
Watchmen & Trans-Generational Trauma: BlerdUp Episode 39
Transcript:
00:00 BlerdUp BlerdUp welcome to the show where we 00:02 talk about Neera culture from a bee POV 00:04 a black POV of course we are on Facebook 00:06 at BL e Rd you P we are on instagram @ 00:10 BL ER d . u p and we are on twitter @ BL 00:14 ER d you check us out on blurred comm 00:18 they've they've really expanded their 00:20 content lately mm-hm I saw some really 00:23 cool write about black cosplayers if you 00:25 are a black cosplay reach out to them 00:26 they also have some cool merch on so 00:29 right now my favorite are the the 00:32 blurred comic leggings mm-hmm and 00:34 there's they have a cool partnership 00:36 there they're having um these famous 00:39 anime characters like Goku and Naruto 00:42 and Luffy yeah right 00:46 and it's blurred style on their clothes 00:48 so I'm looking for to seeing how that 00:50 how that comes out so check them out we 00:53 are here to talk about this week's 00:56 episode of watchmen titled this 01:00 extraordinary being which deals with 01:03 black washing as opposed to white 01:06 washing the show also deals with trans 01:09 generational trauma you'll go into full 01:13 spoilers on the show so if you haven't 01:15 watched this episode yet come back later 01:17 if you have seen it let's do it there's 01:20 a lot to dissect I should probably also 01:23 introduce my co-host 01:27 I'm just here no how you doing I'm all 01:32 right hello everybody yeah we had quite 01:34 a talk off the mic life is life is men 01:38 entering a new decade yeah we got a 01:41 month left and a lot of changes yeah 01:43 changes are coming energy is moving yeah 01:47 all right okay 01:49 y'all can do DMS for that for those 01:51 deeds later don't do actually I'm good 01:54 too I'm tired okay let's get to watch so 02:05 first of all this is by far the most 02:09 intricately put together episode two 02:12 and for my money the best episode today 02:16 it was definitely the most shocking I 02:18 was not expecting it to go in this 02:20 direction at all yeah they they really 02:24 set up the dominoes from the first 02:26 episode and they're starting to let them 02:28 fall just beautifully and as you said 02:31 just not what you expect but what she 02:34 surprisingly didn't know that you needed 02:36 I don't know if I needed it exactly but 02:40 it definitely yeah I mean it got my 02:42 attention really got my attention I 02:44 think one thing that was refreshing 02:47 about this episode is that it doesn't 02:49 follow the formula we were starting to 02:52 get used to yeah here's some random 02:55 first scene introduces a character or 02:57 something and then here's a little drama 02:59 and then here's crazy Adrian Veidt at 03:01 the end and then we're done right yeah I 03:03 know 03:03 I didn't even show up in this oh yeah 03:05 you know we're still following one 03:08 character like the last episode was 03:09 about I forgot his name Looking Glass 03:11 what was his yes yes we're still 03:18 following one character but this time 03:21 it's done through another character 03:24 Angela absolutely not only do we learn 03:31 more about will Reeves but Angela does 03:35 at the same time and in the process 03:38 it's hi so much together of the whole 03:41 watchman universe right between the time 03:43 of his memories and the present yeah 03:52 just made for extremely powerful 03:54 television I'm on a reference a 03:56 Huffington Post article later on the 03:59 show but it called it the best hour of 04:02 TV this year that I could definitely 04:06 agree with when you look at all the 04:07 artistry that went into it and just how 04:09 unique of a story they told I don't 04:12 think I've ever seen this kind of story 04:14 on TV before I never have seen this 04:16 issue or many of the issues that were 04:18 addressed in this episode I've never 04:20 seen them on TV I did find myself 04:21 thinking about 30 minutes in well okay 04:25 who is this for 04:26 because we're black and we already know 04:28 this so is it for us or is this to 04:30 explain this to people who don't know 04:33 that this particular aspect of our 04:35 history and culture and our cultural 04:37 psyche but then I decided it didn't 04:39 matter because I was still enjoying it 04:41 so yeah well if you look at a show like 04:45 dear white people mm-hmm I think that's 04:48 a show where it's like these obvious 04:51 talk about black lives matter and these 04:54 very kind of broad strokes yeah I don't 04:59 think that show is for us it's not it 05:01 really isn't 05:01 I can't get into it for that reason like 05:03 I know why are you telling me or for 05:05 some of my queer friends there's some 05:08 praise for that show pose yeah but 05:10 there's also some criticism that it also 05:12 kind of yeah it's not it's not for them 05:14 it's for non queer folks to kind of to 05:18 learn the history and there's very 05:22 affirming things about both pose and 05:24 dear white people but ultimately the 05:26 storylines and the messages contained 05:28 are things that if you are in those 05:30 cultures you already know right you're 05:32 familiar even with those cultures you 05:33 already know continue your point though 05:36 yeah I just when I when I look at dear 05:39 white people and what the Watchmen 05:42 creators have done with this episode 05:44 specificity the whole series really both 05:47 this episode specifically I definitely 05:50 feel like this is for us too mmm yeah I 05:53 can I can agree with that I guess even 05:55 I'm sorry even though we know what has 05:58 happened to our people in the past and 06:00 know what happens to us now there are so 06:03 times that we do need to be reminded and 06:05 the way that they have Illustrated small 06:10 microaggressions to just unimaginable 06:13 violence it is something that we need to 06:16 be reminded of sometimes yeah I mean it 06:18 is stuff that we already like I said I 06:20 couldn't really decide who it was for I 06:22 decided it didn't matter ultimately 06:24 because I was enjoying it enough to 06:26 where I wasn't really thinking about it 06:27 I don't know if enjoy is the right word 06:29 but appreciating he not sure 06:31 appreciating it enough to not really be 06:35 thinking about it on that kind of meta 06:37 that kind of meta way at the minute 06:39 but I mean it can be both at the same 06:42 time so I think the way that they 06:43 explored a lot of the issues in this 06:45 show were both illustrative and 06:47 instructional but also again affirming 06:49 like it was okay see this is something 06:51 that we know but this has never been 06:53 explored in a TV show before so this is 06:55 nice to see somebody gets it we are 06:57 showing this to the world this is a part 06:59 of our culture a painful part but an 07:01 important part and also just amazing 07:04 that a white man is crafting these 07:07 narratives yeah yeah I guess I mean I 07:10 don't know I'm I'm when I'm sure he has 07:12 help I'm sure but the other day he is 07:15 surrendering 07:16 he gives the okay on all these things 07:19 right yeah yeah I just I really don't 07:22 know where this is going next you know 07:24 here's the thing we're talking all 07:25 around the plot and everything because 07:27 we're trying not to spoil it no no I 07:28 already already said that we could okay 07:31 good cuz never mind moving on yeah let's 07:33 just get to it mm-hmm 07:35 usually in the first scene there's kind 07:38 of in I've always talked about this kind 07:40 of unraveling of like a mural you know 07:43 and sometimes it doesn't connect with 07:44 the following scene in plant seeds for 07:46 later while establishing character the 07:49 first scene was with hood it justice to 07:51 an extent you kind of get a little bit 07:53 more about his character but it really 07:56 does but it's the way that this scene 07:58 was painted it's different from the 08:00 introduction of Lee true for example 08:02 very much so or Looking Glass from the 08:05 previous episode very much so and also 08:06 this is the mythical hooded justice 08:09 right and that's a very important 08:11 distinction and they've this is a very 08:13 clever I think because he's been I've 08:15 been wondering this whole time why are 08:17 they showing us these clips of hooded 08:18 justice in this TV show right on TV in 08:21 the Watchmen universe this whole time 08:23 I've actually said on a previous episode 08:25 I don't see why this is here it feels 08:27 like filler like the the pirate 08:29 storyline in the book exactly um and 08:32 there's a very real reason why they've 08:33 been showing this to us this whole time 08:34 it's been priming our mind for this 08:36 episode yes and it's very cleverly done 08:42 it's just I don't know where they're 08:45 gonna go next with this because this 08:48 this episode was really a game changer 08:49 this show has been blowing my hair back 08:52 pretty consistently but this 08:53 episode was at the same height as the 08:55 first episode the premiere yes in that I 08:57 was just not expecting anything here and 08:59 I just don't know what's gonna happen 09:02 next but I really want to see what does 09:04 well for me I still think this is the 09:06 best episode because with episode 1 you 09:09 don't expect anything and you're like 09:10 wow so we already kind of expect 09:13 greatness and they went even beyond that 09:16 yeah mm-hmm let's get into it okay some 09:19 more sure I just want to go kind of beat 09:22 by beat in this episode and just kind of 09:24 just explore the themes in the end the 09:26 crafts were taken to Angela and Justin 09:31 the pills and things starts to just 09:32 disintegrate around her 09:34 I love the transition of Angela being in 09:37 the present in the past you know she's 09:39 talking to agent Blake and all sudden 09:41 behind her is the piano playing on her 09:44 left is a drummer and I loved the way 09:47 they used color in this episode yes that 09:50 was amazing and I liked how it is 09:52 illustrated both the present and the 09:53 past right 09:54 that was really an interesting choice I 09:57 think it speaks a lot to the way that 09:59 just culturally I feel like black people 10:02 were time travelers angry we kind of 10:04 tend to live in both the paths the pain 10:06 of the past and the hope of the future 10:08 all at the same time future yeah oh yeah 10:11 exactly 10:12 and it very much that that was a really 10:14 clever tool to illustrate that but can I 10:17 feel like just interacting with people 10:19 from different cultures I really feel 10:20 like we have a really unique connection 10:23 to our past because it has really shaped 10:25 our entire culture in a very immediate 10:28 way we're but a certain part of our past 10:32 that the pain the the the struggle bit 10:34 of our past is what is defiant is 10:36 unfortunately what is to find a lot of 10:38 our present-day culture now and it's 10:41 hard to reconcile that because we 10:43 clearly we all have ancestry before that 10:45 but we don't know it sure so it's just 10:47 interesting I feel like we are all still 10:49 there's a lot of talk about things like 10:51 post-traumatic slave disorder and just 10:55 sort of the psychological effect that 10:57 that has had on us as a people and I 11:00 feel like that color the usage of color 11:01 showing how the past is still very much 11:04 affecting the present I thought it was 11:06 interesting there were times when 11:07 Blake's face would come into the frame 11:10 in kind of color and she'd been both 11:12 sort of flickers of color and she'd be 11:14 saying something very helpful and very 11:15 caring but because she wants something 11:18 from Angela ultimately and then that 11:20 would be juxtaposed with a shot a 11:23 reminiscence of the Tulsa massacre with 11:26 those same flickers of color there's 11:28 just this really interesting dichotomy 11:29 yeah in black American culture and even 11:33 though this is a fictional version of it 11:34 clearly with Redford Asians and 11:36 everything but it's still that same sort 11:38 of thing that that's being Illustrated 11:39 and I really like that yeah we get to 11:41 Anjali getting her first entry and his 11:45 memory is being graduating from the 11:48 Academy or joining the police force and 11:51 when she's first there she's in color 11:53 mm-hmm and then she slowly gets 11:55 decolorized because she's fully a part 11:57 of this world now right and I loved how 11:59 they flicked back and forth when she 12:01 would show back up and critical points 12:03 and it was such a good reference because 12:04 that's when you realize this is the 12:06 thing that Angela is really taking away 12:08 from ice yeah 12:09 it's not just us learning she's also 12:11 learning she's not just learning but 12:13 she's experiencing exactly the joy and 12:15 the horror and the rage mm-hmm you know 12:19 it cuts to the the chief given a speech 12:21 and he look back and she's looking at 12:23 the chief but then it cuts back to her 12:25 and it's the grandfather now school 12:27 Reeves and is where I first felt the 12:30 dread is you see the white officer in 12:32 the distance 12:33 putting badges on everyone and you're 12:35 like don't tell me he's gonna skip oh 12:37 yeah yeah if you're black and you have a 12:40 great you know what's coming already 12:42 know you know what's coming and you know 12:48 the show is going to go there but you 12:49 just you have that tread you're right 12:51 and there it is and then the black guy 12:55 there is we didn't know but it was his 12:57 inspiration for joining the force will 12:59 Reese is still you know even from his 13:02 watching the movie in Tulsa he still 13:06 respects the law trust in the law that's 13:07 named of that bass Reese film yep he 13:10 still is holding on mm-hmm 13:12 so that even though he's experienced so 13:13 much already he's still holding on and 13:15 he gets pinned I mean sure actually for 13:18 him there's probably a bigger honor to 13:19 be in my 13:20 black eye mm-hmm who other black people 13:23 see as an Uncle Tom for joining the 13:25 force yeah and saying what was 13:27 interesting was he said to him that he 13:28 was his inspiration right and the guy 13:30 apologizes to him for it 13:32 yeah it's just you know that's another 13:34 hallmark of black American culture with 13:36 great accomplishment also comes great 13:38 bitterness you've got a sacrifice so 13:39 much and some of that includes in you 13:42 know I think that can lend itself to a 13:45 certain kind of wariness when it comes 13:47 to people who say that they look up to 13:48 you like you really don't want to do 13:50 that you know is that chanseong from a 13:52 couple years ago like don't don't don't 13:54 chase me or yes yeah yeah yeah I don't 13:56 remember the song know what you're 13:57 talking about yeah that was it 13:59 hit hard mm-hmm and even you saw at the 14:01 very end when his son wants to become 14:03 him and he gets that don't be like me 14:08 okay yeah yeah you cut to the club 14:11 mm-hmm with June I think that was the 14:14 reporter's name June I'm not mistaken 14:16 the black woman yeah I think so I don't 14:19 remember 14:20 I like how they were talking as you said 14:22 it cuts back to Angela at important 14:24 times and she says I'm not angry you're 14:28 talking about his wife right future wife 14:30 you yeah okay the time they were just 14:31 quitting it's interesting you called her 14:33 the reporter cuz I only ever think as 14:34 you're right she was a reporter but that 14:36 detail kind of escaped me because I the 14:38 whole time I was like oh that's the baby 14:40 oh you thought that the whole time yeah 14:42 see I didn't I didn't think about that 14:44 and Tara ideas reveal I feel like it 14:46 must have been you know like I just 14:47 thought oh that's the baby they grew up 14:48 like I don't know I mean I immediately 14:49 twigged on to that okay anyway um and 14:53 I'll get to kind of things I got that 14:55 kind of got me caught up in the drama 14:56 but that's one of them mm-hmm 14:58 I think her saying I might angry further 15:00 instilled in us that she's not really 15:02 controlling it's not like a lucid dream 15:03 where she can kind of walk around and 15:05 explore these memories this is just a 15:07 set this is happy yeah and you're gonna 15:08 say everything that your grandfather 15:10 said and feel everything that he felt 15:12 experience everything that he felt right 15:14 the concept of this this this drug is 15:17 just really interesting isn't it yeah 15:20 just the idea of living through someone 15:22 else's memories is so fascinating like 15:25 again it's that it's a another trip and 15:28 I'm not saying that we were the only 15:29 culture in the world with the connection 15:30 to our past that's clearly not true I'm 15:33 just saying 15:34 I don't think that that's recognized how 15:36 much it is shape is how much the 15:37 immediate past is shaped as people still 15:39 love to say things like Oh slavery was 15:40 so long ago yeah my grandmother's 15:42 grandfather not that long 15:43 so it was interesting to just see that 15:46 that illustrated in this way I don't 15:48 want to beat a dead horse and say it 15:49 again but no I think it's really 15:50 important hmm 15:52 and here's where the color thing kicks 15:54 in again when Angela was in 2019 15:57 tripping on the drugs she saw the 15:59 drummer on her left and she saw her 16:01 grant her grandmother essentially know 16:04 her great-grandmother will Reeves mother 16:06 playing the piano yes in black and white 16:08 and she was in color but now that she's 16:11 in black and white all the things that 16:12 are out of time are in color 16:14 yeah so you have while wills walking the 16:17 beat his mother is playing piano in 16:19 color on the street so so it's still 16:23 illustrates that memory hunson as he's 16:26 walking around 16:26 of course because he's in a law uniform 16:28 trust in the law and that's kind of that 16:30 the soundtrack maybe that's a you know 16:32 instead of having like earphones or 16:33 you're in the car blasting your tunes of 16:35 the cop this is your tune you're just 16:38 the haunting of that memory 16:39 it's your sound tracked yeah to being a 16:42 police officer that's and that's it 16:44 that's your motivation for being a 16:45 police officer how heavy is that really 16:48 I mean there's just so much going on in 16:50 this episode it was a really emotionally 16:52 impactful episode and the more I think 16:53 about it the more I just feel like wow 16:56 that was a lot like that's exactly what 16:58 I texted you after I watched it just wow 17:00 what was that that was a lot yeah I 17:03 thought it was really awesome that they 17:05 linked the first issue of Superman to 17:09 will Reeves being put into that carriage 17:12 to leave Tulsa it was being destroyed 17:14 yes and I feel like oh I called it cuz I 17:17 said in the very first time and the very 17:19 first blurred up episode where we talked 17:21 about Watchmen he's like Black Panther 17:23 fur you know the ages I didn't think 17:25 that Bill Reeves would become who he 17:26 becomes but I was I did pick up on the 17:29 whole black superhero thing and the fact 17:31 that in The Watchmen we don't have the 17:33 black superhero but maybe we do so I was 17:36 I was very proud of myself I never call 17:38 stuff like that in TV shows and I called 17:39 it ha 17:40 fiber so I don't want to like you know 17:43 hurt the mics here okay our friends ears 17:47 more color the cops and they offer Riza 17:49 ride and then when they drive off 17:51 there's bodies being pulled behind their 17:54 car in color you know again he's still 17:56 being haunted by mm-hmm these memories 17:59 and we gots about that hanging scene yes 18:02 can I just quickly can we give props to 18:04 that actor do you know where we've seen 18:06 him before the actor who plays will 18:07 Reeves no fences he's the son in fences 18:10 okay yes okay so he's definitely got 18:13 some very high-class Broadway style 18:17 acting chops and he really he just does 18:20 such a good job of playing somebody who 18:22 is eaten up by this seething internal 18:24 rage that only lets itself out in 18:25 moments that I mean you really just it's 18:29 rare that you can see somebody who can 18:30 portray that kind of interior tea and a 18:32 character and he really does a very good 18:33 job with it and in that hanging scene he 18:36 starts to really because before then 18:38 he's he's kind of a weirdly low-key 18:40 person much like his granddaughter later 18:42 on right he only really lets out what he 18:46 who only really shows I think what he's 18:48 feeling and key moments and this is very 18:50 much one of those key moments right I 18:52 think you you talk about how he he stays 18:55 low-key but he has this rage but 18:58 obviously he has some sort of hope that 19:01 he can still bring about change working 19:03 within the boundaries of of the law 19:06 yeah he's angry but he's not bitter yeah 19:09 which i think is a really interesting 19:10 choice for that character because I 19:13 think the tendency is often to it's to 19:16 to confuse black anger with black 19:18 bitterness and I think very few of us 19:20 are bitter but a lot of us are still 19:21 angry sure and I think that that again 19:23 just so many layers I thought it was 19:26 fascinating how they they hung him up 19:28 but when he got put back go first I want 19:31 about the music right the music how I 19:33 mean just the whole music throughout 19:34 this whole yeah this was amazing it was 19:36 also character in itself yeah there were 19:37 some choices but as he's getting hung 19:40 that music starts to distort and was he 19:43 once he's cut down it shows Angeles yes 19:46 so she's feeling that like can you 19:48 imagine the horror you know you are 19:49 however many generations removed from 19:51 the fear of lynching I mean I don't know 19:53 I hear people describe stuff I go back 19:56 and I listen to old slave narratives I 19:58 read old books you know all of these I'm 20:00 the book blurred but I mean I read all 20:02 of these things and here all of these 20:04 things and you kind of get the 20:05 secondhand empathy for the horrors of 20:07 living under that kind of fear of 20:09 lynching of racial terror and we have a 20:12 version of that now with over policing 20:14 and just mega country although we 20:18 personally don't have that because of 20:19 where we live right now sure but it's 20:23 just that really could you imagine being 20:26 taken back in time to that there's 20:29 another movie coming out soon with 20:30 Janelle Monae I remember the name of the 20:33 movie right Antebellum Antebellum yes 20:34 Antebellum Antebellum Antebellum yes 20:37 Antebellum and it looks very much like a 20:39 book called kindred by Octavia Butler 20:41 which was written in the 70s I know if 20:42 you've heard of it you know me no okay 20:45 I'm well if you haven't heard of it I 20:46 will also explain it briefly for our 20:48 audience Lee's kindred is a science 20:50 fiction book but it's also very much a 20:51 social horror book was written by 20:53 Octavia Butler who is the grand-am of 20:55 science fiction she is also one of the 20:58 few the proud the black women who write 21:01 sci-fi okay she's brilliant people love 21:04 to talk about 1984 as a parable for our 21:07 time 1984 is trash for our time in my 21:10 opinion 1984 at a very specific time it 21:12 applies to it's not now but Octavia 21:15 Butler wrote the parables that's 21:17 literally now she literally in the early 21:19 90s wrote about America being taken over 21:22 by a dictator whose slogan is make 21:24 America great again not joking anyway 21:28 kindred is her first book she wrote it 21:30 in the 70s and kindred deals very much 21:32 with it well the plot of kindred this 21:34 woman in who's a writer who's you know a 21:36 young black woman she's a writer she's 21:38 married to this much older white man 21:39 they're very progressive very socially 21:42 active and engaged and all of a sudden 21:44 women begins to travel back through time 21:46 and take the place of her will not take 21:49 the place but live in the same time and 21:50 on the same plantation as her 21:53 great-great-grandmother as a slave so 21:56 she's being transported from this very 21:57 pan-african racially progressive 70s at 22:01 the time it was the 1970s in California 22:04 to slavery 22:07 mm-hmm and she's kind of bouncing back 22:08 and forth and it's terrifying because 22:10 you know one day she's in her house with 22:11 her white husband writing a book and 22:13 next day she's being threatened with you 22:15 know having her hand chopped off for 22:17 something you know and it 22:18 it's that same sense of horror that you 22:20 find in a book like kindred that is in 22:22 this episode because angela is feeling 22:24 this hanging yes like it's it's crazy I 22:26 just don't know how I don't know how 22:30 okay maybe you know who wrote this 22:33 episode again was it Daniel so Lindelof 22:37 wrote this he co-wrote it I forgot who 22:39 else did it with him okay basically 22:41 helped write this episode because I just 22:43 wonder how did he know like how did he I 22:47 mean that's some serious empathy on 22:49 display I'm very impressed 22:51 yes because we're wood yeah I did 22:53 because that really got me I think the 22:55 other layer that's important is when we 22:58 generally talk about slavery and 23:01 violence it's generally looked at like 23:06 only males got it right but to have 23:09 Angela to cut back to Ange and see the 23:12 horror on her face it I mean obviously 23:16 didn't happen to Angela but we often 23:20 ignore that that same boss that happened 23:23 to men happened to women too yes you 23:26 know and they you know also with sexual 23:29 assault I didn't hate the r-word but 23:31 sexual assault 23:32 they had it worse yeah yeah and also I 23:35 think there's a clear point about 23:36 empathy there as well I mean this is 23:38 suffering on black male suffering is 23:40 black female suffering black female 23:42 suffering was black male suffering it 23:44 maybe not so much now I don't know it 23:45 gets complicated the internet will have 23:47 you believing anything but very much 23:50 that it was a community suffering it was 23:52 not just black men were suffering black 23:54 women were suffering 23:54 everyone was suffering communities were 23:56 suffering again it's good to see both 23:58 sides of that so yeah so now we got Ruiz 24:03 putting on a hood becoming a vigilante 24:05 for the first time yeah okay so quick 24:08 shout-out to one of our listeners Eric 24:11 you called this I don't know how you did 24:14 it also again I'm shocked cuz Eric you 24:17 know who I'm talking to you're white and 24:18 you called this and I don't know how you 24:20 did it hit me and hit me and the message 24:22 actually DM me sir because I want to 24:24 know how you figured this out one of our 24:26 listeners 24:27 messaged me a while ago and figured that 24:29 this was what had happened figured out 24:31 that will Reeves was hooded justice I 24:34 don't know how he picked that up because 24:36 I was like of course he's not go to 24:38 justice there's no way he's in The 24:39 Watchmen and he's a completely different 24:41 character I don't know how he called it 24:43 but he did and I want to know how 24:44 message me you hear me message me sir 24:47 anyway moving okay 24:48 you heard it yeah i listening that he 24:52 didn't take off the news but that's such 24:56 a good point such a good illustrative 25:01 point though I think that he didn't take 25:03 off the news and of course he didn't 25:05 take off the news because I mean they're 25:06 still playing with the character who was 25:08 created for Watchmen who always had the 25:10 news so no you're right I guess for me 25:12 if I'm going to try not to be detected 25:15 mm-hmm if I was just a guy in a hood 25:18 just mean people up that's one thing but 25:21 if I've been news and the people who I 25:23 assaulted or I save said oh we saw this 25:26 guy right yeah hood a new sign right 25:30 maybe but there's two things there 25:32 nobody else was doing he was literally 25:34 the first okay so this the thought of 25:36 somebody in a hood new sir not beating 25:39 people who were criminals up is so 25:41 shocking that I'm sure people weren't 25:42 really noticing with details like that 25:44 of course I'm not I'm not 25:48 and also there's an interesting point 25:50 which I'm sure we're going to dissect 25:52 more later everybody thought he would by 25:53 default the default person especially in 25:56 those times as a white person of course 25:57 it ever occurred to anybody he could be 25:58 black the noose was mentor the noose had 26:01 other implications in the white psyche 26:04 sex stuff will get there too so yeah he 26:12 goes home in now he's like okay I'm 26:14 angry mm-hmm just whenever you see Jun 26:17 it's that you know trust black women 26:20 they just pop in the brain and I 26:23 constantly this show always gives you 26:25 what you don't expect and she was this 26:27 show always gives you what you don't 26:29 expect and she was a very I loved how 26:31 her character was just always kind of 26:33 dodging just out of the frame of what 26:35 you were expecting her to be she wasn't 26:37 you know that trope she wasn't his mama 26:38 she wasn't his 26:40 playthings she wasn't a toy she was just 26:43 she was very much her own person he 26:44 didn't know she had her oh he was who 26:45 had a brief part so I really enjoyed 26:48 that absolutely yeah and you're right 26:49 she kind of trusts black women because 26:51 we're people that was very much yeah so 26:58 did will name give his last name Reese 27:01 because of the hero because if you look 27:06 at the information on IMDB I think it's 27:08 spelled differently but even so maybe 27:13 okay I don't know I didn't think about 27:15 it so yes we could to him finally 27:19 perfecting his costume with his wife 27:21 mm-hmm 27:22 he has makeup around his eyes just like 27:24 Angela but hers is pitch black in his is 27:28 white both protect them but for 27:31 different reasons 27:31 yeah really visually clever absolutely 27:35 you know it was really satisfying for 27:37 him to get his revenge on those assholes 27:38 at the warehouse that was really cool 27:40 and then once he gets to that market he 27:43 freezes like the matrix in thin air it 27:45 doesn't when again the color comes back 27:47 in and agent Blake comes in in color 27:51 outside the market she's it's not like 27:53 they're bringing Angela back to the 27:55 present in the jail mm-hmm you have 27:58 Blake coming into her world and then it 28:01 cuts to Angela behind the hood now yeah 28:05 just-just-just brilliant yeah brilliant 28:08 Anika making um Regina King does a great 28:11 job in embodying her grandfather yeah 28:14 because she very much has his body 28:16 language in her mane and his mannerisms 28:18 so she really watched those actors 28:20 really watched each other and really did 28:21 a good job with those performances yeah 28:23 because there's moments when it shifts 28:24 to her and it takes you a moment to 28:26 realize that it has because her 28:28 performance is that on point she's got 28:29 the same facial expressions the same 28:31 body language but it's very much not the 28:32 same body language she has his mother 28:34 night etc right sister now yeah 28:36 sister night sorry I always call her 28:37 mother night that's horrible um I just 28:40 looked it up and actually you're right 28:42 Reeves is spelled the same way like 28:43 Reeves the Superman Reeves but I don't 28:46 know I didn't really think about that I 28:47 guess that's very it's very meta if they 28:51 did choose to do that I mean 28:54 he may really see himself as I'm gonna 28:56 be like my hero I don't know how well he 28:58 really knew his Mohammed dad are like 28:59 really remembers them like that I don't 29:02 know if they actually maybe quizzing Li 29:03 happening we maybe we can look it up 29:05 maybe but if he just arrived in town and 29:08 said enough about bass Reeves that you 29:11 do wonder if he's related to him and 29:13 some kind of way but and his whole life 29:15 has been based on trying to make a 29:18 difference and but staying within the 29:21 confines of the law mm-hmm that's a 29:24 really interesting point maybe he did 29:26 choose it but if so it's a great detail 29:28 yeah and then we get we get to captain 29:31 metropolis yeah okay now this I knew 29:37 where this was going to go the minute he 29:38 showed up I thought because again in The 29:41 Watchmen you know that hood of justice 29:43 and Metropolis have some kind of 29:44 relationship and I thought oh no him 29:46 right cuz I thought oh this is captain 29:48 metropolis this is going to be so slimy 29:49 and awful cuz you know it's gonna happen 29:51 it's just yeah I didn't think about it 29:53 see you know so and in our endgame 29:55 mm-hmm review I talked about how you 29:58 know cab gets the hammer mm-hmm and he's 30:01 fighting that you know he's fighting 30:03 fans and he gets beat up and then you're 30:05 so caught up in that gentleman oh my god 30:06 cap really has the hammer in oh my god 30:09 everyone's down what what's gonna happen 30:11 then all sudden cap on your left I was 30:14 like I'm so caught up in the drama this 30:19 episode okay as soon as she's like no in 30:22 Augusta yes and he's thrusting into it 30:25 yeah I was like oh yeah I think the 30:30 minute he put on the hood and became 30:31 hood at justice I was my brain was just 30:34 scrambling to figure out wait now how is 30:36 the whole mythology gonna change now and 30:38 I think because I was so adamant in 30:40 disagreeing with Erik that this was that 30:42 he was that he has definitely not hood 30:44 of justice and that's a silly idea and 30:45 must be wrong I immediately was like 30:49 whoa whoa wait this really is a thing 30:50 House is going to change everything else 30:52 so I was like really scrambling to 30:53 figure it all out so I kind of my mind 30:55 move from A to B to C to D to oh no not 30:57 him right so yeah for me I don't know I 31:01 was just I guess because I was writing 31:02 notes for the show and stuff I 31:03 I wish is very present in this in this 31:05 episode I was just what are they gonna 31:07 do next but I would really just wanted 31:08 to just be in the moment and so as soon 31:10 as that happened I was like oh that's 31:12 right 31:13 that was another kind of oh yeah I 31:15 watched the episode twice and it was 31:17 doubly disappointing both times because 31:19 the thing is when he comes into nice 31:20 it's when captain metropolis comes in 31:22 and sits at the dinner table and is 31:23 talking to not bass Reeves 31:27 yeah - will Reeves and - Jun and Jun is 31:32 very much like okay I'm here talking to 31:34 and they have that little conversation 31:35 that's a lovely character moment for her 31:37 I immediately know I mean huh we've all 31:40 seen this happen enough times I 31:42 immediately know that this dude is going 31:44 to be that white person right who's very 31:47 much like you're my black friend but two 31:51 years ago I organized a get out watch 31:53 party mmm in Seoul and a number of black 31:56 folks I got was around thirty folks came 31:58 to watch us it was great and I remember 32:01 in the theater when got what's to make 32:03 Harry's name was equal to Chris I forgot 32:05 his name Chris you know he's with rose 32:09 and he's with the white family and there 32:11 are things that would happen and the 32:13 black woman exclusively in the audience 32:15 would give us all like mm-hmm mm-hmm 32:17 because they know what's about to happen 32:19 they know what's up they they have that 32:21 that ain't like no and you could just 32:24 see that on her face in this mm-hmm 32:26 at that interaction very much so and it 32:28 was on my face to us it's like oh no I 32:31 just knew it wasn't gonna go to a good 32:32 place 32:33 no no of course not but yeah he would 32:35 say your participation legitimizes the 32:38 whole operation but you must keep your 32:41 identity a secret not everyone is as 32:43 tolerable as I am I'm the good one God 32:47 you know and then you know of course 32:48 what happens Regine say they don't care 32:51 about you they only care about what you 32:53 can do for them mm-hmm before all that 32:56 when she was encouraging him to be 32:58 originally a genius she said you're not 32:59 gonna get justice with a badge and a gun 33:02 mm-hmm just honestly after hearing that 33:08 quote alone I wonder how many black 33:09 officers who are watching this show 33:11 currently started to question themselves 33:13 yeah there is something to be said 33:15 because the show's caught a lot of fire 33:16 for being 33:17 cop quote-unquote not anymore I don't 33:20 think no I think yes I don't think it 33:22 ever really was a lot of people were 33:24 seeing it that way because there is such 33:26 a strong emphasis on police 33:27 participation in the show but yeah with 33:31 this episode I think it's pretty clear 33:33 that this show does not have a pro 33:35 police message no and that's gonna be 33:38 interesting I'm pretty sure this one 33:39 pinched some people where they lived I 33:41 don't think it ever did I mean it showed 33:43 cops being real fascist hey folks off 33:45 the street whole communities can you 33:48 imagine if they didn't invade Nixon 33:50 Ville and it was like Malcolm Ville you 33:57 know I agree yeah I don't think it was 33:59 ever pro-police either but I think that 34:01 a lot of people may have tried to try to 34:04 say it was in order to discredit the 34:06 show I think there was a really strong 34:08 statement made in this particular 34:10 episode about that now that said I think 34:15 there's also a lot to be said for okay 34:19 how do i phrase this so we have will 34:22 reeves AKA hooded justice the real 34:24 hooded justice which begs the question 34:26 who's this person who they're putting up 34:28 his hood of justice in this television 34:30 miniseries and who gave him the idea 34:31 yeah who gave them the idea - yeah and 34:33 who so what I'm wondering is is there 34:36 somebody else who then later replaces 34:38 him as the the real quote/unquote hood 34:40 of Justice some white person and who is 34:42 that because that's gonna be I think 34:44 hopefully an interesting plot point that 34:47 they're gonna attach that they're going 34:48 to approach later on because there's 34:50 still the hood of Justice mythology from 34:51 the comic to reckon with right and that 34:54 was some white guy at some point so what 34:57 are we doing here but anyway the thing 35:00 about willory though is that he he 35:02 really has this this burning desire this 35:05 rage that is motivating him to go and do 35:10 something to fight to fight against 35:13 injustice in his community and he allows 35:15 himself to be talked into and to some 35:17 extent seduced into joining of white 35:20 organization that promises to fight for 35:22 him if he fights for them right and of 35:25 course that doesn't happen and I my 35:26 heart broke for him in the scene where 35:28 he's on the phone begging him you said 35:30 you would help me 35:31 and there's just it's such a beautiful 35:33 performance because there's that rage 35:34 there yeah but there's also very much 35:36 like a broken wounded little boy like he 35:38 but you know you said you'd help it you 35:39 see that Tulsa boy you know who just you 35:41 know has that that notice please look 35:43 after this boy and a baby standing in a 35:45 field watching his community burn you 35:47 see that those ideals yeah I mean you 35:50 you slowly see the cracks mm-hmm I mean 35:54 for me my heart broke when they revealed 35:56 that Bank advertisement of the white 35:59 superhero catching the black person yes 36:02 any-any had he was just like oh my god 36:03 this is what I signed up for it exactly 36:05 and he walked away by trying to get this 36:07 off his face exactly exactly 36:09 but at that point he still does think 36:10 that this is going to do something good 36:11 for black people then he gets on the 36:13 phone and later on after all that 36:16 happened we we got a right but let me 36:20 make that the general point I'm making 36:21 so I guess it just illustrates something 36:23 interesting about in a way the dangers 36:26 of letting yourself be diverted there's 36:29 that wonderful quote by Audrey Lord the 36:31 Masters tools will never dismantle the 36:33 Masters house there's that whole point 36:35 made here about letting yourself be 36:37 divided into other interests not the 36:39 collaboration is a bad thing but letting 36:41 yourself be used with the promise of 36:45 help later as leverage that shit doesn't 36:48 work historically doesn't work and it's 36:52 an interesting it's an interesting 36:54 choice to include that here and they did 36:56 it so beautifully because I think a lot 36:58 of us have felt that pain firsthand of 37:01 maybe having friends of a different race 37:03 who whose issues you're really down with 37:05 and then it turns around that they don't 37:08 have that they don't have your back in 37:09 the same way or that they harbor anti 37:11 blackness and you're the special one or 37:13 when push comes to shove they're not 37:14 there for you exactly they're not going 37:16 to fight with other people on your 37:18 behalf we're military women right 37:19 exactly or you're in you're fighting for 37:21 them so I mean I think it's yeah there 37:23 it goes in so many different ways or so 37:25 I think that that's a very again an 37:27 interesting point but specifically in 37:29 the context of this show it's very much 37:30 about blackness and anti black ops I 37:32 mean you can that's part of what I'm 37:34 saying you can spread it out to queer 37:36 whites gender rights etc but this show 37:39 is about me is about blackness and anti 37:40 blackness the first crack is 37:44 him getting almost hung by his own 37:47 people that he thought were his people 37:48 next crack is obviously seeing that Bank 37:51 advertisement and then he goes to the 37:54 theater mm-hmm what happened same thing 37:57 that happens when you put too many 37:58 animals in the same cage Oh true yeah 38:01 I'm I love how he was still dead payant 38:03 like it was like he was reacting to that 38:05 hard he he goes in the theater and even 38:08 still his reactions are still very cool 38:10 and calm he still try to hold on to some 38:12 semblance of hope and like that theater 38:18 scene like with that that body was kind 38:19 of just laid out and from the screen 38:21 like oh so gruesome Jesus and it was a 38:24 rare it was a rare example of black 38:27 suffering and black pain being used to 38:29 illustrate a point that was both 38:33 exploitative and informing the story 38:35 like it was gross and horrible and awful 38:37 to look at but it was also very much in 38:40 that kind of sci-fi way where it's so 38:42 far removed from reality that you don't 38:44 feel it as personal even though it's 38:46 being used to illustrate a very real 38:47 point it's hard to do so well done other 38:51 layers let's get to this Reeves was 38:55 first inspired to be a part of the law 38:59 and be a force for good in the theater 39:02 when his mom was playing there his first 39:05 time on the beat his mom was playing his 39:07 soundtrack and then his mom was playing 39:10 in that theater too and that's from the 39:14 story standpoint the last time he was a 39:16 part of the law just there's just so 39:22 much mm-hmm so as you said yeah he goes 39:24 to what did captain metropolis say 39:29 you're gonna have to solve black on rest 39:31 on your own oh the pain of that and you 39:35 know I will say I don't know that I'm 39:36 necessarily convinced that he thought 39:39 that the police were ever his people I 39:41 think he was suspicious the whole time I 39:43 think he had a pretty good idea that he 39:45 was not going to be long starting from 39:47 his badge pinning ceremony and then he 39:50 was that the suspicious look he gets 39:52 when he brings that white man in for to 39:54 be right and the white cops come and 39:56 they make him kind of pale 39:57 servus make an apology and then they go 39:59 away and there do the little hand symbol 40:01 I think he's suspicious the whole time 40:02 but I also don't think he's expecting it 40:04 to be as bad as it is I think that when 40:08 he brought them in and he mate and that 40:10 white cop made that guy apologized I 40:12 think he thought he really trusted them 40:14 it was only after he saw him back out on 40:16 the street and then came to talk to that 40:18 cop again like what happened like a key 40:19 oh don't don't bring this up here yeah I 40:22 think you know what I'm going back and 40:23 say that was the first crack for him but 40:26 I think he really did trust them mm-hmm 40:28 in the beginning but yeah so right when 40:32 he he kills that that market owner 40:35 throws that those is his uniform away 40:37 his hat down and puts on the hood is the 40:42 shot of him burning down the warehouse 40:44 okay when he just called me shot that 40:47 market owner who is a despicable 40:48 character and he kind of wanted him to 40:50 get his the whole episode from the very 40:52 first time you see him yeah but you 40:54 don't know what's coming for him like 40:55 that yeah uh I screamed I screamed in my 40:59 house like I was so shocked again this 41:02 just I'm this show is always doing 41:04 something I would expect and I'm not I 41:06 wasn't as caught up in the drama as you 41:07 were I think cuz I was trying to figure 41:09 out where it's gonna go 41:10 how's this gonna fit into the North 41:11 ology what's happening next what else 41:12 did they change who was Chinese in the 41:15 original Minuteman I don't know he was 41:16 like all these different things but I 41:19 wasn't expecting him to just because I'm 41:21 still very aware that we are operating 41:23 under the rules of segregated America 41:27 segregated pre reparations Watchmen 41:30 America after that with somebody who 41:32 lived through the Tulsa massacre 41:35 I wasn't expecting him to do that see 41:38 interesting Lee I saw that coming a mile 41:40 away 41:40 I didn't I screamed I was expecting him 41:43 to do something but I mean I was 41:45 expecting maybe go beat them all again 41:47 but not to kill them all that was 41:50 something and he was hidden those 41:51 headshots like man I mean that was 41:54 interesting he was like this hmm 41:56 the John wick of totally yeah again that 42:00 the stuff him watching the warehouse 42:02 burn was was gorgeous mm-hmm even in 42:05 black and white right thing most of this 42:08 episode the cinematography was really 42:10 good because most of us 42:11 so it was in black and white and I so 42:15 you know how insecure it gets all of 42:16 these accolades over its lighting 42:18 because it's actually really difficult 42:19 to light black people well on screen and 42:22 they do a very good job but do a very 42:24 good job here too because it's not only 42:26 lighting black people on screen but it's 42:28 also lighting them in black and white 42:30 and making it look still very rich and 42:33 very full and very nuanced and not just 42:34 very monochrome so they did a really 42:37 good job with this here great point 42:38 because you very clearly understand who 42:40 has different skin tones for example 42:42 absolutely mmm so here's where we get 42:45 where Reeves comes home feeling 42:47 accomplished like I really made a 42:48 difference if any catches his son trying 42:51 to be like him mm-hmm 42:53 on that note what do you think Angela's 42:56 father was like because sometimes traits 42:58 skip a generation like I'm really 43:00 curious about if he maybe went he took 43:03 up the mantle in the future or was he 43:06 just a regular person and then Angela 43:08 just kind of took her grandfather was 43:09 paying it kind of passed over it well no 43:12 wonder about that because you know here 43:13 a he he was in Vietnam long enough but 43:17 before the war ended long enough for it 43:19 to become a state and live there long 43:21 enough for Angela to have been born 43:23 there and raised there for a large 43:25 amount of her life so I do wonder what 43:27 he was like I wonder if I'm going to see 43:29 that actually or maybe have her talk 43:31 about it because here's the thing will 43:32 Reeves clearly was nowhere around right 43:34 and as far it was yeah and was well 43:37 uh-huh yeah at least not discernibly and 43:39 was never really spoken up because 43:41 angela has no idea who he is so when so 43:46 when Jun says that they need to go away 43:48 you do kind of wonder is there a 43:50 stepfather somewhere or what did she 43:53 tell him about his father well the next 43:55 episode if I'm not mistaken you know 43:56 they kind of show little previews yeah I 43:58 think it shows a lot of her time in 44:00 Vietnam I think it does so hopefully so 44:02 I'm really a bit about the father 44:04 definitely or you know just did he die 44:07 in Vietnam who knows you know there's so 44:09 many things that could have happened but 44:11 again this shows really good because 44:13 it's not exactly on cliffhangers but it 44:15 is on cliffhangers like they tell a 44:17 complete story in each episode but they 44:20 really want you to see where the story 44:22 continues as I said during our first 44:24 review maybe 44:25 review of the second - they answer 44:27 questions and even those answers are 44:29 like hydrates it makes more questions to 44:32 be asked later on 44:33 Oh hydra hydra hydra sorry hydrates i'm 44:36 sitting here like what kind of the once 44:44 june takes her son back to Tulsa it cuts 44:49 to will holding the news and then it 44:51 invented the transition to the older 44:54 version holding it in the wheelchair 44:56 watching he's still fighting injustice 44:59 in his old he's using that technology he 45:03 stole he use it on them but and that's 45:08 so authentic to the Watchmen mythology 45:10 that immediately something right back to 45:12 the feel of the comic that was so well 45:13 done yes and then what is what is all do 45:18 you think I'm trying to fucking help you 45:20 people so it's like so it's like you 45:23 really thought this white guy was cool 45:24 in the first episode he like why to get 45:26 hung even though it's like even though 45:28 you saw that Klan outfit you're like 45:29 well you try to rationalize it yes 45:35 because him and Angela had such a great 45:37 relationship right Wow maybe there's 45:39 something else but no no he really is 45:42 that guy yeah yeah which again is a very 45:46 bad legacy exactly it's a very black 45:49 fear you know because you really never 45:51 know anybody's heart right and it's I 45:52 don't think people understand I don't 45:54 think in particular white people 45:55 understand that it's not but we're not 45:58 unfriendly necessarily a lot of times 46:01 there is just a suspicion because it's 46:03 so painful to put the time and energy 46:05 into befriending somebody and inviting 46:07 them into your culture and then find 46:08 your health and your heart and then 46:10 finding out that they are secretly some 46:13 kind of racist now we're not saying 46:15 you're all secretly members of the Klan 46:16 don't get me twisted I'm just saying 46:17 that if even if you find out that 46:18 somebody has even a small racist 46:21 attitude 46:22 well don't know Mike all lives matter 46:24 yeah yeah exactly those small things can 46:26 break you I mean really gender rights 46:29 are the bigger issue racism isn't that 46:31 big of a deal anymore you know that kind 46:33 of thing that's so painful to understand 46:35 to have that kind of aspect of your your 46:38 reality and validated by someone who 46:41 you've chosen to love or care about in 46:44 any kind of way or even just associated 46:45 with casually is so painful and that was 46:47 perfectly illustrated here because again 46:50 angela is the person who you see sitting 46:53 in that chair making the decision to 46:55 make him hang himself yes she she hands 46:57 him the room exactly she hands him the 46:58 rope and you can see even though she's 47:01 playing her grandfather you can very 47:02 clearly see that this is something that 47:04 she is learning that she needs to know 47:06 now she knows what her friend was and it 47:09 wasn't a shock on her face when he cuts 47:10 back to her it was a deadpan just like 47:12 oh yeah because she was still her 47:13 grandfather at the time and that's when 47:15 I've really started to notice 47:16 oh wow she really did the work on this 47:17 this portrayal because that's Lou 47:19 Gossett's Louis Gossett jr. body 47:22 language all right Regina King and 47:24 that's really good I wrote some notes 47:27 here agent Blake and you know the 47:34 officers around we're talking about how 47:35 she could OD on this like they were they 47:37 were so worried about her safety but 47:40 could it be said that Angela was more 47:46 resilient to OD'ing because their trauma 47:49 was so similar it's very possible it 47:51 wasn't so shocking for her because she's 47:54 she's already been doing some of this 47:56 stuff yeah and then there's also the 47:58 they extract the drug from the brain of 48:01 the person they take it from and they're 48:02 genetically related so maybe that has 48:04 that's a good point 48:05 it's a great point so yeah so then you 48:12 know once he hangs himself rate you know 48:15 she's starting get pulled out and it 48:17 cuts to her grandmother mm-hmm it's what 48:20 she say I'm gonna take you home now 48:21 honey and then she pops out and who's 48:24 waiting for her lady lady true how did 48:27 she get there how did Blake let that 48:29 happen 48:30 did she just get taken away you do have 48:32 so many questions and you see that and 48:34 you can see all of those questions on 48:35 Angela's face like okay what wait 48:38 where's the grandfather all of those 48:41 questions the next episode is going to 48:42 be really interesting because they're 48:44 either going to answer all those 48:45 questions or they're just going to leave 48:47 it and move on to the next bit well it 48:49 seemed like I guess that I didn't watch 48:50 all of it I really don't like too 48:52 trailers for things that I'm gonna watch 48:54 anyway but I saw Angela as a child so 48:57 maybe hurry it should have some history 49:00 that maybe should even know about very 49:02 possible yes that's what I'm I'm looking 49:04 forward to seeing her time in Vietnam 49:07 maybe with her father 49:09 mm-hmm and maybe lady lady shoot has 49:11 some small role around maybe even what 49:15 happens to her dad who knows now I am 49:18 concerned about one thing there are nine 49:19 episodes of this show for this season 49:21 this is episode six am i right 49:23 I think so yes yes so we've got three 49:25 episodes left this is two back-to-back 49:27 episodes of straight memory is what it's 49:29 looking like it's gonna happen it's 49:30 going to happen 49:31 sorry three back-to-back episodes that 49:33 are heavily memory based because the 49:35 episode before this was looking-glasses 49:37 episode explaining his origins and 49:39 everything even though it wasn't as much 49:41 of his memories it was still very much 49:42 about his past hmm 49:45 so that's the story though it will still 49:48 advance a story but they've got a lot to 49:50 wrap up into episodes now here's what I 49:52 don't want I don't want a gigantic 49:53 season to season cliffhanger where we 49:55 still have crazy Adrian Veidt on the 49:57 moon we still have no idea what's going 50:00 on there and they did give us that great 50:02 teaser spoiler very beginning exactly 50:05 right we had they gave us that great 50:07 teaser spoiler at the very beginning of 50:09 the episode of that blue hand reaching 50:11 out of nowhere to pick something up so 50:13 how are we gonna get there in three 50:15 episodes this is my question especially 50:17 if the next one is a lot of memories 50:18 sure we'll see what happens I'm still 50:21 look lost hurt me all I am still 50:25 suspicious I'm not less suspicious than 50:27 I was I do like this a lot but they 50:29 better make the story work okay 50:31 they cannot drop another giant squid 50:33 that's not gonna happen before we wrap 50:37 up I do want to go to this article okay 50:39 this is from a Huffington Post article 50:41 it's titled watchman is a powerful 50:43 exploration of black trauma and everyone 50:46 needs to watch there was a similarly 50:50 titled article on blurred comm actually 50:53 that we should all read I just get just 50:55 came out I think earlier today and I 50:56 have a kind of time to read the whole 50:57 thing but check out the article 50:58 unblurred calm to you absolutely okay 51:03 so I want to read a couple things from 51:06 this article that I thought were really 51:07 powerful so here we go the series 51:11 reimagines the 1986 graphic novel by 51:14 Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons where the 51:17 protagonist of that iteration fought 51:19 against the threat of nuclear war with 51:21 the Soviet Union showrunner Damon 51:24 Lindelof Messiah said dental before 51:25 Damon Lindelof an executive producer in 51:28 Nicole Cassel turned the focus of this 51:31 version to race that backdrop was 51:34 immediately clear in the premiere in 51:36 which Lindelof and Castlereagh staged 51:39 the Tulsa race Massacre when hundreds of 51:42 black residents were killed in 1921 and 51:45 Lindelof says on instagram to me 51:48 Watchmen is a story about America and 51:51 it's about self-proclaimed heroes 51:54 fighting an intangible enemy that is 51:57 almost impossible impossible to defeat 52:00 in the eighties that in me was the 52:04 pervasive threat of nuclear Armageddon 52:06 between the US and the Soviet Union in 52:09 2019 that enemy is the long overdue 52:12 reckoning with our country's camouflaged 52:15 history of white supremacy why that 52:20 particular quote why did that stand out 52:22 to you so hard so I read the article 52:24 there's a lot happening there there's a 52:26 lot this article's great I mean there's 52:27 they're more gyms I wouldn't I want to 52:28 dig into but yeah he talks about this 52:31 thing that's impossible to defeat and of 52:33 course we have in this episode six this 52:35 black man I thought if I can just join 52:37 the force I can work my way up through 52:39 the system and change things for at 52:41 least even just for my town maybe I 52:44 don't know if he necessarily thought it 52:46 through to that extent I think it was 52:47 part and I think that that's another 52:49 commentary on just the the idea of being 52:53 in the police I think there was 52:54 certainly an aspect of that but it was 52:56 also a very accessible outlet for his 52:59 rage in his pain so well I don't know 53:04 about that because you you saw will as a 53:06 child watch the movie I forgot I trust 53:09 in the law of the movie where he as a 53:11 black cop is getting respect and 53:14 admiration from these white people sure 53:16 and so maybe 53:17 it's possible that he was seeking not 53:20 only to protect his own people but also 53:23 get respect for himself from his 53:27 oppressors possibly but again there's 53:31 again that I think that has a lot to do 53:33 with just it being there's other ways to 53:35 do that the police is a really 53:36 particular choice sure 53:41 and especially since I mean timewise 53:44 where would this have been the 1940s 53:48 okay well 1939 because 1939 okay into 53:52 the option yeah 1938 because Superman 53:56 first I'm assuming okay yeah so 1938 I 54:01 don't know I mean I think there's a lot 54:03 there's historically displacing in a 54:05 historical context yes there is 54:08 definitely that aspect of wanting to 54:12 change the system from the inside out 54:13 but also I think there was a lot of 54:17 groundwork being laid for understanding 54:18 that those systems do not work at the 54:20 times I think he had to learn that 54:22 because he was again the one of the 54:23 first to like really join the force 54:26 slavery had happened pretty recently so 54:30 as you said groundwork for trying things 54:32 out testing the boundaries and seeing 54:34 like what you can't I can't do I mean 54:37 just coming out of the 1921 Tulsa 54:40 massacre I don't know 54:41 I'm I'm hesitant to ascribe only 54:44 positive motivations to him that's what 54:46 I'm saying I mean there's also a serious 54:49 I think there's also a serious aspect of 54:50 just needing to work out things issues 54:52 of his own pain and rage and wanting 54:54 kind of a revenge I mean there's a 54:56 reason he goes so incredibly apeshit on 54:58 the Klan when he sees them it's it's a 55:01 it's a personal motivation not just a 55:03 community motivation but I I think had 55:06 those cops really put that person away I 55:09 think he would have felt better about 55:10 but I think it was obviously seen the 55:12 Klan was it was a visual stimulant but 55:15 also you're seeing that what you worked 55:17 so hard to be a part of immediately 55:20 betrayed you right all that you've 55:22 worked so hard for 55:24 mm-hmm what inspired you on the screen 55:26 and and then you've carried that with 55:28 you it's a soundtrack to you walking the 55:30 beat 55:31 that that idea that you've held on for 55:33 so long 55:34 betrays you and it's in the form of 55:37 these specific people of course yeah I 55:40 mean you know we could yeah well I mean 55:43 this is the thing I mean these these 55:44 characters are very nuanced they have a 55:46 lot of interior already absolutely which 55:47 is the thing you don't see in black 55:49 characters a lot of time boom Green Book 55:51 worst movie in the world so you know you 55:54 don't see a lot of interior already in 55:55 black characters and the fact that there 55:56 are enough levels where we can talk 55:58 about his motivations to this extent in 55:59 a situation where usually it is just 56:01 like slave owner bad black man good kind 56:05 of motivation sir I think is great and 56:08 very groundbreaking and really well done 56:09 sure 56:11 it's article has talked about June as 56:13 kind of an avatar for Ida B Wells who 56:16 talked about black lynchings okay 56:20 interesting 56:20 there was actually a Kuwaiti wills 56:22 posters okay sure I I saw that in the 56:25 article and I thought it was an 56:27 interesting idea but I also thought it 56:29 was reaching a bit in terms of 56:31 historical context there were plenty of 56:32 other people she could have been an 56:34 avatar for but I liked the idea of 56:35 letting June be her own person and I 56:37 thought that that was very clearly 56:39 Illustrated she's very much not a an 56:42 archetype she's just just a black woman 56:44 who has a life of her own a lot but yeah 56:46 yes this is almost like get out where or 56:50 us me more at more so get out where it's 56:52 really cool to read the analysis or hear 56:54 them from from blur calm very much so 56:57 and and blurred out please do it's just 57:02 I wonder I it's such a bold decision to 57:05 make this season of Watchmen which was 57:08 very much about politics and well very 57:15 different things to make this whole 57:17 season essentially about race in a lot 57:20 of different ways I wonder if this is 57:21 something that's going to continue the 57:23 matically through other seasons of the 57:25 show 57:25 I wonder how if they're going to really 57:27 wrap this up as a theme here and then 57:29 continue I'm very curious where this is 57:33 going they could have easily Ironman did 57:36 where you know that the first Ironman 57:38 convict he was in Vietnam trying to you 57:40 know saw his tech or whatever he messed 57:42 up and then in 2008 57:44 was in Afghanistan right they could've 57:46 easily oh there's new threats of war 57:48 with Russia ghen cuz we are you know 57:50 yeah or there's problems of Middle East 57:52 that could have easily just be ested 57:54 said yeah very bold choice yeah they did 57:57 and they really decided to go in a 57:58 completely new direction that's very 58:00 true to the spirit of the original book 58:02 but is just so different and so timely 58:06 and so very socially aware and the fact 58:10 that they've got one of the original 58:11 writers on board I mean not Alan Moore 58:13 cuz he's somewhere voting for Corbin no 58:16 well yeah he is voting for Corbin you're 58:18 right but also he's you know I don't 58:19 know collecting mushrooms for his which 58:20 is brewed right but whatever he does he 58:22 does but um yeah it's just really 58:25 interesting to see how they've done this 58:27 it's a very bold choice it's a very 58:29 hopeful choice it gives me good feelings 58:31 about the future of art you we talked 58:34 earlier this year about the idea of 58:35 status quo rap and I think that if we 58:38 even if we have some more status for 58:39 rapper status quo TV is becoming less of 58:44 a thing which is interesting I kind of 58:46 thought the Golden Age of TV was coming 58:48 to a close but we're still going strong 58:50 here what a way to close out the decade 58:52 yeah I don't know I don't know what to 58:55 think and I don't know where it's going 58:56 and I'd like that feeling yeah yeah all 59:00 right sure well that wraps up our show 59:02 please let us know how you feel about 59:04 the Watchmen did you call any this stuff 59:06 out what do you think is gonna happen in 59:07 the future what do you think of our of 59:09 our analysis please follow us on 59:11 Facebook at bler duv we're also on 59:15 Twitter at brdu we are also an Instagram 59:18 at ble Rd period you pee check us out 59:21 also on blurred comm and we're also of 59:24 course on Apple podcast and Spotify is 59:27 subscribe and give us a review we got a 59:28 couple more views for NAPA podcast 59:31 everyone's still giving us 59:32 sterling reviews we appreciate that 59:34 thank you thank you so much alright so 59:36 DM me Eric I'll get Odom's that's cool 59:40 though you know whatever I'm not salty 59:43 yeah you are you just yeah alright peace 59:48 peace 59:48 [Laughter]