Critic Reviews

“The Watch” can’t be taken as seriously as that erstwhile Sunday night staple, “Game of Thrones.” On the upside, it’s a lot more fun.

“The Watch” may be more conventional, and certainly simpler than, the books it draws from — there are 10 times as many Discworld novels as “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” combined. But it’s colorful and energetic and amusing, and full of interesting throwaway ideas.

This may be the most crazily enjoyable series I've seen since AMC's Preacher ended in 2019. [18-31 Jan 2021, p.11]

The Watch is currently in a category of show I would describe as Whovian-with-a-dash-of-2010s-Syfy-flavor. It has some interesting ideas and gives a fresh spin on an old sci-fi formula, but it doesn’t come together the way it really needs to in order to become recommended viewing. It’s difficult to suggest waiting around for a show to get “better” when “better” is such a nebulous idea, but essentially, if you find yourself cautiously intrigued by the premiere, consider spending a little more time with these lovable rogues.

Pratchett aficionados will have long since switched off. But for those who can make peace with the heretical misappropriation of the material, The Watch is (just about) worth a watch.

Sometimes punk-rock anarchy is indistinguishable from simple, tuneless thrashing, and that’s a pitfall The Watch falls into more often than not. It’s worth a watch, if only to see if you’re the person BBC America has made it for. But don’t be surprised if it doesn’t turn out to be the watch for you.

The Watch is a mostly newbie-friendly initiation into the Discworld universe, but other than its supernatural larks, it fails to convey the magic that’s kept audiences coming back for decades.

The show’s generic worldbuilding, one-dimensional characterizations and lack of consistent wit will disappoint the kind of niche audience it’s trying to attract.

I have read only one Terry Pratchett novel. And there was absolutely nothing in The Watch that would tempt me to read more (it is based on characters from his Discworld novels). ... It must be said it would have been far more of a mess without Richard Dormer's mad-eyed and knowingly hammy performance as the snarling alcoholic Captain Sam Vimes, who, along with Lara Rossi as Lady Sybil Ramkin, was the best thing about it.

It’s not that The Watch is a complete mess; some elements of the first episode gave us hope that the show will settle down. But the first episode was so jumbled and so proud of how witty it was, it forgot to establish anything about most of the characters we’ll be seeing for the entire season.