Where’s The Tragedy?

Published December 12, 2019 · Updated July 6, 2022

Dear Gene, Roger, & King Bee,

Keep up the great work on the podcast! I have gained so much value in watching each episode by listening to your guys’ commentary and predictions every week. Some ideas to bounce off you guys:

Point 1) Plot hole w/ Dr. Manhattan falling in love with Angela

Why or how did Dr. Manhattan “discover” or “choose” Angela to begin with? Dr. M seems to be omnipresent, so out of 7.5 billion people on Earth, what caused him to even find Angela, or walk into that bar that night in the first place? I’m guessing they might not even explain this point or I see them using the “chicken or the egg” analogy again explaining that future events inspire past events.

Point 2) Dr. Manhattan’s reverse character arc

I have never been so excited to see how a tv show would portray a character before, since all we have is the original graphic novel and the 2009 movie adaptation of Dr. Manhattan.

While re-reading the graphic novel, I slowly followed Dr. M’s transformation from turning human to inhuman, or even a nihilist. It seems the show has reversed the character arc in this case. When Dr. M that gets bored at playing God in Europa, I believe he realized the value in real humans and humanity; thus, driving the impetus for him to return to Earth and experience and falling in “love.” If the story arc is to make Dr. M more and more human, this brings me to Point 3:

Point 3) The “tragedy”

When Dr. Manhattan first tells Angela that they will fall in love and it will end in tragedy, I immediately thought the “tragedy” would be that Angela would be the one that dies. Tragedy is suffering because of a great loss. The death of a loved one shows the inherent nature of the fragility of life, and the show has really driven the audience to empathize and root for Angela Abar throughout the series. Dr. Manhattan is cold and calculated, so would the loss of this character even be such an emotional loss in the first place?

Lastly, this brings me to the final point. What is more human than the ability to lie and be selfish? What if Dr. Manhattan lied to Will Reeves in 2009 when asking for his help in the future in 2019? What if Dr. M told Will Reeves that he would be the one to die, but knew the entire time that Angela would be the one to die? What if Dr. M acted selfishly to save himself, and ultimately humanity from a blue Senator Keene, while sacrificing his love Angela? Albeit, I do not think this will be the direction the show goes, but I thought it was an interesting take to think about.

Thank you, and look forward to the next podcast!

Chad,
In Washington, D.C.

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