From the very first issue of the ground-breaking comic book series, Watchmen has always posed heavy questions: Who killed the Comedian? Who watches the Watchmen? Who are these people, really? What kind of person dons a mask and beats people up at night, anyway? In that regard, the pilot of the Watchmen television series provides plenty of questions of its own: What happened to the heroes we knew and loved before? How did we get to this point? How have the events of the comic’s conclusion further shaped this world? And most immediately, just how did Judd Crawford (Don Johnson) actually die?
Like any other first episode, the pilot to HBO's Watchmen is an introduction to this brave new world that’s all about establishing what’s to come. Writer and showrunner Damon Lindelof’s script, expertly directed by Nicole Kassell, forces you to ask many of the questions posited above, knowing that there might not be answers for a while, or in the parlance of The Leftovers and Lost, maybe ever. But the biggest question for many going into this premiere was this: Will the show feel like reading an issue of Watchmen? Turns out the answer to that question is a resounding yes.