A God Walks Into Abar And The Game Warden

Published December 11, 2019 · Updated July 6, 2022

I have two comments about last Sunday’s episode.

First, Gene, when you pronounce the title of the episode, you read it as A God Walks Into a Bar. This would obviously allude to the opening of the episode and also connects to multiple layers of The Watchmen universe – it is the start of a joke. However, as it’a written in the episode it should be pronounced as Angela and Cal’a last name “ay-bar”. In this way, the title clearly refers to Dr. Manhattan assuming Cal’s identity. In my opinion, I think it goes even deeper and alludes to Angela becoming a God (with Dr. Manhattan’s powers) in the finale. When he comes out of the tunnel and is trying to understand “when” he is, he notices the clock and flashed back to the White Night. When they show that scene, we never see Calhattan use his powers, it is focused on Angela on the ground underneath the 7th Calvary. We are also reminded via flashback that Adrian says in a moment of life threatening instinct the powers will emerge. After that flashback, Dr. Manhattan says, “thank you Adrian I know what happened now”. People seem to believe that Angela will acquire these powers in episode 9. I believe that Angela already has those powers, they have just been lying dormant and need to be awakened.

Secondly, I don’t think that Dr. Manhattan sending Adrian to Europa was fully reward or fully punishment. I think that Dr. Manhattan allowed Adrian to live out his God complex, which is both a blessing (for a while) until Ozy realizes what Dr. Manhattan has known about his own powers, that it can be a curse. He needed Adrian to actually experience that in order to potentially change. In the comics, Dr. Manhattan understands that what Adrian did with the Squid actually did benefit the Earth. Also, he definitely understands and respects Adrian’s intelligence as he goes to him for help becoming human. It doesn’t make sense, then, that Dr. Manhattan would impose a rule on Veidt that he could not leave Europa. How does the Game Warden factor in? The Game Warden is the representation of Adam in this new Eden. He was there, as he mentions, from the beginning and watched his God leave with nothing he could do at the time to stop it. Over time, as life does, the Game Warden has evolved and is no longer just living to serve others. I believe the Game Warden is the one who has imposed the rule, trying to stop his new “God” from leaving. As Rog said in the deep dive this week, the message here is that no matter how hard we try, we cannot control life, as people are constantly evolving, not just physically, but emotionally and psychologically.
Can’t wait to see how this ends.

Further to the Game Warden idea, why is he wearing a mask? He has a dual identity. Why? Is it possible that this ties into the thread in the show about genetic trauma and what we do in life is passed on to us from our parents through our genes? Who is the Game Warden’s father? Dr. Manhattan. It’s like when Will Reeves’ son is found putting the paint on his face like his father, and Angela painting her face as well.

Thanks,
Joel from Ontario, Canada

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