“Is this death?” asks a character in the inky-black opening scene of BBC America’s fantasy police dramedy The Watch, addressing a hooded figure whose only visible attributes are his pointed claws, his gleaming sword and his glowing, blue-hued not-quite-eyes. “Obviously,” deadpans Death (voiced by an unseen Wendell Pierce).
It’s not the stylized Grim Reaper that unnerves, but the ease with which the deceased man, police chief Sam Vimes (Richard Dormer), accepts his bleak destiny.
Adapted — too loosely for some — from author Terry Pratchett’s 41-book Discworld series, The Watch’s eight-part debut season takes place “somewhere in a distant secondhand dimension.” First-time visitors to Discworld (such as myself) might well find showrunner Simon.
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