Like, if we're talking about the show in dialogue with the comic, stuff like Hooded Justice being a black man is super interesting - considering all that's ever revealed about him is that he's big, he's angry, and he wears a noose around his neck. And there's clever world building too, like how Vietnam would work as a state, exploring a Redford presidency, I like the idea of Laurie as a bitter FBI agent. I think the squid rain is a powerful visual, and in general it's cool to see that stuff realized on screen
And I do think it's trying to say SOMETHING about violence, vigilantism, and policing. It definitely draws a lot of textual lines between the KKK and Hooded Justice, between the 7K and the masked police force, sort of imagining a world where state violence has dropped the pretense of lawfulness... but I'm not entirely sure what it's trying to add? At least, what's new about that in comparison to the original story, which is essentially about the utility of extralegal violence. HBO Watchmen does add the race element explicitly, which is a great jumping off point, but I'm almost at the end and it still feels so superficial. Maybe they really nail it in the last two episodes, but at this point it's all so lost in the fog that I don't have high hopes. What it's portraying is important to portray, but I just need something to grapple with.
A big part of it is that I really have zero patience for this structure of show, with a lot of vague dramatic mystery stuff layered on top. It's all frosting and no cake, and the worst part is, it's so predictable. You know that any scene with Trieu is going to be a big waste of time, sprinkled with teases for future reveals that I'm not going to care about. It's just fat. It's not engaging. And so much of the show is like this - it doesn't reveal anything about the characters, it doesn't SAY anything, it just spins its wheels. It constantly does that mortal sin of someone (usually Laurie) commenting on how stupid a situation is, and then the show just keeps it going anyways, like the self-awareness makes it okay. But no, that doesn't make dropping her down a trap door, strapping her to a chair, and having the evil senator explain his master plan any less silly.
And it is silly! Like, there's so much in there that's just laughable. Like, Red Scare, the laziest superhero concept ever put on screen? Veidt in a courtroom with a bunch of clones and then he farts and the judge lets a bunch of pigs in? Her husband is Dr. Manhattan in disguise? The giant elephant on the floor? I could go on and on... I could roll with it at one point but as time goes on it just gets tiring. It doesn't feel intentionally dissonant, it just feels sloppy. You lose faith in the storytelling.