Most of the reviews place an emphasis on politics, and rightly so, this is a VERY political show. Disappointingly political, because the social commentary is handled with all the finesse, subtlety, and skill of a toddler killing ants with a sledgehammer. If you do not care about left-wingers, and right-wingers, and all of that trash, the show just on the merits is not that good, and I feel like this five star review is being rather generous. I would ignore any 10 star or 1 star review however because both are equally inaccurate and could not have been made in good faith. There is nothing about this show that could make it reasonably deserve any better than a 7, and likewise anything under a 3 is also unjustifiable.
The real scoop: The show is a very weak depiction of Watchmen, which you may enjoy more if you subscribe to the particular political message the writers pushed in a very hamfisted way, can ignore the show's overall low quality because it caters to you in that way, and are unfamiliar with the source material the show is based on. The biggest issue with this aspect is that the message the writers picked is a very odd choice to match up with Watchmen, because it is incongruous with the source material. One of the amazing things about the ye-olde Watchmen graphic novel is it was anti-state when most comics were ultra patriotic and pro-state, and smashed the "Moral Absolutism" present in most comic books by depicting most of the characters as morally gray rather than white hats and black hats. This show embraces the exact opposite stance, and does it in the most milquetoast way possible: By assigning the villain roles exclusively to caricatures of people with whom the writers politically disagree, and assigning the hero roles exclusively to people with whom the writers agree politically.
The thing the original did so well was it sold a message to the audience that was likely different from what the audience believed, and did it in a way that could convince them that the message was correct without beating them over the head with it. It made people think about big things. This show on the other hand only has a message to stroke the egos of the target audience who already agrees with it, and rather than making any attempt to show the merits of these stances through clever writing, they just openly disparage everyone who disagrees, which is fine with their target audience but does absolutely nothing to convince anyone of their stance. Something the original did so well.
Moving on past politics, the show itself even with the obnoxious political overtures stripped out is not that great. The plot is extremely dissonant. Some of the subject matter is extremely dark, and some is just ridiculously silly, and it comes in no particular order. The silliness of some parts of the show keeps the more serious elements from feeling serious, because you never know when the supposedly deep moral moments will be interspersed with raining squid. The writing is very much like the Star Wars Prequels, in that it can range from very good to very bad in the span of about 30 seconds, and like those films the show is generally better when nobody is talking.
Visuals: The effects are I'd say somewhere between a CW superhero show and a 15+ year old A-list film. That is to say, usually not outright terrible but definitely not amazing. It's somewhat surprising that this is an HBO original show because the visual effects are a huge downgrade from other HBO shows like Game of Thrones. The cinematography is nothing to write home about, it gets the point across. In this regard the show grinds along at a constant sub-par level that is endurable, but not enjoyable.
Overall, the show is painfully sub-par for an HBO show just on the merits, and has little to no value as a social commentary because it picks the safest possible stance for its target audience, and rams it down your throat in the laziest and least subtle possible way.
The real scoop: The show is a very weak depiction of Watchmen, which you may enjoy more if you subscribe to the particular political message the writers pushed in a very hamfisted way, can ignore the show's overall low quality because it caters to you in that way, and are unfamiliar with the source material the show is based on. The biggest issue with this aspect is that the message the writers picked is a very odd choice to match up with Watchmen, because it is incongruous with the source material. One of the amazing things about the ye-olde Watchmen graphic novel is it was anti-state when most comics were ultra patriotic and pro-state, and smashed the "Moral Absolutism" present in most comic books by depicting most of the characters as morally gray rather than white hats and black hats. This show embraces the exact opposite stance, and does it in the most milquetoast way possible: By assigning the villain roles exclusively to caricatures of people with whom the writers politically disagree, and assigning the hero roles exclusively to people with whom the writers agree politically.
The thing the original did so well was it sold a message to the audience that was likely different from what the audience believed, and did it in a way that could convince them that the message was correct without beating them over the head with it. It made people think about big things. This show on the other hand only has a message to stroke the egos of the target audience who already agrees with it, and rather than making any attempt to show the merits of these stances through clever writing, they just openly disparage everyone who disagrees, which is fine with their target audience but does absolutely nothing to convince anyone of their stance. Something the original did so well.
Moving on past politics, the show itself even with the obnoxious political overtures stripped out is not that great. The plot is extremely dissonant. Some of the subject matter is extremely dark, and some is just ridiculously silly, and it comes in no particular order. The silliness of some parts of the show keeps the more serious elements from feeling serious, because you never know when the supposedly deep moral moments will be interspersed with raining squid. The writing is very much like the Star Wars Prequels, in that it can range from very good to very bad in the span of about 30 seconds, and like those films the show is generally better when nobody is talking.
Visuals: The effects are I'd say somewhere between a CW superhero show and a 15+ year old A-list film. That is to say, usually not outright terrible but definitely not amazing. It's somewhat surprising that this is an HBO original show because the visual effects are a huge downgrade from other HBO shows like Game of Thrones. The cinematography is nothing to write home about, it gets the point across. In this regard the show grinds along at a constant sub-par level that is endurable, but not enjoyable.
Overall, the show is painfully sub-par for an HBO show just on the merits, and has little to no value as a social commentary because it picks the safest possible stance for its target audience, and rams it down your throat in the laziest and least subtle possible way.