'Watchmen' Episode 7 drops a huge clue about Lady Trieu's Veidt connection

Seven episodes into HBO’s Watchmen, it’s hard not to notice the many similarities between Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias in the original comic and Lady Trieu in Damon Lindelof’s sequel series. They’re both genius inventors, they’re both rich, and they both have morally questionable plans to save humanity (Veidt killed millions to achieve peace, we still don’t know what Trieu wants).

But their connection may run even deeper. One subtle clue in Watchmen Episode 7, “An Almost Religious Awe,” could reveal just how close these two characters really are, and how Adrian Veidt figures into Lady Trieu’s final plan.

Warning! Total spoilers for Watchmen Episode 7 below.

Ok, first, here’s my theory: Adrian Veidt is Lady Trieu’s father.

Confused? Angry? Upset? Let’s backtrack for a minute and, hopefully, I can convince you this isn’t a totally ridiculous idea.

A lot happens in “An Almost Religious Awe,” with much of it focused on some big reveals around Doctor Manhattan and his role in HBO’s Watchmen. In short, it turns out that Angela Abar’s husband has actually been Manhattan all along with his memory somehow wiped (explaining the character’s amnesia). Angela knows this, Lady Trieu seems to too, and the Seventh Cavalry might know it as well; the white supremacist group’s evil plan is to capture and kill Doctor Manhattan after stealing his power for themselves.

But could it be that all this Doctor Manhattan talk is a huge misdirection?

Amid all that excitement (and a somewhat boring mini-episode of Ozymandias in Space) it’s easy to miss what feels like a huge clue about Adrian Veidt. The moment comes during a discussion between Angela and Trieu right after the trillionaire reveals that the girl we had assumed was her daughter is actually a clone of her dead mother.

“I’m on the verge of completing my life’s work,” Trieu says. “Is it wrong to want my parents with me when I do?”

“Your dad’s here too?” Angela replies.

“He will be.”

This seems like a pretty clear indication that Lady Trieu’s father will show up in Tulsa, Oklahoma before the end of Watchmen. But the question remains: Who is he?

It’s possible Trieu’s father could be some totally new character, but given the importance of legacy and family on the show, that seems unlikely. The two key characters we know exist in Watchmen but haven’t shown up in the main storyline yet are Doctor Manhattan and Ozymandias, so is it possible one of them could be Trieu’s dad?

As far as we know, neither of them has any kids, but Watchmen isn’t beyond retconning its past in order to move the story forward. Of those two options, the obvious guess would be Adrian Veidt, and not just because of all the similarities between Veidt and Trieu.

Think about it, the entire story of Watchmen (both the comics, and, in a sense, the HBO show) is the story of Adrian Veidt’s plan to save humanity. So would it be that surprising if Trieu’s plan is simply an extension of her father’s?

It’s also worth noting that we still don’t know who Veidt was sending his message to in Episode 5. The camera cut it off after “Save Me D” so we assumed it continued to read “Doctor Manhattan”, but could it actually be “Save Me Daughter”? After all, Veidt’s target seems to be a satellite near Jupiter, which could easily belong to Lady Trieu.

Of course, I could be wrong. Maybe Lady Trieu’s dad is actually the freedom fighter/terrorist who engineered that bombing in Vietnam that killed Angela’s parents. Remember: We never actually see him die, we just hear the bullet.

But as Watchmen careens towards its conclusion, Lady Trieu is quickly revealing herself to be the most powerful player in the game. If anyone can bring Adrian Veidt back to Earth, it’s got to be her.

She has the means and she has the motivation (assuming Veidt is her dad, that is). Now she just needs to bring him home, before it’s too late.

Watchmen airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO.