Watchmen
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A sunset the color of sherbet was melting across the sky.
Or was it darker, molted like a bruise?
I want to get this right.
I want to chart the musical register of the bugs that hung in the air.
I want to discuss the weight of sunlight there.
But right now, I can trap its beauty in amber on the page.
In Martial Feats of Comanche Horsemanship, we see what happened that night from Angelas perspective.
The lights are twinkling the color of warm Champagne.
Santa Baby sung with that trademark minxy grace by Eartha Kitt croons in the background.
The presents are wrapped carefully under the tree.
The children are asleep as the sleek, elegant clock ticks closer to midnight.
For the first time, Angela shows fear.
Theres somebody in our house, she whispers.
What follows is a scene defined by its precise tension.
A Seventh Kavalry member breaks down the front door, shotgun drawn.
Throwing something from the fireplace at the intruder.
Scurrying across the floor into the kitchen and grabbing a knife.
Hiding near the island counter, waiting for the right moment.
Then, with cunning, stabbing the Seventh Kavalry member.
But shes not fast enough for the second intruder, who shoots her in the gut.
He cues her into the devastation.
Forty homes attacked, all belonging to police officers.
Her partner is dead (and we learn she adopted his kids by the mention of Topher).
Who isnt dead is leaving the force.
Here violence isnt just felt but inherited, passed down to transform all those in its wake.
It replicates itself, affecting people and places.
Is it not violence that has rewritten the rules of Tulsa and the police?
After all, weve primarily seen the cops going after terrorist white supremacist cells that conjure zero sympathy.
AsDanielle Butler wrote for Shadow and Act, This is one ofWatchmens more glaring contradictions.
She returns to the scene of Judds hanging, but of course must pretend everything is new to her.
Thats when she decides not to arrest Will.
At least not yet.
But Judds murder has stirred something in Angela.
Red Scare especially relishes the onslaught.
People are dragged from their homes, punched, electrocuted, beaten before being handcuffed away.
Dogs barking add to the cacophony.
But her grief has put her on edge.
When a man lunges for Looking Glass, Angela erupts with violence in kind.
Just asWatchmenthoroughly established the friendship between Angela and Judd, it destabilizes our understanding of him.
At a get-together in Judds honor, Angela does something unexpected while talking to his widow: She faints.
For a moment I bought it.
Inside is a white KKK robe and hood, which Angela meets with shock.
The revelation about Judd renders the world in frustrating shades of gray.
Who really was this man?
If he was a Seventh Kavalry member, does that mean someone else killed him?
Were those robes planted in his closet for Angela to find?
Or do they reveal an essential truth about the police force and its own ties to white supremacy?
His paltry answers are no longer enough and she needs to make good on her bluff.
So, who am I?
If I knew the answer to that, I wouldnt be wearing a fucking mask.
Angela is a woman who seems to know exactly who she is.
Shes fiercely in control which is evident in the supremely self-assured and sharply graceful physicality ofRegina King.
But how in control can a person be in a world of such chaos and slippery distinctions?
This comes to light during a rendition of his playThe Watchmakers Sonabout Jon Ostermans transformation into Dr. Manhattan.
Red Scare screaming, Im not a Nazi, Im a communist!
at the reporters who tried to get onto the scene with a pair of mechanical wings made me laugh.
I want to get a closer look at all the details of this world-building.
