Watchmen (2019) 1.05

Little Fear of Lightning

Wade Tillman (Looking Glass) goes to Hoboken, NJ (in 1985) with a group of other boys and a minister. They are there to proselytize but things don't work out as planned. The squid falls on Manhattan. Wade survives but everyone else near him is killed.

Agent Blake has a chat with Looking Glass. She wants to know about the pills that Sister Night was asking him about. She found out about the pills from an eavesdropping device she put on his desk. He doesn't want to talk.

Wade goes home and tries to relax but his home alarm system keeps going off. He calls the company and complains, after ripping the machine off the wall. The company promises to overnight ship him a new one. 

Wade goes to see his ex, Cynthia. He gave her the pills and asked her to figure out what they were. She tells him they are Nostalgia, a drug that implants memories in the person who takes them.

Wade runs a support group for people, like him, who are still suffering from the effects of the giant squid attack in 1985. He goes out for a beer with Renee, a member of the support group, after the meeting. He finds out, as she is driving away, that she is a member of the Seventh Kavalry.  Wade follows her to a building where she and other members of the Seventh Kavalry are experimenting with a dimensional portal.

Wade finds out that he's been set up. Senator Keene is there. He's the leader of the Seventh Kavalry. He shows Wade a video from 1985, made by Adrian Veidt. It was made for President Redford to watch in 1993, after he was inaugurated for the first time. Veidt confesses that the giant squid was a hoax and explains that he has a plan to help President Redford.

Senator Keene thinks that watching the video will change Wade's mind about him and the world at large. He wants something from Looking Glass. He wants him to get Sister Night sidelined. She is getting to be a thorn in his side. He doesn't want to have to sick the Seventh Kavalry on Sister Night but he will if Looking Glass doesn't do something about her.

Adrian Veidt, with the help of his servants, is propelled out of his prison and on to the surface of the Moon. He is wearing a protective suit. There are bodies there, bodies of his former servants. He pulls them together to form words "SAVE ME D" but then he has to return to his prison. 

Looking Glass returns to the police station. Sister Night comes to see him. She wants to know about the pills. He tells her what he knows. Agent Blake comes out of her office and has Sister Knight arrested. Before she is carted away she swallows a bunch of the pills.

Wade goes home. He finds a package waiting for him. The replacement alarm system. He throws it in the trash but then he retrieves it. He goes inside. An SUV pulls up. Four members of the Seventh Kavalry, armed, get out and start heading toward his front door.

Thoughts

I'm not sure what to make of the title for this episode. There's a lot here to digest. Adrian Veidt must be trying to communicate with someone but who? Is it someone other than Doctor Manhattan? Who imprisoned him if it wasn't Doctor Manhattan? Lady Trieu?

What is going to happen to Sister Knight, now that she has swallowed all those pills? Was Senator Keene telling the truth to Looking Glass?

I'm a little past the halfway point now. I don't expect every thing to get resolved but I hope that I am at least somewhat satisfied with where they leave things at the end of the ninth episode. It's been a good ride so far but I worry that this isn't really going to go anywhere and that there will be a lot of handwaving in the final episode.