Laurie Will Be The New Dr. Manhattan

Published December 9, 2019 · Updated July 6, 2022

So i’ve drafted many emails in the last 24 hours to try and briefly explain why i loved this episode, more so than ive loved any westworld episode, which should explain itself enough since you all know how much i obsessed over Westworld.

In short, i love a paradox, and i love a story that makes me think about life in general, and this one episode gave me both the amazing Future Affects the Past which in turn Affects the Future paradox as well as made me question life in general. Specifically, the idea that Dr. Manhattan is truly a “God”. Is it odd that I dont get why everyone is so convinced he’s a God? I feel bad for him, in the sense that he can clearly see the future (or experience the future as he is simultaneously experiencing the past and present….) but hes merely a player in a bigger story. He too is a puppet, because he cannot actually change anything in the past or change anything in the future. It just makes my mind go to that one place that i love hearing you guys discuss, are we a slave to our destiny that is pre-written or is there anything we can do to change the course of our lives. Clearly Dr. Manhattan could see what was about to happen yet he continues to stand in the direct line of the evaporator (or whatever you want to call the 7th Kalvary’s transportation device). His story is sad, and one that i didnt fully understand just how sad it was when i just watched the movie.

My other thought jumps straight to Laurie Blake. A week ago I made a bet with my coworker that Dr. Manhattan had to die (prior to me seeing the movie). My only evidence to support that theory was that, as a woman, I couldn’t see Angela and Laurie teaming up with one another in any capacity so long as Dr. Manhattan was still alive (because two women in love with the same man never ends up with the women teaming up). I watched the movie, and my opinion didn’t change, instead it strengthened it, because the movie showed me how much Laurie loved him, and made me feel even more certain that Dr. Manhattan has to die for the new group of Watchmen to come together. But how shitty will it be when Laurie, tied to a chair forced to witness the horror about to go down with Keane and his Krazy Kalvary Kin, sees Dr. Manhattan transported to a cage, and Angela busting in? How shitty will it be for Laurie to realize that Dr. Manhattan was willing to give Angela something he couldn’t give Laurie? I am now basing all of this off the movie ending wherein its clear that Laurie would have jumped at the chance to have Dr. Manhattan forget who he is and sit in the body of a wildly attractive man and go about life with the person she fell in love with as a young woman. I just feel so bad for her and maybe Im not supposed to feel bad for her but I do. I almost get mad at the idea that Angela is going to be heartbroken if and when Dr. Manhattan does “officially” “dies”, because at least she got 10 fucking amazing years with the man with his focus JUST ON HER AND BEING HUMAN while Laurie got some time with him but always while he was half somewhere else doing something else never being fully present with her. Case in point: I am a Laurie stan, i love her, and i feel bad for the heartbreak about to come her way with the revelation that she will soon face of Dr. Manhattan giving up his Dr. Manhattanism for Angela and not her.

Which is what leads me to my bold prediction.

As gene stated on the instacast, the showrunners telegraphed to us, quite loudly, that Dr. Manhattan can in fact transfer his Dr. Manhattan powers to another “organic matter”. Meaning they told us what will happen, and that is that Dr. Manhattan will “die”. I use quotes because while I think the Dr. Manhattan from the comic books and movie and part of this show will die, the super powers of him will go into someone else. Some are speculating they’ll go to Angela…but i think its Laurie who might end up being Blue. 1. I circle back to her joke from episode 3 a lot when I am thinking of what is going to happen. Night Owl, Veidt and Dr. Manhattan all get to the pearly gates and go straight to hell. And only she, a simple non-god-like human, is the one that gets to “kill god”. Night Owl, while not shown is in prison, so ill call that his “hell”; Veidt is in paradise which we already know now has become his personal “hell”; and Dr. Manhattan is about to be vaporized into nothingness never to love again, his “hell”. So Laurie has to come out on top right? if we are to go according to her joke. 2. Making Laurie the recipient of “the big blue” would ease the tension between Angela and Laurie. Laurie got Dr. Manhattan for however long their relationship lasted, with him in full Dr. Manhattan-isms (having sex while also tinkering with whatever it was he was doing in his lab). Angela got Dr. Manhattan for 10 years without his full Dr. Manhattanisms (having sex in the middle of the night with just him fully present in the moment while Judds getting hung by her grandpa). For some reason the balance would be nice if Laurie inherits the Dr. Manhattanism, which could in turn allow a good friendship (or more) to blossum with Laurie, if there are some pieces of Angela’s Dr. inside the Laurie Manhattan. 3. Laurie is the last of the “old watchmen” that everyone already knows, which clearly the creators are not trying to just continue a story that has already been told (as he is on record as saying everything in the show revolves around Angela, therefore shes the new head of the new watchmen) so Laurie either has to die at the end of this season (which i think would be a tragedy because i really want to see her character without any strings from the past weighing her down) or she has to be reinvented some way, brought back into the Masked Vigilantism that she now rejects, and therefore having Laurie get his powers would make her new (half commedian half spectrce whole blue asshole?)

Am i too far gone? I know you guys don’t want to talk about the things you want to see happen, and this show has done enough to make me want more even if that isnt the outcome, but could it be something that makes sense? or am i wading into too much tin foil territory?

Speaking of shiny metal, does it feel like mirrors/reflections had a big part in this season? Can we all agree that Looking Glass will turn up in the bunker that Keane is planning to take Manhattan’s powers from. And then when I am thinking of reflective surfaces, Lube Man aka Dale Petey, he too has a silver suit, reflective. Looking Glass is to Angela as Lube Man Petey is to Laurie. Is there a chance that all these reflective surfaces will have something to do with (pardon the pun) foiling Keanes plan to get Manhattan’s powers, and instead will reflect the power transfer to Laurie or Angela via Lube Man’s suit and/or Looking Glass’ Mirrored Mask?

Finally one last observation that seems to have went unnoticed by most things I’ve read thus far: Cal Manhattan is standing on his pool, looking at Angela, and he tells her “i need you to remember this” or something along those lines (im not going to rewatch the episode for a fourth time to figure out exactly how he phrased it). But does anyone think this is a nod to how we can figure out at the end of the season who the new Manhattan is? If they’re walking on water they must be him? Or maybe water is the way in which his powers will be transferred? Is this something we should note before going into next week or pass along as just a misdirection?

I know, my email is long, as all my emails are long. Ive gotten no work done today as I have harassed my coworkers for the last 7 hours about what they think will happen. So here’s just me bothering you guys instead of them for the last hour of work.

Thank you as always for all that you do.

Gillian

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