See How They Fly

Last updated
"See How They Fly"
Watchmen episode
Episode no.Episode 9
Directed by Frederick E.O. Toye
Written byNick Cuse
Damon Lindelof
Featured music"I Am the Walrus" by The Beatles (cover by Spooky Tooth) [1]
Cinematography byAlex Disenhof
Editing byDavid Eisenberg
Production code109
Original air dateDecember 15, 2019 (2019-12-15)
Running time67 minutes
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
← Previous
"A God Walks into Abar"		Next →
Rorschach
List of episodes

"See How They Fly" is the ninth episode and series finale of the HBO superhero drama miniseries Watchmen , based on the 1986 DC Comics series of the same name by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. It was written by Nick Cuse and Damon Lindelof and directed by Frederick E.O. Toye, and aired on December 15, 2019. The finale sees the two competing plots within Tulsa to kidnap Doctor Manhattan come to a head, while Adrian Veidt prepares to finally escape his exile.

Contents

Synopsis

Trieu, shown to be the daughter of Adrian Veidt from artificial insemination, visits Veidt in Karnak in 2008. She reveals her relation to Veidt as well as her knowledge that he engineered the 1985 squid attack (and subsequent squid rains), but warns that it did not produce his desired outcome of lasting world peace. Trieu requests Veidt's financial assistance to build a quantum centrifuge capable of extracting Doctor Manhattan's powers, in hopes of finding a more permanent solution for saving humanity. Trieu reveals she knows Manhattan is on Europa and has launched a probe to arrive there in 2013 to visually confirm his whereabouts. Veidt refuses to help or acknowledge her as his daughter.

On Europa, Veidt uses the horseshoe to escape his cell as a spacecraft lands outside the castle. The Game Warden tries to stop him, but Veidt stabs him with the horseshoe, revealing he created the Game Warden to be an adversary over the last eight years. The craft lifts off, showing that Veidt had spelled out "SAVE ME DAUGHTER" using the clones' bodies for Trieu's probe to capture. Veidt is encased in gold for the return trip. Trieu is shown to have recovered the craft after it crashed at the Clarks' farm, and kept Veidt as a statue in her vivarium garden since then. Trieu revives Veidt with an hour left before the Millennium Clock activates; Veidt is impressed that she successfully built the centrifuge, but is appalled that Trieu cloned her mother Bian. The centrifuge detaches from the clock and floats towards the Greenwood district of Tulsa, while Trieu and her staff set up equipment underneath it.

At the Kavalry headquarters, several high-ranking politicians arrive, revealed as members of Cyclops, including the elder Joe Keene Sr. Laurie discovers that Wade has disguised himself as one of the Kavalry, having survived the attack at his house. Doctor Manhattan is teleported to the headquarters following the Kavalry attack on Angela's house. While stripping into a copy of Doctor Manhattan's briefs, Joe explains to the gathered audience that Cyclops' original long-term plan was to revolt against President Robert Redford by arranging racially-charged events like the White Night. After discovering Manhattan's presence on Earth when one of the Kavalry members was teleported to New Mexico during the White Night, the Kavalry changed course and decided to obtain Manhattan's powers.

Angela shows up to try to stop the event, but Keene ignores her warning. He enters a booth, but just as the system is activated, the entire area is teleported to Greenwood by Trieu. Trieu explains she needed the Kavalry to capture Manhattan without him detecting her own involvement. Due to the Kavalry's ineffective safety measures, Keene is liquefied during the process as his remains spill across the area and into Manhattan's cage once Trieu opens the booth. Trieu proceeds to kill the Cyclops members on behalf of Will as revenge for their crimes against people of color. During this time, Manhattan uses Keene's liquid remains to circumvent the cage inhibiting his powers, teleporting Veidt, Laurie, and Wade to Karnak. Manhattan tells Angela he did not teleport her as he did not want to be alone when he dies, as Trieu activates the centrifuge to take Manhattan's powers. Manhattan tells Angela he loves her before he is destroyed and his powers are captured.

At Karnak, Veidt uses the device spawning the benign squid rains to generate a more destructive storm of frozen squid over Tulsa. Laurie calls Angela in time to allow her and Bian to take cover, while the squid rain destroys the centrifuge before the transfer of Manhattan's powers can be completed, killing Trieu when it falls onto her. Angela takes shelter at a nearby movie theater, where Will is waiting for her with her children. Will reveals Manhattan had made a deal with himself and Trieu, having anticipated the events of the night in order to ensure his powers are not placed in the wrong hands.

Veidt offers Laurie and Wade Nite Owl's airship "Archie" (short for Archimedes in the original comic) to return to society. Laurie places Veidt under arrest, with Wade having a copy of Veidt's 1985 tape to President Redford on hand as evidence. After Veidt gets a positive answer on if Laurie will be going after President Redford, Wade knocks him out.

Angela invites Will to stay with her family as she takes her children back home. As she cleans up broken eggs from an argument between her and Manhattan earlier in the night, she recalls that Manhattan told her once that he could transfer his powers to someone else through an organic medium. Finding an unbroken egg, Angela goes to her pool, eats the egg, and prepares to walk on water across the swimming pool. The screen cuts to black as her foot touches the water.

Production

Lindelof stated that the writers had decided early in production that the series finale would revolve around Lady Trieu attempting to take Doctor Manhattan's powers for herself. They had additionally written an idea for Senator Keene to have a mind control device capable of controlling the Seventh Kavalry and Tulsa police through their masks, which would culminate in Will taking control of the device. During production of subsequent episodes, the writers instead opted to have the Kavalry themselves attempt to capture Doctor Manhattan, and reworked Trieu's plot to work in conjunction with the Kavalry storyline. [2] Additionally, the writers decided on a climax involving a squid attack over Tulsa, in hopes of evoking the city-wide devastation at the end of the original comic. [2]

The episode uses the Spooky Tooth cover of "I Am the Walrus" by The Beatles as the credits song. Lindelof stated that "I Am the Walrus" is well known to have imaginative lyrics that The Beatles themselves have not offered to explain. Lindelof and the writers found ways to incorporate many of the song's lyrics into the episode. The episode's title, "See How They Fly," refers to the falling frozen squid, while other lyrics like "Pretty little policemen in a row" and "Yellow matter custard Dripping from a dead dog's eye" were reflected in visual elements of the episode. [1]

Lindelof and his team had considered three possible endings of this episode: in addition to the one where Angela eats the egg and attempts to step onto the pool, they considered one where she simply crushed the egg in her hand, and another of putting the egg back into the carton and into the refrigerator. Staying with the choice where Angela eats the egg, they then debated how far they should go with the final shot, cutting the scene short to leave the implication vague. Lindelof said he does not consider the ending to be a cliffhanger, and that he intended to imply that Angela received Doctor Manhattan's powers via the egg. [3]

Reception

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, "See How They Fly" received a 91% approval rating, based on an average 8.62 out of 10 rating from 23 reviews. The summary of the critical consensus is "With its interconnected storylines, stellar performances, and complex themes, "See How They Fly" does the impossible and ends Damon Lindelof's adaptation of Watchmen spectacularly." [4]

Ratings

"See How They Fly" was watched by 935,000 viewers on its first live broadcast, and had over 1.6 million viewers when combined with repeated runs and streaming, exceeding the series' pilot viewership of 1.5 million. [5]

Related Research Articles

<i>Watchmen</i> Comics by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

Watchmen is a comic book limited series by the British creative team of writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons and colorist John Higgins. It was published monthly by DC Comics in 1986 and 1987 before being collected in a single-volume edition in 1987. Watchmen originated from a story proposal Moore submitted to DC featuring superhero characters that the company had acquired from Charlton Comics. As Moore's proposed story would have left many of the characters unusable for future stories, managing editor Dick Giordano convinced Moore to create original characters instead.

Rorschach is a fictional antihero and one of the protagonists in the graphic novel limited series Watchmen, published by DC Comics in 1986. Rorschach was created by writer Alan Moore with artist Dave Gibbons; as with most of the main characters in the series, he was an analogue for a Charlton Comics character; in this case, Steve Ditko's the Question. Moore also modeled Rorschach on Mr. A, another Steve Ditko creation on whom the Question was originally based.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doctor Manhattan</span> Watchmen character

Doctor Manhattan is a fictional DC Comics character created by writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons. He debuted in the limited series graphic novel, Watchmen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comedian (character)</span> Comics character

The Comedian is a fictional character who debuted in the graphic novel limited series Watchmen, published by DC Comics. The Comedian was created by writer Alan Moore with artist Dave Gibbons. As with most of the main characters in the series, he was an analogue for a Charlton Comics character; in this case, the Peacemaker. Moore imagined the Comedian as a mix between the Peacemaker with "a little bit of Nick Fury" and "probably a bit of the standard Captain America patriotic hero-type".

Nite Owl is the name of two superheroes in the graphic novel limited series Watchmen, published by DC Comics. Created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, the original Nite Owl, Hollis T. Mason, was a member of the crimefighting team the Minutemen, while the second, Daniel "Dan" Dreiberg, became a member of the vigilante team Crimebusters, also known as the titular Watchmen.

Silk Spectre is the name of two fictional superheroines in the graphic novel limited series Watchmen, published by DC Comics. Created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, the original Silk Spectre, Sally "Jupiter" Juspeczyk, was a member of the crimefighting team the Minutemen, while the second, Sally's daughter Laurel "Laurie" Jane Juspeczyk, became a member of the vigilante team Crimebusters, also known as the titular Watchmen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adrian Veidt</span> Comic book character

Adrian Alexander Veidt, also known as Ozymandias, is a fictional anti-villain in the graphic novel limited series Watchmen, published by DC Comics. Created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, named "Ozymandias" in the manner of Ramesses II, his name recalls the famous poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley, which takes as its theme the fleeting nature of empire and is excerpted as the epigraph of one of the chapters of Watchmen.

<i>Watchmen</i> (film) 2009 film by Zack Snyder

Watchmen is a 2009 American superhero film based on the 1986–1987 DC Comics limited series of the same name co-created and illustrated by Dave Gibbons. Directed by Zack Snyder from a screenplay by David Hayter and Alex Tse, the film features Malin Åkerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Carla Gugino, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Patrick Wilson. A dark and dystopian deconstruction of the superhero genre, the film is set in an alternate history in the year 1985 at the height of the Cold War, as a group of mostly retired American superheroes investigate the murder of one of their own before uncovering an elaborate and deadly conspiracy with which they are all connected.

"The Book of Nora" is the series finale of the HBO drama television series The Leftovers. It is the eighth episode of the series' third season, and the 28th overall. The episode's script was written by series showrunners Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta, based on a story from Lindelof and Tom Spezialy, and directed by Mimi Leder. It aired in the United States on June 4, 2017.

Watchmen is a 2019 American superhero drama limited series loosely based on the 1986 DC Comics series of the same title created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. The TV series was created for HBO by Damon Lindelof, who also served as an executive producer and writer. Its ensemble cast includes Regina King, Don Johnson, Tim Blake Nelson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Andrew Howard, Jacob Ming-Trent, Tom Mison, Sara Vickers, Dylan Schombing, Louis Gossett Jr. and Jeremy Irons. Jean Smart and Hong Chau joined the cast in later episodes.

"It's Summer and We're Running Out of Ice" is the pilot episode of the HBO superhero drama miniseries Watchmen, based on the 1986 DC Comics series of the same name by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. The episode was written by Damon Lindelof and directed by Nicole Kassell, and aired on October 20, 2019. The episode introduces the show's lead characters of Angela Abar/Sister Night, Judd Crawford, and Wade Tillman/Looking Glass.

"Martial Feats of Comanche Horsemanship" is the second episode of the HBO superhero drama miniseries Watchmen, based on the 1986 DC Comics series of the same name by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. The episode was written by Damon Lindelof and Nick Cuse and directed by Nicole Kassell, and aired on October 27, 2019.

"She Was Killed by Space Junk" is the third episode of the HBO superhero drama miniseries Watchmen, based on the 1986 DC Comics series of the same name by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. The episode was written by Damon Lindelof and Lila Byock and directed by Stephen Williams, and aired on November 3, 2019. It introduces the character of Laurie Blake, formerly the vigilante Silk Spectre but now a member of the FBI's Anti-Vigilante's Task Force.

"If You Don't Like My Story, Write Your Own" is the fourth episode of the HBO superhero drama miniseries Watchmen, based on the 1986 DC Comics series of the same name by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. The episode was written by Damon Lindelof and Christal Henry and directed by Andrij Parekh, and aired on November 10, 2019. The episode introduces the character of Lady Trieu, played by Hong Chau, a wealthy industrialist that had bought out Adrian Veidt's enterprises on his death.

"Little Fear of Lightning" is the fifth episode of the HBO superhero drama miniseries Watchmen, based on the 1986 DC Comics series of the same name by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. The episode was written by Damon Lindelof and Carly Wray and directed by Steph Green, and aired on November 17, 2019. It primarily focuses on the character of Wade Tillman, the masked police detective who goes by the name Looking Glass.

"This Extraordinary Being" is the sixth episode of the HBO superhero drama miniseries Watchmen, based on the 1986 DC Comics series of the same name by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. The episode was written by Damon Lindelof and Cord Jefferson and directed by Stephen Williams, and aired on November 24, 2019. It is principally the origin story of Hooded Justice, a minor character from the original comic.

"An Almost Religious Awe" is the seventh episode of the HBO superhero drama miniseries Watchmen, based on the 1986 DC Comics series of the same name by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. The episode was written by Stacy Osei-Kuffour and Claire Kiechel, directed by David Semel, and aired on December 1, 2019. The episode charts the aftermath of Angela's prolonged Nostalgia trip through her grandfather's memories, while also providing glimpses into her childhood in Vietnam.

"A God Walks into Abar" is the eighth episode of the HBO superhero drama miniseries Watchmen, based on the 1986 DC Comics series of the same name by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. It was written by Jeff Jensen and Damon Lindelof and directed by Nicole Kassell, and aired on December 8, 2019. The episode centers on the character of Doctor Manhattan and events of his life after the comic.

<i>Watchmen</i> (soundtrack) 2019 soundtrack album

Watchmen (Music from the HBO Series) is the original score for the HBO superhero drama limited series Watchmen, composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. The score was released in three volumes on vinyl and digital services over the course of the series' broadcast in 2019, with Volume 1 on November 6, Volume 2 on November 27, and Volume 3 on December 18.

References

  1. 1 2 Robinson, Joanna (December 15, 2019). "The Final Watchmen Easter Egg Goes Deeper Than You Think". Vanity Fair . Retrieved December 15, 2019.
  2. 1 2 Sepilwall, Alan (December 15, 2019). "Damon Lindelof Unpacks Mysteries of the 'Watchmen' Finale". Rolling Stone . Retrieved December 15, 2019.
  3. ↑ Vary, Adam (December 16, 2019). "'Watchmen' Showrunner Damon Lindelof Says He Could Return for Season 2". Variety . Retrieved December 16, 2019.
  4. ↑ ""See How They Fly"". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved December 16, 2019.
  5. ↑ Thorne, Will (December 16, 2019). "'Watchmen' Finale Draws Season High 1.6 Million Viewers". Variety . Retrieved December 16, 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.