Watchmen Episode #7 // Review
Watchmen episode 7, “An Almost Religious Awe,” gives you the tragic backstory of Sister Night (Regina King) you’ve been waiting for...and then knocks you on your ass with a Mike Tyson-sized sucker punch in the end. Previously, Laurie Blake (Jean Smart) suspected Sister Night of knowing more than she let on about the hanging of her boss, police chief Judd Crawford (Don Johnson). When she tried to arrest Night, the desperate police officer downed a bottle of the drug Nostalgia, which contained the memories of her grandfather Will (Louis Gossett Jr.). Held in a cell afterward, she began to experience the dangerous side effects of the pills, including living out the memories of Will, who she discovered was secretly the first masked vigilante ever, Hooded Justice. Now, she recovers in the care of Lady Trieu (Hong Chau), the inventor of Nostalgia, still struggling with a mix of her and Will’s memories threatening to overrun her brain at any given moment.
“An Almost Religious Awe” refers to the long term effects that Doctor Manhattan’s presence in the Vietnam war had on the country. Showrunner Damon Lindelof’s vision of the aftermath of Manhattan winning the war is a country torn in its beliefs and identity. Most of the population seems to have had a near-religious experience watching the good Doctor (a godlike being) in action. Others aren’t so happy with Vietnam becoming the 51st state. The results are violent acts against the American occupying forces, which lead to a great personal tragedy for Angela. This is an origin story that was foreshadowed episodes ago when Laurie Blake said that all vigilantes put on a mask to hide their pain. Sister Night denied it at the time, but this episode gives the audience the gut-wrenching truth, expertly dissecting its main character for all to see her inner workings.
Over in the B story, Adrian Veidt (Jeremy Irons) is put on trial for...pretty much every heinous thing he’s done since episode 1 (and presumably even further back), in the name of making his great escape. This scene is so wonderfully MAD, it’s practically lifted right out of Alice In Wonderland. The insanity of the workings of the court, right down to the surprise jury, is all very surreal, leading one to wonder if anything in these scenes can be trusted at face value. Some jaw-dropping information is given about the timeline within which the trial is taking place, suggesting that Veidt’s scenes may not be running concurrently with the rest of the show. This all serves to compound the weirdness of Adrian’s story, but it certainly can’t be accused of being uninteresting.
Leading the cast this week is guest star Faithe Herman playing young Angela. She does all of the heavy lifting of this chapter, going from a happy little girl to a child dealing with a deep sadness that leads to her becoming the hardened Sister Night of the present. Going on that emotional journey is a lot to ask of a young actor, but Herman pulls it off effortlessly. It would be criminal not to mention the performance given by Valeri Ross as Angela’s grandmother, too. She’s only in a couple scenes, but she has quite an impact on the story, making an instant connection with Herman, and exiting all too quick. It’s hard to make your presence known in such a short time onscreen, but Ross masterfully joins with her partner to give the audience one of the best scenes of the episode.
If you’ve been following this show, this episode is going to hit you like a freight train. The combination of information and background story for its lead character is a lot to take in at once, and will most definitely require multiple viewings to appreciate it all. Watchmen has been a show that slowly reveals more of its big picture, redefining itself in the eyes of the viewers as it goes. This chapter of the story is no different. When it ends, you may feel the need to go back and rewatch from episode one, armed with new knowledge that will put the entirety of the drama in a new light.
