Watchmen season 1 episode 5 review: A deep dive into Looking Glass
Watchmen’s Looking Glass has been a mystery up until this point. But during this week’s episode, we learn of his time at the Squid Attack when he was younger in New Jersey.
This week’s episode of Watchmen starts with what, we presume, is Looking Glass when he’s a kid. He goes to a fair and finds himself swayed by a woman and forced into becoming a “sinner.” In a very telling look at the idea of an overly religious group of young men, he’s only saved because the girl in question leaves him naked in a hall of mirrors when an explosion happens.
The explosion? The squid attack from Ozymandias at the end of the original graphic novel. Giving us a look into Looking Glass (pun intended), we see his fear from the attack and the fear that still bleeds into this world after what Ozymandias did.
No one wants to go to New York, no one wants to admit they’re afraid, and Looking Glass is, surprisingly, the one who is willing to tell people how he sees it. But he’s not the one in charge; the one who is doing things her way now is Laurie. She brings up Looking Glass’s mental health in their meeting, and from there, the exploration of his mental state begins.
Looking Glass spends his nights home alone, watching porn of the famous heroes, doing tests on his bomb shelter, and trying to find some way to find happiness. Instead, he is lost in what happened to him all those years ago and he can’t seem to get out.
The psychosis that was inflicted on those in the blast zone from the squid attack permeates those still and leads to Looking Glass leading a group with anxiety. But even then, he’s still deemed as one of those that the attack hurt the most. His “tinfoil” is part of those who struggle, and he doesn’t speak up about it to those he works with.
The most important part of the episode comes when Looking Glass encounters a woman at his meeting. As they’re getting a drink together, she is picked up by a member of the Seventh Kalvary, leading Looking Glass to discover their headquarters and the fact that they’re opening portals to other dimensions. But it isn’t just to discover what they’re doing. In fact, they bring him in and force him to listen to their side.
Wade learns all about the two sides of Tulsa, the Senator ruling the Seventh Kalvary while Judd was in charge of the police, both using their respective teams to their advantage. The Senator uses Wade’s history against him, telling him that he’ll convince his cop buddies that he’s crazy if he attempts to tell the truth about the Senator. And so Wade watches a video that, instead, shows Adrian Veidt and his knowledge of the future.
On the flip side of all of this, Ozymandias ends up in space? And then he is brought right back to Earth and brought to justice by the keeper of his lands, but that’s not the important part of this episode.
What is important is Wade’s betrayal of Angela. She told him the truth about the pills, the truth about her grandfather, and then Laurie Blake had her arrested because he had her do so by his desk, where Laurie had him bugged.
We at least started to get more answers this week, and it’s going to be interesting to see what happens with Angela next — but at least we know even more about the Seventh Kalvary and Looking Glass. Especially because the Kalvary came for him by the end of the episode…
Next. Watchmen season 1 episode 4 review: Lady Trieu has answers she’s not ready to give up. dark