Seriously, in the original comic series, we don’t really understand what’s happening with several of the plot points until the very end – the fact that the “villain” is Ozymandias and what his plot is, what is actually going on with Doctor Manhattan, what motivates Rorschach and how his actions will affect the plot, what is going to actually happen to all the people on the streets of New York whose lives we are following, what the relevance of the pirate story that the kid is reading is to the story, what the Comedian’s roles were in everyone’s lives, etc.
The story of the effect of costumed vigilantes on society and a full picture of what the world is like slowly unfolds through flashbacks, newspaper articles, memoirs, etc.
I think the episode cleared up some things for me.
Like, now I understand how a black couple ended up with a white kid (or rather three white kids…that wasn’t apparent in the first episode).
Now I know what “Redfordations” are and why the Tulsa riot is important to the plot.
Now I understand why Angela was so close to Don Johnson’s character that the two of them were partying together on the night he was killed.
Now I know how Louis Gossett Jr.'s character is tied to Angela.
That said, I agree with you that there’s a lot of confusing stuff. Since I’m a novice to everything “Watchmen”, I’m still confused over the squid and the Dr. Manhattan references. And the drug store stick-up scene…I’m really hoping its relevance becomes clearer by the end of the next episode. Like you, I don’t enjoy feeling so confused. But the show still manages to suck me in.
I’m actually thinking the show might be better when you can binge-watch it. Because that way a person doesn’t have to wait a week scratching their head and wondering if they missed something.
From what I recall, a lot of the technology in the world, like pollution-free cars, is basically “gifted” by Dr. Manhattan, so there isn’t necessarily a full range of technologies as we know them.
I really like it so far – great performances and very intriguing use of different story elements like the “American Hero Story” TV show and flashbacks. Wonderful set-up, and hopefully it continues on a coherent path. Starting out a new show like gangbusters, like this one, is really hard… and it’s even harder to keep that going and wrap up story lines at the same level of quality.
My only issue is… When did Louis Gossett Jr. Get so old?
So far, in all seriousness, I’m really enjoying it. Never read the original material, though I did like the movie (seriously, whatever flaws the movie might have, that opening is probably one of the most well done I’ve ever seen…)
Absolutely loved Jean Smart as Laurie Blake / Silk Spectre! And the car landing just in front of her (like a brick?) 40 seconds after the call ended, lol!
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Another great episode, in my opinion. Lots of nice references back to the comic (Laurie’s comment of “when my dad was murdered, they found a secret compartment in his closet, so I always check”), and solid echoes in terms of dialogue and framing (mostly with Veidt, it seems).
I think that Veidt is on Mars, being held captive by Manhattan. He’s testing homemade spacesuits so that he can confront him. Maybe the cloned servants are being provided by Manhattan? Because if Veidt could create them himself, what would he need a spacesuit for (or rather, why would he have difficulty creating one)?
It also occurred to me that there are several people active in the thread who have stated they haven’t read the comics. Any input on how y’all would prefer discussion about that to be handled, at least how it relates to stuff aired on the show? I don’t think we need “Game of Thrones” level separation of the two, because this isn’t an adaptation of the original work, it’s a continuation.
You might as well tell us if we need it to understand the show. Put it in spoiler tags if you like but there’s been a lot revealed already. Anybody that really wants to see the book without being spoiled shouldn’t be watching the series until they do that.
Technically they’ve left themselves a little bit of wiggle room with respect to Jeremy Irons’ character. We now know that he believes himself to be Veidt, and the servants do as well. But they were clever in having the character direct Ms. Vickers to skip the salutation on the letter while reading it aloud; there’s a possibility that the Game Warden addressed the letter differently. Of course, that could have been done just for dramatic timing reasons, so the big name reveal didn’t occur until the right moment.
There are only nine episodes, and we’re a third of the way through. So perhaps it’s not appropriate to look for Westworld-level hijinks and misdirections. If it’s what seems the most likely scenario though – Dr. Manhattan keeping Veidt a prisoner on a compound on Mars, Veidt trying to escape using the materials available to him – then I have no idea what Manhattan’s motivation might be.
I also think it’s very plausible that all of the Jeremy Irons scenes so far are taking place in the past, relative to the events in Tulsa. The cakes would seem to indicate that we’re seeing one episode each year. Veidt was last seen in public in 2007, declared dead in 2012 (according to this site: https://www.hbo.com/content/dam/hbodata/series/watchmen/peteypedia/01/veidt-declared-dead.pdf) So that gives them either 12 or 7 years to play with.
I think it very likely that Senator Keene was in on the bombing scheme. He gave himself up pretty readily. It’s also very evocative of a similar scene in the comic.
The servant in the makeshift spacesuit made from the suit of armor apparently froze to death, after being launched by trebuchet and then presumably retrieved by the rope tied around his waist. The assumption is that he was flung out past the boundaries of wherever Veidt is being kept and that the suit made for him was inadequate to protect him from the cold. The obvious possibility is that this is a compound on Mars and the servant was being exposed to the natural Martian weather, but I suppose there are other possibilities: Antarctica, for example.
It’s not clear why the trebuchet was necessary; it implies that there are walls that need to be cleared as well as a hostile environment outside.
Oh damn! I think you may be right. I was wondering what the space suit and the “Greater Beyond” was about. Makes sense if he’s being imprisoned on Mars.
Thanks for the explanation. I’m wondering if Veidt has an endless supply of servants he can sacrifice to experiments like this or even worse, letting one burn up during his stage play. Or has he been there so long, he’s getting frustrated and is willing to sacrifice them to figure out a way out? (And if he is on Mars and a prisoner of Doctor Manhattan, was the play meant to appeal to Doctor Manhattan?)