Are You Watching the Watchmen?

Over the last two weeks I have been deep into the first season of Watchmen on HBO. I was given the advice to watch the show and then go back and watch the movie that is the backstory and I followed that advice. Please know this universe created by Alan Moore as a comic book that became a movie has been carried forward by Damon Lindelof so feel free to start here. Watchmen is science fiction showing us our world - reflecting back possibility and problems, issues and influences, and it is scary as you can imagine. And then some. Here is what I can tell you about Watchmen without spoilers:

1. Now is the time to watch this first season. If you heard about the Tulsa Race riots in the media you will get to learn about them in a vivid and indelible way.
2. I am still figuring out what happened in the show and realizing that I need to watch it again. You won’t get it as it is happening and that is totally okay.
3. Memory is a tricky thing, as is intergenerational trauma. You have seen brilliance when you understand those two concepts better from watching the episodes but still cannot articulate any of it.
4. There is absolutely no theology in Watchmen except that it is all about the deepest questions of G-d talk without ever saying it. Who are we meant to be, what are we meant to do, to fight for, to create, you know, the big stuff.
5. Alan Moore is a genius and I don’t want to live in his head. Or maybe I do, but I need an exit strategy. Clearly Damon Lindelof was ok living in Alan Moore’s head or he could not have created this, but it is a neighborhood to which I suggest you bring a friend.
6. If you want to understand race in America there is nowhere better to start than dystopian alternative history. Of course, it is hard to tell if we are living in one now, so be prepared to have your grip on reality loosened.
7. People are complex and G-d works through us even in the worst messiness of personality, history, failure, and really freaky imagination.
8. Grace is present in this violent, dark, dystopia. Look for it.

Anything else I say will ruin it for you so go watch Watchmen Season 1 and ponder your place in the order of things. - Michelle Auerbach