No Surrender Cinema: Watchmen (S1 Ep8) “A God Walks into Abar”
It’s the penultimate episode of HBO’s Watchmen, and the doctor is in! Last week’s shocking twist showed us that Dr. Manhattan has been right in front of us the whole time, masquerading as Angela Abar’s husband Cal. With only tonight’s episode standing between last week’s revelation and the season finale, we should be receiving some pretty significant information in the next 60 minutes, so let’s see where Watchmen will take us tonight!
If this review seems like it’s all over the place, that’s because it is. One thing we know for certain about Dr. Manhattan is that he doesn’t adhere to a stringent timeline like we mere mortals do, so this latest chapter in HBO’s continuation of the famed comic (“A God Walks Into A Bar”) covers a lot of ground in a non-linear fashion. When Dr. Manhattan strolls into a bar ten years ago and sits down across from Angela, the ensuing conversation enlightens the viewers as to just what the hell has been going on in this modern world of Watchmen. Last week, when we saw Angela crack her husband’s skull open, it wasn’t for any evil intentions; it was to remove a device that she placed in Dr. Manhattan’s head ten years prior, one that was given to him by Adrian Veidt as a memory and power suppressor. The device, which Adrian stated he had made back in the 80’s as a means to defeat Dr. Manhattan, was instead used by Angela and Dr. Manhattan (in his guise of Cal Abar) to enable them to live as normal of a life as possible. Only in extreme circumstances would Cal be able to trigger his powers, which could explain how Angela managed to survive the White Night attack.
Back to Adrian, he and Dr. Manhattan catch up like old high school buddies who have bumped into each other instead of arch enemies battling for the benefit of mankind. Veidt is a sad sack shell of his former self in this encounter, with his secret lair crumbling and filthy. It’s not quite a superhero edition of Hoarders, but it’s pretty shitty by Ozymandias’ standards. This is why Veidt, when learning that Manhattan has created a vast utopia inspired by his upbringing, has John send him there where he can be worshiped and made to feel whole. We also discover that the clone population of various Phillips’ and Crookshanks’ were inspired by the couple who welcomed young Jon Osterman into their home years before the accident that made him into the God-like glowing blue hero we’ve come to know and love.
There’s a lot of exposition in this episode, with the main focus being on how Dr. Manhattan came to love Angela Abar. Since he feels his past, present, and future all at once, he tells Angela things that haven’t happened yet as more matter of factly than predictive. He only deals in absolutes, and when Angela tries to convince him that they can change the pattern it’s his persistent behavior that eventually grants them the end result he stated would happen in the first place. This is evident not only in a fight they have during their early days as a couple, but in the present when the Seventh Kalvary show up in front of their house. Manhattan teleports the Abar children away from the situation, and reminds Angela that he warned her this day would come. Armed with a tachyon cannon that will send Manhattan off to who knows where, the Kalvary start to swarm, only to be met by a determined Angela. Armed, but not in full Sister Night regalia, she dismantles members of the Kalvary until she finds herself overwhelmed…and that’s when Dr. Manhattan comes through with head popping fury that would make fans of the Scanners movies jealous. The happy couple stand tall, albeit briefly, as the celebration is cut short by the obvious. Manhattan is still hit by the tachyon ray, displacing him and leaving Angela all alone.
This was a great episode, one of the best in Watchmen’s short run thus far. The buildup to seeing Dr. Manhattan in his familiar form was excellently crafted, right down to having him wear a Dr. Manhattan mask over his blue face as if he was Sting in that now infamous TNA wrestling segment. I love the way they portrayed the strength of the bond between he and Angela. I think most fans expected Manhattan and Laurie to just pick up where they left off, especially after her call to him earlier this season, and it will be interesting to see how things play out with the Manhattan/Laurie/Angela triangle. Jeremy Irons remains fantastic as Adrian Veidt, and his portrayal tonight of a man who seemed lost even after getting what he wanted was a welcome layer to the saga of Ozymandias.
Ryan will be back next week for your regularly scheduled Watchmen review, but you can bet that I’ll be tuned in to see how HBO ties up some of these loose ends, or uses them to lead us into Season 2. One thing that Watchmen does well is it leaves questions unanswered while still delivering satisfactory conclusions to each episode. Tonight’s ending proved to be a pivotal point in the story, and if the last 60 minutes were any indication, we’re going to get even more insanity next Sunday night.
