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'Watchmen' Episode 6 adds mesmerism and mind-control to 'vast insidious conspiracy' at play on the show

Using subliminal messaging to cause people to riot and kill themselves may seem like a very far-fetched plan, but the episode reveals that mesmerism is nothing to be laughed at, at least not in the world of 'Watchmen'.

Spoilers ahead for 'Watchmen' Episode 6 'This Extraordinary Being'

At this point, we're more than halfway through the first season of HBO's 'Watchmen' and even now, there's very little we know for sure about the "vast and insidious conspiracy" that the show's characters keep going on about. Episode 6 'This Extraordinary Being' complicates matters even more by throwing in the concept of mesmerism and mass hypnosis. 

In the episode, we see that the mysterious organization referred to only as Cyclops has figured out a way to use subliminal messaging as a means of making black people kill themselves without the true villains having to get their hands dirty. It sounds like a ridiculous plan but we are shown that it most certainly works and it is definitely not something to be laughed at. 

The sheer amount of devastation that something like this could cause is unthinkable. With the level of technology that the world of 'Watchmen' has in its present-day, this technique could cause riots and murders on a global scale. 

Interestingly enough, it seems you don't even need a lot of complicated machinery to pull this off. At the end of the episode, we see Will Reeves / Hooded Justice (Louis Gossett Jr) using what appears to be a normal flashlight to compel Chief Judd Crawford (Don Johnson) to kill himself. 

All things considered, mesmerism will most certainly have a part to play in whatever endgame the secret behind-the-scenes players of the show have in mind. Cyclops is implied to have a connection to the Seventh Kavalry and Reeves has been revealed to be in cahoots with Lady Trieu (Hong Chau), which means that both groups have access to this technique of mind-control. 

At the moment, it appears as if Reeves and Trieu might be working against the Seventh Kavalry. If this is the case, they may use this mind-controlling technology for good but to be honest, this is 'Watchmen' after all and as we all know, there are no good guys here.

'Watchmen' Season 1 Episode 7 'An Almost Religous Awe' will air exclusively on HBO on December 1.