Thanks For All The Fish

Published December 17, 2019 · Updated July 6, 2022

Hi guys!
First time writing you here. I’m Tommaso, an Italian listener of your podcast (currently living in Belgium). First of all, I’d like to really thank you for your amazing work. It’s great to be able to dissect and analyze each episode “with you”, I love your takes, the different contribution and different points of view that you all bring to the table. Obviously I don’t agree with all of them, but even those that I don’t agree with always stimulate and make me think. I find out about you looking for a podcast for the second season of American Gods. I know that you’re probably not too proud of that, but well… At least that infamous season brought me to find you (speaking of which, will you work on the third season? Pretty please? I’m going to watch it regardless, at least the first few episodes, and it would be fun/interesting to hear your opinions and analysis). I hope that I knew about you back when I was watching Westworld too! Now, let’s get to the Finale. I watched it yesterday evening, listened to your Instacast, then this morning I listened to Lindelof’s pod. First of all, I have to say that I loved it. It kept me hanging on my chair, not once did I looked at my smartphone during the 68 minutes of runtime (I also watched all the credit hoping for a post-credit scene). And I don’t agree with Roger’s criticism that there wasn’t the “OMG! Plot twist”. That everything went as expected. Well, it kind of did, but for me it’s not a weakness. It’s more that his reaction is an aberrhation created by the way we are used to watching tv series now. Analyzing them so deeply, reading all the theories on reddit (speaking of which, thanks to Roger who replied to a comment I wrote on Reddit praising you), and the sheer amount of series we watch makes it almost impossible to surprise everyone. Every possible plot twist has been theorised by someone, all the clues have been gathered by the Reddit hivemind, so that sense of wonder, of surprise is spoilt forever. At least, that’s what I think. Also, for me the prize was not the destination (the plot twist) but the journey itself, so I’m really satisfied like that. The journey was amazing, so I really can’t complain. Also, the misteries were a significant but not that important part of Watchmen, in my opinion. The way everything was explained through Peteypedia and Lindelof’s podcast made it clear that it was that way. Regarding the “open finale”, Lindelof himself was clear that that’s how he wanted it. He compared it to the Inception’s finale, that for him was perfect, while for others was frustrating. You can’t make everybody happy I guess! If I had to nitpick, there’s just one thing for me that didn’t make sense, but it’s in the most complex part of the series. It’s how Will Reeves got to know about Judd. The thing is that Doctor Manhattan basically says that, since he’s experiencing all time at once and for him it’s all predetermined, he can’t really change it and influence it. However, when he reported Angela’s question on Judd to Will Reeves, he effectively changes it, because without his question Will Reeves wouldn’t have known of Judd’s affiliation with the 7th Kavalry. Don’t the two things clash in your opinion? I know you analysed that in the last episode’s podcasts though, so I understand if you won’t want to go back to this question after the finale. Actually, there is one thing about the finale that left me unsatisfied. And it’s that it seems to me there is no real explanation of why Manhattan committed his “suicide by Trieu”. It looks like it was kind of all planned, wasn’t it? Or all the preparation was because he knew he was going to die, so he set the table in order to prepare the consequences of it at their best (making so that Laurie, Mirror Guy and Veidt stopped Trieu and Angela got his power)? Now I’m not so sure anymore. Did he willingly make Lady Trieu kill him or not? I don’t know.
There’s another little thing that bugs me. What is the point of the whole scene of Lady Trieu going to the Clark’s farm to buy it? Why does she need it? My only theory is that instead of having the spaceship with Veidt in it land on the Earth, it “threw” the golden statue to the ground and that’s where it landed. Otherwise I don’t really see the point, if it was in her spaceship why would she need to buy the land? What do you think about it?
Anyway, thank to all of you again for your great work, thank you Gene, Roger, Big D and King Bee sorry for my long letter and for any mistakes I’ve made writing it, now enjoy your time off and relax and I’m looking forward to the next journey to follow with you. Tommaso

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