This is the best episode of a TV show I have seen since Breaking Bad it's beautiful and is a at the same time part of a greater whole so you can't judge a piece without judging the whole it's a perfect stroke on what will hopefully be a masterpiece
60 Reviews
One of the Best Episodes of Anything
Daske8314 December 2019
This is top-notch stuff. I read Watchmen back when it first came out, and many times since, and this is a near-perfectly rendered continuation from a creative team who obviously know the source material inside-out. This episode was a wonderful offbeat love story with some clever writing, great direction and acting, nice payoffs to earlier mysteries and fan-happy easter eggs galore. And even all the 'blue' music was great! Best episode so far of one of the best shows on TV at the moment, if not ever (and I don't throw that around lightly).
Holy CRAP! - Stay for the end credits
TheLastDon819 December 2019
This will go in History
umar-anwar11 December 2019
"This is the moment..."
Fanatic_movie_goer12 December 2019
... when the series gets really exiting and fantastic.
This episode was the best so far. Everything was put in to right place. The actors were great, the music was great, the sights wore fabulous and the whole god dam series is great.
This could be the next Breaking Bad.
This episode was the best so far. Everything was put in to right place. The actors were great, the music was great, the sights wore fabulous and the whole god dam series is great.
This could be the next Breaking Bad.
"I don't experience the concept of before"
TheLittleSongbird15 December 2020
With "A God Walks Into a Bar", we are now at the penultimate episode of 'Watchmen'. Which proved to be a critical success but also proved to be more divisive amongst audiences and those that love the source material (which is a masterpiece) and the film (imperfect but very good). My stance leans much more towards the opinions of those that loved it, although it's a slow starter the show from "Little Fear of Lightning" onwards was brilliant.
Two episodes in particular stood out, though "Little Fear of Lightning" was outstanding as well and centred around one of 'Watchmen's' most interesting characters. One was "This Extraordinary Being", one of the show's most powerful episodes and stood out visually. The other was this penultimate one "A God Walks Into Abar", one of the most ambitious episodes and structurally it's the most unique. Both episodes were 2019 television highlights and some of the best television for anything in recent years in my view.
"A God Walks Into Abar's" production values are of the usual exceptionally high "can't believe it was made for television" quality of 'Watchmen'. The expense it cost to make really shows in the gorgeous production design that has ambition and atmosphere all over it, and the cinematic-like photography as ever enhances that. The music is haunting, equally haunting is the sound quality. The music choices have been right throughout the whole of 'Watchmen', its versatility of styles and clever usage still remains. Nothing is awkward or out of place here, certainly not to the extent of the awkward use of Leonard Cohen in the film. Most of the music choices here centre around the theme of love, appropriate that love is a major theme here.
It is a very thought-provokingly scripted episode, everything beautifully balanced with enough tense and emotionally investable moments (everything dealing with Angela's past is the finest example of the latter). It is not as playful as other 'Watchmen' episodes, but the intrigue factor is very high, nothing sounds stilted, cheesy or pointless. The grit and bite factors are also high. For instance, Veidt's dialogue is some of his best, most serious and it makes sense. Absolutely loved the structure of the thoroughly absorbing and typically tonally bold story, as said structurally "A God Walks Into Abar" is the most unique and most ambitious.
Easy to get one timeline or setting right it not always is. "A God Walks Into Abar" isn't just set in only the past, present or future, it actually combines all three at the same time. This could easily have been an episode that suffered from trying to do too much and feel rushed and lacking in cohesion like the first half of 'Watchmen' did. Amazingly, the episode does this incredibly well and handles it a lot better than films and other episodes for any show with similar structures. Things are actually clearer now, with less of a sense of more questions than answers, and that the episode managed to do this well with a complicated structure that not many would think of attempting shows how much the storytelling in 'Watchmen' has advanced (which is significantly).
Hard to follow the story is remarkably not and it is not bloated either, amazing for an episode that has a lot happening. The theme of paradoxical love is hardly wasted while not being heavy-handed either. All the different chemistries are beautifully handled, with both Dr Manhattan and Veidt making their most interesting appearances up to this point of the show, those that weren't overly fond of the latter's eccentricity and storyline (liked the character throughout and while it took time for it to come together his scenes intrigued and entertained) should be happy to see that he can be taken seriously here without being morose.
Performances are perfection in very richly textured roles. Not just from fearless Regina King and mysterious Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, but also Jeremy Irons giving perhaps his best performance on the show (speaking as someone that loved him throughout).
Concluding, masterful episode and 'Watchmen' on peak form. 10/10
Two episodes in particular stood out, though "Little Fear of Lightning" was outstanding as well and centred around one of 'Watchmen's' most interesting characters. One was "This Extraordinary Being", one of the show's most powerful episodes and stood out visually. The other was this penultimate one "A God Walks Into Abar", one of the most ambitious episodes and structurally it's the most unique. Both episodes were 2019 television highlights and some of the best television for anything in recent years in my view.
"A God Walks Into Abar's" production values are of the usual exceptionally high "can't believe it was made for television" quality of 'Watchmen'. The expense it cost to make really shows in the gorgeous production design that has ambition and atmosphere all over it, and the cinematic-like photography as ever enhances that. The music is haunting, equally haunting is the sound quality. The music choices have been right throughout the whole of 'Watchmen', its versatility of styles and clever usage still remains. Nothing is awkward or out of place here, certainly not to the extent of the awkward use of Leonard Cohen in the film. Most of the music choices here centre around the theme of love, appropriate that love is a major theme here.
It is a very thought-provokingly scripted episode, everything beautifully balanced with enough tense and emotionally investable moments (everything dealing with Angela's past is the finest example of the latter). It is not as playful as other 'Watchmen' episodes, but the intrigue factor is very high, nothing sounds stilted, cheesy or pointless. The grit and bite factors are also high. For instance, Veidt's dialogue is some of his best, most serious and it makes sense. Absolutely loved the structure of the thoroughly absorbing and typically tonally bold story, as said structurally "A God Walks Into Abar" is the most unique and most ambitious.
Easy to get one timeline or setting right it not always is. "A God Walks Into Abar" isn't just set in only the past, present or future, it actually combines all three at the same time. This could easily have been an episode that suffered from trying to do too much and feel rushed and lacking in cohesion like the first half of 'Watchmen' did. Amazingly, the episode does this incredibly well and handles it a lot better than films and other episodes for any show with similar structures. Things are actually clearer now, with less of a sense of more questions than answers, and that the episode managed to do this well with a complicated structure that not many would think of attempting shows how much the storytelling in 'Watchmen' has advanced (which is significantly).
Hard to follow the story is remarkably not and it is not bloated either, amazing for an episode that has a lot happening. The theme of paradoxical love is hardly wasted while not being heavy-handed either. All the different chemistries are beautifully handled, with both Dr Manhattan and Veidt making their most interesting appearances up to this point of the show, those that weren't overly fond of the latter's eccentricity and storyline (liked the character throughout and while it took time for it to come together his scenes intrigued and entertained) should be happy to see that he can be taken seriously here without being morose.
Performances are perfection in very richly textured roles. Not just from fearless Regina King and mysterious Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, but also Jeremy Irons giving perhaps his best performance on the show (speaking as someone that loved him throughout).
Concluding, masterful episode and 'Watchmen' on peak form. 10/10
Nothing can be better than this.
deepakdst11 December 2019
Perfect, awesome, surprising and everything that a episode needs to be. I am so excited to see how they fly in the last episode of this first season of epic series.
How they created the title is also interesting to notice "A God Walks Into A Bar" or "A God Walks Into Abar".
Everything was perfect in this episode and I would have given it 1billion stars if there were any.
That paradox was really a nice move in this story.
A perfect hour of television.
numbahunna11 April 2021
Backstories
kingofkills9 December 2019
I felt it fitting to name my review after another review I highly disagree with.
We get an episode that is not primarily focused on our main objective, but rather a unique storytelling of how it is and is not the main objective all at the same time. If anything, it provides more questions as to WHY the process happened and why they went through with it, if they knew the outcome.
We learned about how this whole Tulsa issue started, we learned about deep secrets keeping the strange man in his strange paradise, and we got a hint as to who might also have powers, if they're now in edible form...
Highly recommend this show, and LOVED the unique way of telling all the history "at once" in a non-linear way. Legitimately becoming my favorite show after just this first season.
If you're skimming through reviews wondering why these are so highly rated with the low overall score - the first two episodes are slow... But once you get here I can assure you, it will all make sense and be worth it.
We get an episode that is not primarily focused on our main objective, but rather a unique storytelling of how it is and is not the main objective all at the same time. If anything, it provides more questions as to WHY the process happened and why they went through with it, if they knew the outcome.
We learned about how this whole Tulsa issue started, we learned about deep secrets keeping the strange man in his strange paradise, and we got a hint as to who might also have powers, if they're now in edible form...
Highly recommend this show, and LOVED the unique way of telling all the history "at once" in a non-linear way. Legitimately becoming my favorite show after just this first season.
If you're skimming through reviews wondering why these are so highly rated with the low overall score - the first two episodes are slow... But once you get here I can assure you, it will all make sense and be worth it.
A God Walks into Abar
Prismark1027 March 2020
This episode finally feels more like Watchmen. It references the events of the Watchmen movie.
For Dr Manhattan life is timey-wimey. Something Angela discovers when she asks how did her grandfather knew about Judd Crawford.
The episode fills the backstory about Angela's relationship with her husband Cal Abar. How they met and how they live a relationship in a non linear timeline which it is for Dr Manhattan.
It also brings Adrian Veidt into the story. His part in Dr Manhattan becoming human and how Veidt ending up in his prison in Europa.
The pace is slow and deliberate but it is like a jigsaw puzzle. You know the pieces will start to fall together.
For Dr Manhattan life is timey-wimey. Something Angela discovers when she asks how did her grandfather knew about Judd Crawford.
The episode fills the backstory about Angela's relationship with her husband Cal Abar. How they met and how they live a relationship in a non linear timeline which it is for Dr Manhattan.
It also brings Adrian Veidt into the story. His part in Dr Manhattan becoming human and how Veidt ending up in his prison in Europa.
The pace is slow and deliberate but it is like a jigsaw puzzle. You know the pieces will start to fall together.
Decimates the character of Dr. Manhattan for the sake of plot
Tearinturp0217 December 2019
Warning: Spoilers
And just when the show was getting really good with the past few episodes, they finally drop the one we've all been waiting for. The reveal of Dr. Manhattan; or is it? Well not really. While he may look and resemble the blue god, the writing for his character suggests otherwise.
After becoming increasly detached from humanity (so much so he left for freaking MARS....), he decides it's time to come back to earth to meet a random female (who just so happens to be the granddaughter of the first superhero ever) and fall back in love (something it seemed he was no longer capable of). It's absolutely absurd, but whatever I thought. Let's just see what happens.
Turns out the complete lack of understanding for this character doesn't stop there. As it so happens, Manhattan is actually capable of being teleported (against his will, mind you) by a bunch of white supremacist, rednecks who are so advanced, they use old pickup trucks to haul around this of-the-charts cutting edge tech. Manhattan KNOWS this is coming and decides to.... do nothing??
So for the record (according to these writers at least) these jackass "Rorschach" buffoons are able to pull off something not even Ozymandias (the wealthiest and most intelligent man in the world at the time) was able to do? Let's also not forgot Manhattan himself has quoted "The worlds SMARTEST man poses no more a threat to me than its smartest termite" and "Reaasembling myself was the first trick I learned" among many other character breaking quotes. I guess stupid people are his weakness. This entire show has devolved into an absolutely delusional take on both the character and consequently the series as a whole. Manhattan is nothing but a cheap macguffin to give the bad guys ultimate power if they succeed. I'm disappointed Lindelof, very disappointed.
After becoming increasly detached from humanity (so much so he left for freaking MARS....), he decides it's time to come back to earth to meet a random female (who just so happens to be the granddaughter of the first superhero ever) and fall back in love (something it seemed he was no longer capable of). It's absolutely absurd, but whatever I thought. Let's just see what happens.
Turns out the complete lack of understanding for this character doesn't stop there. As it so happens, Manhattan is actually capable of being teleported (against his will, mind you) by a bunch of white supremacist, rednecks who are so advanced, they use old pickup trucks to haul around this of-the-charts cutting edge tech. Manhattan KNOWS this is coming and decides to.... do nothing??
So for the record (according to these writers at least) these jackass "Rorschach" buffoons are able to pull off something not even Ozymandias (the wealthiest and most intelligent man in the world at the time) was able to do? Let's also not forgot Manhattan himself has quoted "The worlds SMARTEST man poses no more a threat to me than its smartest termite" and "Reaasembling myself was the first trick I learned" among many other character breaking quotes. I guess stupid people are his weakness. This entire show has devolved into an absolutely delusional take on both the character and consequently the series as a whole. Manhattan is nothing but a cheap macguffin to give the bad guys ultimate power if they succeed. I'm disappointed Lindelof, very disappointed.
Best episode of television ever?
mjbenno10 December 2019
Warning: Spoilers
This is quite possibly the best episode of television I've ever watched.
The time travel aspect of Dr Manhattan is masterfully weaved throughout the narrative of the episode as it answers many of the questions the series has left us with in the formative episodes.
Brilliantly executed and captivating from start to finish.
The time travel aspect of Dr Manhattan is masterfully weaved throughout the narrative of the episode as it answers many of the questions the series has left us with in the formative episodes.
Brilliantly executed and captivating from start to finish.
Wow.
cruise019 December 2019
4 out of 5 episodes.
Finally a shocking and thrilling episode. Following a history of Angela meeting John. And how their relationship lead to present time. Love the references with this one. Adrian storyline has an interesting twist with the back drop and his utopia life. Dr. Manhattens narrative with the story with Angela. Her grandfather. And Adrian was well written. The final episode may be promising.
Finally a shocking and thrilling episode. Following a history of Angela meeting John. And how their relationship lead to present time. Love the references with this one. Adrian storyline has an interesting twist with the back drop and his utopia life. Dr. Manhattens narrative with the story with Angela. Her grandfather. And Adrian was well written. The final episode may be promising.
Sublime.
michael_gower52214 December 2019
Perfect in every way
k_g_barreto20 January 2020
Kudos to HBO, the writers. Damon Lindelof, the actors, everyone involved in this episode. One of the best episodes of TV history, I am not exageratting. Incredibly done and crafted to be a masterpiece. I can have some problems with this series but this episode is good that changed my vision about the past episode. Now the ending and I have no idea of what will happen. They really did a great job, and I expect to see more of that quality in TV series.
Doctor Manhattan is the best superhero ever created
gharbinour29 June 2020
This is absolutely the best episode of the whole series. Incredibly moving. The writing is masterful. Everything is connected in a very unpredictable way. Incredible. Doctor Manhattan is such a beautiful character, despite of his superpowers and his rational thinking, he is very sensitive, and like all of us, he is guided by love.
Masterpiece !!! one of the best episode in tv history !!!
leqso-davitashvili9 December 2019
Warning: Spoilers
One of the best episode in watchmen
raghunath2254 July 2020
9 star episode in midst of 5 star mediocrity
scottj-2963213 May 2020
While there is certainly a lot of creativity in this series, the execution up until this point had been very weak, on par with many Saturday morning cartoons. Then BAM! Just when seven previous episodes primed me perfectly for disappointment, disdain, and disinterest, A God Walks Into a Bar hits. Very compelling and enjoyable.
And then God said... This is the moment.
Andres_Barrientos16 December 2019
Warning: Spoilers
He said:
Every movie you will see,
Every movie you will make,
You will understand that I never was not there.
That I was always there,
Always am,
Always shall be.
Took some episodes to reach this level of screen time perfection. But every step was necessary to get here.
Enlightenment in the form of a blue God who can't finish making waffles for the hunger he feels in his yet human experience before being torn apart.
And The Moment, and Reznor's and Finch's music... This is the moment.
Took some episodes to reach this level of screen time perfection. But every step was necessary to get here.
Enlightenment in the form of a blue God who can't finish making waffles for the hunger he feels in his yet human experience before being torn apart.
And The Moment, and Reznor's and Finch's music... This is the moment.
Unable to capture the Real Essence of Dr Mahattan, Decent try Though
skip-987569 December 2019
Ive been wanting to see Dr manhattan appear in this series and here he is, Finally! The issue I have with the series vs the Movie is the liberties the writers have taken ...They have Not been true to the storyline..Sure Manhattan is all powerful, he can become whoever he wishes in an instant..there are No limitations here, but with that in mind the writers had to turn him into a black dude and change the storyline...I dont say that in a racist way, I say it becuz its like changing dr who into a female character or taking dr strange and making him a black woman instead..sure you Could do these things but it messes with the character continuity and makes it hard to swallow...Now if manhattan had started out as a black character, thats fine,it would be a continuity of that....Im sure if that was the case and he suddenly became a white dude or an asian woman or whatever the writers wanted to try for political correctness , it would raise an eyebrow, you know it would...Imagine if they tried to make rorschak a woman in this series.. enough said!..I though they gave it a good go at Trying to capture that Surreal, detached from humanity , an innocence And omipotent quality that he had but the character just didnt sell it like the guy in the movie did, not even close..
He Tried though but those are tough qualities to create in a character onscreen..The Movie was just Magic and was able to do it but the series not really......All in all, it Was interesting and tied up alot of loose ends, but neither Manhattan nor veight really capture the essence of the movie characters...Really ,stay true to the original storyline and expand it...dont try to reinvent it and dont go replacing male characters with female nor changing a white guy into a black guy or Vise versa..keep the story true!
Terrible Episode, For one major reason !
menny-7386510 December 2019
The whole point of Dr Manhattan is that he his Super Powers make him eventually apathetic towards Human Kind. This episode, on the other hand, reveals the creators Pseudo-Philosophical c*appy approach and makes Dr Manhattan the dude who gets a crush towards his girlfriend or the 10 years married guy that argues with his wife about everyday silly stuff.
Now, the dialogs seen in this episode would be fine for a Romantic Drama show, maybe even a bit better then most, but this is not the concept of Watchmen and the creator is ruining it entirely. Especially the philosophical approach of the atmosphere of characters presented in the comic books and The Movie.
And why Dr Manhattan looks like Aladdin's genie from the NewWalt Dysney Picture? I don't mind that the new Dr Manhattan proccesed the looks of the husband, but still,it was a lame appearance in total.
Now, the dialogs seen in this episode would be fine for a Romantic Drama show, maybe even a bit better then most, but this is not the concept of Watchmen and the creator is ruining it entirely. Especially the philosophical approach of the atmosphere of characters presented in the comic books and The Movie.
And why Dr Manhattan looks like Aladdin's genie from the NewWalt Dysney Picture? I don't mind that the new Dr Manhattan proccesed the looks of the husband, but still,it was a lame appearance in total.
One of the best episodes of TV period
mattvuicich9 December 2019
Don't let all the complaining about this show distract from how powerful and amazing this show is and for people complaining it doesn't follow the movie it is based off the comics not the Snyder movie. Watch this show
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