Watchmen Reveals How Doctor Manhattan Became SPOILER

The penultimate episode of HBO’s Watchmen is airing now and has answered many lingering questions about Doctor Manhattan/Jon Osterman and Cal Abar. “A God Walks Into Abar” chronicled the relationship between the god-like character from the comics and Regina King‘s Angela Abar after last week’s episode revealed the shocking truth that Angela’s husband, Cal (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), was actually Jon in disguise. In a thrilling episode that chronicles Angela and Jon’s “tunnel of love,” fans now know the answer to the question of how Doctor Manhattan was able to transform into someone else.

“A God Walks Into Abar” begins with Doctor Manhattan meeting Angela for the first time, and revealing bits of information about their ten-year relationship together. During the conversation, he shares that Angela would come up with an “elegant solution” to his blue appearance two weeks later. The episode cuts to this moment, which shows Angela presenting dead bodies with no next of kin to Jon for him to emulate. He says he can take over the form of anyone she chooses, but she argues that taking over the life of a dead person will be easier since he can use their exiting birth certificates and social security numbers. Jon says he doesn’t care what form he takes, and it should be someone Angela is comfortable with. She says she doesn’t care either, but after further pressing from Jon, she shows him Cal’s body. Jon says he likes the name “Calvin” and quickly assumes the form with his vocal cords loosening in the transformation.

Later in the episode, Jon is given a device form Adrian Veidt (Jeremy Irons) that will allow him to “walk and talk and live among the normals undetected” without knowing his true identity. It’s revealed that Veidt made the device 30 years ago by “irradiating it with tachyon particles” so that there’d be “one small part of the universe” that even Doctor Manhattan could not see. In other words, a blindspot device. From there, Jon took the device to Angela who inserted it into Jon/Cal’s head where he assured her that despite having no memories, he’d still be him.

What were your thoughts on tonight’s episode? Tell us in the comments!

The Watchmen finale airs next Sunday, December 15th, at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.