experience, exploitation of black bodies for causes and repression of black rage - these are amongst the many topics touched on... all this from a comic book inspired TV show!
At the beginning of the episode, Will Reeves represents black people who believe in the system in spite of what the system has done to black people (read black folks who believe in the Springboks in spite of the Springbok's racist history and racist structure that keeps it running).
He believes he can be an officer in a sea of white people and his blackness and history won't matter (yes, the DA mentality). I love how the series loves doing call-backs to actual historical figures and scenarios - in this instance, Lieutenant Battle, who was the first African American to be a police officer in New York.
He is the one who has to shake and pin Will's badge on him when the racist officer skips him after pinning all the other white recruits.
Another central figure is June, Will's wife, who turns out to be the baby that survived the massacre with Will.
Danielle Deadwyler plays June with a power and vigour that Angela Bassett would approve of. She's the Lois Lane to Reeves' Superman or, in this case, Hooded Justice. The reveal of Reeves being Hooded Justice is a master stroke in writing.
Eagle eyed viewers and fans of the comic would have already picked up on the hints in the first episode, where we see the old Louis Gossett Jnr's Will dressed in Hooded Justice colours and holding onto a rope.
Some of us had to wait for the smart reveal from this latest episode, whereby in a horrifying lynching sequence, we see that Will took the instrument of his oppression and turned them into his personae and strength.
When he starts beating up the white folks you know it's not just about being heroic but unleashing all his repressed anger at the white man.
The connection between him and Angela can produce an entire thesis. The fact that Will has to hide his blackness to fight crime and inspires others to follow him but the fact that he can’t be acknowledged for his blackness says a lot.
Whilst Angela, who had no idea of her grandfather’s story or history is doing the exact same thing but empowered as black woman, also acting from a point of pain and rage. Their pain and anger at the white man crosses generations, biology and sexes.
To complicate the story more is that the show acknowledges Reeves' gayness and hints at how it is weaponized against him and his blackness.
Black issues do not matter to those whom he inspired and he has an affair, which says a lot about white -black co-operation and what motivates it.
Then there’s the issue of legacy and crimes of the past and how they connect and affect the present... Captain Metropolis shows how humans find themselves in a loop.
He is the Veidt character in this story and showcases that their self interest trumps the bigger picture. I love how the series makes call-backs to stuff it's set up in previous episodes, from ideas, to lines and even to situations.
Look how it subverted the story of who is behind Hooded Justice ala the Minutemen TV show. Even the scenarios in the TV show are drastically different from the real events.
This speaks to representation and how the black experience has a long history of distortion that real heroes like Bass Reeves and Lieutenant Battle fit more into fictional stories but are hardly acknowledged in our world.
The "vast and insidious conspiracy" that Louis Gossett's Will referred to in Episode 2 was merely hinted at in this episode. Black people being used to turn against each other based on how they are portrayed in movies and TV is a powerful idea... around the disintegration of our society.
But the uses of psychic tools to manipulate people raises some concerns over the Squid Attack: did Veidt use the same technology that the racist KKK was using?... and Will's need for revenge... will it, like Veidt's plan in the comic book, result in an atrocity done in the name of a greater good?
Is the show going anywhere with the Superman allegory attributed to Will Reeves? And what happened to Looking Glass? Only time will tell but this show has cemented Damon Lindelof as a powerhouse when it comes to storytelling... The Leftovers was not a fluke.
What it felt like: A great exercise in writing, set-ups and pay-offs and a new set-up on a woke acid trip.
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Ratings
*****
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* trash
**you are on your own
***ya zama-nyana
****Almost Perfect
*****Instant Classic