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Panel 3: Byron Lewis was the friend Dan went to see in
the “bughouse in Maine” that he wrote about in the back-matter for Chapter VII. And his question – “What time is it?” – can
be seen as a continuation of the doomsday clock motif permeating this book.
Panel 6: Byron’s spilling glass transitions directly
into
Panel 7: and the spinning, spilling bottle of
Nostalgia perfume that continues to tumble over the Martian landscape –
accentuated by the continuation of Hollis’s dialogue – “…you’re spilling
everything…” – which transitions back to
Panel 8: where we return to Byron’s spilled drink,
which has smashed on the floor, spilling its contents everywhere and signifying
the end of this flashback.
Dr.
Manhattan interrupts Laurie’s memory by asking if she is listening to him,
which can also be seen as a commentary on the flashback scene that ends with
this panel. Laurie, thirteen years old
at the point of this flashback, has been working for much of her life toward
becoming a costumed adventurer. But this experience, seeing Byron Lewis as the
madman he became from his time with the Minutemen, should have been a wake-up
call to Laurie not to continue with her training, as she would come to despise
her time as Silk Spectre – mainly because it was not a choice she made, but one
her mother made for her and pressed upon the younger Laurie. If Laurie had been “listening” closely enough
during this reunion in the flashback, she may have discovered she did not want
to follow in her mother’s footsteps.
Panel 9: Dr. Manhattan’s remark of “…leaving people
broken…” can be taken as a commentary on Laurie’s life, most directly, but can
also be seen as a commentary on the lives of all the heroes in Watchmen,
and is accentuated by the broken glasses we have seen thus far in this chapter –
Byron’s glass of water and Laurie’s snowglobe.
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