Watchmen Episode 7’s Big Twist Was There For All Of Us To See. Here are The Clues We Missed

WARNING: There are SPOILERS for Watchmen Episode 7 in this article, so if you don’t want to know the twist, then stop reading now.

Go watch the episode, and then come back to find out what all the clues the writers cleverly peppered in the first few episodes of the season were.

Watchmen Episode 7 aired this week, and it pretty much shocked everybody to their very core, because it featured a twist that I guarantee nobody saw coming.

If you hear people saying they did see it coming, their either lying, or they had something to do with the production.

Anyway, so the big twist. Watchmen Episode 7 revealed that Angela Abar’s (played by Regina King) husband, Cal, is in fact Doctor Manhattan in hiding.

I will admit that I was thinking that Yahya Abdul-Mateen II was being very underused in this season of Watchmen.

He was basically just a very supportive and understanding stay-at-home-dad, and I didn’t think they were going to take the character anywhere.

But then this episode happened, called ‘An Almost Religious Awe’, and everything was turned upside down.

However, this reveal didn’t come out of nowhere. Damien Lindelof and his team of excellent writers did include some clues in the previous episodes that this might end up being the case.

We just missed them all, and here they all are.

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s casting is the first clue

Yahya Adbul-Mateen II as Cal Abar in Watchmen Episode 7 (Credit: HBO)

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They were never just going to cast an actor of Abdul-Mateen II’s calibre and just have him as a side character.

He was always going to have a bigger part to play moving forward.

I just never guessed that the role he was going to be playing was Doctor Manhattan, but upon reflection, they weren’t just going to have it be any old character or actor be all-powerful big blue guy were they now?

Abdul-Mateen II has been in the likes of Aquaman, Baywatch, Black Mirror, The Greatest Showman and The Handmaid’s Tale.

He’s one of the biggest names in the series, and I’m annoyed with myself that I never guessed who his character in Watchmen really was.

Cal’s views on religion and the afterlife

Yahya Adbul Mateen II as Cal in Watchmen Season 1 (Credit: HBO)

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Cal Abar was asked by his kids earlier on in the season where people went when they died, and his response was pretty abrupt and to the point.

They asked him this after Judd Crawford was killed, and he told them that he’s nowhere and that there is no afterlife.

There was no religious sentiment in his answer, and even Angela was a bit shocked by his rather upfront approach to telling the kids this.

Upon reflection, Cal’s explanation makes perfect sense when you realise that he’s actually Doctor Manhattan.

It also brings to mind the character’s “Life and Death” speech in Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ original Watchmen comic book.

Laurie Blake Is very much attracted to Cal

Jean Smart as Laurie Blake in Watchmen (Credit: HBO)

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There are several points in Watchmen where Laurie Blake (played by Jean Smart) tells Angela how attractive her husband is.

At first, this seems rather strange and not something one would say about someone else’s husband, but then you start to know Laurie’s character and it makes a bit more sense.

However, now that we know Cal’s really Doctor Manhattan, it makes sense that his ex (she was with Dr Manhattan when she was Silk Spectre in the comics) be attracted to him.

She obviously could feel the same sort of attraction to Cal that she felt towards Doctor Manhattan because they are one and the same.

Angela’s reaction to finding out Laurie had visited Cal

Regina King as Angela Abar in Watchmen Episode 7 – Credit: HBO

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There’s a moment when Laurie Blake reveals to Angela that she visited her husband and Angela’s reaction seemed a bit over the top.

She was not happy about it, and at the time it felt like it was because the FBI agent had visited him without her consent, but then when you find out that Cal is actually Doctor Manhattan, it all starts to make sense.

Angela was worried about Cal seeing Laurie because it could end up with him remembering who he really is, or Laurie twigging that Cal is really Doctor Manhattan in disguise.

The pieces really do start to fit together nicely, don’t they?

Angela’s insistence that Doctor Manhattan can’t change form

Doctor Manhattan in Zack Snyder’s Watchmen movie (Credit: Warner Bros.)

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There was yet another bizarre moment involving Angela and Doctor Manhattan, and it was when Will Reeves claimed that he could be masquerading as a human.

Angela immediately says that it’s a ridiculous idea because Doctor Manhattan cannot pose as a human.

The really interesting moment is when Cal later echoes her sentiment that Doctor Manhattan is unable to pretend to be human.

How do both Cal and Angela know so much about Doctor Manhattan’s abilities? Do all the people living on Earth know the extent of his powers?

It seems more like Angela and even Cal subconsciously were trying to stop people from thinking that Doctor Manhattan could do such a thing.

Laurie Blake names her sex toy Ex-Cal-Abar

Laurie Blake with Excalibur in Watchmen Season 1 (Credit: HBO)

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OK, so this is obviously the biggest clue to Watchmen writers gave us.

At one point in Watchmen Season 1, Laurie Blake gets out her big blue dildo of a secret compartment in her suitcase and it’s revealed it’s called Excalibur.

The sex toy is literally called Ex-Cal-Abar. It was right there for all of us to see, but I’m pretty sure everybody missed it.

It now makes sense why they included that rather odd scene to begin with, and gives it a whole new meaning.

He’s called Cal, like Kal-El

Superman, a.k.a. Kal El. (Credit: Warner Bros.)

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What’s in a name? Well, in this instance, everything. Cal Abar’s name is pretty important here.

Doctor Manhattan chose the name Cal, and of course he would name himself after DC Comics’ biggest and most powerful superhero, Superman.

Superman’s real name is Kal-El, and it’s no coincidence that the writers opted to call him Cal.

Everything ends up fitting together so nicely, and it’s just another reason why I love this show so much.

What did you make of Watchmen Episode 7’s Doctor Manhattan twist, and did you spot any of these clues? Let us know in the comments below.

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