After following Regina King’s Angela Abar for the first two episodes of HBO’s Watchmen, Episode Three belongs to one of the comic book’s original vigilantes—Laurie Juspeczyk, AKA Silk Spectre. And if there was any doubt that the agent we meet at the beginning of the episode isn’t Juspeczyk, then just take a look at her apartment: It’s decked out like a comic book nerd’s dorm room, with memorabilia of her former alter ego.

And Laurie hasn’t missed a beat since the whole squidmaggedon thing. She’s now working for the FBI—where at least part of her job description includes capturing rogue vigilantes (starting with what’s definitely a bit of fun at Batman’s expense). She attempts to keep in touch with Dr. Manhattan via intergalactic phone booth. And with word that something’s rotten in the state of Oklahoma, she travels to Tulsa to investigate the murder of Judd Crawford, where her path crosses with Angela and the crew we met in the first two episodes.

But who was Laurie Juspeczyk before the traded a costume for a badge? Here’s everything you need to know from her journey in the Watchmen comics.



Who is Silk Spectre?

Like everything Watchmen, even this is a loaded question. So there are two Silk Spectres. There’s Laurie Juspeczyk, who we see in the HBO show, and her mother, Sally Juspecyk (who goes by Sally Jupiter, to hide her Polish heritage). Jupiter/OG Silk Spectre was part of the original Minutemen, taking up crime-fighting at 18 years old so she could advance her modeling, and hopefully later on, movie career.

Jupiter has her own backstory, but for the purposes of how this all relates to Juspeczyk: OG Spectre joins the Minutemen to boost her celebrity—and even though she’s not too into the hero thing, she can still kick ass. But, in one of the more problematic events of the comics, Sally is sexually assaulted by Edward Blake, another one of the Minutemen called The Comedian. Eventually, Jupiter retires from crime-fighting, and gives birth to Laurie Juspeczyk—whose father we find out is The Comedian, from what’s suggested is a different, consensual sexual encounter.

And until her daughter turns 16, Sally goes full Dance Mom on Laurie. She trains Laurie (who’s not really into any of this) in hand-to-hand combat and gymnastics, and hooks her up with an updated Silk Spectre costume. Sally brings Laurie to a Crimebusters (a superhero group that didn’t work out), where she sees Dr. Manhattan for the first time—and her vigilante career picks up after that.

DC

Laurie starts somewhat of a workplace relationship with Big Blue. She works with him on his government assignments, and they later begin dating after Dr. Manhattan’s girlfriend at the time leaves him. (Laurie’s mom doesn’t approve of the relationship, by the way.) Dr. Manhattan and Laurie live together for about 20 years, and during this time, Silk Spectre retires. And as the main events of Watchmen near, Dr. Manhattan gets tired of the whole Earth thing and is suddenly full of metaphysical-existential dread—and the two break up.

What was her impact on the Watchmen comic book?

After The Comedian’s murder and all of the old vigilantes start spending time together again, she starts a relationship with Dan Dreiberg, AKA Nite Owl. Together, they do a ton of adventuring over the course of the graphic novel, like taking Nite Owl’s ship out for a heroic run, and breaking Rorschach out of prison.



One of Watchmen’s most iconic moments comes when Dr. Manhattan brings Laurie to Mars, and she tries to convince him to return to Earth to prevent all-out nuclear war. Dr. Manhattan, as we mentioned, is pretty much over human problems at this point, but Laurie convinces him to give it a try—and it’s Laurie’s realization of her parentage mid-conversation that moves Dr. Manhattan to do so.

HBO

Of course, they’re too late—when the two come back to Earth, mass death by squid had already happened. Laurie and Dr. Manhattan teleport to Adrian Veidt’s laboratory in Antartica, where she tries to shoot him—and Veidt catches the bullet. Like the rest of the main Watchmen crew, she leaves and agrees to keep her knowledge of the destruction Veidt caused a secret in the name of world peace.

Where did she end up after the comic book, but before HBO’s Watchmen?

Since they didn’t have the option to teleport to Mars, and weren’t blown to bits like Rorschach, Laurie and Dan decided to take up entirely new personas. They became the blonde-haired Sam and Sandra Hollis—who, despite the changed names, kept fighting crime. Laurie swaps the spandex bumblebee costume for something more practical: A leather getup, mask, gun.

And that’s where Watchmen leaves Laurie. Clearly, at some point since we last saw her, Jupeczyk gives up vigilantism altogether and joins the FBI. She also starts using her father's last name of Blake. And thanks to the mysterious online Peteypedia documents posted by HBO’s Watchmen crew, we know that at some point she became “The Comedienne”—adopting the moniker of her real father. But did the imprisonment of Nite Owl (as is suggested in Episode Three of Watchmen and confirmed in the Peteypedia documents) have anything to do with Laurie dropping that label? We’ll see—as we’re likely to learn more about what she’s been up to all these years before the season’s end.

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