Europa, the Moon of Jupiter, Is the Answer to Most of Your 'Watchmen' Questions
Spoiler warning: this story contains spoilers for Watchmen's eighth episode. Please stop reading if you haven't watched it yet!
Watchmen solved several of the show's mysteries with one fell swoop of a certain moon of Jupiter.
Europa turned out to be where Dr. Manhattan was hiding, and also where Adrian Veidt has been spending his time.
Dr. Manhattan's return, and his centric episode this week, has started to clear everything up.
All throughout the first season of Watchmen, we've been teased with the idea of two things: Dr. Manhattan's eventual return to earth, and Adrian Veidt's status, wherever he is. In the show's penultimate eighth episode, the answer to both teases actually ended up centering on the same thing: Europa, a moon of Jupiter. It's here that Veidt has been living with the many clones of Mr. Phillips and Mrs. Crookshanks, and it's not Mars, but here that Dr. Manhattan went to create life, creating the male and female quasi-humans from scratch. As it enters the home stretch, Watchmen is not only revealing the true heroic and villainous intent of many key characters, but also finally explaining why some things have been the way they are.
We see a young, pre-nuclear accident version of Jon being taught about Adam and Eve by the Lord and Lady of the Manor in which he and his father are staying—revealed to be the original human inspiration for the many versions of Mr. Phillips and Ms. Crookshanks. After witnessing those two having sex while he was hiding in their bedroom, they took the time to explain everything to him, and, level-headed as he is, appreciated their time. As a result of this perceived kind gesture, when creating his perfect version of life on Europa, he creates his first man and woman in their image. This explains the origin of all the Mr. Phillips and Mrs. Crookshanks, and it also explains why Veidt has told them that he may be their Master, but most definitely is not their maker. Their maker, of course, is Dr. Manhattan.
On that same topic, we learn definitively of where, exactly, Veidt has been. While Veidt had tried to kill Dr. Manhattan when they last met in 1985, the level-headed blue demigod doesn't hold hard feelings. When he visits Adrian in Antarctica (in a scene set in 2009), he finds the former Ozymandias experimenting, keeping his Squid rain hoax alive, and now a hermit. After Veidt offers Dr. Manhattan the device that would eventually help him forget who he is and fully become "Cal Abar," Dr. Manhattan offers to send him to Europa, which he accepts almost instantly. This fits perfectly with what we've heard to this point—Veidt thought he was going to a paradise, but what he's really found is a prison.
So it's Europa where am entire storyline of this season's events have occurred, and based on last week's courtroom scene, and this week's post-credits scene, it feels like Veidt might finally be on his way off the distant moon. He's taking a beating, certainly—pigs in a courtroom, tomatoes smushed in his face, and more—but a wink from the 'Prosecutor' version of Ms. Crookshanks last week appeared to show that she and her Master are working together. He's got a plan.
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