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HBO’sWatchmenepisode 3 , " She Was Killed By Space Junk , " finally gives the show some major connection to the original Watchmen graphic novel by introducing Laurie Blake , AKA the former Silk Spectre II , who transfer a " joke " to her former lover , Dr. Manhattan , on Mars via a gaudy public phone John Wilkes Booth seemingly mean for the public to send messages to Manhattan almost like a prayer to a aloof god , Laurie even says"the assholes down here still call up you give a shit . "
The joke itself is a turn on a classic old multi - part joke about a brick , with the first part serving as a fake - out / bent - up to introduce the brick , ending with an unfunny or unsatisfying conclusion , before another joke , sometimes tell immediately after , sometimes much longer ( depending on how dare the narrator is ) , add the brick back as the punchline to a seemingly unrelated storey .
Laurie ’s version of the joke takes things a step further to also serve as a graphic symbol review for thesurvivors of the events of the Watchmen novel , but it ’s also a nod to the biblical apologue of the endowment in which a professional ( God ) , entrusted his servants with a different number of talents ( money ) while he was aside and then measure their use of the talents while he was gone . Two of the servant doubled their talents and are rewarded and entrusted with more , but the servant who hid his endowment in the ground for concern of losing it was drift out into the darkness . In Laurie ’s joke , the surviving bomber of Watchmen meet God at the Pearly Gates of heaven to be judged on the utilisation of the talents he gave them and either be rewarded and allow into heaven , or penalize and sentence to nether region .
The sequence open with a guesswork of Laurie identify the " Blue Booth connection " call at a booth in front of The Iberian Pig and The Square Pub , alocation shown in Tulsalater in the episode , point the call is placed at the oddment and introduce non - linearly throughout the episode .
Laurie Blake’s Watchmen Joke
" Hey , it ’s me again . I ’ve cause a joke . Stop me if you ’re heard this one . There ’s this bozo . He ’s a bricklayer . He ’s very good at it . He ’s a master at his trade . Because he ’s precise . Every brick has its place . Anyway , the bozo has a girl , and he ’s going to teach her to be a bricklayer because , after all , all a homo has is his bequest . So Dad decides to build a BBQ in the back thousand . He does the maths . He reckon out everything he involve . And he demo the girl everything . maltreat by step . And when he cease , it ’s a beauty . It ’s a sodding BBQ . Just the way he drew it in the gamy print . Only one problem - there ’s a brick left over . One single brick . The guy cable gross out out . He must have done something incorrect . He ’s gon na to have to embark on all over again . So he picks up the sledge to knock the affair to pieces and all of a sudden his girl says " dada , wait . I have an idea . She picks up the orphan brick and she confound it up in the atmosphere as richly as she can . And … and … and then … shit . I messed it up . Ok , I … blank out that jape , can I tell apart you another one ? "
" Ok , forget the brick . New put-on . Three hero go and they all show up at the pearly gates . God ’s there to settle what their eternal fate will be - heaven , or perdition ? Our first fighter was dress up like a big bird of night . And God state " I gifted you the ability to make fantastic inventions . What did you do with this astonishing talent ? " And Owl Guy says " I made this really amazing flee ship and lots of cool outfits and weapon system so I could contribute peace to the metropolis . " And God enquire " so how many people did you kill ? " Owl Guy seems scandalize , " zero , " he says . I did n’t take a individual lifetime . " God glower , " Sorry , Owl Guy , your heart ’s in the right-hand place , but you ’re just too soft . " God snaps his fingers , and the hero goes to hell . "
" Where was I ? Oh , right . The pearly Bill Gates look our next hero in line for omnipotent judging . Our Italian sandwich number 2 is confident he can bet on this out because that ’s his God - yield talent - smarts . Some might even say he was the smartest man in the populace . " So what ’d you do with that bragging brain I give you ? " ask God . " Well , as a matter of fact , I economise humans , " says Smartypants . " Well how ’d you do that ? " asks God . " Well , I dropped a gargantuan exotic calamary on New York , and everyone was so afraid of it , they stop being afraid of each other . " " Okay … " say God . " Um , how many people did you kill ? " Smartypants smile , " Three million . Give or take , but you ca n’t make an omelet without break a brace of egg . " " Christ , " God enunciate . " You ’re a fucking monstrosity . " " Am not , " allege Smartypants . God snaps his finger , the bomber goes to blaze .
Okay , we ’re down to the nitty - gritty now . God cracks his metacarpophalangeal joint , ready to administer the reckoning . Now , submarine number three is middling much a God himself , so for the sake of differentiate them apart , he ’s gamy and he like to saunter around with his dick hanging out . He can teleport , he can teleport , he can see into the future , he can blow diddly-squat up , he ’s got genuine power . So , God require Blue God " what ’d you do with these gifts ? " and Blue God says " um , I fell in love with a fair sex , then I walked across the sun , then I accrue in sexual love with another woman , then I win the Vietnam warfare , but mostly I just do n’t give a red cent about humanity . God sighs , " do I even demand to ask how many mass you kill ? " Blue God shrug , " a unrecorded eubstance and a dead dead body have the same number of particles , so it does n’t count . And it does n’t matter how I answer your doubt because I bed you ’re transmit me to hell . " " How do you bed that ? " asks God . And Blue God sounds very sad when he says " because I ’m already there . " And so , a mere Walter Piston in the inevitable machinery of time and space and God does what he did and what he will do , God tear his finger’s breadth and the Cuban sandwich give-up the ghost to hell .
And so it ’s been a long day at the Pearly Gates , all the heroes have gone to hell . His work done , God ’s packing up to go home . And then he notices someone waiting , but it ’s not a hero , it ’s just a adult female . " Where did you add up from ? " asks God . " Oh I was standing behind those other guys the whole time , you just did n’t see me . " " Did I give you a gift ? " God need . " Nope , none to talk of " say the woman . God give her a good , prospicient expression , " I ’m so sorry , I ’m humiliated , seriously , this almost never happen , but … I do n’t make out who you are … " And the cleaning lady looks at God and she quietly says " I ’m the lilliputian female child who threw the brick in the melodic phrase . " And a sound from above . Something fall - the brick . God looks up , but it ’s too late . God never realise him coming . It hit so hard his genius dissipate out his nose . secret plan over . He ’s all in . And where does God go when he dies ? He give out to hell . undulate on gin membranophone . pall . honorable antic .
I do n’t know why I keep coming to these phone booths . Telling you stunned joke . But sometimes it ’s nice to … Sometimes it ’s nice to pretend . The assholes down here still think you give a shit . Even though you ’ve been be on another flaming planet for 30 years . But we ’re not really worth give a whoreson about anyway , are we ?
What Laurie Blake’s Watchmen Joke Means
On its side , the joke is Laurie echoing the nihilistic delusion of her male parent , Edward Blake , The Comedian . The three big submarine sandwich who live the story , Nite Owl , Dr. Manhattan , and Ozymandias all had blood on their hands . Nite Owl was the " complete fighter , " but failed to stop Veidt from killing millions ( to save jillion ) and also go along with the lie after the fact . Ozymandias obviously orchestrate the whole affair , and while he saw himself as the hero sandwich , he break more than a few nut to make an omelet . And Dr. Manhattan was too uninvested in humanity to preclude it from happening and just retreated to Mars alternatively of dealing with the consequences .
Of course , as shown in the Warhol painting in Laurie ’s flat , there was a quaternary hero alert at the death of that story - Silk Spectre . Although she did n’t look judgment in front of God in the same way the other three did in her joke . Instead , when God asks if he gave her a gift , she say no , and God expose does n’t even cognize who she is , once again echo her nihlism . alternatively , she seems to see herself as some variety of reconning . The brick from the first story returns and down God as she ironically quotes Rorshach ’s diary from the execution of her Church Father , Edward Blake:“Roll on snare metal drum . Curtains . secure trick . "
In fact , the section immediately before the Paggliachi"roll on snare drum"part of of Rorshach ’s journal can now be straightaway applied to Laurie:“Dollar Bill , The Silhouette , Captain Metropolis … we never die in bottom . Not allowed . Something in our personalities , perhaps ? Some brute advocate to fight and struggle , making us what we are ? insignificant . We do what we have to do . Blake understood . Treated it like a joke , but he read . He saw the crack in company , saw the footling manpower in mask seek to hold it together … he saw the true face of the twentieth century and chose to become a rumination of it , a parody of it . No one else saw the joke . That ’s why he was lonely . ”
Laurie ’s motive are n’t entirely clear , but her introduction to the show feel vindictive . She works for the FBI to hunt down mask while Daniel Dreiberg , who she was with at the ending of Watchmen , is in federal custody . Now that the police jade masks , she no longer does , and she sends messages to Dr. Manhattan , damning him for never caring about mankind . However , her indication that she ’s left that life sentence behind seems to be the existent joke , as the briefcase she keep with an image of her with Dr. Manhattan and a big blue sex toy clearly inspired by him and has Agent Petey wear a mask when she log Z’s with him - just like Nite Owl ’s want to befit up to be with her inWatchmen .
She does n’t seem to think Dr. Manhattan is listening , or that he even worry about the people of Earth , but as she leaves the John Wilkes Booth , a car send packing from the sky to land in front of her and she looks up in the sky to see Mars glowing brightly , so maybe the grim god is listening and does care , or at the very least , he might still have a sensation of humor . Or possibly it was just devolve from the same occult ship that picked up Will Reeves and there ’s no association . It does n’t make it any less mirthful .
NEXT : Every WATCHMEN Easter Egg in The HBO Series So Far
