This week's Watchmen episode was rather unique because it explored the backstory of the Hooded Justice. It started off with a 're-enactment' or rather fictionalized re-enactment of how HJ was apprehended by the cops back in the late 30s. I'm not sure if that really happened or was it just a propaganda by the police way back when the authorities wanted to paint a bad picture on the vigilante.
Angela aka Sister Night went time traveling back to the past courtesy of some Nostalgia pills meant for her grandfather which she swallowed by the bottle. Kinda remind me of the pensieve contraption from the Harry Potter books.
In the re-enactment HJ was depicted as being a queer and had a relationship with Captain Metropolis but we later learnt that the 'real-life' HJ was indeed Will Reeves aka Angela Abar's grandfather who was loyal to his wife and was marginalised by his own police team mates as he strives to become the best African American policeman during one of the most difficult time in the history of modern America.
The funny thing is Reeves never shed the noose and rather adapted the image as his own, something like an anti-hero statement when audiences know that he is really a black man masquerading as a white man underneath his mask in the time of uber racism.
I felt kinda sorry when Reeves' own police buddies turned against him but it was fitting to finally see him turning into some sort of vigilante in the end and joining the Minutemen upon Captain Metropolis' invitation. Like any good superhero would do, Reeves lost it in the end when he saw his son (Angela's daddy) putting on the white paint around his eyes and taking up the HJ mantle. Now we know why Angela is so estranged from her grandfather.
Fast forward to the future, we got a glimpse of how Will Reeves killed Chief Crawford or rather lulled him to his death. A mind control light is the last thing everybody's been expecting from the Watchmen universe but then again nothing surprises us anymore right? In a way, Reeves finally got his ultimate justice albeit almost a century in the making. What better way to tell the public that racism doesn't deserve a place in the modern world than to execute the person that condoned it all. But is Crawford really a racist or was he just proud of his family legacy? Or was he just ashamed of his forefathers' history that he just had to hide the Kavalry uniform? Why can't he just burn it instead? Too many questions at this point. Can't wait for the next episode.
And where the heck was Adrian Veidt in this episode? When can we finally see Doc Manhattan coming back to earth?
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