To quote the sign from “Watchmen” #1, the end is nigh. We’ve got just one episode of Watchmen left after tonight, and great googly moogly is there a lot to discuss. Let’s get to it, while we still have time to make waffles.
The episode’s title is a three things: reminiscent of the scene between Dr. Manhattan and the Comedian in a Vietnamese bar where Eddie Blake kills a woman pregnant with his child, the scene of most of the episode’s exposition, and a pun on Angela’s name. In the press materials, the episode is called “A God Walks Into A Bar,” but on screen it is “A God Walks Into Abar.”
1. A scramble you can follow
This episode attempts, as best as possible, to give the viewers an experience not unlike Dr. Manhattan’s, in terms of events presenting themselves all at once and not in a linear fashion. Obviously, there is no real way to do that, but Lindelof + co. borrow from “Watchmen” in terms of juxtaposing scenes and following threads across multiple timelines. It’s imperfect, but it does what it needs to, and sufficiently takes us out of our comfort zone.
The episode is framed around a conversation between Angela and Jon in a bar in Vietnam, and the episode essentially walks us through that conversation as it would (somewhat) appear to Jon, bouncing around topics and following a thread that zigs and zags around Jon and Angela’s relationship. That sounds a lot longer than what we actually get, because we really only get insight into the first six months of their relationship, which occurs before Jon enters the ‘tunnel’ of Cal.
2. Calvin(ism)
One of the reasons that I watch this show a few times before reviewing it is that there are so many little touches that go unnoticed on first viewing. The scene where Angela and Jon ‘choose’ Cal’s body contains a really nice bit of theological humor that I totally missed the first time out: Jon says that he likes the name Calvin. Of course he does, John Calvin believed in pre-destination, the idea that everything that was going to happen was already preordained and we were simply walking through the motions. If you saw life all at once, you may also think of things in a Calvinist way.
Jon professing his love for Angela felt a little weird in the moment, especially because so much of Jon’s story is about him knowing what happens. If he’s simultaneously having his skin burned off, borking Angela, and talking to Veidt, then theoretically he would’ve been doing all of those things while also buying earrings for Joanie, or engaging Laurie in a self-made devil’s threesome. The proclamation of love feels very convenient, especially because over 90% of their relationship is spent with Jon not aware of what is happening.
3. Not just Survivor has alliances
The most interesting part of the episode, to me, was when Jon paid a visit to Will Reeves, as it both establishes a paradox (Angela caused Reeves to kill Judd because she told him he kills Judd) and it connects Angela’s past and present and the two closest bits of family that she has. This scene is also the reason that I feel most confident that things will ‘work out’ for Angela and co, is because Jon wouldn’t have gone to see Will if he knew there was nothing Will could do to help Angela and the kids.
Again, it is very hard to not think linearly because that is how we experience time, but if we try to think like Jon, this seems like good news in the grand scheme.
4. Checking in at the castle, Part 8: The horseshoe returns
There isn’t a ton that we get in the Veidt scene, which happens after the credits, except for two bits of information that gets revealed in this scene: one, we get confirmation that the Game Warden is the ‘original’ Phillips, and two, that Veidt did indeed have a plan for the horseshoe, which we saw back in the first episode.
This mimics what we saw Veidt do in regards to electing President Redford; he is setting something up so far in advance that no one, especially not the very simple inhabitants of Europa, could see it coming. The fact that his plan essentially involved creating a shared memory or a piece of innate knowledge from the Phillips and Crookshanks, as he already killed the first Phillips we saw bring him a horseshoe. It is a nuanced way to show just how brilliant Veidt is.
Continued belowBut this episode is the first time that we’ve seen things happen on Europa but aren’t related to anything with Veidt. We see how Jon created life there, where his inspiration came from, and got a pretty detailed understanding of what exactly goes on there. Nothing is all that different from what many people suspected, but it is nice to have some answers.
5. Endgame
We are now in a place where it seems like the lines are very much drawn: Angela and Trieu are going to have to stop the Seventh Kavalry from re-creating Dr. Manhattan. I have some crazy theories (Jon gives his powers to Angela in the way he discussed being able to ‘pass on’ his abilities), but more than anything else, I’m really excited to see how the season wraps up. There are a lot of loose ends, and I’m not entirely sure how the show is going to pull it off. Is it next week yet?
Five more questions to tide us over until the finale.
1. Did Dr. Manhattan kill Angela’s grandmother?
So, here’s one of my conspiracy theories: When we see the billboard of Dr. Manhattan in Episode 7, someone wrote ‘murderer’ above him. This is obviously a VVN Day reference, but it may also be a clue. We see this for the second time directly before Angela’s grandmother has her fatal heart attack. It seems to me, like I said before, that much of what Jon is doing is too convenient to be truly love. So what if he needed to keep Angela in Vietnam? Could he have killed her parents and then her grandmother to ensure that she stays put? It’s dark, but I could see it happening. This episode sets up Jon as being far more affable and considerate than we’ve seen in the past. It seems about right that we would have that come crashing down at some point. Doctor Manhattan is many things, but caring doesn’t appear to be one of them.
2. Why a horseshoe?
Of all the implements that could be used to dig, why did Veidt set up the horseshoe as the instrument of his salvation? Is it its clandestine nature? The fact that it could fit into a cake? Or is there another reason we don’t know yet?
3. Will all the connections be revealed?
Angela and Laurie are both women who were wooed by Dr. Manhattan, and they are both mask wearing law enforcement types. They should be the best of friends; will their romantic relationships be made known to the other? (Side note: did people realize that Manhattan and Laurie were a couple? I don’t remember)
Similarly, we know that Trieu’s father is a dangling plot thread that is likely to be resolved next week. If it is the Comedian, as I think it may be, that makes Laurie and Trieu half sisters. If it is Dr. Manhattan, as others think, then perhaps she is so smart/successful because Jon did ‘pass along’ at least some of his abilities to her. If it is Veidt, as lots of others think, then she becomes the manifestation of what he said to the Game Warden about ‘his children’ needing him on Earth. He also said they would be in their cradles; Trieu’s biosphere is both a cradle of life and also a fishtank, much like the one that inspired Jon as a child.
4. Was it all for a pun?
Did they really name her Angela Abar to make the ‘A God Walks into a Bar/Abar” joke? If so, well played.
5. Can the future be changed?
This, to me, is the biggest question of the back half of the show: is the future set in stone? Can anyone, even Jon, change what happens? If not, it seems like the show doesn’t have as much of a point as it thought it did. If so, I’m fascinated to see how it all resolves.
See ya in a week, friends.
