Watchmen offered the most American superhero origin story -- and the ultimate white savior troll

Salon.com

Sunday's “This Extraordinary Being" episode, penned by Damon Lindelof and The Good Place co-producer Cord Jefferson, "is one of those episodes created to launch a thousand think pieces — this being one of them — along with a few college papers and maybe even a couple of grad school dissertations," says Melanie McFarland. "You might have read these words as dismissive snickering or sarcasm. The intended sentiment is in fact the opposite. There aren’t many episodes of television that nail their multiple roles as exposition, cultural critique, and social commentary on the roles race, class and power play in systemic justice in one single resolute sweep. 'This Extraordinary Being' does all of this by asserting a mindblower reveal that balances the potential of angering fanboys with challenging long-held assumptions about who is given permission to not merely to play the hero, but be viewed as a hero. It is that last point, I think, that makes this Watchmen tick of the clock a purposefully different experience for viewers of color and black viewers in particular. Above all, it eloquently acknowledges and even (to a point) exonerates the power of black rage in a way I’ve never seen before on television."

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• Is Watchmen's "Fred" character inspired by Donald Trump's father Fred Trump?
• "This Extraordinary Being" co-writer Cord Jefferson says Watchmen's writers' room got "into some pretty serious racial issues right off the bat" when it convened in September 2017: “I've made it a goal of mine to try to write for people of color and women and underrepresented people in television shows,” says Jefferson, who was writing for Gawker when he was discovered by the actor Mike O'Malley. Jefferson went on to write for Larry Wilmore's Nightly Show, Master of None and The Good Place. “I've been lucky enough to work with guys like Aziz (Ansari) and Alan (Yang) and Mike Schur and Damon Lindelof, people who really strive to not only make their writers' rooms really diverse," says Jefferson, "but also make their shows really diverse and represent the voices of women and people of color in lead roles.”
• Jovan Adepo on his standalone episode: "I think it’s great to be able to play a role that is indeed fictional, but is set in a moment in time that’s absolutely real. It’s a history lesson"
• Why the Hooded Justice twist may be more tied to the comic books than it seems
• The Good Place's Michael Schur calls this week's episode "the best hour of TV I've seen this year"
• Costume designer Meghan Kasperlik's historical threads "come together to aid, but never overwhelm, a story that brings to light some of those moments previously hidden away": “I think the research is the most exciting part of it, because you are really going back and learning about history and what people were doing,” says Kasperlik. “I really like to take little details and little moments that I’m finding not only within the costumes but what was happening in their houses and what their professions were.”