In the first episode, Judd gets himself killed when he chooses to leave his home unescorted. Pretty risky thing to do when you're the visible chief of police fighting against a group dedicated to killing cops. Turns out that no, it wasn't risky since he was a leader of said group. He just didn't realize that there was another faction out there also dealing with the Kavalry, and that they knew he was in on it.
In the fifth episode, Ozymandias is seen speaking in front of a giant eyeball background. While it might seem unusual at first, there's a good reason for this choice of backdrop: the eyeball belongs to the giant squid that he made, and he's standing right in front of it.
With The Reveal of the sixth episode, it seems like Will Reeves being Hooded Justice is at odds with the comic's notion that he was a Nazi sympathizer. Of course, given that he had a World War I pamphlet telling black American soldiers that they should defect to Germany, it's understandable where that misconception would come from.
He was also understandably paranoid about his real ethnicity getting out, to the point of makeup around his eyes to lighten his skin. How do you make it seem like you're not a minority? Claim to like a movement that hates minorities.
The Minutemen being remade into the Watchmen-equivalent of The Seven makes sense canonwise; in the comic Laurie's mother, the first Silk Spectre was basically a model looking for fame and recognition which is why she was a Stage Mom for her daughter's superhero career. Of course Captain Metropolis would recruit her and others of similar mind for a balanced team.
The comic states that the Minutemen were inspired by Action Comics when Will became Hooded Justice not long after the first issue was released; Will was also inspired by his anger and the comic to become a superhero which completely changes his base character.
In episode seven: Of course Doctor Manhattan would go by the name Cal.
Episode seven reveals that the Veidt segments aren't taking place at the same time as the rest of the show. There is a year long Time Skip between episodes five and seven. It makes sense when the famous twist at the end of Watchmen involved events that were presented as concurrent taking place at different times.
One clue is that Veidt complained of being stuck in his Gilded Cage for four years, but he had been missing for seven. Another is that for the first four Veidt segments, he got an extra candle on his cake.
Lindelof affirmed each Veidt scene has been a year apart from each other; they have celebrated his anniversary of his "imprisonment" each time. Given that Veidt disappeared in 2012, his first anniversary should have happened in 2013. With the omission of a Veidt scene in Episode 6, this means that he "catches up" to the 2019 setting by Episode 8.
This also explains why he seemed to be experiencing Cabin Fever and Sanity Slippage so quickly that he ended up slaughtering a mansion full of clones after, what seemed to the audience, to be a matter of weeks.
In 2012, Veidt was declared missing by the press. In reality, he has moved to Europa in 2009. So, seven candles on his cake in Episode 8 post-credits scene mean that he tried to escape his prison (and very likely succeeded) in 2016. This is the same year when the White Night occurred. Coincidence or not?
Ultimately, it was. The White Night occurred before anyone knew Dr. Manhattan had returned to Earth, and his escape was perfectly timed just to make his SOS for his daughter’s probe to Europa. However, there is another set of fridge brilliance at play: 2016 is still the year where everything turns to shit and the Nazis rise again.
Angela disbelieves Will’s claims that he is Dr Manhattan and she doesn’t really respond to his claims that he could make himself look like a black man. He admits he is not and Laurie knew that was the truth. She knows Will is not Dr Manhattan and that he can indeed make himself look like a black man as she knows her husband is Dr Manhattan.
Why does it make sense for Angela to model herself after a nun? She’s married to God.
The reflective metal Looking Glass wears on his head is supposed to help block psychic attacks. When the psychic attack on New York happened, he was in a house of mirrors at a carnival in Jersey. He survived with remarkably little damage (which appears to be the result of the shattered glass and the shockwave popping one of his ear drums), while hundreds died right outside. Maybe they are onto something there.
The Dr. Manhattan phone booths do not reach Mars, but they do reach their creator, Lady Trieu. Since she has airships she was probably listening in and decided now was as good a time as any to drop Night's car. A good joke indeed. And this was another way to get the Nostalgia pills back to Angela.
The last time Jon Osterman faced certain death, his lover Janey Slater realized that there was nothing she could do to save him and walked away. So for him to see Angela, a mortal woman, still choose to fight to save his life despite the future already being set in stone, there's no wonder why Jon said that this is the exact moment he fell in love with her.
For Doctor Manhattan, the future is fixed (at least, as long as it is observable). Him just letting himself get zapped at the end of Episode 8 is not the first time he shrugged and went "fine, let's get this over with" to an obvious trap; he did the exact same thing by walking into the Intrinsic Field Subtractor back in the original Watchmen.
In the final scene, Angela hesitates before stepping onto the pool. She's not sure whether she actually has Doctor Manhattan's powers or not. That means if he DID give them to her, they came without the perception of time that paralyzes him into inaction.
Veidt calls the ring "Plan A." Why did he never use it? Simple: no delivery system. He would have had to find a way to force it right into Doctor Manhattan's head, which would be impossible unless he allowed it to happen. Thirty years later... that contingency is finally revealed.
Veidt asks if the body Doctor Manhattan currently possesses contains a fully human physical brain he uses. Another reason for abandoning the plan could be Veidt created it with the premise that Manhattan's brain works the same as the human brain, but Veidt never had a chance to test that in any way and decided gambling on it was too risky.
The poster◊ for the series shows Angela Abar standing in the dark, which has the effect of giving her skin a blue hue. But after the events of the season 1 finale, it seems the poster is actually foreshadowing Angela gaining the powers of Doctor Manhattan, though it's not known yet whether her skin will turn blue like his did.
The design of the 51-state American flag has gotten a lot of criticism, but notice how much it looks like an eyeball, and then think about how thoroughly Cyclops are integrated into the fabric of American life in this universe, not to mention the profound and lasting effects of the one-eyed squid event in 1985. That flag is basically an icon for the state of America in Watchmen's universe. Fridge Brilliance indeed.
When he needs to justify the use of firearms, Crawford goes straight to Looking Glass:
Crawford: LG, do you believe your life is under direct and immediate threat?
Looking Glass: Yes, I do.
Looking Glass is a sure bet to give him the answer he wants. Not only is he intensely loyal, he's a prepper traumatized by the 11/2 squid event. He always believes that his life is under direct and immediate threat. Clever move on Crawford's part.
Why would Lady Trieu need to ask Veidt for the 42 billion dollars to create her machine? She already is the head of a corporation which is large and successful enough to have its own space program. As we are shown, she has no problem beginning construction on her own just a few years later. Answer: She doesn't need his money. What she really wants from Veidt is validation. If he did agree to pay, it would be a sign of approval for her plan, and show he is not just saying so if he is willing to make that kind of material sacrifice.
When Keene first meets Sister Night he calls her by her real name. He plays it off as not understanding the decorum around superhero names but in retrospect it's clear he slipped up since they had been following the family ever since figuring out who Cal was.
At the end of episode 8 "A god walks into Abar", there is a post-credits scene showing Adrian Veidt being kind of crucified (that's unusual because the other episodes of the season do not have post-credits scenes). One of the major theme of the episode is the Egg (Dr Manhattan creates an egg, "Who came first, the chicken or the egg?", etc...). The crucifixion is commemorated on Good Friday, which is part of the celebrations leading up to Easter. And what is a post-credits scene? That's an Easter egg.
Wade has quite a bit in common with Rorschach despite them politically being polar opposites, with Wade easily taking the honor of the thickest southern drawl on a leftist in fiction and Rorschach canonically being far right and inspiring actual Nazis (although he probably wouldn’t be a fan for numerous other violations of theirs). Out of all the masked cops, Wade is closest to his mask, keeping it on as often as possible and even eating while wearing it exactly the same way Rorschach did, being quite comfortable with extrajudicial violence against those he condemns, breaking into what he thinks is a lead but is a trap, his mask’s mirror look being a direct parallel to Rorschach (since both a Rorschach test and a mirror are meant to be reflections of yourself), him being a paranoid doomsday prepper and his trauma which led him to wearing a mask being (unknowingly) a direct result of Rorschach’s failure. When he is shown Adrian’s lie by the Seventh Kalvary, he does exactly what they want after being released, seemingly confirming he’s betrayed Angela, but it’s revealed that he has instead infiltrated them despite knowing the truth now, is loyal to the heroes, and is the man who ultimately stops Adrian Veidt both physically and by finally providing evidence even as Adrian tells him that it’ll lead to the end of the world. Despite their differing politics, Looking Glass and Rorschach have one major character trait in common beyond all those parallels: never compromise, even in the face of armageddon.
The first time Veidt's space suit fails and his servant dies, he has an out-of-character display of temper, violently attacking the body and swearing. Ok, it shows his sanity's slipping, but it's a bit extreme for a setback in a process that involves a lot of trial and error. Later we find out that he's timing his escape to be able to leave a message for Trieu's satellite at the exact moment it orbits, which explains why the setback engages him so much: it threatens to put him behind schedule and miss his window completely.
Everyone continually points to Veidt's video to Redford confessing to entire hoax behind 11/2 being a massive Idiot Ball moment in what was otherwise a perfect scheme. However as the series shows, especially through Rewatch Bonus, Veidt's Fatal Flaw is his massive ego and the fact he "saved" the world yet never got any credit. The video wasn't just to make Redford his "parter"note Accomplice but to stroke his own ego.
Veidt's inaccuracy about Alexander the Great, whom he modeled himself after, never being with a woman despite historically being married with children makes sense on two fronts:
Veidt uses the word hedonistic when referring to sex, meaning he himself views Alexander's marriage as for political reasons and its a case of people misunderstanding his Exact Words.
Its implied that Veidt is homosexual and an Armoured Closet Gay, so him using it as an excuse helps him to explain away not dating women. Since it appears that Adrian never left Karnak, no-one never explained it was alright to be open about it and he wouldn't be judged.
Fred, a grocery store owner from Queens with ties to the Klan, has a lot in common with the father of a certain president.
Fridge Logic
In episode 1, Crawford dismisses his officers with the question, "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" and his officers answer in [incorrect] Latin. Nice Shout-Out to the comic and all, but it makes no sense in context. That saying is a challenge to state authority (e.g., the police). Why on earth would it be a ritualized call-and-response in a police department? Even if Crawford is secretly part of the 7K, he should be playing the part a little better than that.
It can also be taken to mean "who guards the guardsmen" in the sense of who is it that will protect the protectors.
In which case the officers' answer still makes no sense, since they answer, "We will guard them," which would mean they're guarding themselves.
... yes. It means they will protect their own. After the events of the White Night, that seems like a logical rallying cry.
: Will did feign support for Nazi Germany as a smokescreen about his true identity.
