"A God Walks Into Abar"- Watchmen S01E08 Review

Just when you think Watchmen can't get any better, it gets better. Or did I know I was going to say that, and I've just been going along with it waiting for the chance to say it?

That is the curse and the blessing of time travel. Or time perception, as the case may be. Dr. Manhattan is pretty much unique as a comic book character because he can see the past, present, and future simultaneously. "A God Walks Into Abar" runs with that concept. The creative team gives us a relationship built on it, furthers the plot of the series, and tosses in a few chicken/egg paradoxes, as well as giving us some insight into what has been going on with Adrian on Europa.

The episode is focused primarily on Angela going to a bar to celebrate the 23rd anniversary of her parents' death on VVN Day. As the episode title promises, a god walks into a bar: Dr. Manhattan, keeping a low profile by wearing a suit and a discarded Dr. Manhattan mask. He flirts with Angela, as much as he can flirt, by describing how they will end up in a relationship together. Dr. Manhattan then goes on to describe their lives together.

Angela picks out a body for Dr. Manhattan to take the appearance of, a body that has no family or friends but a paperwork trail. That body belongs to Calvin Jelani, who is the Cal (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) we don't really know and love. That, to me, is the one downside to the relationship. We've never seen much of just Angela and Cal together, so it's hard to get a handle on their "destined" relationship.

"Cal" and Angela eventually have a fight over Cal's time perception, so he goes to Adrian (Jeremy Irons) at his fortress, Karnak, in Antarctica. Adrian provides Cal with a small ring device which, when inserted into Cal's brain, will give him amnesia. He'll forget his powers, although use them instinctively in life-threatening situations. In return, Cal will send Adrian to Europa where Cal has been creating life based on a manor he stayed at before he immigrated to the U.S.

Cal then goes to see Will, and since he's talking to Will at the same time he's talking to Angela in 2019 (because of the timey-wimey thing), Angela asks Will through Cal how he knew Judd was a member of Cyclops and a KKK member. Which tells Will, Judd is a member of Cyclops and a KKK member, which leads Will to kill Judd. Thus the chicken-or-the-egg paradox.

Angela and Cal move from Vietnam to Tulsa, adopt three children, survive White Night (when Cal instinctively disintegrates one of 7K attackers), and have a more-or-less normal life. Until we catch up to the present, where Angela takes the amnesia device out of Cal's forehead. He reverts to Dr. Manhattan, although he still looks like Cal but with blue skin. Cal knows 7K is waiting outside with a tachyon cannon, and tells Angela they lose. Angela goes out shooting, and when she's cornered, Cal disintegrates her attackers but the tachyon cannon blasts him, teleporting him away.

On Europa, the clones smash tomatoes into Adrian's face and lock him up. The Game Warden brings Adrian a birthday cake, and after the Game Warden leaves, Adrian discovers some of the clones put a horseshoe in the cake and uses it to start digging an escape tunnel.

"A God" is a strange episode, and the above doesn't capture the essence of it. There are still some elements of predestination and general plot holes they never explain. Why does Cal just stand there and let 7K blast him with the tachyon cannon? If he's seen it happen and therefore can't avoid it happening... why did he see it happening that way?

Also, why do Angela and Cal adopt three children instead of having children of their own? There's some talk about how Dr. Manhattan could pass on his powers if he wanted to, but he doesn't want to. Fine, but that doesn't preclude him having children with Angela.

The episode rests primarily on Regina King's performance, and her reactions to everything that happens in her life when Dr. Manhattan enters it. She gives an Emmy-worthy performance, even if she hits some of the same beats we saw with Laurie in the comics: frustration with a loved one who can see the future and can't shut up about it. I get Dr. Manhattan has time-perception, but does he have to talk about it every waking moment?

The episode pays homage to the Watchmen movie as well as the comic. Adrian's Karnak looks like the one in the movie, and the musical score sounds very similar. I'm still not clear how Adrian's Europa "Heaven" ties in with the rest of the show. He's trapped there and wants to escape. Why can't he just call to the omnipotent Dr. Manhattan and have the Big Blue Guy bring him back to Earth? We understand why Europa is a prison for Adrian, but not why it's still a prison.

So 7K has teleported Dr. Manhattan to their base, and presumably next week's season finale will have Senator Keene do whatever he's doing to take Dr. M's power. Which is hinted at this week when Dr. M says he could transfer his power to a human being if he wanted to. So there's probably a way to do it against his will as well.

There's still a lot of elements to tie together in just one more episode: what does Trieu's Millennium Clock have to do with any of this? What happened to Looking Glass? Whose side is Will on? Okay, he's got a lot of money (thanks, Peteypedia for explaining why!) and presumably makes him a peer of Trieu. But how can they stop 7K? Does the Millennium Clock somehow prevent Keene from taking Dr. M's power? Will Angela (and her fellow detectives?) storm the abandoned department store where 7K is holed up, stop Keene's evil scheme, and rescue Laurie?

So the endgame isn't at all clear. And if they do manage to stop Keene... so what? What can they do for a second season? I don't expect comic book cliffhangers and continuity, but it's hard to see how the creative team can give us a second season. And although the tendency is to run something successful into the ground, maybe HBO shouldn't do a second season of Watchmen. They got it right. Let it rest.

But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?