Watchtower Season 3 premiere: Lazarus Review
Alright Jack. This premiere was fast and awesome. It was literally worth the wait
. I felt that the pace and movement of the episode was fantastic and I enjoyed all of it so much. It was nice to see what each of our main characters were up to after the year of dispair. I really hope we get some flashbacks to the year inbetween S2 and S3.
First review :')
Thanks man. The premiere worried me a little because there was so much going on, there were all these characters involved in it, and so many different plots going on all at once that the pace was something I was stressing about right up until Chris posted the episode for me. I was freaking out to him about it, HAHA. So I'm pleasantly surprised to hear that from you.
"Watchtower's new HQ is under the gazette". This seemed like the perfect place to put it. More importantly, the security has been far increased and the location of it keeps it incredibly low key- its not a massive tower in the city, its underground. I think three seasons in its about time we had a secured location, and a base that wouldn't be so easily broken into.
"How BAMF Helena is." One of my favourite characters to write for this season. I'm glad you consider her a "BAMF" because that's how I envision her, definitely. She's INSANELY bad ass, and this season will definitely highlight her strength and skill, whilst we get bits and pieces of that vulnerable, broken side that gives us hope for redemption.
"The call back to Jimmy, Chloe made! Great tie-in." It shits me that in Smallville Season Nine we never really understood Chloe's secrets, and we were never really let in on what she was doing apparently "on the side" in the first half of the season. I thought it would be a good idea to suggest that she was researching how to bring Jimmy back, and she knew the risks and the dangers, so she was keeping that hidden from the group, especially Clark. I love how you catch all the references and stuff though, even ones less obvious than this. You're a legend HAHA!
"Lois and Vicki scenes. They need to have more together." I loved writing that scene, however short it was. Vicki could learn a lot from Lois, and I think they might clash at times, but otherwise reflect one another in a nutshell and the show will be heading down a very prominent Vicki/Batman storyline, so maybe she could learn one or two things about that department of being a heroes' go-to-girl.
"Talia and Chloe catfight." Hahaha, oh man, that's not even the beginning of what is about to happen between Talia and Chloe. There's going to be all out war between those two. Stay tuned for actual "epic" fights
"A throwback to the wall of weird." It seemed like the perfect time to look at where Chloe's been, and where she ended up. I think Watchtower has always been an extension of that, and so as this season really focuses on Chloe's path and destiny it was important to throwback to the wall of weird. I love it too, I miss the ol' days with her :')
"Barbara MOTHER FUCKING Gordon! I enjoy her presence a lot!!!" One of the many DC Comics recurring characters of this season. Expect a lot more. And I am so glad in this short introduction of her character that you already enjoy her. She has a much larger role as the season will take shape.
"Ra's and Talia being devious and evil with all there plotting and what not." There bond and relationships is a bumpy one, and something that will be explored throughout the season. They have quite a strong connection, but at the same time, that is going to be tested, and Talia's loyalty and Ra's love is all going to be examined as the season progresses. There's a lot more "devious plotting" to follow, especially in the next handful of episodes.
"Totally called Vicki and Mitchell being together. And she would get the job as the gazette editor in chief." Ask Chris, I personally ship Vicki and Mitchell as much as I did Chloe and Oliver. Hopefully you enjoy the development of their relationship as the season continues.
"Selina and Hush scenes." They were very much added on later. I figured it would be better to see repercussions of Bruce's words and interactions with her in an 'epilogue' than having to wait till next year for her 'arc' to find out how she got out of Hush's hold.
"Nice little sneak in of a Clark mention." There will be more to come
"Chloe and Lois flashback to before the series started." Ah, I loved writing that scene. Its just classic Chloe/Lois, where Lois babbles on and gets into her own sort of zone and Chloe has to stop her from rambling and reaffirm her doubts. It was great fun to write. Plus, filling in that whole backstory even more securely and finally solidifying the three months prior to Watchtower Season One is always something that makes me happy because its rarely planned and just sort of CLICKS into place.
Have to look at the "screentime" but I am pretty sure this is the first time a main character other than Chloe has taken the majority amount of scenes/time in an episode. It was definitely, as you said, "his time to shine" and with him kind of stepping into the role of "lead male" after Oliver's departure I hope the premiere proved that he will fill the place well.
The "afterlife" stuff was my favourite to write. It was never meant to be in the episode either, and the whole concept of the "afterlife" was added much later (even the Chloe stuff). His scene with Selina in the afterlife just made sense, you know? She has been captured this whole time, had given up on resurfacing and sacrificed her life, her time with Bruce,
everything just so Hush wouldn't become an unstoppable force. But Bruce reminded her that she is strong enough to fight back and come back and escape (hence the epilogue at the end).
I know in the comics the mythology is a little different in terms of Bruce/Ra's (where he views Bruce as the perfect heir, and wants him to marry Talia and carry on the legacy, etc). But I thought it would be just as awesome to have Ra's spend all this time preparing him to be the perfect vessel for him to carry his immortality on with, and so while we don't get to see that year that's gone by for Bruce we can only imagine it was absolute torture, full of trials and immense pain that he had overcome just because he wanted to save Chloe.
You will
definitely see what you're expecting/hoping to with Bruce this season. The third episode is really his biggest moment in a long, long time. But as for this episode, I'm glad you liked his story and role in it.
I know
Perry will be leaving this season and I've got a very heartbreaking storyline planned for him. More of it is revealed in the following episode. That ending will be followed up on in the next episode, and we'll learn that he may have missed his chance to become Editor in Chief of The Daily Planet, and his whole "destiny" is kerfuffled, in that the audience's expectations for him to be what we know him to be in the comics may not come to fruition (especially when we figure out what happened to him at the end of this premiere). I really appreciate you taking extra notice of Perry's role in these episodes, purely because he will be leaving soon (and before the finale).
I was worried that Perry's characterisation would seem a bit confusing, purely because he's so down in the dumps but then he's showing Lois Watchtower and inspiring hope in another character. However, its like you said, he's at home in Watchtower, and Lois really sparks that as well because she's a piece of Chloe, and a piece of his own past that he enjoys, back when he was a lot happier.
Sorry to depress you though
It will be a heartbreaking season for Perry, and his swan song isn't going to be a happy one, like others in the past. There's a lot more to look forward to though, and more information on when his final episode will be, and what is involved in it, will be released
probably at the beginning of next year.
That's definitely what I wanted to do with Vicki. Everyone is in this rough patch, or stuck in their own form of grieving, and Vicki is the only one, as you said "above water and working through" all of it. In all honesty, Chloe's death doesn't spark as much anger, or sadness as it does in the other characters, and so there won't be much to flash back to or explore emotionally regarding that, but she will be a part of Chloe's eventual "return" to the world and we'll get a reaction from that.
Seriously, I ship Mitchell/Vicki so hard. HAHAHA. I was talking to Chris before the episode aired about how much I enjoyed writing them, and we're going to learn more about their relationship next week. I'm glad you caught it and saw it coming, because this episode had enough surprises and I didn't want to overdose people with that.
Going into harm's way is definitely predicted with Vicki's character, but now she has the confidence and ability to take care of herself and not have to have someone swoop in and save her. She's a lot more bad ass this season, and you'll see more of her in action over the course of the season, and even in just these first three episodes.
The biggest question about Gordon is:
"how was he in a coma for so long, and just magically woke up now?" That is something that is explored next week and we really solve the whole who, what, where, when, how and why of his coma. His team up with Vicki is something that will continue to happen, they share a lot of time together this season, and of course we'll finally get to look at his family life as much as we have seen his work life, and the complications of being an officer with a life outside of that role.
I was really excited about this storyline for introducing Talia. I think having her be
dead when she's introduced was something that hasn't been done before and an interesting way to reel her into the mythology of the show. In these next two episodes, you're going to see Chloe struggle with Talia, who is currently sharing Chloe's body. As for catfights, there's a lot more to come and she is very much the "big bad" of this first half of the season (along with Ra's, and Hush).
Yeah, as I was saying to Chris yesterday, as much as its a "shocking twist", for Helena, its not the fact that she's in a lesbian relationship, but that she is
in a relationship (which is what I revealed, as opposed of introducing it as the former). Helena is someone who falls in love, whether its a man or a woman, and its very much about having someone there for her that cares about her and who she has fallen for too. This season there
is a love triangle coming up for her, which does involve DC Comics "Nightwing", and so this introduction of a "lesbian relationship" won't be a storyline that deals with sexuality, or Helena's sexuality, which I can't stress enough. That said, there will be some nice flashbacks, and some nice developments between these two characters, but in these first few episodes they have a lot of struggles to overcome that will only strengthen or destroy their love.
As for Helena finding out about Chloe, at the moment, "Bound" (episode four) seems to be when the secret will come out.
In next week's episode, you're going to see Chloe very much avoid any sort of issues of Oliver, and her family. At the moment, she's trying so hard to fill her life with purpose which can clearly be viewed as a distraction as well as an important necessity to keep herself from breaking down. However, despite how strong Chloe is and tries to portray herself as, she'll crack eventually and we'll see it all sink in that Oliver's gone, and she may never see her daughter (or mother) again.
He has a
much larger role next week.
Rewriting the scenes into a new document to air the episode in, it was the reunion scene that hit me with a tonne of feels. I love writing these two, and he really is that kind of father figure to Bruce that I think, no matter what, he'll recognise and appreciate as such. Alfred is around a lot more this season than last and we're going to see developments, and struggles and conflicts between their bond together, especially in these next few episodes.
Yay
I like writing her, it doesn't feel like I'm writing a brand new character, it feels like she's been around a lot (which I guess she has with the one year time jump, but you know what I mean). For the next few episodes, Lisa and Helena's relationship is on a rocky road because of Helena's role as Huntress, but they share a nice moment coming up soon that really proves why they should be together, and why they work well together.
I'm so glad I managed to find a way to have Selina appear in this episode more than she was previously meant to- the afterlife scenes with her, and the epilogue were two of my favourite moments to write. There's a chance she will be peppered out a little more before her big return, with at least one episode before mid-season where she'll be back in a fully-fledged role, so there's a lot to look forward to and follow up on. I can say she survived the attack, and will wash up somewhere, but in what condition is another question to be answered. There is a reason why she doesn't return until she does (mid-season) and the epilogue slightly set that up but will be explained much late.r
Hahaha, definitely Chloe jr. She has a really dark storyline towards the end of the season that things are building towards throughout, and some nice little hints at what her role is within the mythology of this show yet to come. Chris is going to be penning an episode that really solidifies a bond and friendship between Chloe and Barbara (which also brings back Poison Ivy into the picture). So there's a lot to look forward to for Barbara.
Dude, this is the biggest compliment :') S4-8 is my favourite version of Lois, so that is just... thank you!! I regret the length of her role too because it was kind of hyped up as "Lois is finally going to be in an episode of WT" and I tried to force a scene together where we'd get a reunion, and originally was going to end the episode with a Lois/Chloe reunion, but it just didn't fit and feel right. That said, I can confirm she will be in at least two more episodes, maybe more this season, and we
will get that reunion THIS season too.
I was talking to Chris about this part before it aired yesterday and was just like "Karl is going to kill me, I feel so bad, but its going somewhere. He's going to be so pissed off at me though." Hahaha. Honestly, just try to trust me with where its heading, and I promise I won't let you down. You unfortunately said this AFTER I had it planned, and I promise she isn't just a "shock factor" death, and that we'll learn about what she has done in the past year, how she met Gordon, why she was killed, etc. She was the character that brought Hush into the show, and so she's got a lot of importance this season. She's one of the more pivotal reoccurring characters, and this whole death establishes a role for her outside of being Selina's BFF and sidekick. So its only going to give her
more to do this season than last.
QUESTIONS:
1. Will there be reprecussions of Alfred getting broken out of prison?There won't be, purely because Bruce is back in the city and will announce to the world of his return. Alfred will therefore be let off of his charges and with Gordon back the police department and those corrupted within it are under new order and management and things get fixed quite easily going into next week's episode, "Echo".
2. Will Bruce be dealing with the reprecussions of bringing back our favorite blond?The main repercussions that stem from this is that Talia is now back in our world, and currently sharing Chloe's body. In bringing her back he brought someone into the city who will inevitably work against him, and the city, and try to destroy it.
3. What was the thought process of Killing off Holly?
Holly was the character that introduced Hush into the series when she disappeared in last season's finale. She jump started the whole storyline, and I felt as though her death would enhance the mystery and allow us to delve deeper into Hush and introduce his mission, and his purpose a lot more than having her alive and running about. With this, we get to flash back and learn more about Hush with the characters, rather than have Holly surface and throw all this knowledge and exposition out at us. Plus, with this season holding a huge mystery, I want to keep people guessing and keep people on their toes. Like I said, its not for "shock factor" but for a much more prominent cause.
4. Will we see more of Hush's Acolytes throughtout the season?Absolutely. We learn more about who is secretly working for him, and his cause, and we'll learn about this apparent "army" as well in next week's episode. Bit by bit we scratch the surface of this mystery and these first few episodes achieve that.
5. Will anybody else discover WT's location?Helena will in episode 3. Kyle will in episode 2. Eventually it will return as the main base for all our characters, when they become a "team" again.
6. What was the thought process on bringing in Ra's and Talia and the Lazarus Pit to bring back Chloe?I wanted to introduce more mythology this season, especially because the show had done the origin story of Batman, and started to bring in more DC Comics villains. I wanted a character to come in to shake things up, which was Talia, and knowing that I wanted to end last season with Chloe's death, introducing Ra's and the lazarus pit felt necessary to open season three.
7. Will Chloe be suffering from PTSD? Since she is brought back and for her its essentially only been a day since she lost everything?A lot of characters are kind of experiencing forms of that. Chloe will be less obvious in her PTSD, in that she's quite distracted from the real issues at hand and taking on distractions to keep herself busy from it all. For example, next week she's focused on disguising herself, and figuring out what she wants to do with his second chance, and then when she meets Kyle, he becomes a major distraction for her as she's all about helping him, trying to guide him, etc. It won't be until the fifth episode I believe that it all sinks in and hits her properly, but leading up to that we'll have fragments of it showing and scratching at the surface.
8. What was the reason why you put Vicki and Mitchell together?Personally I enjoyed the scenes I wrote between those two last season, and even had a handful of deleted scenes that were just their banter back and forth for pages and pages. Coming into the start of this season, I figured it would be a natural progression over that year as they worked so closely together and would be nice to use that one year time jump as an excuse to have them together without worrying about how it all started, and building into some eventual romance. It just kind of clicked, because
before the decision to do a one year time jump, I knew Vicki and Mitchell would have a romantic storyline together. To stay true to that time jump, they had to be together at the opening of this third season.
9. Is someone in the main cast a suspect of working with Hush?Its definitely something to think about. Maybe even involuntarily working with/for Hush? Not just the "main cast" though, but reoccurring characters as well. Next week we learn about another person working for Hush that kind of enhances the idea that no one can be trusted, or predicted to be working for him. Its incredibly left field and out of the blue.
10.If you could redo the episode again, what would you have done differently?I struggled so much with this episode that I don't think I released it without having it be the best possible version that I could be proud of. That's partly why its been over a year since this season has come out. But if I could change something, or done something differently, I probably would have done some flashbacks with Bruce and Ra's to show the extent of torture he had to endure, and probably even started the episode with the original idea of having Bruce rush a dead Chloe back home, and summoning Zatanna to help bring her back, which then fails. However, I hopefully plan on releasing five short minisodes on a VDVD that deals with each character and their grieving process, such as "bargaining" (Bruce/Zatanna trying to bring Chloe back), "depression", "acceptance", etc.
11.Will Lois ever return?Lois will be in 3-5 episodes this season.
12.When will the new editor of the gazette appear?They'll be in the process of having fill-ins until they find the perfect candidate. Its not something I've decided on yet, or really even thought about. Hopefully its a good excuse to introduce a new, original reoccurring character, or even pull someone from the DC Comics Universe.
13.So since Vicki doesnt work at the paper, whats her new occupation?Vicki hasn't actually
left the paper, but she has left her role as Editor in Chief. She will, in return, have her old job back, working alongside Mitchell in the bullpen.
14.Was it a tough decision to make Vicki leave the paper? Or was that your plan all along?It was my plan to have her be Editor in Chief when the show returned, because after Perry left it would be impossible to see anyone else fill that role. But I knew it would only be temporary, and that Vicki couldn't function as Editor in Chief for the whole season/series. The whole position was meant to create conflict for her relationship, in which her primary development is that she is willing to learn more about the world of romance, and belonging to someone, and having someone belong to her, and actually wanting to excel at being in a committed relationship, than her work. Her final scene with Mitchell in the premiere was to solidify that, and really enhance the idea that she's growing as a character. She literally turned down the opportunity of a life time for love, and she's perfectly okay with that.
15.When will there be another cat fight? Ah, I'm trying to think. Definitely one coming up in "Bound", which may or may not air this year. I'm expecting to release three episodes, and that is the fourth, but if I finish ep4 on time, then you'll have another catfight in 2013 for Watchtower, HAHAHA.
16.Why did you decide to go to Ra's instead of Bruce using the Legion Ring to bring Chloe back?I think going back in time would have worked for a different kind of death. For Chloe, and for ending the season in such a way, I didn't want to do a trick "oh, we'll just go back in time, stop it, and then change the future." I wanted it to be about Bruce's struggle and journey to bringing her back. About the repercussions of having Chloe gone, and not be in the city. Plus, this way allowed me to focus more on character and where they were one year down the track than simply change fate, not that using the legion ring is a bad idea, but it just wouldn't have worked for the story and direction I wanted to take for the characters this season.
17.If you have a favorite character that you have enjoyed writing for this season, who would it be?Kyle. Are you kidding me? Kyle! Hahaha. Seriously, I can't wait for you guys to be introduced to him, and his friendship with Chloe is something I love writing so far. Next week he's finally here :') And his power is insane. I hope you like him! XD
18.Will we get to see the state of minds of each of the main characters connected to Chloe during the year she was gone?I started working on this project of minisodes which were a series of five or six mini-episodes that really dealt with each stage of grief and how our main characters of Bruce, Helena, Vicki, Gordon, Perry, etc. reacted to Chloe's death. Its not something that ultimately advances the storyline, and with her yet to reveal to everyone she's alive we'll be able to revisit some of those state of minds, and reactions, and emotions, etc.
19.Can you say on average, how many have joined Hush's ranks?I can't give it away, but there are a lot of people in his army, and there are a lot of people working for his cause. This premiere showed that there are police officers working for his mission, and next week we'll learn about some others fighting for his cause.
20.And last question: How does it feel being back in the Writing game and working on S3?!Its incredible. I was out last night with a friend, and they knew how much writing Watchtower means to me, and being a part of this forum means to me, and as soon as I saw the review and what you gave the episode, what you said about the episode and the characters, it really made my night, so I could not be more thankful if ONLY to see readers like you, who have stuck by the show since episode one in 2010, tune in as soon as an episode has been posted and left me a review. It means a lot man. I still feel like the show isn't back because hiatus begins in essentially two (maybe three) weeks, but for the meantime, I'm really excited. I've got a lot planned this season and I hope I can get it done and done even better than the last season which was a personal favourite writing period for me.
Wow, seriously, the praise is unbelievable, but all credit should go to Jack for writing an epic series. I'm seriously checking everyday to see when Season 3 will begin 'airing'. So many different questions I'm looking forward to hearing the answers for, plus the return of Zatanna, and I hear Lois is making her WTCHTR debut as well?! 
. FINALLY A WT CATFIGHT. I am TOTALLY KEEPING TALLY NOW 
. But in all seriousness I cant wait to see how it is she comes into play in these other episodes. Im gunna go under the impression that it wont be good considering she appeared in Chloe's reflection.
Perry will be leaving this season and I've got a very heartbreaking storyline planned for him. More of it is revealed in the following episode. That ending will be followed up on in the next episode, and we'll learn that he may have missed his chance to become Editor in Chief of The Daily Planet, and his whole "destiny" is kerfuffled, in that the audience's expectations for him to be what we know him to be in the comics may not come to fruition (especially when we figure out what happened to him at the end of this premiere). I really appreciate you taking extra notice of Perry's role in these episodes, purely because he will be leaving soon (and before the finale). 