‘Watchmen’ Teases Doctor Manhattan’s Big Return With Cryptic Medical Records
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[Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for “Watchmen” Episode 7, “An Almost Religious Awe.”]
The legendary “Watchmen” character Doctor Manhattan has loomed large over Damon Lindelof’s HBO series since the start. In the series’ pilot episode, news footage shows the super-powered blue being living on Mars. But the seventh episode of “Watchmen” dropped a game-changing bombshell: Doctor Manhattan is not living on Mars but in Tulsa, Oklahoma where he has been roaming around under the guise of Cal Abar (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), husband of Angela Abar (Regina King). The twist brings Doctor Manhattan to the forefront of this Sunday’s episode, “A God Walks into a Bar” and Abdul-Mateen II is teasing possible answers to Doctor Manhattan’s long-awaited return with cryptic medical records posted to his Instagram page.
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“Watchmen” has referenced an accident in Vietnam that left Cal with memory loss. The Doctor Manhattan reveal puts a big question mark around the accident and Angela’s involvement in concealing the character’s identity. Cal’s medical record below is from December 23, 2009. Then named Calvin Jelani, the character checked into Vietnam’s Rampart Memorial under Angela’s supervision.
The medical record is clearly from the night when Angela helped turn Doctor Manhattan into Cal by still-unknown methods. In the seventh episode, Cal seemed unaware that he was secretly Doctor Manhattan. Angela bludgeoned Cal with a hammer and pulled out a metal symbol from his skull, which seemingly revived the dormant Doctor Manhattan. The medical report states the following:
“Patient was found by Officer Abar on 12/19 wandering Bom Laird Plaza in confused state with “minor contusion” on forehead (no longer visible) suggesting an accident of some nature. (Area has high rate of vehicular/bicycle collisions.) Patient initially refused officer Abar’s request to seek medical treatment. Officer Abar reports she conducted a background check and obtained some medical history and biographical data from previous employer, Pyramid Global Construction. Patient finally agreed to consult a physician when memory issues failed to improve. Patient – new to Vietnam (arrived a month ago for work); unemployed since April – presents with several acute symptoms associated with dissociative fugue. No recall. Identity loss. Language issues. (Officer Abar did most of talking).”
The next episode of “Watchmen” airs this Sunday at 9 p.m. ET. Check out Cal’s full medical record in the post below.
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A post shared by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (@yahya) on Dec 3, 2019 at 8:24am PST
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