HBO’s Watchmen Creator Explains Deeper Meaning of Shocking NSFW Prop Joke About Doctor Manhattan in Latest Episode

HBO’s Watchmen is still slowly and steadily unraveling its central storyline and themes, but episode 3 “She Was Killed By Space Junk” definitely deepens the TV series’ connection to the original Watchmen comic book story. That connection comes in the form of Laurie Blake (Jean Smart), aka Silk Spectre II from Watchmen, who turns up in this new vision of the Watchmen world having traded her superhero tights for an FBI badge and gun. Laurie has also largely left the competing men in her life behind, but in the case of her former lover Doctor Manhattan, it turns out that Laurie can’t forget everything about the god-like superman.

In what is easily the most WTF moment in Watchmen so far, Laurie Blake is relaxing in a hotel room and feeling frisky, and goes to act on that feeling by indulging in a little trip down memory lane… with her very Doctor Manhattan vibrator! Check out the NSFW scene for yourself, below:

If seeing ol’ “Big Blue” get brought out wasn’t enough of a shock, Watchmen takes things a step further by having “the unit” come with the feature of a pair of detachable testicles – an accessory that Laurie clearly prefers to include in her “sessions.” Thankfully, we don’t have to see the scene take a more awkward turn than that, as Laurie ultimately decides that she wants the real thing on this particular night, and instead beds the young FBI analyst that she brought on the case.

Naturally, the Doctor Manhattan vibrator has gotten one of the biggest reactions from Watchmen viewers – especially longtime fans who understand the joking reference to the original comic’s infamous depiction of Doctor Manhattan’s blue junk. There’s been any number of debates about how Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons depicted Manhattan’s unit, and the little dangler has arguably become an iconic character of its own. However, as Watchmen TV series creator Damon Lindelof tells it, this moment was more than just an awesome sight gag thought up by episode co-writer Lila Byock – it’s a deep-cut reference to a major turn in Laurie’s character that Watchmen fans should ponder:

“The last thing that anyone wanted to do was present a version of Laurie that was like hung up on Doctor Manhattan to the level that she couldn’t move on, Lindelof told Decider. “But there is also something fascinating about if you were dating the most powerful being in the universe, how could you ever date someone else?… For a text that is so much about generational trauma and nostalgia and complicated relationships with one’s parents, it just felt completely and totally apropos that if the original Silk Spectre kept a photo of the Comedian on her bed stand with the big lipstick kiss on it — which is very problematic given their history — that Laurie would also sort of be, I don’t want to say pining for Doctor Manhattan…”

If you don’t know, one of the big twists in Watchmen is the reveal that Laurie is the daughter of Edward Blake / The Comedian and her mother, the original Silk Spectre. That relationship contained shades of sexual assault and general abuse, but Laurie’s mother, Sally, regardless formed some kind of deep bond with Blake, exemplified by a lip-smooched picture of The Comedian by her bed – a memento that sickened Laurie. It was Laurie’s ironic and tragic status as Blake’s daughter that perplexed Doctor Manhattan enough for him to try and save Earth from WWIII, only to have the god-like being leave Earth forever when Ozymandias used his giant man-made squid beast to goad world leaders into avoiding nuclear holocaust.

So, clearly Laurie isn’t fully over Doctor Manhattan yet (physically or emotionally); although, based on Watchmen‘s scene of Manhattan creating copies of himself to have a kinky orgy with Laurie, that one vibrator may not by much consolation.

Watchmen airs Sunday’s on HBO.