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Thoughts : Watchmen [HBO, Episodes 7-9] (2019)

It’s been nine weeks of intense ups and downs, slow reveals to astonishing questions, and red herrings that turn into lore-shifting revelations, but it seems that HBO’s collaboration with Damon Lindelof has resulted in a true television gem in the form of Watchmen. Though initially plagued by waves of confusion, negative feedback due to it’s unflinching look at race, and the ever-present specter of Alan Moore fans that echo his displeasure in any Watchmen property that is not the original run, the series eventually found strength via word of mouth, and the eventual fan service that arrived coincided with this new wave of interest. The series is certainly a fascinating one, and it will go down as one of my favorites from the powerhouse that is HBO.

THE STORY CONCLUDES

Episode 07 : An Almost Religious Awe Angela finds herself in the custody of Lady Trieu as she recovers from an overdose of Will’s Nostalgia pills. Already in a fragile state due to the harsh and traumatic nature of Will’s memories, Angela finds herself wading through the recesses of her own troubled past, specifically the loss of her parents, her time in a Saigon orphanage, and her near escape by way of her Grandmother’s custody attempted turned to untimely death. Agent Petey discovers the remnants of a shootout at Looking Glass’s home, but there is no trace of Looking Glass to be found. Special Agent Blake pays Jane Crawford a visit to confront her about the Cyclops organization, only to find herself a captive of Cyclops and the Seventh Kalvary. Adrian Veidt faces a trial from the Game Warden. Lady Trieu reveals that Dr. Manhattan is not on Mars, and that he is actually on Earth, forcing Angela to confront Cal (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II)about his mysterious past and the impending doom in his near future.

Episode 08 : A God Walks into Abar Cal, now revealed to be Dr. Manhattan, struggles to piece together the missing ten years from his life while attempting to orient himself after his sudden reappearance. In 2009, he meets Angela for the first time and attempts to woo her. In 1985, he creates life on the Jupiter-based moon of Europa, only to become disenchanted with the creatures made out of the image of his once childhood saviors and educators. In 2009, he visits Adrian Veidt, who himself is disenchanted, in order to receive a device that will humanize the God-like Dr. Manhattan, and in exchange, Veidt is sent to Europa. In 2009, Cal visits Will, and while informing Will about his missing granddaughter Angela and the feelings that have arisen for her, he inadvertently informs Will of Judd’s involvement with Cyclops. In 2019, Dr. Manhattan realizes why he fell in love with Angela in the first place, and the two head into battle against an inescapable fate.

Episode 09 : See How They Fly The story of Lady Trieu’s origin is revealed when we learn that her mother broke into Adrian Veidt’s office during the recording of his presentation to President Robert Redford, found the storage of semen behind his painting of Alexander the Great, and inseminated herself. Many years later, Lady Trieu receives Adrian’s S.O.S. from Europa and sends him a rescue pod, but Veidt soon learns of Trieu’s true intentions... a plan to undercut Sen. Keane’s attempt at stealing Dr. Manhattan’s powers, all in hopes of transferring them to herself.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

The Peteypedia : A weekly collection of documents relevant to the world of Watchmen, similar to the opening and closing inclusions in the original comic issues and graphic novel.

The Official Watchmen Podcast : Host Craig Mazin and showrunner Damon Lindelof discuss the HBO Watchmen series. More episodes have been possibly teased, but as for now, Episode 3 marks the end of the podcast.

THOUGHTS ON THE SHOW

If making Will Reeves turn out to be Hooded Justice was world-changing, then I find myself at a loss for words to describe what the reveal of Cal as Dr. Manhattan was in terms of scope and scale. The clues were there the entire time, as I often brought up to people in conversations about the show how locked in Special Agent Blake seemed to be to Cal, which in hindsight makes complete sense. Cal’s incredibly reserved nature and no-nonsense approach to life echoed that of Dr. Manhattan’s indifference to the way that we perceive reality as well. His continual search for love, despite his omniscience, is given another complex layer in the form of his romance with Angela Abar, and the unanswered questions we are left with in terms of his lasting impact on her continued life are simultaneously satisfying and frustrating, as any good story ending should be. The seamless inclusion of what seemed to be a separate Adrian Veidt story helped bring it all home.

Those who were lucky enough to be following the Peteypedia during the run of the series were also given additional insight into the world of the show. The texts provided gave us a look into the world that Lindelof built, including insight into Lady Trieu and her many business interests, continued connections to the Fogdancer lore from the original Watchmen, a look at how Nostalgia went from being a fad to a blacklisted item, and even an easter egg that answered a question that many viewers of the show were left believing was a hanging thread. Totally random, but in a world with limited technology, I thought Lady Trieu’s use of an elephant as a makeshift hard drive was great writing.

Cal always seemed a bit too reserved not to be noticed, and yet to many (including myself), his reveal as Dr. Manhattan came as a complete shock. Only a small number of people in the community were predicting this, and the payoff was one of the most rewarding in my recollection of TV reveals. His calm and kind nature fits the predetermined mold, the revelation answered the question of how Angela survived the White Night, and his final moments being quotes from the Watchmen comic brought definitive connection between the HBO series and the original comic run.

Bian was another character that hid in plain sight, with the revelation of her turning out to be Lady Trieu’s mother helping tie the twisted knot (no pun intended) that was the relationship of Bian, Lady Trieu and Adrian Veidt. Her creation also serves as a hint towards her intentions to supplant Dr. Manhattan, as her creation of Bian in her mother’s image mirrors Manhattan’s creation of Phillips and Crookshanks on Europa in homage of their impact on his life.

The understanding of who Mr. Phillips and Ms. Crookshanks were also sheds new light on the depths of Adrian’s cruelty, which we later learn was simply done as a tactic to keep himself from going mad during his ‘captivity’ on Europa. Learning about their love and how it inspired Dr. Manhattan to create life in their image made the repeat burning of Mr. Phillips in front of Crookshanks during their performances of The Watchmaker’s Son cruel in retrospect, and while the numerous copies he killed to create his message for help were ultimately a sick, sad means to an end, it does seem that Adrian reveled in the dispatching of his ‘foes’.

If you watched this series without keeping tabs on the Peteypedia, you were watching Watchmen all wrong.

EXPECTATIONS AND REALITY

The ending made sense, I will give it that. The way that the Millennium Clock was being built up, however, as well as the vagueness of Will’s connection to Lady Trieu, led me to believe that a mesmerizing operation would take place. This, in my opinion, would have been a proper bookend to the inclusion of the Tulsa Riots, the White Night and the theater riot that happened while Will Reeves was a cop in New York, courtesy of Cyclops and the mesmerizing ray. Police Chief Judd Crawford’s death at the hands of Will would have played as a test run for large scale chaos. As Lindelof stated in one of the previous episodes of the Watchmen Podcast, however, once Dr. Manhattan lays his cards on the table, the nature of the game changes. It was inevitable that any and all focus would shift to him once his presence on Earth was felt, but the way that Lady Trieu ultimately tried to Scooby Doo villain her way into Dr. Manhattan’s powers made logical sense, but lacked the imagination I would have come to expect from the self-proclaimed ‘smartest woman in the world’. Playing the ending that did take place as Dr. Manhattan’s chance to make a selfless gesture, however, did make up for the imagination with emotional ingredients.

THE QUESTIONS

The only true questions here are whether or not Lindelof (or another creator) will choose to continue Watchmen as a series. In light of this, my questions would center around the following thoughts :

- What would the impact on the world be if Angela Abar was able to inherit any form of Dr. Manhattan’s powers?

- With no internet in the current world of Watchmen, how would a rogue Dale Petey share his information?

- With the power structure of Cyclops and the Seventh Kalvary obliterated, will the remaining members of the Seventh Kalvary continue to be a force of opposition?

- Unless I missed something, it seems that Bian survived what Lady Trieu did not... could this open the door to Trieu Industries continuing under her hand?

- With Special Agent Blake having seemingly arrested Adrian Veidt, does this open the door for a Night Owl appearance, seeing as both men would theoretically be Federal prisoners?

Nobody at this point knows what is in store for the future of Watchmen, but with this series having a successful ending, and the conclusion of Doomsday Clock on the horizon, I can imagine folks like myself will be hungry for more.

#ChiefDoomsday #DOOMonFILM #DamonLindelof #Watchmen #HBO #DavidSemel #StacyOseiKuffour #ClaireKiechel #NicoleKassell #JeffJensen #FrederickEOToye #NickCuse

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