Watchmen Episode 8 Review

Director: Nicole Kassell
Starring: Regina King, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jeremy Irons

I’ve said this time and time again. Watchmen is 2019’s best TV show, and what Damon Lindelof, his writers’ room and the show’s directors have done a remarkable job in making a genuinely impressive follow-up to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ graphic novel. Watchmen Episode 8, called A God Walks Into A Bar, is yet another impeccable episode of television.

Watchmen so far has been intertwining mysteries with other mysteries and we’re starting to get answers to some of the questions we had, but then we just have even more questions towards to the end of the episode, which just got me more excited for what’s to come.

This episode basically tells the backstory of how Angela Abar (played by Regina King) and Doctor Manhattan (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) ended up together and how they came up with the idea of having the big blue guy hide in plain sight as Carl Abar.

It’s a terrific episode which cuts between the past and the present and the show’s writers did an incredible job in explaining how Doctor Manhattan experiences time and they then interweaved that into the episode’s narrative.

Watchmen Episode 8 is more proof that this HBO show is must-watch television

Doctor Manhattan is back in Watchmen Episode 8 (Credit: HBO)

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This is easily the cleverest and most thought-provoking show I’ve seen in a while, and it goes a long way in showing how brilliant Moore and Gibbons’ graphic novel is.

Honestly, I couldn’t imagine a better follow up to the Watchmen comic, which many considered to be an impossible story to bring to the big screen.

Who knew that the way to do it was to do a follow-up to the story and have it be a TV show.

However, I still have a lot of love for Zack Snyder’s Watchmen film. Yet, this HBO show is head-and-shoulders above the Warner Bros. Pictures movie.

Lindelof’s show perfectly explores and expands upon the themes explored in the comic: love, heroism, corruption, politics and loss.

Watchmen is a show about everything, and this episode demonstrates that fact perfect.

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is the perfect Doctor Manhattan in Watchmen Episode 8

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Doctor Manhattan in Watchmen Episode 8 (Credit: HBO)

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Yahya Abdul-Mateen II does an incredible job as Doctor Manhattan and his and Angela’s relationship is one of the most fascinating ones I’ve ever seen on-screen.

How can a relationship work when one of the people involved knows how it’s going to end? It really is an interesting concept, and there’s also the added question of how can someone be with a being who is basically a God?

These aren’t questions I’ve ever asked myself until watching Watchmen, and they’ve stuck with me since, and I just can’t get it out of my head how well the writers tacked these questions.

I love the fact that they kept the reveal that Carl was Doctor Manhattan until so late on in the series, and I also love the fact that they were telling us this was the case all along.

There were clues peppered throughout the first season which many of us just missed completely, and looking back at it now, I can’t believe I didn’t get them.

There’s so much good with Watchmen that I struggle to come up with any negatives. The only negative I can think of is that the show is shot a bit dark, but this is a common theme with most TV shows nowadays.

Everyone should be watching HBO’s Watchmen

Regina King as Angela Abar in Watchmen Episode 8 (Credit: HBO)

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The fact that I, as I’m sure a lot of people do, watch this show on a laptop probably doesn’t help things. I would love to sit in a dark cinema and just watch the entirety of Watchmen Season 1, but I don’t have a cinema room. What a shame…

Anyway, I cannot wait to see where this show ends up going. Watchmen has become event television for me, and as I’ve said many times, it’s the best show on TV.

Watchmen is available to watch on HBO in the US and Sky Atlantic in the UK.

What do you think? Are you enjoying Watchmen and what did you make of Episode 8? Let us know in the comments below.

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