I again really really liked this episode.
This instalment focuses on the character of Looking Glass (Tim Blake Nelson). Through flashback we learn that he was in New Jersey on the night of the "Alien Attack" on New York and despite working with support groups for survivors of the incident, he's still struggling. We come to learn that his mask not only works to hide is identity - but also as a shield, psychologically if not literally, from physic attack. Meanwhile, Adrien Veidt (Jeremy Irons) appears ready to put his escape plan into action.
I think what I liked about this episode was, rather like the third episode, it was a largely self-contained aspect of the overall plot, with huge dollops of back story filling in the time from the graphic novel that we haven't seen. This episode gave us our first look at what the devastation was like in New York when the alien appeared, whilst also confirming that the majority of the world don't know the truth of what happened, so Rorschach's journal must not have made it to the public. We learn that Veidt's plan was more far reaching and specific than just to reunite the earth on that fateful day, as he appeared to know, amongst other things, that Robert Redford would become President. He appeared not to know he was going to end up in some sort of as yet still ill-defined virtual prison though, but his macabre method of getting his escape message out is coming to fruition.
It's just top quality all round. Performances, effects, musical choices. Admittedly it has a character reveal that I'm sure most people would have seen coming episodes ago but at least that wasn't maintained for some dramatic reveal in the finale. Funny and dramatic, this was great television.