Dr Manhattan walks into a Saigon bar and meets Angela Abar (a bar) on the 20th anniversary of the death of her parents and explains how he is existing in past, present and future all at once.

There’s a moment at the end of this episode when the resurrected blue superbeing starts exploding people’s heads, and truly, theirs aren’t the only minds being blown in this wonderful hour of storytelling. While it doesn’t have the big ticket twists of the preceding episode, there’s a glorious satisfaction in the connecting together of so many disparate plot pieces.

Thematic content aside, Watchmen is not an easy watch, demanding 100% concentration; It cannot be successfully second-screened while you’re browsing elsewhere. The reward is a complex but not complicated story that ultimately delivers as it gradually unfolds. Yes, there are paradoxes and questions that remain unaltered, but there’s also a general sense of the season being plotted out in great detail, rather than being made up as it went along (ahem, Lindelof’s Lost).

I don’t want to reveal too much about the story, suffice to say that in the same way Dr Manhattan is experiencing different time periods simultaneously, we flit between key moments in his life as they synchronise. The Veidt prison is finally explained and we find out where the good Doctor has been all these years (and it wasn’t Mars).

Verdict: As we prepare for the final episode of this all-too-short season, let’s savour this show that not only respects its source material but takes it in wild new directions worthy of the brand. Stunning. 10/10

Nick Joy