Fans of HBO’s new superhero drama series Watchmen may have been surprised in last Sunday’s episode—the third of the inaugural season—when they received perhaps a little too much information about a leading character. The series is loosely inspired by the classic 1986 graphic novel of the same name by the British writer/artist team of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. But nothing in the book suggested what Damon Lindelhof, creator of the HBO Watchmen series, unveiled on Sunday.
In the comic, and the 2009 Zack Snyder-directed film adaptation, the superhero Silk Spectre, whose “secret identity” name is Laurie Juspeczyk, is romantically involved with Dr. Manhattan—a glowing, blue super-being whose powers are virtually limitless.
The HBO version of Watchmen functions as a sequel to the original, set about 30 years after the events of the DC Comics graphic novel (and the Warner Bros feature film). Now calling herself Laurie Blake and having traded in her superhero costume for an FBI agent’s badge, the former Silk Spectre is long ago split from Dr. Manhattan, who—we’re told—still lives on Mars as he did at the conclusion of the original story.
But in her most private moments, the fiercely unsentimental Laurie yearns for at least one lost relic of her past: Dr. Manhattan’s super-powered penis.
In fact, as the eye-opening scene in Episode 3—cleverly titled “She Was Killed By Space Junk”—reveals, Laurie doesn’t travel anywhere without her briefcase containing a massive, electric-blue dildo, complete with detachable testicles. Apparently, the sex toy is intended to be representative of Dr. Manhattan’s own nuclear-powered equipment.
"I think I pitched that as a joke!" the episode’s writer, Lila Byock, told New York Magazine’s Vulture site. "Damon called my bluff, and then it was like, oh, we’re definitely doing that."
Byock explains that Laurie’s attachment to the oversize dildo—which to be technical about it, actually turns out to be a vibrator—reflects "nostalgia for her sexual past,” a layer of additional character depth for the normally hard-edged Laurie.
"She’s somebody who is so insistent about not being nostalgic and not having any reverence for her past as a costumed adventurer," Byock said. “Yet, when she is all alone, we learn that she gets off literally by thinking about her past."
But how did actual experts on sexual pleasure devices react when Laurie—played by 68-year-old veteran actress Jean Smart—whips out her “nostalgic” sex toy?
"I didn’t see any lube inside that briefcase,” noted Lioness CEP Liz Klinger, who likened the device to a pair of Coca-Cola cans glued together. “You probably would want to have some kind of water-based lubricant with this.”
Klinger also pointed out that the nearly ramrod-straight artificial phallus was perhaps not ideal for use, nostalgic though it may be.
“A lot of vibrators end up having more of a curvature for G-spot or internal clitoral stimulation,” Klinger told the site Mashable, “which can make the experience more pleasurable.”
The further adventures of Laurie and her gargantuan blue sex toy can be seen Sunday nights at 9 p.m. on HBO, as well as on HBO’s streaming services.
Photo via HBO screenshot
