# Watchmen - S01E05 "Little Fear of Lightning" 11/17/2019 *spoilers*



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Lots of interesting stuff revealed in this episode:

-Adrian Veidt's prison is on Mars, or a moon of Mars. He briefly gets outside the bubble and uses the frozen Philips and Crookshanks bodies to write "SAVE ME D..." which he hopes will be spotted by a passing satellite. Then he is yanked back inside the bubble and the game warden reprimands him for trying to escape. But Veidt says something about how our god has abandoned us and the game warden acknowledges this is true. So maybe that means Dr. Manhattan has left and is no longer taking steps to keep Veidt imprisoned.

-Looking Glass was a young Jehovah's Witness that went to Hoboken, NJ in 1985 and was there when the Squid was dropped on NYC and the "psychic blast" killed millions of people in the area. LG was in a carnival fun house at the time, surrounded by mirrors, and apparently that's what saved him, as everyone else at the carnival was dead when he came out.

-The fear of what happened in NYC is still with him 30+ years later, because he chose the reflective nature of his mask because he believes it will protect him from future psychic blasts. He also lines the inside of his baseball cap with the same material.

-LG goes to see his ex-wife who was analyzing the pills that Angela stole from Will. The ex says they are "Nostalgia," which is a banned substance that apparently contains memories. The ex works in an animal cloning lab.

-LG moderates a support group for people who are afraid of future squid attacks. After one of their meetings, he befriends a woman who was at the meeting for the first time. After she leaves, he believes she's with the Seventh Kavalry, so he follows her and finds out they set him up and expected him to follow. Senator Keene is there and shows LG a video of Adrian Veidt "confessing" to the squid attack the day before it happens. Keene says that this should set LG free of his fear because now he should know it was all fake.

-Laurie Blake arrests Angela because Angela admits to LG she covered up the presence of Will at the site where Judd was hanged, and Laurie was listening through a bug.

-Angela, in an attempt to destroy evidence, takes all the Nostalgia pills. It remains to be seen what ingesting these "memories" will do to Angela.

-Back at home, LG has received a replacement alarm system that's supposed to warn him against future squid attacks. Initially he throws it away, but then we see he's still having doubts when he takes the box back out of the trash. As the camera lingers, we see a van pull up in his driveway and several Seventh Kavalry members with shotguns get out and head into LG's house.


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## kdmorse (Jan 29, 2001)

DevdogAZ said:


> -Adrian Veidt's prison is on Mars, or a moon of Mars.


Looked more like an icy moon of Jupiter. While Mars seems more likely based that's where Jon used to hang out, and it could have been Deimos, it really didn't look like Mars. Based on the way they seemed to intentionally color it, it really looked like Europa.

Regardless of where he is, the idea of using the bodies of catapulted servants to spell out a message on the surface was... creative to say the least...


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

kdmorse said:


> Looked more like an icy moon of Jupiter. While Mars seems more likely based that's where Jon used to hang out, and it could have been Deimos, it really didn't look like Mars. Based on the way they seemed to intentionally color it, it really looked like Europa.
> 
> Regardless of where he is, the idea of using the bodies of catapulted servants to spell out a message on the surface was... creative to say the least...


It definitely looked like Jupiter very close in the background. But I guess I assumed he was on Mars due to the overflying satellite, which I gathered was part of the system to communicate with Dr. Manhattan.


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## kdmorse (Jan 29, 2001)

DevdogAZ said:


> It definitely looked like Jupiter very close in the background. But I guess I assumed he was on Mars due to the overflying satellite, which I gathered was part of the system to communicate with Dr. Manhattan.


Regardless of where he was, he clearly knew a satellite would be looking there at that exact place and time. How he could have possibly known, is yet another very good question.


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## cbrrider (Feb 2, 2005)

kdmorse said:


> Regardless of where he was, he clearly knew a satellite would be looking there at that exact place and time. How he could have possibly known, is yet another very good question.


Because he's the world's smartest man.


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## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

DevdogAZ said:


> -Angela, in an attempt to destroy evidence, takes all the Nostalgia pills. It remains to be seen what ingesting these "memories" will do to Angela.


I don't think it was done to destroy evidence, but her attempt to get information from the memory of her grandfather (she would never get access to the pills once arrested)

&#8230;also though Viedt was on a moon of Jupiter


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## morac (Mar 14, 2003)

DevdogAZ said:


> Looking Glass was a young Jehovah's Witness that went to Hoboken, NJ in 1985 and was there when the Squid was dropped on NYC and the "psychic blast" killed millions of people in the area. LG was in a carnival fun house at the time, surrounded by mirrors, and apparently that's what saved him, as everyone else at the carnival was dead when he came out.


Not everyone was dead, there were a few people wandering around outside. It's been awhile since I read the comic, but if I recall I think about half the people survived, but many ended up with psychosis because of the psychic attack. The support group in the show seemed to be people who were suffering PTSD or survivor's guilt from being near or hearing about the attack, but could still function.


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## Malcontent (Sep 5, 2004)

Watchmen creator Alan Moore: Modern superhero culture is embarrassing


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## trainman (Jan 29, 2001)

Damon Lindelof confirmed that Veidt is on one of Jupiter's moons, Europa (and that his scenes aren't following the same timeline as the rest of the action): 'Watchmen': Damon Lindelof Reveals Where Adrian Veidt Is and Teases a Surprising Time Lapse

This episode felt a lot like a "Leftovers" episode. (That is not a complaint.)

The "Watchmen" world doesn't have online shopping, so I was a little surprised to see an abandoned department store! (I know, I know, they might have moved to a new location or something along those lines.)


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## logic88 (Jun 7, 2001)

From the next episode preview, it's gonna be more buildup. I wonder when the reveal will start? There are only 4 more episodes left.

Edit: Thought this episode recap was really good.

'Watchmen' episode five: 'Little Fear of Lightning'

I had almost forgotten about this part of the episode.



> Is Wade watching Minutemen porn, or is the scene with Hooded Justice and Captain Metropolis just another part of _American Hero Story_, the show-within-a-show featured in _Watchmen_?


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## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

Malcontent said:


> Watchmen creator Alan Moore: Modern superhero culture is embarrassing


Maybe I am indulging my inner 12 year old with superhero culture but at least I can groom myself properly.


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

Malcontent said:


> Watchmen creator Alan Moore: Modern superhero culture is embarrassing


Yeaaaaahhhhh... "My work in the 80s demanded that people take superheroes seriously, and now that people are taking superheroes seriously, I think those people are just a bunch of emotionally stunted morons."


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## Saturn_V (Jun 2, 2007)

The Hooded Justice/CM scene was from American Hero Story.Their relationship was established in the Before Watchmen prequels, so I don't think it's merely costumed vigilante porn.


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## trainman (Jan 29, 2001)

Saturn_V said:


> The Hooded Justice/CM scene was from American Hero Story.Their relationship was established in the Before Watchmen prequels, so I don't think it's merely costumed vigilante porn.


And we saw in an earlier episode that "American Hero Story" is rated TV-X (the "Watchmen" timeline's version of TV-MA)... presumably thanks to that very scene.


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## madscientist (Nov 12, 2003)

I think it's rated X for a _lot_ of reasons. This scene is just one among them. Regarding Veidt's timeline: he clearly says (and they showed again in previews) that he's been there 4 years, but we know that he's been missing on Earth a lot longer than that. So either he's wrong (not possible ), time is moving differently for him (highly unlikely), or his story is happening in the past compared to the rest of the show.


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

Holy Westworld, Batman!


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## hairyblue (Feb 25, 2002)

I find Wade/Looking Glass to be a fasinating character to watch. I enjoyed this episode quite a lot. And Wade having a job watching people to get their true feelings seems well suited but he seems to have a big blind spot when it come to people who are close to him. Hope no one steals his clothes and leaves him naked and alone.


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## cherry ghost (Sep 13, 2005)

madscientist said:


> I think it's rated X for a _lot_ of reasons. This scene is just one among them. Regarding Veidt's timeline: he clearly says (and they showed again in previews) that he's been there 4 years, but we know that he's been missing on Earth a lot longer than that. So either he's wrong (not possible ), time is moving differently for him (highly unlikely), or his story is happening in the past compared to the rest of the show.


How many Earth years is a year on a Jupiter moon?


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## madscientist (Nov 12, 2003)

One Jupiter year is almost 12 Earth years, but I don't think that matters here since clearly Veidt is living in some sort of constructed environment. In order for him to be healthy a day can't be too much different for him than it is for us: there's lot of research showing that. And, I'm sure he's accurately counting days.

So either time is out of sync inside his constructed environment so that what seems like a day to him is actually much longer in our timeline, or else his entire story line is happening in "our past".


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## logic88 (Jun 7, 2001)

Saturn_V said:


> The Hooded Justice/CM scene was from American Hero Story.Their relationship was established in the Before Watchmen prequels, so I don't think it's merely costumed vigilante porn.


Ah, thanks for the info. I haven't gotten around to reading Before Watchmen yet. Was waiting for Doomsday Clock to be fully released before reading both the prequel and sequels.

Also, I presume Wade's powers work on videos so he was able to tell that Veidt was telling the truth about the squid attack?


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## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

madscientist said:


> One Jupiter year is almost 12 Earth years, but I don't think that matters here since clearly Veidt is living in some sort of constructed environment. In order for him to be healthy a day can't be too much different for him than it is for us: there's lot of research showing that. And, I'm sure he's accurately counting days.
> 
> So either time is out of sync inside his constructed environment so that what seems like a day to him is actually much longer in our timeline, or else his entire story line is happening in "our past".


I think we seen three "birthdays" so if he's been there since 1985....


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

logic88 said:


> Also, I presume Wade's powers work on videos so he was able to tell that Veidt was telling the truth about the squid attack?


That's a big assumption, my take from this episode is that he has no insight and is just a sad man that thinks he's special but isn't.


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## Snappa77 (Feb 14, 2004)

Veidt's video to President Elect Redford stated it was 1993.


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## madscientist (Nov 12, 2003)

I think Wade _is_ perceptive and often able to tell when people are lying, but it's just observation and practice. I don't think he actually has any sort of "super-power" about it.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

madscientist said:


> I think it's rated X for a _lot_ of reasons. This scene is just one among them. Regarding Veidt's timeline: he clearly says (and they showed again in previews) that he's been there 4 years, but we know that he's been missing on Earth a lot longer than that. *So either he's wrong (not possible ), time is moving differently for him (highly unlikely), or his story is happening in the past compared to the rest of the show.*


I won't be at all surprised if it turns out the object that crashed to earth just after Lady Trieu purchased that farm is Adrian Veidt returning, and she wanted to own it so she could have control over him (since she now owns his company).


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