Watchmen – If You Don’t Like My Story, Write Your Own Review

This week’s rather straightforward episode of Watchmen (if any episode of Watchmen can ever truly be classified as “straightforward”) opened with a mixed homage to another superhero of the DC universe: Superman. The Clark family, childless Oklahoma farmers, are given a child right before something crashes down from the sky and lands in their cornfield. While I don’t expect that baby boy to grow up to be anyone particularly special (largely because this world already has their Superman in the form of Doctor Manhattan), it’s an interesting connection to a very different story where superheroes with hidden identities are largely embraced by the public and seen as actual heroes – a world where superheroes tend to have actual powers as well. Just another reminder that the Watchmen universe is a completely different beast.

And that’s what “If You Don’t Like My Story, Write Your Own” hits home again and again: In case you haven’t been paying attention, this isn’t your typical superhero tale. It’s a very human one, with some strange flourishes that remove this reality just far enough from our own to allow us some emotional distance from what’s happening without allowing it to blunt some of the more horrific moments. We see this in the buddy-cop element to the episode, with Laurie and Angela getting to know one another a bit better (ok, it’s mostly Laurie using her incredibly sharp investigatory abilities to figure out far more about Angela than she expected the FBI agent would deduce, while also having Laurie reveal a bit more about her own past to the suspicious Sister Night). We get a better idea of how Looking Glass (Wade Tillman when outside of his shiny suit) and Angela interact in their real lives – he’s obsessed with the squid incidents and trusts Angela’s instincts enough to agree to hide evidence from the FBI. And we see it the most in the relationship between Angela and Cal. He’s willing to lie for her, even if it goes against his own moral code, out of his love and respect for her.

But each of these relatable human moments comes with a strange twist that sets them apart from your traditional HBO drama. Laurie waxes poetic on the childhood trauma that leads to a person putting on a mask, and questions just what Angela’s might be (we know she was orphaned in Vietnam, and Laurie is right that a dark nun costume screams of some past incident involving a nun). Wade doesn’t seem fully convinced that Judd was a member of the Seventh Calvary, but openly admits that a white man in Oklahoma equals racist – at least on some level, which is quite the admission from a white man in Oklahoma. And then there’s Cal. From his blunt atheistic speech to the kids at the breakfast table to Angela’s mention of his unnamed accident during their conversation about what he revealed to Laurie, there’s more going on with Cal than meets the eye.

But while these story threads were rather straightforward, that wasn’t the case for the episode’s other two arcs. In the first, we are introduced to the mysterious Lady Trieu (played by the wonderful Hong Chau), a trillionaire who happens to be building a massive clock in the middle of nowhere Oklahoma. She says it’s meant to be the first new wonder of the world, but, much like Angela and Laurie, I don’t buy that for a second. Lady Trieu was also responsible for presenting the Clarks with their new son (and a nice nest egg of $5 million) in exchange for their house and land (indicating that she was well aware that whatever fell to Earth was coming and that she wanted it in her possession), and for snagging Angela’s car two weeks ago and dropping it back in front of the cultural center last week. She’s also been working with Will Reeves, who does not need a wheelchair despite being over 100 years old, and something in their partnership has lead Will to betray Angela in a way she hasn’t yet realized. And then there’s the Adrian Veidt statue in Lady Trieu’s vivarium – constructed to be an accurate image of Adrien as he would be now, rather than as he was in the height of his vigilante days. An odd choice, Laurie points out, considering he’s been missing for a number of years (and, we find out, Lady Trieu bought his company once he was declared dead). Perhaps the statute represents current day Adrian because Lady Trieu is somehow responsible for his current state?

And what a state it is. We didn’t get to see what Adrien did to get back at the gamekeeper whilst in his Ozymandias suit, but we did get to see just how Adrian keeps himself in fresh supply of Ms. Crookshanks and Mr. Phillips: he gets babies from the lake outside his manor and rapidly ages them (in a really horrific scene). With a seemingly endless supply of clones, Adrian is trying to figure out a way out of his prison by killing the clones. His latest venture (after a mass homicide in his dining room) involves using a catapult to launch the dead servants into the sky where they appear to disappear within the clouds. So, where is Adrian being held captive? Is it outer space, as last week it appeared a Mr. Phillips was killed there? Is it somewhere on Earth, locked in a simulation by Lady Trieu? And what happens when he manages to get out? Remember – Adrian Veidt ends up being the ultimate villain at the end of the Watchmen graphic novel. He’s not a guy you want out there running amok.

Final Thoughts:

— A bit more on the discussion of trauma between Laurie and Angela. While Angela doesn’t admit to anything, Laurie allows Petey to tell her story to Angela, and the version we get isn’t the whole truth (and, in my opinion, isn’t the trauma that caused Laurie to get involved in the Watchmen). Yes, the Comedian tried to rape Silk Spectre, but Laurie was the result of a consensual relationship between the two that occurred afterwards (and as fucked up as that is, Petey was correct that Laurie didn’t find that out until years after she began her crime fighting). Laurie was pushed into becoming a vigilante by her mother, and that pressure resulted in her being forced to grow up way too quickly. That’s Laurie’s real trauma – although I suspect she keeps that pretty close to the vest.

— I would be remiss if I didn’t point out just how good of an investigator Laurie actually is. She’s just disarming enough to get people to trust her, and she is able to think outside the box in a way someone with a different background isn’t. I do believe she genuinely wants to help figure out who killed Judd – but I also cannot wait for the moment she realizes that her hunch about why Angela is stymieing her investigation is incorrect. When the truth of it all is laid out, it’s going to be a heck of a conclusion.

— And, just to reiterate, every scene between Regina King and Jean Smart is a gift.

— The badge on the Klan robes in Judd’s closet looked an awful lot like the badge shown on the image of young Will that we saw in the cultural center. Might there be some connection to Judd’s family and the events of the Black Wall Street Massacre?

— Speaking of Will, now that we know he’s a spry centenarian, I think it’s fair to say that he could have killed Judd on his own. I suspect there’s something in the pills that helps keep him young – which is probably why he wants them back. But who is the source of the pills? Lady Trieu is the obvious choice, seeing as her vast corporate holdings hold at least one genetics company. However, Will spent a lot of time talking about Doctor Manhattan in his initial appearances on the series. Could there be a chance he is somehow related to all this? I suspect he would want to keep Adrian under control, if he does care at all about humanity still.

— If you’re up on your Vietnamese history (which, admittedly, I am not), you likely recognized that there was a famous Lady Trieu who fought against the Chinese occupation of Vietnam in the third century. So, is this her real name, or has Lady Trieu, like so many others in our story, taken on a moniker to protect her identity?

— There’s also something fishy about Bian, Lady Trieu’s daughter. From sleeping hooked up to an IV to having dreams of walking for miles in a forced march, I don’t think Bian is a normal teenager. She also acquiesced a bit too quickly to being told to go back to bed alone. There’s something a tad off there.

— Finally, what the hell was up with Lube Man? Is he just another guy out there in a costume, or is there more going on? He did see Sister Night disposing of a suspicious black bag, after all.