Here are our 10 biggest unanswered questions from Watchmen episode 2, "Martial Feats of Comanche Horsemanship". Last week's premiere episode introduced the world of Watchmen in present-day 2019; executive producer Damon Lindelof transplanted the story to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and introduced Detective Angela Abar AKA Sister Night (Regina King), one of the Tulsa's masked police officers, whose police chief, Judd Crawford (Don Johnson), was mysteriously hanged and murdered at the end of the episode.
While the rest of the Tulsa police force suspect the white supremacist terrorist group the Seventh Kavalry to be behind Judd's murder, Angela took an elderly man named Will Reeves (Louis Gossett, Jr.) into custody. Will claims to be solely responsible for hanging the police chief and, suspecting there's much more to Reeves than he's letting on, Angela took a DNA sample from him. After learning the surprising result that Will is Angela's biological grandfather, she had to watch helplessly as Will is spirited away inside her car by some kind of flying vehicle. Meanwhile, Adrian Veidt (Jeremy Irons) watched his play, "The Watchmaker's Son", performed by his servants Mr. Phillips (Tom Mison) and Ms. Crookshanks (Sara Vickers). Not only is Veidt's play about the origin of Doctor Manhattan but Veidt's servants were revealed to be clones.
Watchmen episode 2, "Martial Feats of Comanche Horsemanship", escalated the mystery and opened up a lot of questions about Angela Abar, Will Reeves, Judd Crawford, and the increasingly bizarre world of Watchmen. These are the 10 questions we're pondering the most about Watchmen episode 2.
10. Is Fraulein Mueller Related To Rolf Muller?
Watchmen episode 2 began with a flashback to World War I Germany where a woman named Fraulein Mueller (Annika Pampel) was plucked from the steno pool to transcribe anti-American propaganda Germany sent to black American soldiers. While there's a slightly different spelling of their surnames, is Fraulein Mueller connected to Rolf Muller, the circus strongman believed to be Hooded Justice?
The first-ever costumed adventurer, Hooded Justice's real identity was never revealed in the Watchmen graphic novel, but it was hinted that he was secretly Rolf Muller. Clips from American Hero Story: Minutemen show Muller's corpse being fished out of the river in Boston in the 1950s and "Hooded Justice" narrates his own life story, indicating he was really Muller all along. Can it be just a coincidence that there's now a Fraulein Mueller introduced in Germany over 20 years before Hooded Justice's first appearance?
9. Does Will Reeves Really Have Powers?
After a great deal of back-and-forth banter that involved discussing Doctor Manhattan's powers, Will Reeves continued to claim that he is the person who "strung up your police chief". But Will himself confirmed that he is 105 years old (meaning he was 7 years old during the Tulsa Massacre in 1921) so how could it be possible that he alone killed and hanged Judd Crawford - unless Will really does have powers? Will was focused on his pills, which he claimed to help him with his memory, but do they also give him abilities?
The biggest argument against Will Reeves having powers is that Doctor Manhattan is the only superpowered being in the Watchmen universe. If the Watchmen TV series establishes Will Reeves really does have superpowers, that violates one of the basic rules of the saga, so it's likely Will is just taunting Angela by claiming he has powers - and he couldn't psychically bring his own pills into his hand, after all. But if Will really is just a wheelchair-bound 105-year-old, how did he kill and hang Judd?
8. Why Did Angela Just Leave Will Unguarded At Her Bakery?
While it's understandable that Angela was distraught at finding Judd hanged, she then lied and pretended to the rest of the Tulsa P.D. that she didn't know Judd was dead beforehand. Next, Detective Abar literally left Will Reeves alone in her secret lair inside her bakery. Later, she was shocked when Will admitted he left and then returned, but why would she leave him alone completely unguarded? Angela also kept the fact that she had Judd Crawford's admitted murderer in her custody from Looking Glass (Tim Blake Nelson) and the others. Although Angela guessed correctly that, in their rage, the Tulsa P.D. would have likely killed Will if they found out he admitted to Judd's murder, leaving Will alone in her sanctuary was an illogical move. Even if he's in a wheelchair, Reeves is admittedly dangerous and more capable than he appears.
7. How Did Angela And Cal Survive The White Night?
Watchmen episode 2 showed the White Night from Angela's point of view: at midnight on Christmas Day 2016, the Seventh Kavalry engaged in a coordinated attack on over 40 homes of Tulsa police officers, gunning the cops down along with their families. Angela's partner and his wife were both killed but Judd survived by killing his attacker. But how did Angela and Cal make it through their attack?
When the 7K member burst into their home, Angela pushed Cal out of the way, killed the lights, and hid in the kitchen with a knife. She stabbed the man to death only to be shot in the stomach by a second Rorschach-masked man, who stood over her before she blacked out. She awoke three days later in the hospital, but why didn't the second 7K member kill Angela? Why did the masked man let her and Cal live?
6. Who Is The Asian Girl Buying Newspapers?
Just like New York City in the graphic novel and Zack Snyder's Watchmen movie, Tulsa also has a newsstand where the vendor is chock full of opinions about politics and the state of the world. However, a mysterious Asian girl in glasses pulled up to collect a stack of newspapers, which is apparently a daily ritual. The newsvendor asked if "she really reads all of those papers", including the in-universe periodicals Nova Express and New Frontiersman, and the girl assured him that she does. But who is this mysterious girl and who were they both talking about? Clearly, there are more players in Watchmen that still need to be introduced.
5. Why Did Adrian Veidt Write A Play About Doctor Manhattan's Origin?
Jeremy Irons' character is all but certainly Adrian Veidt, especially considering the play he wrote, "The Watchmaker's Son", obviously depicts the infamous origin story of Doctor Manhattan. Veidt's butler, Mr. Phillips (Tom Mison), and the maid, Ms. Crookshanks (Sara Vickers) performed the play in the roles of Dr. Jon Osterman (the human version of Doctor Manhattan) and his girlfriend Janey Slater. The play was a savage satire that mocked the accident that created Doctor Manhattan - but why is Adrian Veidt doing this? Is it just for his own amusement? Petty revenge? Or is there something more to "The Watchmaker's Son"?
Further, the scene revealed that Phillips and Crookshanks are clones and there are multiple versions of each. The original Phillips was actually roasted alive in the "Intrinsic Field Generator". Why does Veidt have clones of his servants? Further, could Phillips actually be a clone of Jon Osterman/Doctor Manhattan and Crookshanks a doppelganger of Janey Slater?
4. Is Joe Keene Running For President?
At Judd's wake, Angela met Senator Joe Keene (James Wolk), a potential future Presidential candidate. Keene is the son of Senator John David Keene, who passed the 1977 Keene Act that banned costumed vigilantes, which remains the law of the land in Watchmen's 2019 world. However, Senator Joe Keene was first mentioned in Watchmen's pilot episode; his prospects as a challenger to President Robert Redford in the next election is something the conservative talk radio hosts in Oklahoma are strongly behind. Joe is obviously a friend of the Crawford family but is he planning to run for President of the United States?
3. Was Judd Crawford Really A Member Of The Klan?
When Will taunted Angela about the "skeletons in Judd's closet", she took him literally and used X-ray goggles to search Crawford's walk-in. Many fans hoped and expected Detective Abar would find a Nite Owl costume hidden in Judd's closet but instead, she found a white KKK robe with a police badge in a secret compartment. While this scene is a cool nod to the moment in the original Watchmen where Rorschach searched Edward Blake's closet and discovered his Comedian costume hidden in a secret space, Angela's discovery was much more disturbing.
Could Judd really be a secret member of the Klan or even the Seventh Kavalry? Was Chief Crawford working both sides against each other all along? It doesn't make sense that Judd was secretly a white supremacist, especially considering his close friendship with Angela and her husband. Regardless, the Klan robe is definitely an unnerving discovery about Judd that needs an explanation.
2. Who Stole Angela's Car (And Will) And Where Did They Go?
Watchmen episode 2 ended very unexpectedly: just as Angela was buckling Will into her car to take him into the station, some sort of aircraft dropped a giant magnet onto her car and lifted it into the air - with a smiling Will waving goodbye. So clearly, Will has accomplices and it was likely during the hours Angela left him alone unsupervised that he contacted his mystery partners, who swooped in for a rescue. So, who is Will working with and where did they take the old man who left his wheelchair behind?
1. What Is The Conspiracy Will Told Angela About?
Will Reeves told Angela that there is a "vast and insidious conspiracy at play in Tulsa" but Angela didn't press him for more information - which is quite a failure for a detective. But let's look at the pieces that Watchmen has presented so far: after three years of peace, the Seventh Kavalry has declared war on the police. They have a secret mission and it involves stockpiling old-style lithium batteries that were banned out of fears they cause cancer. Will Reeves (likely with outside help) killed Judd Crawford, the Chief of Police, who has a Klan robe hidden in his closet. And then something snatched Angela's car literally into the air with Will inside. There's a lot more going on in Tulsa and there are still more players to be introduced. It's hard to see how everything connects but there's a lot more to come in Watchmen.
Watchmen airs Sundays @ 9pm on HBO.