On the surface, this moment establishes a simple but powerful idea that has been at the center of many cop narratives in the media and forms Will Reeves’ core emotional wound: the idea that one good (Black) cop is enough to fix a broken system.
In the second major opening scene, a Black police officer is gunned down by a member of the clandestine white supremacist organization Seventh Kavalry — essentially because of the “rules” put in place to curb police brutality.
Episode 6, the jewel of the limited series, reveals that little Will Reeves grows up to be not only a police officer, but actually the mysterious Hooded Justice, the first masked superhero in the “Watchmen” universe (and also Angela’s grandfather).
Angela becomes a cop for many of the same reasons her grandfather became a cop — as a way to channel the anger of her childhood, the anger of losing her parents and her grandmother, the anger she inherited as a Black American woman, the anger that comes from living in a racist society.
And so while Angela’s survival and Dr. Manhattan’s sacrifice may seem like a triumph, the series has already shown us that one good Black cop isn’t really enough to solve this problem.