Geekery: HBO Makes ‘Watchmen’ Available for Free for Juneteenth
You’ll be able to watch Damon Lindelof’s fantastic and perfect for binge-watching series all weekend.
The limited series is set in an alternate, revisionist timeline where masked vigilantes are outlaws. It builds on the universe and ideas in the original graphic novel to create something new. The series starts by dropping audiences into a terrifying reenactment of the Tulsa Massacre of 1921 – an entire 35-square-block neighborhood was burned to the ground and an estimated 300 Black residents were killed. What it builds from history and Alan Moore’s characters earned the series a Peabody.
Damon Lindelof’s revolutionary series goes full throttle to the end. Watchmen provides new answers to classic genre questions such as what it means to mask one’s identity and who gets to be a superhero, but more than that, it offers a frank and provocative reflection on contemporary racialized violence, on the role of police, and on the consequences of a large-scale disaster on the way Americans understand their place in the world. For world-building and storytelling that fuses speculative fiction with historical and contemporary realities, Watchmen deserves a Peabody.
I was one of those ‘please not Lindelof’ people when it was announced – I was very wrong. It’s brilliantly done from story to production design to acting to the music. Set aside the time to binge it this weekend. It is so worth it.
All 9 episodes will be available today through Sunday the 21st via HBO.com, Hulu, and On Demand. There are other free episodes available from I May Destroy You, Insecure, and The Shop; as well as specials including Being Serena, United Skates, and The Apollo. Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, and other platforms are also highlighting Black voices for Juneteenth.
