MovieChat Forums > Watchmen (2019) Discussion > Psychic Blast?

Psychic Blast?

posted 5 years ago by Jeepster (1167)
13 replies | jump to latest

What’s with this psychic blast business? I’m sorry but is this explained in the comics? Forgive me for not being aquatinted with “Watchmen” canon but I’m confused. Did a giant monster squid destroy NY by tearing it apart or did it not? That seems pretty straight forward to me, but they’re alluding that something other than physical force was what killed most of the people in the city.

Plus I’m not sure what I was watching when Wade was viewing Veidt on the screen. What did Adrian mean when he said it was a hoax? Didn’t seem like a hoax to me after all a giant squid was there. Now that Wade gave those Kalvary folks what they wanted, it looks like they’re going to kill him anyway. Do you think he’s going to make it or is this the end of Looking Glass in the show?

This sounds extremely stupid but I understand why Angela was arrested but why did Laurie burst in with her gun drawn? After all she now knows that Angela didn’t kill Judd & what the pills are & that she’s not culpable for her grandfather who did it so I don’t understand that scene as well.

Can anyone tell me what the hell is going on? I’d appreciate it, thanks.

[–] Geff (453) 5 years ago

Veidt made that creature and transported it into the middle of Manhattan, then the news was spread that it's from another dimension. It isn't, that's the hoax. The hoax was meant to cease cold world tensions as it was speculated that if people focused their anxiety on inter-dimensional space monsters they would focus less on anxiety towards eachother and this would stop the cold war.

When the monster was teleported to NY, it teleported into buildings, buildings got stuck inside its body and it immediately died. This was intended. Veidt made it so that as soon as it monster dies it immediately releases a psychic blast which kills people. As we discovered in the episode, mirrors minimize the blast's effects of the blast which is why Wade survived.

(Actually, I can't remember if Veidt made the monster or if he actually found the monster in space/another dimension. If he found it, then the hoax was that it teleported to NY randomly rather than put there by Veidt with a specific intent. He might have lied in the video about him making it.)

Angela was arrested because she withheld information about a murder by not revealing that she knew about the murderer, thereby protecting the murderer.

[–] PaladinNJ (21775) 5 years ago

In the comics, Veidt created the squid via genetic engineering.

[–] chrisjdel (2714) 5 years ago

Was it the mirrors that protected him, or was he just one of the random survivors? Not everyone died. And Wade was apparently left with an enhanced ability to read other people.

The situation with Angela makes sense though. They could charge her with obstruction of justice for concealing evidence. Possession of the drugs too if they wanted, since that nostalgia stuff's illegal. The gun drawn was probably a little overkill but Laurie Blake doesn't seem to like anyone in a mask and treats them all like criminals.

[–] Jeepster (1167) 5 years ago

Thank you Geff & thank you everybody else for explaining it to me. You've made it more clearer. Thanks.

[–] Burk48917 (11532) 5 years ago

You definitely should read the book, just because it's amazing.

[–] NorrinRad (5470) 5 years ago

Plus I’m not sure what I was watching when Wade was viewing Veidt on the screen. What did Adrian mean when he said it was a hoax? Didn’t seem like a hoax to me after all a giant squid was there. Now that Wade gave those Kalvary folks what they wanted, it looks like they’re going to kill him anyway. Do you think he’s going to make it or is this the end of Looking Glass in the show?

I am cheating again (because I don't really know the answer to those questions) but Tim Blake Nelson is listed for all 9 episodes so I am just going to throw it out there that he survives what we are meant to assume is an attack on his life.

The Hoax has been explained quite fully by others. 😎

[–] exatera (3966) 5 years ago

I didn't think that it was an attack on his life.

They want something from him. I mean that was pretty clear from how that woman lured him to their "headquarters". It wasn't to kill him.

[–] Jeepster (1167) 5 years ago

All that means is that they wanted something from him THEN. Now that he's sort of served his purpose for them, & with him knowing what he knows, maybe they did decide to turn around & kill him. Sometimes the simple explanation is the best. IF that's the case I hope he redeems himself by helping Angela getting out of the jam shes in.

[–] exatera (3966) 5 years ago

No, I am certain that that's not the case. Also not sure what's "best" about it - it would be really stupid, actually, to do that in the story.

But we'll see soon enough.

[–] dmac8 (5050) 5 years ago

It may not be -- but it was certainly meant to convey bad intent (complete with shotgun slide racking as they approach) to the audience. They already lured him, already convinced him of something, and already sent him on assignment. He completed that assignment and now he's a loose end. Sure, it could be a red herring -- but it's hardly clear that they wanted something beyond that first assignment. And it's not a coincidence that they showed his lingering doubt when he retrieved what he had just dumped, so maybe his reaction will be different this time. A cliffhanger closing scene is meant to inspire dread and doubt rather than a conclusion too easily reached.

[–] exatera (3966) 5 years ago

Well, bottom line is that they still haven't explained to us what they needed him for in the first place, right? The senator and everything?

So that's still to come.

I knew all along, btw, that the senator wasn't in any real danger from the Kavalry at the cemetery. It was obvious that he was a slippery character.

[–] dmac8 (5050) 5 years ago

Keene wanted him to nudge more suspicion towards Angela -- to pin things on her. He did that by speaking candidly with Angela (about the pills and Will) over that cactus he already knew was bugged. That was the "squid pro quo". He did that "favor" in exchange for the video that would "set him free".

[–] JakeSWITCH (504) 5 years ago

In the comic book, Veidt hired science fiction writer Max Shea, surrealist artist Hira Manish, and a large number of other writers (like James Trafford March), artists (like Linette Paley), and scientists – who are under the impression that they were being employed as part of a top-secret movie production – to live on a privately owned island for a period of several months, in which time they conceptualize and engineer the monster.

The brain was created by stealing that of deceased psychic Robert Deschaines and cloning it, augmenting it considerably in the process as a psychic resonant device. The monster was engineered and bred with nightmarish imageries from the creations of the abovementioned scholars (Paley's sounds, Shea's descriptions, Manish's images), which derived from its supposedly alien world.

Veidt teleports his monster into the heart of New York City. As predicted, large sections of its body (namely its tentacles) explode upon arrival, causing considerable collateral damage and killing the creature instantly. Its death generates a massive psychic shockwave from within its brain, killing half of the population of New York City. Since it's brain is programmed with gruesome images (such as infants of its species chewing their way out of their mother's womb), these images and sounds caused many of the survivors of the monster's death to go insane, and Veidt mentions that psychics around the world will have nightmares for years after the event.

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