'Watchmen' Episode 8: Adrian Veidt chose to go to Europa in return for helping Dr Manhattan
In 'Watchmen', Adrian Veidt's (Jeremy Irons) one true purpose has been to create Utopia (Eutopia?) on Earth and this was also the reason why he created a fake alien attack, to bring peace in the world in the face of a common enemy. He used Dr Manhattan (Yahya Abdul Mateen II) for this and alluded to him being the enemy to the world. While the outcome was just as he had expected, twenty years down the line, he is ignored by the Robert Redford administration and his vision for the future is trampled on.
He is still setting up future squid events despite the hopelessness that he feels. In Episode 8, when he hears of Dr Manhattan's new world on Europa, and how much like Utopia this world is, he is deeply moved. In return for the ring that helps Dr Manhattan forget himself, Adrian Veidt aka Ozymandias gets sent to the Manor where there is no strife or selfish acts of violence.
It all starts with Angela Abar (Regina King) wanting Dr Manhattan to leave after one of their frustrating conversations where he is able to see everything that she will be speaking in the future. He leaves in his birthday suit and arrives at Karnak in the nude as well. When Veidt sees him, the two come to terms with how Dr Manhattan can stay under the radar as Cal if he were to install the ring in a part of his frontal lobe that would essentially erase his memories. Veidt says all he wants to know in return is to know if everything that he did was worth it. If, in the end, Veidt's vision of Utopia is realized or not? Of course, just as in the past, Dr Manhattan doesn't give Veidt an answer.
Instead, he introduces Veidt to life in the Country Manor on Europa. He explains how the life forms in the Manor were formed, how the people were created to not hold selfish feelings within them but to care for others and live to serve others. However, it is exactly this that bored Dr Manhattan into leaving the place that he created, withing seven years. He explains how the humans, all in Mr Phillips (Tom Mison) and Ms Crookshanks' (Sara Vickers) form did not hold his interest with one-dimensional worshipping that they had going of Dr Manhattan. He was their God, and that resulted in blind following and loyalty. Now, in the absence of their God, the people in the Manor are left with no one to care for, thereby leaving their one true purpose unfulfilled.
Dr Manhattan found that his creation might flourish under Veidt, at the least, for seven years before Veidt too begins to feel imprisoned in what he had first thought was paradise. The fact that Veidt was impressed enough to sign a contract that ties him to the Manor shows that he initially had no intention of leaving. However, over time, Veidt felt the same restlessness that Dr Manhattan did. Only, he couldn't fly away as Dr Manhattan did, and is now imprisoned instead.
The next episode of 'Watchmen', which is the finale, may see Veidt make a break for it. The episode will air on Sunday at 9 pm ET on HBO.