Episode 5 of Watchmen, titled Little Fear of Lightning, is written by Damon Lindelof and Carly Wray, who worked together on the epic series The Leftovers, which dealt with grief.
It's therefore fitting that today's episode zooms in on the grief of Wade/Looking Glass and what drives it. Let's dig into a very meaty episode...
The title of the episode is taken from this quote: "If there were no thunder, men would have little fear of lightning", from Jules Vernes'
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
, a sci-fi book about Captain Nemo and his submarine.
Funnily enough, Watchmen's Wade and his self-help group are the embodiment of the line. They have unwarranted fear of the Squid Attack, which is an elaborate hoax, thanks to Veidt and the government.
If the hoax had not happened, Wade and all these people would have had a very different life and the episode shows how deeply the hoax has affected Wade.
The series starts with a cool flash-back to the time period of the source material in 1985 and we get to see the Squid Attack. We get the back story to Wade's inspiration for his mask and get to know all his anxieties.
In the episode we learn that the mask is supposed to help prevent psychic attacks from alien invention, just like people use tin foil hats today.
The most damaging thing about the episode is that the man who built his career on being able to tell when people are lying - whether as a police officer or as an analyst in his day job - never realised that the Squid Attack was a lie.
Instead, he's living the biggest lie. He won't admit he is traumatised. He leads a self-help group trying to help people get over something he hasn't.
I love how we see the revelation and confirmation that Judd was part of the kalvary and that his biggest fear was based on a hoax which totally breaks him as a person.
It's intriguing to see that he's so broken that he can betray the only woman who does not beat him down in Angela Abar.
Which sets up nice plots for next week, whereby Nostalgia becomes a central focus. In the source material Nostalgia is a perfume that sparks past memories in the wearer and now, in 2019, it's been turned into a drug that people consume to relive their memories. Angela consumed Will's memory, which should make for an interesting trip.
On reveals we now know that Veidt is on one of Jupiter's moons and like in Tales of the Black Frieghter in the source comic book, it served the same gambit as the Minutemen in the Watchmen world.
Tales is referenced in how Veidt uses the bodies of the clones to create a save me message. In Tales the man uses the dead bodies to create a ship to try and get off an island to save his family who he eventually murders in his delirious rage. I wonder if Veidt's fate will be similar?
One thing about the show is that it has no respect for clones whether they be dogs or human servants, they get killed and dismembered like it's nothing.
I think Season 2 should do a rebellion of the clones.
But I love that this episode gave us so many answers and in true Watchmen fashion, it also left us with questions.
Questions such as: is Lady Trieu responsible for Veidt imprisonment? Is Dr. Manhattan the god that created that pocket dimension in the moon? At what point are we going to get Dr. Manhattan's point of view of the story? Will Wade survive the kalvary attack at the end? What will be the relationship between Laurie and Angela be now that Laurie knows about Will?... can't wait for next week's episode.
It felt like: Going behind the curtain at the end of the Wizard of Oz, only to find another tunnel to follow.
Rating
*****
Two videos... a breakdown of the episode and a preview for next week:
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* Trash
** you are on your own
***it tries
****Almost perfect
*****Instant Classic