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- Watchmen's finale wrapped up just about every mystery the show had to offer.
- Except, that is, the truth behind the mysterious LUBE MAN.
- Lube Man, it turns out, was right in front of our eyes all along.
For all intents and purposes, the Watchmen finale gave us what we needed. We got answers to most of the mysteries, and satisfying conclusions to the arcs of characters like Angela, Laurie Blake , Looking Glass , Dr. Manhattan , and Adrian Veidt . That being said, though, fans may have watched those 67 minutes of television and come away with one major, lingering concern: who the hell was the silver-suited mystery manwho engaged in exactly one chase with Angelaknown only as Lube Man ? The episode didn't explicitly tell us, but the show's extended materials, Peteypedia, did: Lube Man was Agent Dale Petey , and he's still at large.
A rather brilliant way to wrap up the show's extended online universe of information, the final Peteypedia entry was an FBI memo disclosing Agent Petey's firing. "Effective immediately, Dale Petey is no longer an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and his employment by the Anti-Vigilante Task Force has been terminated." And while the entry contains many tongue-in-cheek references to the extra info the file has been leaking throughout the show's nine-week run on HBO, the most relevant to our interests is that he had "a jug of what appears to be some kind of canola oil," among his personal possessions.
As the memo continues to detail Petey's firing, it also reveals this incredible detail: Lube Man is on the lam. "My understanding from Tulsa PD is that he has now gone missing. Given the simultaneous deaths of a U.S. senator and a prominent trillionaire , it would appear Petey has taken it upon himself to continue the investigation despite our closing it," the memo from Max Farragut, the Watchmen world's FBI deputy director, reads. "Its clear now from his memos that Petey (Hero Enthusiast-Obsessive/Solipsist on the Werthem Spectrum) is at risk for vigilante behavior, and most likely, always was. Perhaps sooner or later, this task force will be investigating him."
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Damon Lindelof also took the chance to reflect on the Lube Man ride in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. "I would say Lube Man is one of those things that delighted us to no end in the writers room even though it was going to be just five minutes in the show. We talked a lot about who he was and where he came from and why he was dressed the way that he was dressed. But we were like: 'This is just going to be a scene in Episode 4 thats in the midst of other insane things happening.' We did not expect him to resonate in the way that he has and were thrilled that he did. I will just direct the readers to the final Peteypedia entry." To that entry we went, and conclusions we drew.
To paraphrase the late NFL coach Dennis Green , Lube Man is who we thought he was. And while Damon Lindelof has sounded cagey and unsure on whether or not there will be a second Watchmen season (and if there is, whether or not he would be the one at the helm), we'd be open to just about any possible Lube Man spinoff. Lube Man comic? Sure. Lube Man cartoon? Maybe even better. Lube Man movie? Maybe Lube Man can start showing up in multiple movies, serving as a piece of connective tissue in the DC universe. Maybe he can keep within the HBO family. Can we get Lube Man in The Outsider ? Succession ? Why not? Truly, why not? Let's start the Lube Man Cinematic Universe.