Just Finished: Watchmen (HBO)

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 "Racism as told by vigilante superheros" would also be an appropriate title. In addition to all the non-fiction resources to learn about anti-racism and the Black experience, I am peppering in some fictional stories to ward off information overload. Also, this series is the bomb.

First, talk about strong female characters. The protagonist (Regina King) is a Black woman who fights crime in a cool outfit and also mothers three children with plans to open a bakery and does not seem tired. A white female FBI agent (Jean Smart) appears on the scene and is as snarky as you want her to be. A young Vietnamese woman (Hong Chau) is the smartest and most innovative person in the world, owning the advanced tech company with her daughter by her side. Briefly, a white woman is shown at her job cloning puppies to really drive the point that in this alternate world, the typical-man-careers are dominated by women. Or at least these women are high up on the totem pole in these industries.

Also, you can learn things. The story opens with the (real-life) 1921 massacre in Tulsa, OK which I certainly didn't learn about in school. The only notable things I could previously attribute to Oklahoma were tornadoes, the musical, and the birthplace of Carrie Underwood. Now, I know it has a brutal history for Black Americans. Aside from this, there are many examples of being a black policeman in the '40s. Though those scenes were written for the show, I would not be surprised to learn that real people endured backlash extremely close to what the character does. You also will see videos, eerily reminiscent of jihad, made by a show-creation offshoot of the KKK. The members of the organization spout out the kind of overt racism and white supremacist rhetoric I wish I had to search harder for to find on the internet.

Lastly, on the upside, there is a bunch of cool comic book references and costumes. This is HBO, with the budget to be super visually pleasing alongside plenty of acting and writing talent. It's just really good.

Because the end of one episode bleeds directly into another, it's easy to watch quickly and everything is resolved at the end. The showrunners have no intent to create another season, so you can get into it without any future commitment.