Watchmen Episode 8 Review: “A God Walks into Abar”

Watchmen Episode 8 Review
Watchmen Episode 8 Review

Watchmen Episode 8 Review

Episode 8, “A God Walks into A Bar.” A Watchmen Deep Dive told in three acts.

Act 1: Gene Lyons, a man who took two semesters of physics at Arizona State University, attempts to explain the string theory and bootstrap paradox of Dr. Manhattan’s existence while also arguing that Will Reeves destroyed Cyclops on his own. Fast forward to Act 2 (34:00) if you don’t care about retrocausality.

Act 2: Non-practicing Catholic Roger Roeper proves, once again, that any major TV character can be connected to Jesus Christ if you try hard enough. He also examines gods vs. men playing gods as he compares the archetypes presented in Ozymandias and Dr. Manhattan. Zip ahead to Act 3 (50:00) if the Bible doesn’t interest you.

Act 3: The King Bee explores what Adrian Veidt’s persecution in the post-credits scenes tells us about Europa and Veidt’s motivations. Oh, and he takes a stab at the horseshoe thing. It’s pretty good.

Watchmen Episode 8 Summary:
“A God Walks into Abar” In Vietnam in 2009, Doctor Manhattan attempts to convince Angela to have dinner with him the next night, as they will fall in love later. Angela is highly skeptical, and Manhattan, after explaining his non-linear experience with time, explains that since 1985, he had been creating life on Europa, and that in 2019, he will fall in love with her just as he is about to be taken by the Seventh Kavalry. He explains how he took up the identity of Cal to blend in, and used a device created by Veidt to give him amnesia about his true identity until it was necessary for Angela to take it out. At Veidt’s request, Manhattan transported him to the Europa environment, and also visited Will to encourage him to help Angela in 2019. Angela, speaking to Manhattan in 2019, asks him to ask Will in 2009 about how he knew of Judd’s secrets, but realizes she created that idea to Will just now. As the Kavalry prepare to attack, Angela goes to protect Manhattan, who sees this as the moment he fell in love with her, and helps her fend them off, knowing one last Kavalry member remained alive to use a tachyon cannon to capture him. In 2009, Angela accepts Manhattan’s dinner proposal. In a post-credit scene, the Game Warden gives a captive Veidt another anniversary cake, which Veidt finds a horseshoe baked inside, and in glee, starts to dig his escape.

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2 Responses

  1. Anderson Dark says:

    In listening to the Deep Dive for Episode 8 I heard someone (Roger?) mention that Veidt accepts Dr. Manhattan’s offer to go to Europa with joy and excitement. As if Veidt is sincerely appreciative that he’ll be transported to a world where followers worship him and don’t try to kill one another. I’ve seen the same sentiment shared on the Reddit boards.

    I believe everyone has it wrong. I think Veidt knows (somehow) that he is accepting a sentence to prison. You’ll see if you watch the scene again that Veidt accepts the Europa offer with tears. He is feigning appreciation, while knowing that he is actually about to be transported to a prison of loneliness and despair for several years.

    I have no clue how he knows this, but I firmly believe he is aware of what lies ahead when he is transported. If he did have some ability to know what looms it also makes sense that he knows he has an escape. Maybe he has been planning it all along? It would explain the joy of the horseshoe if future Veidt had somehow told past Veidt that the horseshoe in the cake would be his ticket home.

    Who knows? Love the show. Love y’all. Been listening since Westworld. Keep it up!

  2. Jake Covell says:

    Hey Guys,
    First off, great job with the pod. Been listening to you since the game of thrones one and I love listening to the break downs.
    I was thinking about Veidt’s credit scene recently and what it may really signal. I believe the horseshoe ( While Ridiculous ) may have actually helped him get out. If we think back to the scene where Veidt goes to Europa it is actually in 2009. With the candles on each cake representing years on Europa, we can surmise that he has been there for 7 years, making this credit scene take place in 2016. We also can puzzle together that the crash landing lady trieu predicted was in 2017, when she started building her clock. Personally I believe Veidt has been on earth during our Angela Abar storyline, and was the crash landing we saw on the farm. The one question remaining is where he is on earth. There is a strong implication he could be IN the statue of himself at the millennium clock. If you recall how one episode made a point to show his statue and have Laurie comment ” Why’s he look so old”. No one would really know what he looks like as an older man anyway seeing he has been missing or out of the public eye. Could she be waiting to unfreeze him Han Solo style for her big clock reveal?
    Or theory 2
    Veidt is lubeman. Being on earth he cant be seen for various reasons so perhaps he is dawning the disguise of lubeman, or really a fogdancer from his favorite novel. Implicated in the credit scene where he’s reading fog-dancing. It could be Petey, but it did feel a bit too on the nose with the Peteypedia articles posted. Either way I think we still have 1 or 2 twists for the last episode.
    Thanks! Keep up the good work!
    And P.S the Ego Blue Waffle idea would be real bad one, just look up the term online lmao

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