Watchmen (2019): Season 1

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 35 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 503 Ratings

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5.9

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5.9	Your Score
5.9	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 503 Ratings

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Season Details & Credits

HBO | Season Premiere Date: October 20, 2019

Summary: Set in an alternative 2019, where there is no Internet, Robert Redford is president, and the police wear masks to protect their identities, Tulsa police detective Angela Abar (Regina King) investigates the return of a white supremacist terrorist group inspired by the now-deceased Rorschach in the Damon Lindelof series based on Alan MooreSet in an alternative 2019, where there is no Internet, Robert Redford is president, and the police wear masks to protect their identities, Tulsa police detective Angela Abar (Regina King) investigates the return of a white supremacist terrorist group inspired by the now-deceased Rorschach in the Damon Lindelof series based on Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' graphic novel of the same name.… Expand

Genre(s): Drama, Action & Adventure

Season 1 Episodes

6.6
S1:E3. She Was Killed by Space Junk
Air Date: November 3, 2019
6.0
S1:E2. Martial Feats of Comanche Horsemanship
Air Date: October 28, 2019
6.0
S1:E1. It's Summer and We're Running Out of Ice
Air Date: October 20, 2019

See all Seasons and Episodes

Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

100

IndieWire Ben Travers

Oct 15, 2019

The series’ scope is astonishing given its subject matter, and even more so given its relentless entertainment value. Through six episodes, “Watchmen” has already provided a bounty of intelligent theories to study and debate, but it’s designed to be one helluva good time, as well. Read full review

100

Emily VanDerWerff

Oct 17, 2019

Calling it the best new show of the fall feels too limiting, because it’s trying to be so many things to so many people. It left me dizzy from its audacity, its delight, and its occasional lack of taste. Your mileage may vary. Read full review

100

Mark Dawidziak

Oct 21, 2019

Ambitious, imaginative, provocative and engrossing. ... A triumph of style and substance, it never sacrifices pace for preaching or pontificating. At least in the first six episodes made available to critics, it remains every bit as entertaining as it is intriguing. Read full review

Tim Goodman

Oct 15, 2019

Relentlessly entertaining, odd and creative... Watchmen is a tour-de-force, no doubt, but there's a landing that definitely needs to be stuck. Read full review

Sonia Saraiya

Oct 29, 2019

The show is so ambitious, with its multiple timelines, storytelling structures, and perspectives, that it’s perpetually surprising. Read full review

Richard Roeper

Oct 21, 2019

If you’ve never read the comics or you didn’t see the movie, some of the references are going to fly by unnoticed, and it’s going to be a challenge to keep up with all the new developments without knowing about the past events that led to all of this. Still, regardless of your depth of knowledge about this universe, certain episodes stand alone as strikingly effective set pieces. Read full review

Daniel D'Addario

Oct 15, 2019

To tackle the meanness and violence of history in a truly serious way — with superheroes or with mere magnificently brave mortals telling the story — demands a focus “Watchmen” simply lacks, and attempts to make up for with a tone of increasing dudgeon. What “Watchmen” sets out to do, taking the opportunity of an artwork perceived as unadaptable and writing a whole new story, is admirable. But both that original artwork and, more crucially, this story deserve better. Read full review

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User Score

Write a Review

5.9

User Reviews

xjcln

Oct 27, 2019

Well shot, well acted, interesting setting, tension in first episode is palpable. Really excited to see how this show plays out.

5 of 17 users found this helpful512

SirSwan

Nov 13, 2019

I do not care that it's not following the comics, I love the novelty of it! I actually look forward to new episodes and so far have not been disappointed! I can't stand woke culture and the forced propaganda Hollywood puts in stuff nowadays, but I don't actually feel it to be the case withI do not care that it's not following the comics, I love the novelty of it! I actually look forward to new episodes and so far have not been disappointed! I can't stand woke culture and the forced propaganda Hollywood puts in stuff nowadays, but I don't actually feel it to be the case with this show just because there is a black female lead and a white supremicist subplot.

Most of the negative rewiews are "Derpa, derpa, its not the same as the comic book, derpa, depra" Get your head out of your behind and look at the show as a new thing with familiar elements and it's great!… Expand

8 of 18 users found this helpful810

Columbo116

Oct 20, 2019

Saw pilot at NYCC, one of the best in ages. Hoping they don't pull a Lost with the finale lol

30 of 88 users found this helpful3058

LucasMolto

Oct 27, 2019

Love the First episode. I understand the frustration of cómic Book funs with the polítical and racial tensión. Hope Will mix it with more fantástical elementos in the future

7 of 15 users found this helpful78

weyivi

Oct 20, 2019

Watchmen (2019) is very well shot, well acted, and well scored. Thematically, it's nothing like the original graphic novel released in 1986. This show uses the backdrop of Watchmen in order to push its own themes of race relations in the American south in an alternate history with someWatchmen (2019) is very well shot, well acted, and well scored. Thematically, it's nothing like the original graphic novel released in 1986. This show uses the backdrop of Watchmen in order to push its own themes of race relations in the American south in an alternate history with some continuity from the graphic novel. I would be weary of any television show or film that pushes divisive and politically charged themes in order to preach to the viewer. Time and time again, television and film in our current political climate has become about how to best use the medium as a vehicle in order to further political messages. Many prominent franchises of super hero films, science fiction television shows, and fantasy films have been co-opted to further socio-political goals. And it's very unfortunate that Watchmen has been compromised in the same manner. If you the viewer don't want to be painfully proselytized to then I would avoid Watchmen. It's another "woke" television show concerned more with politics than world building.… Expand

48 of 90 users found this helpful4842

mintlo

Dec 30, 2019

What a pile of bizarre, foul **** Don't waste your time. Run. Run away....blah blah blah blah

4 of 8 users found this helpful44

metacritiqueur

Sep 2, 2020

Watchmen, Lovecraft Country ... HBO acquires materials that are too white for his taste, then blackens them. By emphasizing that the white man is evil in 2020.

2 of 10 users found this helpful28

SEE ALL 146 REVIEWS

Seasons & Episodes

85

Series Overview
Season 1

85
- Season 1 Overview
  Air Date: October 20, 2019
- 6.6
  S1:E3. She Was Killed by Space Junk
  Air Date: November 3, 2019
- 6.0
  S1:E2. Martial Feats of Comanche Horsemanship
  Air Date: October 28, 2019
- 6.0
  S1:E1. It's Summer and We're Running Out of Ice
  Air Date: October 20, 2019