In the annals of great TV pilots, you can bet that Watchmen‘s initial launch will be held up alongside such iconic pilots as those for Lost, The Sopranos, Twin Peaks, Deadwood, and more.
The man in black lassos the man in white right in front of a church, at which point townspeople come spilling out.
Through a series of title cards, we learn that the man in white is the town Sheriff and that he’s corrupt.
The man in black pulls back his hood to reveal he’s a black man – Bass Reeves, the Black Marshall of Oklahoma.
With this seemingly extraneous moment, Watchmen is subtly setting up what’s to come, from themes to plot-points.
Black people are being slaughtered en masse by whites, some of whom are decked out in Klu Klux Klan robes.
The episode starts with a lawman in a movie refusing to hang a man of the law. »
