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HBO’sWatchmenfinally redeemed Silk Spectre and bring jurist to the graphical novel ’s lone lead distaff character . Executive produced by Damon Lindelof , Watchmenis a sequelto and " remix " of the Greco-Roman comics series written by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons . TheWatchmengraphic novel is a fabled deconstruction of the superhero musical genre up to the mid-1980s where Moore and Gibbons dissect the various trope of costumed superheroes in more detail and uncompromising gritrock than ever before . But , in a reflection of the genre during that era , the male characters likeRorschach , Doctor Manhattan , and Ozymandias dominated the story ’s spotlight while Silk Spectre thanklessly fulfilled her lone function as The Girl of the story . But at long last , Lindelof’sWatchmenlets Laurie Blake ( the former Laurie Juspeczyk AKA Silk Spectre II ) beam and she does not disappoint .
Watchmenepisode 3 , " She Was Killed By Space Junk " , is an former high point for the serial publication that bring in Jean Smart as Laurie Blake , who is now a Union factor assigned to the FBI ’s Anti - Vigilante Task Force . This means Laurie , a former superhero , is now using her womb-to-tomb expertise to capture vigilantes who are violating the Keene Act of 1977 - just as she herself did from 1985 to 1995 during andafter the events of theWatchmengraphic novel . Today , Laurie is cynical , heavily - butt on , and highly - intelligent , but she ’s also , deep down , very messed up . And yet , at the request of Senator Joe Keene ( James Wolk ) , Agent Blake reluctantly accept the assignment to investigate the murder of Chief Judd Crawford ( Don Johnson ) inTulsa , Oklahoma . With Agent Dale Petey ( Dustin Ingram ) in tow ( Petey is the author of the memorandum in the tie - inPeteypediawebsite ) , Laurie encounters the Tulsa Police , include Looking Glass ( Tim Blake Nelson ) and Sister Night ( Regina King ) .
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The introduction of Laurie Blake intoWatchmenis a jolt of electrical energy to the series and it seamlessly integrate theWatchmengraphic novel ’s loreinto the show ’s reality . " She Was kill By Space Junk " also accomplishes the magic trick of taking arguably the least democratic of theWatchmengraphic novel ’s main superhero cast of characters and instantly turn her into one of the idiot box serial publication most fascinating characters . Do n’t call Laurie ' Silk Spectre ' anymore because she is n’t ; instead , Watchmenmakes it clear that Laurie Blake is no joke .
The Problem With Silk Spectre In The Watchmen Graphic Novel
In theWatchmengraphic novel , Silk Spectre was punishing to rootle for . From her revealing sheer costume and high dog , which were unrealistic for crime - fighting , to her discharge of going fromDoctor Manhattan ’s lady friend to Nite Owl ’s girlfriend during the course of the write up , Laurie lacked the necessary agency and she ruminate the earned run average ’s withering view of female superheroes . Silk Spectre ’s most crucial procedure in the originalWatchmen ’s floor was as a twist to motivate the expatriate Doctor Manhattan to repay and ' save ' the Earth from Adrian Veidt ’s plan to dispatch gazillion . The crux of the matter of Manhattan ’s change of heart was Laurie study a truth hidden from her by her birth parent that , despite Edward Blake sexually dishonor her mother Sally Jupiter in the 1940s , they had an affair years later on that resulted in Laurie ’s birth .
Laurie was always defined by the other fictitious character inWatchmen : she did n’t want to be a superhero but was ram to inherit the Silk Spectre mantle by her female parent and her relationship with Doctor Manhattan was used by the U.S. Government to keep the blue first-rate being and the lynchpin of America ’s strategical defense " happy " ( i.e. sexually satisfied ) . Laurie was not the ' life-threatening rebel ' like Rorschach , she did n’t have cool gadgets of Nite Owl , she did n’t have the wealth and virtuoso ofOzymandias , and , while she was a honorable belligerent , she was the weak of the heroes , the polar inverse of the almighty Doctor Manhattan . Laurie begrudge her mother , hated her life , and her only reward at the end ofWatchmenwas to experience under an assumed name and continue being a superhero . For all of the genius ofWatchmen , Moore and Gibbons miscarry to create an empowering heroine in Silk Spectre .
Zack Snyder’s Watchmen Made Silk Spectre Into A Sexy Action Figure
For his controversialR - ratedWatchmenmovie adaptation , Zack Snyder further fetishize Silk Spectre . The most memorable aspect of Malin Akerman ’s bod - and - parentage incarnation of Laurie Juspeczyk is the skintight black and yellow vinyl group costume she wore that ramped up the character ’s sex charm . ( Laurie complained about her costume during her dinner with Dan Dreiberg and he sarcastically ' agreed ' with her that it was"awful " . ) Snyder ’s photographic film turn over into the kinky correlation coefficient between superheroes and their sex lives andWatchmen2009 went even further in depict Laurie as a sexuality aim by render her sleeping with Doctor Manhattan and Nite Owl ; Laurie also had some eye - popping nude shot although , to be mediocre , Patrick Wilson ’s Nite Owl also appear naked and Doctor Manhattan ’s full - head-on nakedness is infamous .
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Snyder’sWatchmenattempted to show Silk Spectre finding strength in her sexuality and the movie did search Laurie ’s emotional take involving her mother , Sally ( Carla Gugino ) , and her father , the Comedian ( Jeffrey Dean Morgan ) . Still , the lasting impression of theWatchmenmovie ’s Silk Spectre is of Laurie in costume hire in radical - violent superheroics , with Snyder check his kinetic optical expressive style and well - time tiresome - motion made every spin and hair toss by Malin Akerman as provocative as potential . To her credit , Akerman was biz and amply surrender everything the film necessitate of her . But ultimately , theWatchmenmovie ’s evolution of Silk Spectre was take The Girl in the pictorial novel and reverse her into a aphrodisiacal action figure . And yet , as a character , Silk Spectre was still upstaged by her male co - hotshot and even by Gugino ’s Sally Jupiter .
HBO’s Watchmen Finally Made Silk Spectre Into A Great Character
By contrast , HBO’sWatchmen ’s Laurie Blake is a Revelation of Saint John the Divine . Played with world - weary sass and savage wittiness by Jean Smart , Laurie has adopted Edward Blake ’s surname and became a government broker just like he did . It ’s evident that in the 34 age since she learned Blake was her Fatherhood , Laurie has not only accepted the true statement but embraced it , thereby reject her mother Sally ’s Silk Spectre bequest which she was never comfortable with anyway . Laurie is now ingenious , formidable , and more than a catch for Sister Night ; in fact , Agent Blake made sure to assert her authority over themasked Tulsa Policebut she intriguingly find oneself Detective Angela Abar to be no pushover . And yet , Laurie is also frequent by her superhero yesteryear and she still harbors her frizzly desire - even though her ex-wife - lover Doctor Manhattan has been gone for decennary and Blake has accept that he"no longer gives a sh*t … but it ’s nice to pretend " .
The secret ofWatchmen ’s reinvention of Laurie Blake is that Lindelof ' has turn her into a new adaptation of the Comedian , with all of the intension that phylogenesis imply . ( Before she was arrest in 1995 , Laurie changed her superhero identity to The Comedienne ) . Like Edward , Laurie hold open mementos of her superhero life displayed in her apartment and she yearns for her past romance ( with Doctor Manhattan but also withNite Owl , whom she wants to rebound from federal hands ) despite the grimy parts of days conk out by . More significantly , Laurie has grown to partake in the Comedian ’s cynically grim worldview -“It ’s all a joke”- and Edward ’s knack for black humour and her wisecracks electrify her scenes inWatchmen .
Fittingly , Laurie is the last womanhood standing of her generation of superheroes - and she knows it . The joke she tellsDoctor Manhattanin her Blue Booth phone call avow that while her male cohorts were eventually"judged by God"and were each consigned to their separate translation of Hell , Laurie was the overbold one who learned how to turn the tables on fate . In Laurie ’s prospect , she ’s the one who threw the brick that will eventually bolt down God and Agent Blake could indeed prove to beWatchmen ’s most grievous lineament , at last . Thanks to Laurie Blake ’s compelling redemption , it will be gripping to see what role the former Silk Spectre wreak inWatchmen ’s unfold story .
Next : Watchmen : Laurie Blake ’s Heaven Joke Explained
Watchmenairs Sundays @ 9 pm on HBO .
