Watchmen — Series 1 Episode 5 — Little Fear of Lightning — A Review

20th October, 2020.

Right … it’s a Tuesday night, and frankly … ?

I’m wanting my bed.

That’s either my age, depression … or a knee that’s feeling older than the rest of me!

Either way … ?   And with various bits of me aching … ?

I wanted to get it on record: that I’d seen another episode of  Watchmen.

And will tell you more, tomorrow … !

~≈🙂≈~

21st October, 2020.

Right … a good night’s sleep, a cup of tea … and I’m ready to tell you about episode five ofWatchmen, series one …

Episode 5 — Little Fear of Lightning — opens with the usual summary of previous episodes.

Then moves to Hoboken, in 1985: and shows us a small group of Jehovah’s Witnesses, preparing to do some missionary work in a Hoboken funfair.

It focuses on a Young Wade Tillman, in the days before he became Looking Glass (Phil Labes: the character’s older version is played by Tim Blake-Nelson*), who’s keen to do God’s Work … 

Until he get’s distracted by an attractive Top Knot: who runs off after stealing his clothes … 

Just as New York is hit by the Squid attack that is the climax of the original comic: surviving only as he was in the funfair’s Hall of Mirrors†.

~≈🙂≈~

The scene shifts back to the modern day.

Showing us Laurie Blake briefing the Tulsa police, and making sure that they focus their efforts on the church she believes the Seventh Kavalry make their films in.

Whilst, privately?   Looking Glass finds out from his ex, Cynthia (Eileen Grubba) that the pills Angela/Sister Night had found?

Were illegal Nostalgia Pills: what allow people to experience the memories of others.

Looking Glass has more problems on his plate than the pills, and a malfunctioning home alarm.

When he’s off duty at a local bar, he meets an attractive, single woman … who turns out to be more than she seems … 

And who, as it turns out … ?

Happens to own a mask … and know a lot about the 11/2 Squid attack

~≈😀≈~

Now … 

What did I make of Little Fear of Lightning?

Was it a good episode?   Tie in with the original graphic novel?   Expand the universe, further?

Let’s answer the last two questions, first, shall we?

Yes: there’s expansion going on.

We’ve seen the lack of computers going on: Tulsa Police have typewriters on their desks, not the commodity desktops we’d expect in our world.   The focus group researchers Looking Glass works with have clipboards instead of tablets.

And the place has cheap cloning: cheap and efficient cloning that’s good enough for Looking Glass’ ex to work at a lab that clones dead pets.   Has kit that age those clones to what ever age the customer desires!

Quite what that make Adrien Veidt’s serving staff, I don’t know.

The place has teleporters.   Strong enough be built into Veidt’s prison walls … and send anyone breaching them to a moon of Jupiter.

The world had DVDs, still: in abundance.   Enough abundance that Looking Glass finds out the Squid attack he’s a victim of … ?

Has been hoaxed.

Yes: Watchmen as a series, and Little Fear of Lightning as an episode?

Ties in nicely with it’s pre-cursor comic, expands its universe, well … 

And is telling us one hell of a story.

Frankly?

I’ll be watching another episode on Tuesday, 28th October.

And writing/vlogging about it: either on the night, or the day after.

I hope you’d care to join me.

*        Tim Blake Nelson studied at the Juilliard School.   I’m mildly impressed: if the USA has an equivalent of RADA, or Central, it’s Juilliard.

†        I don’t know if they used the same set: but seeing the Ferris wheel automatically reminded me of Mr Robot.