See How They Fly

Everybody expects a lot from season and show finales, where there should be ideally in my view a lot of emotional impact, all the ideas introduced and developed over the course of the run falling into place and where it all feels rounded off realistically. Some season and show finales have been very successful at that, 'Breaking Bad' and 'Inspector Morse' example. Others failed spectacularly, still remember vividly how angry those for 'House of Cards' and 'Game of Thrones' made me.

"See How They Fly" is not quite one of the best season and show finales (have actually heard varying accounts though of whether there will be a second season or not, but have believed for some time that this season is intended to be a one-off). It is also a slight disappointment after such a masterful previous episode. "See How They Fly" also is a long way from being one of the worst and does what a season and show finale should do mostly extremely well. It is a more than worthy end to 'Watchmen' and shows how far the show had come on since it first started, liked but not loved the first four episodes while loving the others.

All of 'Watchmen's' episodes are exceptionally well made and put a lot of films released today to shame. "See How They Fly" is gorgeously designed and the photography is some of the best of any television show from 2019, just love its style, atmosphere and how cinematic it looks. The lighting is suitably moody and matches the episode and show's bold tone, and the effects don't look cheap or under-budgeted, the squid looked surprisingly great.

The music is still haunting and the music choices are still inspired, especially effective are "Clair De Lune" and "Oh What a Beautiful Morning". A few of the tracks were used in other episodes as well, but this didn't feel recycled at all and like it was referencing what had come before and a way of tying things together.

Other 'Watchmen' episodes are more playful, episodes 3-5 and 7 namely, but the script is intelligent, occasionally subtly witty and has bold bite without being over-serious or dreary. The storytelling is bold and unflinching, ties things together, answers questions and puts it all into place. Amazing for an episode with so many ideas, a few too many perhaps, that are not trivialised and feel timely today. A lot of revelations and turns here and they are not just clever but quite shocking too.

Characters are richly fleshed out with Lady Trieu being at her most interesting throughout the whole show, and she was a character that showed enormous potential and made a big impression from the get go. Veidt's role in "See How They Fly" is also one of his most illuminating and a good deal is learnt about his character and motivations. The performances are stellar all round, Regina King and Jeremy Irons are big standouts as is classy Hong Chau.

My only criticism for "See How They Fly" was that the ending did feel a bit too rushed and anti-climactic, with not as much of a sense of finality that other show finales have.

Summing up, excellent conclusion. 9/10

I should have figured, everything Dr. Manhattan ever did had some context somewhere else. Why else would he start making waffles right before the gang of Rorschachs attack?

This episode solidly focuses on the Lady Trieu, and it explains a lot- you just have to facepalm yourself for not realizing it sooner. And also the final moments of Adrian Veidt's exile, say goodbye to Phillips and Cruickshank. But the question is, when did these events actually happen? That question is answered here.

The events that led up to this point is a tale that has unraveled like a cleverly woven tapestry.

We already knew pretty much exactly what was going to happen. That's the problem when writing stories about characters that know their own futures. There is a lot of thematic imagery that this episode returns to: Episode four introduces the egg and acorn elements. Egg, acorn. Pretty much the same thing and both become relevant. That's how you write for characters who know their futures, you tell their stories with well-placed references and vignettes.

The satisfaction is, seeing all of the little things that happened to make those futures come about.

We had our eyes focused on the Gang of Rorschachs and Senator Keene, Jr. - I suppose this is the same "Keene" whose father wrote the Keene Act which illegalized masked vigilante-ism. Now we know after watching this chapter that even the Keene Act was designed to do something else as well, it was a sham and a scam just like the tax scam of recent. But while we were all wrapped up in trying to figure out what was going on there, something even more insidious was happening. Our attention was taken off of it, in the same way that Dr. Manhattan was fooled.

A raging narcissist should never be afforded the opportunity to become a god, in fact they shouldn't be afforded opportunities to be in positions of authority or power either.

"Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day, i've got a beautiful feeling, everything's going my egg..."

I had submitted a slightly different review just before this, but I think this one reflects my feelings about it a bit better. And none of them were "badly formatted". Insert anger emoji.

And so, a season (series maybe) finale that whilst not hitting the heights of some of the earlier episodes totally sticks the landing, pulling together the disparate threads of the plots into one totally satisfying conclusion.

With Dr Manhattan (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) successfully captured by the 7th Kavalry and preparing to take his power for their own, Angela Abar (Regina King) launches a desperate escape mission to rescue her husband. Meanwhile Lady Trieu (Hong Chau) sets her own plan into motion.

I write this review on New Year's Eve in 2019 so can look back with a bit of reflection. I honestly thing that this "Watchmen" show was the best thing I've seen this year. To say that I approached it with trepidation was an understatement, given the reverence the source material requires - but every decision made with the series was excellent. To attach where they did, to build on certain mythology but not others, to build it about present day tensions much like the graphic novel reflected the threat of nuclear annihilation at the time. It has been phenomenal.

As I say, this episode in particularlis perhaps not as stellar as some of its predecessors. It is naturally a little more concerned with pulling the plot together and wrapping it up than in high concept artistry, or time bending machinations. That is not to say it doesn't have a few of its own revelations. The statue of Veidt, for an example. But maybe a couple of those ideas felt underwhelming, the tower, for example, didn't add up to much. However, for a show produced and written by Damon Lindelof, this much of an all-encompassing conclusion was more than you could reasonably have expected.

What next then? Certainly, I don't want another series that picks up exactly where this finishes. If you absolutely have to, my preference would be a show leading up to the 1995 arrest of Nite Owl. I'm not sure I want anything more at all, to be honest, given that there's now two high quality aspects to live up to.

A wonderful way of ending the season. There was great music, scenes, acting, directing and the script for the whole series was great.

What I loved about the series ending was that it didn't rush to the end. It was all done very beautifully with Regina King as the main character.

I just have to say again that the music was one of a kind. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross made a unique music that had their trade marks.

The acting in the whole series was great. Jeremy Irons, Regina King, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Tom Blake Nelson and Don Johnson, they were all great in Watchmen.

I don't know how the screen writers are gonna make a season 2, but I'm rooting for more Watchmen. But I also can say that this could be a perfect ending for the film and the series, but I hope that it ain't.

Perfect ending to wrap up a great season of television. Congratulations to Lindelof and everyone involved and especially Regina King