From the beginning, Damon Lindelof’s Watchmen was presented not as a sequel to or an adaptation of the original comic book of the same name. Instead, it was presented as a “remix” of sorts, a new story set in the same, alternative world the comic took place in, albeit thirty years later. But while HBO’s Watchmen does center around new characters in a much-changed world, the surviving members of the original Watchmen each had role to play. Here’s how tonight’s Watchmen season finale resolved their stories.
Spoilers for tonight’s season finale of Watchmen, “See How They Fly”, below.
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Tonight’s episode pulled together the narrative threads of the series, and part of that included addressing the final fates of the surviving members of the Watchmen team. Going into things, we already knew the fates of Edward Blake/The Comedian and Walter Joseph Kovacs/Rorschach as both men were dead before the start of the television series and the series explained what happened to Daniel Dreiberg/Nite Owl II as well, with that character being revealed as being in held in federal custody while Laurie Juspeczyk/Silk Specter II was revealed to have become Laurie Blake and was now working for the FBI.
That leaves the ultimate fates of Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias and Jon Osterman/Doctor Manhattan and going into the season finale of Watchmen, both were in difficult positions. For Veidt, that meant imprisonment on Europa and the very real threat of being their forever due to the situation Doctor Manhattan was left in, having been captured by the Seventh Kavalry. For Doctor Manhattan, things don’t end well. As the blue, god-like being told Angela, she could not save him. The Kavalry does capture him and does move to kill him and take his powers so that Senator Keene can become him, but it doesn’t play out that way. Lady Trieu shows up with a more refined version of that plan. Trieu — who is revealed to be Veidt’s daughter — does manage to kill Doctor Manhattan by removing his powers and destroying him, but her plan to become him is thwarted and she herself dies when Veidt weaponizes his baby squid falls.
With Manhattan dead, that leaves the fate of Veidt. It appears, for a moment, that Veidt will once again be the hero saving the world from a cataclysmic threat, the threat this time around being his narcissistic daughter. However, this time, the man who killed millions in the Dimensional Incursion Event isn’t getting off without consequences. Before he dies, Manhattan teleports Veidt, Blake, and Looking Glass to Veidt’s Karnak from which he orchestrates the weaponized frozen baby squid fall. It’s an act that doesn’t save Manhattan but does stop Trieu from becoming him. Once that’s done, Veidt prepares to send Blake and Looking Glass back to civilization in Archie, the Owl ship that Veidt had saved but they aren’t going alone. Blake and Looking Glass aren’t letting Veidt get away with his crimes against humanity. After being knocked unconscious it’s implied that Veidt will be taken back to civilization as well — and turned over to the feds.
Veidt is in custody. Manhattan is dead. Blake continues working with the FBI. Everything seems tied up neatly for the original “heroes”, but there’s one last surprise in store. While both Keene and Trieu tried to acquire Manhattan’s power for themselves, there may be someone else who actually ends up with them. In the very final moments of the episode, Angela discovers one solitary egg that was left behind intact after Manhattan went to make waffles before his death. Remembering that he had once said he could transfer his powers to an egg and that whoever consumed that egg would “inherit” his powers, Angela takes the egg and goes outside to the pool. She then eats the egg and prepares to walk on water, just as Manhattan could. The screen cuts to black — but it’s deeply implied that while Jon Osterman may be dead, his Doctor Manhattan powers have been passed to his wife.
What did you think about the final fate of the original Watchmen heroes? Let us know in the comments below.
