The Seventh Kavalry member who shoots Officer Sutton in the very first present-day scene of the series. While his actions are undeniably heinous and unjustified either way, why exactly does he shoot Sutton? Is it out of blind racial hatred, or cold pragmatism because he realizes that Sutton is onto him?
Are all of the members of the Seventh Kavalry motivated by white supremacist beliefs? It's possible that at least some members of the organisation are driven by the motivation to expose the truth of 11/2 to the world, and believe that working with violent racists to do so are ultimately Necessarily Evil actions. On the other hand, the only way that said people would decide to work with the organization would be if they were shown the tape revealing the truth. If they were truly motivated by a desire to let the truth be known, they likely would have just taken the tape and exposed Ozymandias.
The hellish play Adrien Veidt puts his servants through is a reenactment of Dr. Manhattan's apotheosis. Does he do this play (and enjoy the burning part) because he envies his power, or because he flat out hates and resents him?
Was Veidt truly worried about what Trieu might do with Manhattan's powers? Or was he jealous that she had done what he could not; kill Dr. Manhattan, and that she had come up for a better solution to nuclear war than he had?
Was Veidt right about what would have happened if Trieu had succeeded? He claims to be certain that she'll be a threat to the world, but he's also the least impartial judge of character around, and has spent roughly five minutes with her, total. Whether or not she would have lived up to her claims that she would have used Manhattan's powers benevolently will never be known.
Speaking of Veidt, Doctor Manhattan teleported him to Europa after Veidt all-but asked for a group of people to worship him and feed his ego. Was Manhattan just trying to be nice to Veidt along with thanking him for giving him the ability to become a "normal human" again, or was he inflicting an Ironic Hell on Veidt as punishment for 11/2?
A relatively minor case with Looking Glass/Wade Tillman. Is his talent at Awesomeness by Analysis him potentially being an actual psychic, or just him being a really good interrogator?
In both the comics and the movie, the Comedian quips to the Hooded Justice about how beating up criminals must turn him on. With the revelation that Hooded Justice is actually Will Reeves (a black man) in the miniseries, was the Comedian really talking about his sexuality or the fact that he took pleasure in beating up a white man?
A lot of viewers assumed that the opening sequence of the pilot, showing a black neighborhood in 1921 Tulsa being attacked by white racists and the KKK and firebombed with planes, was fictional and just another example of Watchmen being an alternate history. Unfortunately, that entire event — dubbed the Tulsa Race Riot, the Greenwood Massacre, or the Black Wall Street Massacre — was 100% real. Worse, it wasn't even the only example of a black community that was wiped offthe map by a white mob.
The leaflets that the Germans drop to the black soldiers in World War One during the second episode are lifted word-for-word from real ones.
While this hasn't yet been done by American police, those in countries such as Mexico have worn masks to protect their identities from groups like the drug cartels, who've murdered many for investigating them.
Survivors of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre and their descendants did really try to get compensation for it. The case went as far as the Supreme Court but they tossed it for lack of standing during the 2005-2006 term. Lindelof said on the podcast that in the show’s world the Republicans in Congress knew that the liberal Supreme Court of the Redford administration would side with the victims and therefore passed reparations for this specific episode so they didn’t have to pay everyone who’s been the victim of some sort of racial injustice/violence.
Pet cloning may look like something from a technologically advanced alternate reality, but it really does exist, though is more widespread in South Korea and China than in USA.
Bass Reeves was a real person, and he was the first black man who served as a U.S. (deputy) marshal.
Samuel Battle, the black officer that pinned Will's badge on him for the NYPD, was also a real person, the first black officer of the NYPD.
Implicit association tests are used by psychologists to detect subconscious biases by measuring involuntary responses, much like "the pod" does (though not quite the same). The extent to which their results are accurate and meaningful is disputed, however.
And You Thought It Would Fail: When it was announced that HBO would be creating a live-action WatchmenSequel Series, to say that the initial fan reaction was skeptical is... quite an understatement, to say the least. That it was being written by Damon Lindelof only added to concerns, as his writing was most strongly associated with Lost gradually turning into a convoluted mess and Prometheus just being So Okay, It's Average. However, the show went on to average around 9.6 million viewers by the end of the series. This made Watchmen HBO's most watched new series since Big Little Lies, with its first episode alone garnering more than 1.5 million viewers across both broadcast and streaming services according to HBO. It also garnered nigh-unanimous praise from both critics and audiences during its run, and ended up winning 11 Emmys including Outstanding Limited Series.
Anvilicious: Just how terrible race relations in America can frequently be is often missed by both the history books and greater society, as shown by the genuine shock and surprise from many, especially white, viewers upon learning the Tulsa Race Riots were actually real, with Damon Lindelof having never even heard of it before making the show. As such, many critics see the unflinching depiction of racial violence throughout history as a significant point in the show's favor.
Ass Pull: Some of the plot devices related to Doctor Manhattan's role in the story struck many fans as being a little too convenient and having very little foreshadowing, sometimes appearing to contradict the original book. In particular: despite the book going out of its way to establish that Doctor Manhattan can't be killed under any circumstances, the miniseries introduces "tachyon cannons" and a "quantum centrifuge" that make it fully possible to capture him, kill him, or even steal his powers. It also introduces a device that can shut down his powers entirely by causing him to forget that he has them. While the book did at least establish that tachyon particles can cloud his view of the future (making it possible to trick him under certain circumstances), many fans felt that using them to turn him into an ordinary man was a bit of a stretch.
Award Category Fraud: Both Regina King and Jeremy Irons were nominated as leads at the Emmys for their work in the show. While King is obviously the main character, many thought Irons’ character was more supporting in comparison and should’ve been placed there instead. Irons was likely placed in lead due to being the biggest name in the cast, the main character of the secondary plot, and being the central figure of the finale.
Tim Blake Nelson's widely praised performance as Looking Glass was completely ignored by the Emmys, even though many predicted that he would win. Made even worse by the fact that Louis Gossett Jr, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Jovan Adepo were nominated instead of him. All three performances were seen as deserving, but Nelson was widely regarded as the favorite of the show’s supporting men.
Additionally, Hong Chau’s scene-stealing work as Trieu was completely ignored while her costar Jean Smart made the cut.
Adrian Veidt is still just as self assured as ever, but his brilliance and the fact that he successfully saves the day show that his ego is still not unearned.
His daughter Lady Trieu is just as smug as Ozymandias, but much like him, she’s an absolute genius, so few would argue with her self confidence.
Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The "Lube Man" scene in the fourth episode. Out of nowhere, Angela spots a man wearing a full body suit and mask out on the street. He runs away and she gives chase. The man takes out two bottles and pours some kind of slick liquid all over himself and escapes by sliding into a storm drain. In the next scene Angela is describing what happened to other police, but after that the "Lube Man" is never mentioned again and this bizarre encounter has no impact on the story. The only context given is through the Peteypedia files, which all but state that this person was Dale Petey. Damon Lindelof even affirmed that with Lube Man, "This is just going to be a scene in episode 4 that’s in the midst of other insane things happening."
Bizarro Episode: The segments with Adrian Veidt come across as this on a first-time viewing due to their lack of real connection to the overall story at play, and starkly different tone compared to the rest of the series. It doesn't help that the context for these scenes isn't revealed until the penultimate episode of the series.
The decision to have the central antagonists model themselves after Rorschach. Some like that the show deconstructs Rorschach's infamous Misaimed Fandom, and believe that the reasons behind the villains doing it make sense. Others feel that this decision comes off as mean-spirited to the source material's fandom and that using Rorschach (or at least his mask) as a symbol of white supremacy implies that the writers of the show themselves are biased in how they choose to view the comic and its characters. Word of God confirms that the Seventh Kavalry using Rorschach masks and misinterpreting his words was meant to show that they were warping his words and image to fit their own agenda and added that none of the writers disliked Rorschach, nor did they believe that he was written as a racist in the source material.
Hooded Justice's Adaptational Heroism and Race Lift. Fans are divided on whether it's a well-written plot twist that perfectly fits the style of the original comic and provides an interesting origin story for a character who was ultimately left a mystery, or, if it is an example of the show disrespecting the source material, especially given that Hooded Justice was theorized in-universe to be a supporter of the Third Reich (the way Word of God attempts to Hand Wave this detail is also a matter of debate), not to mention the Plot Hole created by how nobody in the Minutemen would know that he was a black man under the hood. Not helping matters is the fact that the Watchmen Roleplaying Game (something Moore had input on) chose to portray Hooded Justice as the secret identity of Rolf Mueller (the man he was theorised to be in-universe).
Given the political situation in America at the time the show aired, it's a ton of fun to see the racist, alt-right buzzword spouting Seventh Kavalry be exposed as a bunch of pathetic losers whose plan never had any chance of succeeding, because they were unknowingly just puppets for the true Big Bad, and a Big Bad who was a woman of color, no less.
Many were disappointed that all Rorschach's legacy amounted to in this series was being a source of vapid inspiration for a group of militant white supremacists, who bastardize his image and rhetoric to suit their own agenda. So it becomes quite a treat when Angela and Dr. Manhattan (Rorschach's killer) team up to wipe out a whole contingent of these punks, with Manhattan casually stopping their bullets mid-air and obliterating their heads one by one.
Seeing Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias finally answer for his crimes back in 1985 after decades of being a Karma Houdini both in- and out-of-universe is extremely satisfying.
Senator Joseph "Joe" Keene Jr. is the true leader of the Cyclops splinter cell known as the Seventh Kavalry, using his position as an Oklahoma politician to mask his terrorist activities. Organizing the Seventh Kavalry and using them to perpetrate the White Night—a massacre of off-duty police officers and their families on Christmas night—Keene gets dozens of Tulsa police killed just so he can institute a new law to protect cops and make himself look good. After discovering the presence of Dr. Manhattan, Keene has the Kavalry commit a variety of other murders and bombings, threatening the entire family of Angela Abar along the way, before capturing Manhattan and revealing his plans to drain the man's life force and powers to become a god and rewrite reality to one where white men reign supreme just to satisfy his racist, egomaniacal agenda.
"This Extraordinary Being": Fred T.—all but stated to be Fred Trump, father of Donald—is the secret leader of Cyclops, a division of the Ku Klux Klan and the Predecessor Villain to the Seventh Kavalry. Fred gleefully abuses his status to set fire to a Jewish deli and walk free of the consequences, and is furthermore revealed to be using his factory as a base for the manufacturing of films laced with subliminal messaging that drive black people into homicidal rages. Fred intends to have these films shipped all over the country, with only one showing resulting in a theater full of people tearing each other apart.
Contested Sequel: To the original comic. While the series has gained almost-unanimous praise from both critics and audiences, there's still many fans of the comic who feel that the series shouldn't have existed at all by virtue of being a sequel to Watchmen, particularly as one without Moore and Gibbons' involvement, akin to DC Comics's own prequel series Before Watchmen by other hands getting similar flak for just existing. Additionally, there's lots of other substantial criticisms coming from critics, comics fans, and viewers regarding the show, such as questioning whether or not Doctor Manhattan undergoing an In-UniverseRace Lift is actually avoiding the inherent Unfortunate Implications regarding Blackface or not, no matter how much the series itself acknowledges it.
Continuity Lockout: The show assumes you've already read the comic, and even just seeing the movie won't prepare you for the likes of a random squid rain. In particular, the scenes with Veidt are nigh-incomprehensible if you go in cold.
The costumed Tulsa Police officers Red Scare and Pirate Jenny. Despite both being Bit Characters only really used in the background, they quickly became popular with the fans based on their unique costume designs, Andrew Howard's hilariously dickish performance as Red Scare, and Pirate Jenny being played by Jessica Camacho.
Laurie Blake quickly became a fan favorite for her constant snark and Jean Smart's ability to bring an older, more world weary version of the character to life.
While he already caught fan interest due to being the show's closest thing to Rorschach from a visual standpoint, "Little Fear of Lightning" solidified Wade Tillman/Looking Glass as a popular fan-favorite as well. Even more when it’s Looking Glass himself who takes down Veidt, refusing to betray his values even knowing that his entire life direction was caused by Veidt’s lie thanks to the Seventh Kavalry, nor when Veidt insists that the world will end if they take him down. "Never compromise, even in the face of Armageddon" indeed.
Will Reeves immediately became one after the big reveal that he is none other than Hooded Justice. His personal episode "This Extraordinary Being" succeeded in giving one of the most enigmatic figures in Watchmen'sAlternate History a functional yet tragic origin story that greatly resonated with audiences.
Ozymandias continues to be popular thanks to still being a wickedly smart and entertaining villain, as well as bringing an assortment of to the series. Jeremy Irons’ excellent performance doesn’t hurt matters either.
"Lube Man" only has one minute of screentime, but is widely remembered by viewers for how bizarre and out-of-left field he was compared to the rest of the show. The fact that he's never brought up again also played a factor.
Some viewers have suggested that Red Scare is actually just an American who's a Russophile and uses his knowledge of Soviet culture as a disguise to intimidate criminals, particularly if they profess anti-Communist ideologies.
Due to the deliberate parallels drawn between Veidt and the Order of the Cyclops, many fans suspect that several members of Cyclops might have aided Veidt in helping construct the original squid in The '80s, and that their past usage of mesmerism was even weaponized as part of the squid's biology (i.e., bioluminescence mimicking the mesmer effect would incite murderous violence in some of the survivorsnote in fact, part of the first act of "Little Fear of Lightning" shows a select few survivors haphazardly attacking one another following the squid attack and further traumatize any witnesses) to cause even further destruction and violence after being unleashed.
Lady Trieu's Mad Scientist, The Wonka, and Deadpan Snarker tendencies all coupled with Hong Chau's fantastic performance result in her stealing virtually every scene she's in.
Ozymandias is arguably even more despicable this time around, but he’s still an ingenious man with razor sharp wit. Even in his old age, he manages to pull off feats that are extremely impressive on both intellectual and physical levels.
Fandom Rivalry: With the 2009 film adaptation, particularly over how the film has been accused of aiding in the growth of Rorschach's Misaimed Fandom (which the miniseries at least in part tried to critique through the Seventh Kavalry).
With The Leftovers (and, to a slightly lesser extent, Lost), thanks in large part to Damon Lindeloff's involvement in all three series along with both Watchmen and The Leftovers dealing with similar themes involving grief and analyzing how people react to a massive traumatic event (in the former, 11/2, and in the latter, the Day of Departure).
Aside from what's seen in the series and supplementary materials, how else has the world been changed after 11/2 and the intervening decades?
What would happen to the world if Angela were to actually gain her husband's powers?
How will the world react to finding out the truth about 11/2 and the long-running President's role in helping cover it up?
Fanon: Since Dan Dreiberg is never seen in the flesh at any point in the show, the audience never actually gets to see him in his old age. As a result, quite a few fans of the book have fan-cast Bob Odenkirk as the circa-2019 version of the character.
The show's very first scene features a silent movie about real life Old West lawman Bass Reeves, who is believed to have been a major inspiration for one of the very first masked heroes, The Lone Ranger.
During the trial of Ozymandias, the Game Warden deems a bunch of pigs a fitting "jury of your peers" for Ozymandias. "Doctrine of Swine" is a criticism of utilitarian moral philosophy, which puts forth that if the utilitarian principle is to maximize pleasure and minimize pain, it assigns to humans no higher goals than what pigs have. Ozymandias's rationale that killing millions is justified if it saves billions of lives is very much utilitarian.
The cemetery where Judd Crawford is to be buried is called "Tartarus Acres". Tartarus is basically the Classical Mythology counterpart to the Christian Hell, where the wicked go to be eternally tormented. What a fitting place of eternal rest for an Evil All AlongDirty Cop Klansman.
The tomato tree found in the beautiful Gilded Cage countryside where Veidt is imprisoned might be a reference to how tomatoes in Czech are called "Eden's apples", and numerous parallels are intentionally made between Heaven and Dr. Manhattan's pocket dimension on Europa.
Three days after "See How They Fly" aired, the final issue of Doomsday Clock was released — with both featuring the death of Dr. Manhattan.
The amusingly bad commercial begging tourists to come back to New York City isn't funny now at all after the city became the biggest hotspot in the United States for the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, which several economists have grimly noted will likely keep tourism in NYC at an all-time low for several months (at the least) after the pandemic eventually ends.
Heartwarming Moments: Has its own page, though special mention should be given to Laurie assuming that Doctor Manhattan doesn't care about humanity anymore after his years of isolation on Mars. But when she calls him, his "response" allows her to have a moment of genuine happiness.
He's Just Hiding: Many fans are still suspicious and don't believe that Doctor Manhattan is actually dead despite the events of "See How They Fly"; not only did Manhattan survive Ozymandias' own attempt to permanently kill him in the original comic series, but his energy (after being absorbed by Lady Trieu's quantum centrifuge) seemingly dissipating into nothing after the centrifuge was destroyed raised some eyebrows and made more people suspect that he might still come back some day.
In the original comics, Laurie Juspeczyk suspected that Hooded Justice was her biological father before learning that it was actually the Comedian. Suffice to say, given the reveals behind Hooded Justice's "true" identity in this miniseries, she would've been able to figure out her true heritage likely a lot faster.
In this series, Rorschach is misappropriated In-Universe as a symbol of white supremacy by the Seventh Kavalry. In Doomsday Clock, the second Rorschach is Reggie Long, a black man.
Regina King beat Jean Smart to win the 2016 Best Supporting Actress Emmy. Now both are working together in this series. This becomes even funnier when it comes to pass that Angela (King) is married to Dr. Manhattan, who Laurie (Smart) seems to regard as The One That Got Away. She just can't win!
In "See How They Fly", Lady Trieu thinks of using Doctor Manhattan’s powers to make all the nuclear weapons on Earth disappear. Later in the same week, in the final issue of Doomsday Clock, he does exactly that in the Watchmen Universe.
In the Japanese dub, Veidt is voiced by Shūichi Ikeda, better known as the voice of Char Aznable, another masked blond guy who basically tried to do the same plan Veidt didin the comic in a nutshell. The main difference here is, while Char failed on wiping out Earth, Veidt was more successful, thought in small scale, in accomplishing his plans (in this case, killing millions of people in New York City). This is even more hilarious in Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn, when he voiced Full Frontal, who is Char's literalChar Clone, since Veidt kills his cloned servants. Extra hilarity that unlike both Char and Frontal, who both where Killed Off for Real, Veidt did end in jail for his crimes.
I Knew It!: Many fans correctly predicted that Veidt was being held captive in space, Senator Keene was involved with the Seventh Kavalry, Will Reeves was Hooded Justice, Cal was really Doctor Manhattan, and Lady Trieu was Veidt's daughter.
Inferred Holocaust: In the series finale "See How They Fly," Veidt unleashes a frozen squidfall over the Millennium Clock to stop Lady Trieu from becoming a Physical Goddess. According to him, "everything within 5 square blocks will be pulverized." And, needless to say, he's right: the Millennium Clock quickly becomes nothing more than a glorified trash heap and crushes Lady Trieu, and only God only knows how many other people (both Innocent Bystanders and Trieu Industries employees working at the Millennium Clock) were also turned into Swiss cheese in the process.
Jerkass Woobie: Angela Abar/Sister Night, Wade Tillman/Looking Glass, and Laurie Blake/The Comedienne are all bitter cynics who frequently show barely disguised contempt for most of the people around them (though Angela is a noticeably lighter shade of this compared to the other two)... but they are also all fundamentally broken people who are just trying to make it day-to-day while living with countless bundles of insecurities and traumas metaphorically shackled to their ankles.
Ozymandias is back and as bad as ever. Despite being possibly senile, Adrian Veidt manages to be just as brilliant and dangerous in his old age. Combine that with Jeremy Irons’ delectable performance, and the result is every one of his scenes being an absolute treat.
To a lesser extent, there's Red Scare, who despite spending every moment on screen being a boorish and unpleasant jackass, is utterly hilarious and immensely entertaining to watch thanks to Andrew Howard's performance being so enthusiastically despicable.
Magnificent Bastard: Lady Trieu is the daughter of Adrian "Ozymandias" Veidt and just as brilliant and devious as her father. Seeking godhood, Trieu builds an empire on her own, using the racist Seventh Kavalry for her own purposes, manipulating them with her own devices and plan so they can capture Dr. Manhattan for her. Trieu proceeds to wipe out all the leaders of the Kavalry while bringing her father to witness her victory; with even Ozymandias left helpless against her until Dr. Manhattan himself intervenes.
"The famously apoliticalWatchmen."Explanation A phrase parodying those who were outraged to learn that the show dove deeply into politics, not realizing that the source material was heavy in its political messaging as well. To say nothing of The Original Writer of the comic being an anarchist with strong anti-conservative leanings.
Basically everything about Lube Man and Sister Night's utterly flabbergasted reaction to his profoundly bizarre debut.
"But what about Lube Man?"Explanation A gag among fans of the show poking fun at those who were obsessed among getting an answer for a relatively minor plot point compared to the other, more important story elements.
A few fans have joked that the scenes of Veidt in his mansion is just footage of Jeremy Irons on an average day in his castle. Others have joked it's what Alfred does when he has Wayne Manor to himself.
If the Seventh Kavalry didn't cross it automatically by virtue of being Right Wing Militia Fanatics and Western Terrorists, then they unquestionably do by committing the White Night. Furthermore, both Senator Keene and the Crawfords cross it by virtue of helping organize the White Night in the first place.
It's a bit more ambiguous when exactly Lady Trieu crosses it since the story repeatedly emphasizes how she's A Lighter Shade of Black to the Seventh Kavalry, but a good argument can be made for when she causes the Cruel and Unusual Death of Doctor Manhattan.
As with the original comic, everything to do with the giant psychic alien squid is patently absurd and ridiculous... but its effects on the world are so dark, bleak, and self-evident that the audience will be compelled to take them surprisingly seriously and not as an absurdist joke. What certainly helps is that Looking Glass — someone who has been severely traumatized by the events of 11/2 — is among the main cast of characters, helping given a human face of tragedy and horror to such a surreal event.
The American Hero Story: Minutemen portrayal of Hooded Justice is rife with gratuitous slow-mo, bloody violence, and melodrama. But damn is it both entertaining and perfectly befitting the miniseries' satirical commentary.
The intentional Biblical imagery Lady Trieu invokes in "See How They Fly"might look pretty hokey, but it overall still works as it serves as an unsettling indicator of both how deep Trieu's God complex goes and Trieu's It's All About MePsychopathic Manchild personality.
Nausea Fuel: Senator Keene's liquified remains being let out of the faulty receptor by Lady Trieu. Needless to say, it's probably best not to contemplate what exactly was a revolted Laurie stomping on after the remains flowed towards her.
Hooded Justice (a hooded vigilante with a noose around his neck who is very brutal toward Asshole Victim enemies) being an African-American man is praised as a fresh and rich bit of characterization, but that description could also apply to John Henry from DC: The New Frontier, which came out fifteen years earlier.
Out of the Ghetto: The miniseries is a show based on an unconventional (if highly regarded) comic book, that already had a critically and commercially lukewarm film adaptation, and didn't appear to be the next big HBO crossover smash. The fact that it would also deal with incredibly touchy and controversial subjects, such as the history of race in America along with Police Brutality and discussions of Generational Trauma, also raised some eyebrows and were seen as likely isolating it to being popular mostly among audiences of color and not the "mainstream" (read: white) American audience. After early raves, ratings were through the roof and the show garnered 26 Emmy nominations, winning 11, including four in the primetime event of the show (Best Limited Series, Outstanding Actress and Supporting Actor - Limited Series, and Outstanding Writing), more than any other show of the season. Praise was heaped upon it for its excellent cast and writing, creative cinematography, impressive special effects, scathing critiques of white supremacy and the systems of power that support it, and its frequent indulgence in the strange surrealist pulpiness of the original comic books.
Many people had this reaction towards Yahya Abdul-Mateen II after the big reveal that Angela’s husband was Doctor Manhattan the entire time. While the general consensus was that he did give a genuinely good performance as Manhattan, a combination of him spending most scenes just in blue body paint, the contentious Race Lift of the character, and Billy Crudup's performance in the 2009 film being one hell of a Tough Act to Follow led to some fans derisively dubbing the miniseries' iteration of the character "Dr. Manhattan Lite".
Jeremy Irons as Ozymandias, even granting that the character has aged. Even a younger Irons doesn't exactly come to mind as the blonde Adonis that is Veidt in the comics, and it's Irons's acting skills more than his appearance that makes the casting work as well as it does.
Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: One of the biggest criticisms against the original comic book is that Laurie Juspeczyk comes off as both the designated girl and the Designated Love Interest to Jon and Dan. In a lot of eyes, she's just not nearly as compelling as the male characters. Lindelof said on the podcast that he agrees with that sentiment to a degree and was cognizant of it in the writers' room. It really paid off because here she's become a fan favorite due to her hilarious snark, intolerance to bullshit, remarkable intelligence, and Jean Smart's excellent performance.
While it might be intended to represent that the weapons in question are using silencers, most of the firearms in the series can't help but sound more like capguns when they're fired and not actual guns (with Hooded Justice's righteous vengeance against Cyclops in "This Extraordinary Being" being the most glaring example).
Dr. Manhattan is little more than the actor painted blue in most sequences, which can't help but lead most scenes involving Manhattan to look more comical more often than not.
The occasional squid rains created by Veidt to keep the population frightened and believing that the "extradimensional aliens" are still out there.
The premature baby forms of Mr. Phillips and Mrs. Crookshanks, which Veidt catches in a nearby pond like lobsters, casually discarded if they don't meet his specifications, and are quickly matured in a strange microwave-like device.
Tainted by the Preview: When the first major trailer was released, fans of the original comic immediately made their concerns and displeasure known. Some believed that the series didn't appear to follow the themes or conflicts established in the comic. Others were just plain opposed to the idea of a sequel at all, especially given Alan Moore's public disavowal of adaptations based on his work. And then there were the casual viewers who were just plain confused, either due to a lack of knowledge about the source material or because the trailers gave barely gave any idea of what the show was meant to be about.
Rorschach's entire legacy as depicted in this show is immensely depressing. His journal exposing Ozymandias for his crimes against humanity was eventually published... only for it to be dismissed as the insane ramblings of a mentally unstable lunatic. But it did find an audience — in the form of the Seventh Kavalry, who took his notes as a White Supremacist manifesto and use it as a justification to murder innocent minorities, the exact opposite of what he was fighting for. While Rorschach did hold some nationalistic and prejudiced views, he never personally displayed nor voiced any white supremacist traits or beliefs, even when directly speaking to people of color, nor would he have been pleased with his words being misappropriated by anyone for any reason. Simply put, the man was no saint, but it's clear that he wouldn't have wanted this.
Looking Glass' existential crisis after learning the Awful Truth behind 11/2 in "Little Fear of Lightning". To say that the poor man's world has been completely shattered would be a massive understatement. Even worse, at the end of the episode he still takes his new dimensional alarm back out of the trash and brings it back into his house even though he knows that it's worthless, simply because he can't let go no matter how hard he obviously wants to.
Doctor Manhattan's death, especially when Angela and Cal/Jon are tearfully saying goodbye to each other and he chooses to relive all of his happy memories with her before he's disintegrated. Furthermore, the whole reason why he wanted her to still be there with him despite being fully aware of how traumatic it would be for her is heartbreakingly simple: namely, even Doctor Manhattan is scared of Dying Alone.
While it's necessary for the story the show wanted to tell, many fans were disappointed that the publishing of Rorschach's journal didn't indeed lead to World War III as the end of the comic implied. This is remedied by additional materials revealing that Rorschach's journal was met with skepticism by the public as there were no means to verify it as being authentic, and his Axe-Crazy reputation in life didn't help either, nor the fact that the contents were twisted into a white supremacist manifesto being carried out by a violent group of Right Wing Militia Fanatics.
Many fans were disappointed that the mesmerism flashlight/camera that Will Reeves took from Cyclops and used to have Judd Crawford hang himself wasn't used in the series finale. Granted, it was likely placed there as part of a Red Herring behind Lady Trieu's trueEvil Plan, but it still can't help but feel like an opportunity was missed in having something as big as mind control play only a relatively minor role in the overall plot.
Unconventional Learning Experience: Directly after the first episode, there were a depressingly high number of people who assumed the Black Wall Street Massacre was just part of the show's Alternate History. As such, the series has received a lot of praise for bringing that largely forgotten atrocity much more attention. Justified since the city of Tulsa did its best to hide this from knowledge from the general public to the point that people of all colors never knew it existed. As said before, Lindelof had to do extensive research on the events because this was not readily available.
The Un-Twist: After the first three episode descriptions went out of their way to not imply that the old man in the castle was Adrian Veidt, the third episode spells it out as if it's something of a plot twist... Even though it really isn't. Especially since before the show aired it was widely speculated that Jeremy Irons would be playing Veidt.
Viewer Gender Confusion: With Dylan Schombing's long hair and somewhat androgynous looks, it can be easy to mistake Topher Abar for being a girl at first glace.
Looking Glass' trademark "reflectatine" mask makes for a really cool-looking costume, and it's so striking yet naturalistic that it's easy to forget that it'd be practically impossible in real life (at least to the degree that it appears) and is largely a product of CGI.
The depiction of 11/2 in "Little Fear of Lightning" is a horrifyingly impressive usage of CGI.
Relatedly, the CGI used when Doctor Manhattan creates new life on Europa is nothing short of breathtaking.
Win Back the Crowd: While fans of the comic approached the series with trepidation owing to the checkered history of how Alan Moore's work has been adapted (including the 2009 movie and how it changed a major element of the ending), many were won over by its storytelling and how it paid respect to its source material, deeming it a worthy (or at least decent) sequel.
Will Reeves, a.k.a. Hooded Justice. His entire life has basically been him struggling against the pervading racism and bigotry of America, losing virtually any connection he has to his family, his beloved wife, and the man he loved along the way. And to add insult to injury, he's initially hated (for admittedly justified reasons) by his own granddaughter after he kills a major leader of the Seventh Kavalry and most of the world thinks that he was a white man.
Both of the Bians, especially the 2019 version given that she's ultimately a glorified science experiment by Lady Trieu suffering from both identity disassociation and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Woobie Species: The Servant Race of Mr. Phillips and Mrs. Crookshanks. They're all incredibly friendly (albeit dimwitted) Actual Pacifist clones who just want to help make Veidt's life better, and he "rewards" them by repeatedly subjecting them to various horrific deaths.
. Worse, it wasn't even the only example of a black community that was wiped off