This week’s Watchmen, “Little Fear of Lightning”, gives us backstory on Looking Glass, as well as a LOT of worldbuilding.
It’s my favorite episode so far.
Last Week, On Watchmen:
So let me begin with a confession: I utterly missed the fact that the opening scenes of last week’s episode were a prologue! Obviously knowing that changes a few things. First, Lady Trieu is either older than I previously thought, or, as I’ve begun to suspect, a clone. Because the “daughter” she brings with her appears to be the same age as the daughter we meet later on, who should be the same person who’s being fed nightmares that are, I’m assuming, memories of the original Lady Trieu. I’m guessing she’s been cloning herself and replanting the memories for a while now? And that now she’s finally able to pull the trigger on the scheme she’s working on with Will Reeves, which most likely involves a much harsher form of reckoning for the crimes the U.S. committed against Vietnam and against the Black American community.
I’ve also seen speculation that Veidt sections might also be happening on a different timeline, and that he might be the glowing orb that crashes to the ground on the Clark’s farm.
Which, could I just take a moment to doff my metaphorical cap to this show’s baldfaced superhero references? The Clark farm, The Red Scare, Will holding a baby wrapped in a flag, Laurie’s speech about trauma=masked vengeance, Petey being an unabashed nerd, it just adds such a nice spike of pure fun to a very heavy, time-twisty show.
Now, speaking of Veidt, is Trieu the one holding him prisoner? After all, if my clone theories are correct then she could be the mind behind Clone Lake. I’ve begun to hope that all the mentions of Doctor Manhattan are pure red herrings, and that the blue bastard never shows up. (Although that might make me even more sad for Laurie, who already has a lot on her plate.) But I think it would be kind of interesting if Manhattan actually did exactly what he planned, split for another dimension, and if all the humans worrying about him and bandying theories are just, well, adding to a discourse that no longer involves him.
Oh and presumably Joe Keene set up his own assassination.
OK and SOMETHING is up with Cal, right?
Last Week, On Watchmen:
We open on Hoboken, in 1985. Which means we’re not quite at Ground Zero, but we’re close enough that we see how horrifying the Attack actually was. We then jump back to Tulsa in 2019, where we pick up with Wade, who’s trying to help Angela by asking his ex, Cynthia, to sequence her pills. We get a long, desperately sad glimpse of Wade’s life, where we learn that he’s ruled completely by his terror of the Squid returning. For all that he feels genuine empathy for the Baby Squid, he has engineered his entire life around the idea that one day the Big One might teleport into his dimension again. This is the backdrop for his continued search for the Seventh Kavalry.
We also check in with Veidt, and get considerably more context on what’s going on with him. More in spoiler territory below!
Here Be a Black Freighter Full of Spoilers:
As I said, this week was almost entirely a Looking Glass episode.
It turns out the Young Wade was a Jehovah’s Witness, and was in Hoboken in 1985. He was trying to evangelize as midnight approached, but instead was sexually assaulted and had his clothes stolen by a punk girl. Because of this, he was trapped naked in the Hall of Mirrors. Because of that, he didn’t die. But he’s lived the rest of his life in utter fear. The image of Young Wade, naked, screaming “WHAT HAPPENED???” as the camera pans back to reveal the Squid in Manhattan, may be one of the best pieces of television I’ve ever watched.
This episode also turns into a surprisingly nuanced look at trauma, fragility, and religious belief—and how it can transmute into other types of belief.
Once we’re back in Tulsa we see that Wade has a squid shelter, that his wife left probably because of the fear, that he runs a group for “Friends of Nemo” that has pamphlets titled “Extra-dimensional anxiety and you”—Wade never could get away from the pamphlets it seems. Also everyone refers to Squid Attack Day as 11/2, so that was fun. (Speaking as a person who, no joke, finished my first-ever read of Watchmen on 9/09/01.) This episode does an impeccable job of showing us what life is like in a world that lived through that kind of event. The way the trauma still affects people thirty years later.
Wade’s cover job is as an assistant in Market Research, because, presumably because of the girl who molested him, he’s become very adept at spotting a liar. Because of this did, we get to watch him watch a focus group for a New York tourism ad: “Come Back To New York!” people exclaim, while eating calamari. So we learn that even this far in the future, New York is a shadow of its former self. There’s also a group for a cereal called “Smiley-O’s” because this show will be DAMNED if a week goes by without a smiley reference. According to the children testing them, they have no flavor.
Which leads into another interesting note, which is that while cloning is legal, tobacco is now a controlled substance, and clearly sugar is not supposed to be in products for kids anymore. So we’re getting more of a sense of life under a somewhat oppressive liberal regime. I’ll admit that I still prefer this alternate reality to the Nixon Nation of the comic, but I see the point.
We also learn that Laurie has bugged the cactus on Wade’s desk (“Don’t take it personally. I’m FBI, we bug shit.”) and we see that as good as he might be at detecting lies, he’s also rather easily trapped by the Seventh Kavalry. All of which leads up to a couple of beautiful scenes of him finally learning the truth about Veidt and the Squid Attack, and a gorgeously-acted moment when he betrays Angela right after he gives her her grandfather’s pills and informs her that they’re nostalgia, basically memories in pill form, that cause psychosis. Naturally Laurie, not having any context, has to arrest her. Naturally Angela, ever willing to go HAM, chugs Will’s Nostalgia so they can’t get it.
Angela has swallowed her family’s history, and will presumably be reliving Will Reeves’ past next week.
And of course the next scene shows the Kavalry showing up to Wade’s house, so most likely my favorite character is dead, and they might just renege on the promise not to hurt Angela’s family if he turned her over, so he may have just betrayed his only friend for nothing.
Good god, show.
Meanwhile, on the moon: Veidt violates the conditions of his prison, which IS IN FACT a bubble on the moon, and the clones attack him for it. He also tells them their God has forsaken them, so maybe that’s Manhattan? I’m still holding out for Trieu, but of course now we know cloning is kind of commonplace, so, maybe it’s NBD that he has a Clone Lake?
Allusions:
- There’s a stuffed panda on the ground after the Squid Attack, in a grotesque parody of Wade’s JH pamphlets.
- Setting most of this episode to increasingly creepy and/or poignant versions of “Careless Whisper”? This show knows my love language.
- This also gives more context to Panda Cop
- Wade rolls his mask up to eat baked beans out of a can while watching Gay Hooded Justice porn. As if I didn’t already like him already.
- OK, maybe you think I’m joking about the porn thing? But not only does the show deal with an incident of male sexual assault, without turning it into a joke or something he should toughen up about, but it shows that he’s clearly had relationships with women, his ex actually seems nice, but the fact that he’s watching gay porn isn’t a punchline or anything, either. Presumably it’s just what he was in the mood for that day—but the point of the scene is to show him watching porn where a superhero refuses to remove his mask during sex. My assumption is that this has been an issue for Wade, and that this is what he’s connecting to more than anything. Which is some fantastic layering to pack into a brief scene that a lot of shows would have played for comedy.
- It also shows us that, yes, of course there’s going to be a market for superhero porn in a universe with actual superheroes.
- Veidt’s launched himself out of prison in order to spell out “Save Me” with the corpses of previously-launched Phillipses and Crookshankses. Which, again, I’m claiming that as a Tick reference, and declaring Adrian Veidt the Chairface Chippendale of the Watchmen universe.
- In the Watchmenverse, Spielberg made a black-and-white movie called Pale Horse that featured a little girl in a red coat running through Ground Zero.
- The Phillipses and Crookshankses are also mirrors of Hoboken and Ground Zero.
- Again, SMILEY-O’s.
I had been thinking more and more this past week that the opening of last week’s episode may have been farther back in the past and maybe the whole “clock” that Trieu is building is at the site of the meteor crash, but hadn’t had an opportunity to go back and rewatch it and find out if anything is said that would violate that idea.
Trieu as serial clones! Very interesting idea, would explain a bit.
This week’s episode was great. Turns out Wade has a lot more in common with Rorschach than just the mask and is almost a “what if Rorschach turned in a different direction” character. Very worried about Wade, though, given the ending.
Loved the little details in the world building, like instead of Schindler’s List, Spielberg made a movie in the same style but about the “11/2” attack. Not as positive about the Veidt video…while it works for plot reveal, it seems out of character for him to record it since if (make that when) it got out, it would undo everything he was trying to achieve.
Speaking of Vedit….one small correction. Wherever Veidt is trapped, it’s not the moon. The looming planet he could see when he escaped was clearly not Earth. Jupiter, maybe (there was a giant red spot on it at one point), which would mean he’s on one of Jupiter’s moons.
Also, the message he wrote out was “Save Me D”. The “D” is interesting…presumably there was more to it that we could not see as viewer. “Doctor Manhattan” doesn’t really make sense, not only because he pretty much has to be the one who set up the jail in the first place, but also trying to show it to the satellite doesn’t really seem like the best way to contact the Doc. So…who specifically was he trying to contact? No idea.
Seems like Trieu/William and working in some sort of opposition to Keene/7K, but they are both on a similar timeline (i.e. a few days). No idea what they’re trying to do. Teleportation chamber…maybe to teleport Veidt back to Earth? Seems unlikely. Not splashy enough.
Unfortunately I didnt get any progressive visioning that this author did wrt Looking Glass’s sexuality. I thought the superhero porn scene could have been a turning point for the character but it just felt like another throwaway metaphor that this show is highly adept at doing. It also reminded me of how unbearably straight and heteronormative this show is, much like Leftovers. Bummed we wont get to see a genuine exploration of queerness on the show.
Also, Lindeloff and crew insisting that a “liberal regime” as a dire possibility only adds fuel rightist’s fire no matter how they’re portrayed.
Is Wade watching gay porn or is it American Hero Story? He seems nonplussed by what’s happening onscreen. Also, remember Petey’s warning about all the inaccuracies on the show. Hooded Justice seems to be positioned as key to what will happen in a couple days. Will next to a hanged man and the KKK/7thK robes also tie into this.
Read another review where Veidt is supposedly on one of Mars’ moons. Jupiter should be insulted here. I mean, it’s right there, up in the sky.
Veidt’s confession wasn’t meant for the public. He addresses “Robert,” as in Redford, telling him how he orchestrated RR’s election. The Senator says it took him years to get a copy out, so it seems a very highly guarded secret. This is very problematic though, as it makes Redford’s government complicit in Veidt’s deception.
The mask Wade wears is made from Reflectatine: “Guarateed protection from psychic attacks.” It’s supplied by the same Extra-Dimensional Security company that supplies his home alert system.
Forgot to mention the squid: I’ve believed since the Snyder movie came out that he made the right decision to leave out the psychic calamari. I thought it would’ve been ridiculous and that it was more elegant to create exploding blue globes that bore Manhattan’s energy signature. But the giant squid reveal works here. It’s way bigger than the comics version. It crushes a multi-story building and does not look ridiculous at all. It sells the horror felt by people like Wade.
Also forgot the added detail that Wade uses Rfelectatine on the inside of his baseball hat, which adds a bit of comedy to his “tinfoil hat” persona.
Veidt is on Europa. That’s Jupiter in the sky, you can see Io in one shot, and the landscape looks just like the standard astronomical artist’s impressions of Europa’s surface.
I got a very Black Freighter feel from Veidt using the corpses as a message. To me it evoked the raft of corpses from the pirate comic. The connects a lot to the pirate imagery that seems (not 100% sure about this) more focused on the “lord of the manor” storyline.
It possibly may not be gay porn. The person doing the penetrating might be a (blue eyed) woman in a mask with a strap-on.
The wall of televisions seems to be displaying what looks a lot like a BBC test card before YKW is seen.
While it was porn on the TV, from what the characters were wearing, it seemed pretty clear to me that it was an episode of American Hero Story.
And I’m holding out hope that he’s able to fight off his 7K attackers. Tim Blake Nelson is a treasure, and losing his character would be a terrible loss to the show.
Well, they did foreshadow Wade running for his bunker, so I’m hoping he makes it out alive.
I wouldn’t count Wade out yet. Just because they’re going for his place, doesn’t mean he’s dead… I could see them drawing on the Rorschach parallels even more (where things looked hopeless for him in the prison riot but he got out with badassery and a little help).
Crazy theory time: Veidt isn’t imprisoned by Doctor Manhattan. Veidt used his research and knowledge of Jon’s story (and remember, in the comic, he had the same type of machine) and attempted to create another superhuman LIKE Jon (maybe Lady Trieu?). And that superhuman made him a paradise prison on Europa, but Veidt thinks Jon is his only hope of escape (the play at the beginning was sort of his overdramatic way of “a-ha, this is my idea, I’ll ask the Watchmaker’s son for help!”)
Why are they going after him anyway? He did what the senator asked, which was to set up Angela.
Yeah! People who run criminal conspiracies are known for just letting you go about your life if you do what they ask!
@1: Depending on when this is taking place — “Save Me Dan”?
@11 – maybe 7K is going after Wade to tie up a loose end, he saw the supersecret Veidt tape. Then again, maybe they’re misleading us and they are rounding him up to draw him further into the group.
seeing the squid sprawled across midtown reminded me of cloverfield. maybe they kept it in for the show because modern audiences are conditioned for mayhem in manhattan on an absurd level.
when wade’s ex put that dog in that shute and just…disposed of it… these people are hard.
@12. ghostly1: they were recruiting him. He’s already wearing a mask like they do. The senator talks about Judd controlling the cops while he controls the 7thK to maintain a balance. Wade could be the new Judd. It’s a bit of a record scratch to go from that to “we must kill him now.”
Then again, we don’t know what either side is planning for a couple days hence.
@15: They told HIM they were recruiting him. They also wanted something from him, so it makes some amount of sense to tell him he was going to have a much bigger role. I don’t see it the change as a record scratch at all… granted it didn’t HAVE to go that way, but it seems a perfectly reasonable outcome to a cop who’d been turned and just outlived his usefulness (once Angela was turned in, there’d always be the risk he’d have a crisis of conscience and come clean… after all, Keene did threaten to send the 7th Calvary to murder her just to get her off the board, whether they share the same general outlook about extradimensional aliens or not that strikes me as the kind of partner you might have second thoughts about).
(It’s also quite possible the plan was “attempt to recruit him to do what we want” and then he recognized Senator Keene and the plan became “get him to do what we want, and then tie up the loose end.”)
There’s a specific reason he’s nonplussed, which come from the original comic itself. In the comic there were several major differences between it’s alternate universe and ours that were going on that were not clear unless you were looking for them. Some of the obvious ones were technology changes and political ones like Nixon. Others were less obvious, and a ‘progressive’ attitude to homosexual relationships were part of that. Rorschact’s homophobia was contrasted with trans- and gay men enjoying a night out at the same restaurant that Dan and Laurie have dinner. In this alternate reality homosexuality is no longer viewed with the same stigma it has been in this world. It was front-and-centre in some of the comics but if you weren’t looking for it you might have missed it. Later conversations with Alan Moore confirmed this.
@17. PetarB: not sure I understand your post. If being gay isn’t stigmatized, then he shouldn’t be nonplussed at all.
My initial point, to clarify, was that Wade was not enjoying gay porn as the reviewer said. He was watching the “documentary” series about the Minutemen and did not expect to see a gay relationship between two of the heroes. Don’t remember when it was revealed, whether in the original series (my guess would be Roschach’s journal) or the subsequent DC follow-up series. Either way, it wasn’t public knowledge.
I am making an educated guess that Veidt’s prison bubble is on Europa, orbiting Jupiter of course. My biggest nit though it doesn’t depict that moon’s slight surface gravity of 1.3m/sec/sec when he escaped the dome and arranged the frozen corpses. (the Earth’s moon gravity is 1.6m/s/s by comparison)
I think somehow Angela and Wade (our heroes) will come out okay in the next episode or two.
Yes! I was putting him on our moon, at first, but OF COURSE that was Jupiter. Sometimes I’m a dummy and post too fast. That makes his situation even more precarious, though. Plus it kinda messes up my Chairface Chippendale joke, but, whatever, show. You do what you want.
Other thing: I think y’all are correct about it being an episode of American Hero Story, and not porn – although I’d still assume that there hero porn in this universe – but I’m still pleased about the fact that the framing of the scene is all about Hooded Justice wanting to keep his identity secret. It was a nice layer to add to the show. Although I, too, am nervous about them sticking the landing with the way they’re treating the progressive Redford Era – so far I think they’ve done well with it, at least for me. Like I thought the slight jab at the content warning that played before AHS was more about the length of the warning, rather than mocking the concept of a warning. But we’ll see! I have a lot of hope, because so far each week has been better than the last, and next week’s ep looks AMAZING.
@1 I’m 99% sure the clock is where the meteor (or whatever) landed, and that the farm buying scene was in the past*..current Trieu is the clone-daughter of the Trieu that bought the farm, and is grooming her next clone-daughter. I thought there was a line from current Trieu about her mother buying the land.
As far as the Senator and the 7thK, I got the impression that the 7k doesn’t know who he is, Glass only recognized him from his voice, though that makes it confusing that he unmasked in an open room where anyone could walk in and see him. Which also means the 7k didn’t know who they almost killed at the funeral. It was a real bomb attached to the bomber’s heartbeat and did almost actually kill everyone, which I don’t think they would have risked actually hooking up if that 7k person and the Senator had planned that as a 7K thing. No way did they account for Laurie one-shotting the bomber with her don’t give a #$%! attitude.
* I am basing this on the the seeming consistency that the opening scene of each episode is in the past.
No need to guess about Europa. It has been confirmed.
@21: Just checked Springfield, Springfield, and the only line they have is about how Trieu’s mother made her promise to never leave Vietnam – hence the vivarium.
Right now, I’m wondering if Bian is supposed to be like what Miranda was supposed to be to her father in Mass Effect – a means to ensure her legacy, for better or worse. (Also a means of introducing the use of the genetic memory trope.)
Well, I was right about the Redford government knowing the truth about the Squid (and why Redford was distancing himself from Veidt), just not about the how. Which makes me wonder how they reacted to Laurie bringing up what she knew about 11/2…
@13 What if that’s how Nite Owl ended up in FBI custody? By trying or succeeding in rescuing Adrian?
@25: Peteypedia seems to say otherwise. According to the article about Veidt’s disappearance, he disappeared in 2012, and Laurie and Dan were arrested in 1995 for violating the Keene Act (when they stopped the Oklahoma City bombing).
@25 I just caught up on the show and I didn’t realize they had accompanying articles just like the comic! That makes it so much vetter
I’m bothered by the reference to “gay porn” here. I mean they were fully clothed, that’s not much different than PG-13 rated hetero sex on TV, I don’t think it’s fair to refer to it as porn, and to do so is to participate in the demonization that the show is trying to demonstrate is reduced in it’s timeline.
The planet behind Veidt is Mars, not Earth. Looks to be an asteroid or planetoid. Obviously, Jon has been trying to create life here, but his efforts aren’t bearing fruit capable of being self sustaining. They aren’t complete. The game warden also appears to be played by Tom Mison, so he’s obviously one of Jon’s more advanced creation, maintaining the rules Jon left for him, though apparently Jon’s been absent for some time.
Veidt’s message read “Save Me D” on my TV did anyone catch what else it may have said?
Dan??? Dammit?
So my assumption that Keene and Judd were exacerbating the situation for their own benefit was correct. And Trieu and Reeves are opposed to it, apparently? Well, that puts them on my side, for the moment. Though of course, Trieu has plans of her own.
Can’t wait to catch next episode.