WESTWORLD (HBO TV)

[Marian Schedenig 8,153]

I'm getting tired of these piano and/or orchestra "adaptations" of modern songs. Most of them just sound like someone took the individual notes from the originals and transferred them 1:1 to the piano or batch-copied them to entire instrument groups of the orchestra. The result is quite unidiomatic and sounds more like a midi mockup than a live instrument.

 

Other than that, rather enjoyable episode. I dig Nostrard (Nostradamus-Bernard). Quite straightforward, yet I still have no idea how it all fits together. Apparently, Liza Weil (whose character mentioned John Williams on Gilmore Girls years ago) was in these last two episodes, but I didn't notice her.

[Jay 37,249]

She was the 1920s version of Armistice, complete with face tattoo

[Marian Schedenig 8,153]

13 minutes ago, Jay said:

She was the 1920s version of Armistice, complete with face tattoo

 

In this episode, I only saw her so briefly that I couldn't even be entirely sure they'd recast her (although I assumed so).

[Jay 37,249]

What?  All the old characters were recast in the new park.  Different Maeve, different Dolores, different Teddy, different Hector, different Armistice.  It was... the whole point...

[Marian Schedenig 8,153]

Yes, that's why I assumed she was. I'm just saying she was shown so briefly I couldn't tell except through deduction.

47 minutes ago, Jay said:

She was the 1920s version of Armistice, complete with face tattoo

 

According to IMDb, the new Armistice is played by Michele Boyd. According to this, Weil is the park guest talking about easter eggs in a brief scene.

[bruce marshall 1,314]

finished episode two which was much better.

 

BTw

 

weren't all the human files being collected to create an immortal William?

there was that whole thing about multi experiments to install his soul and brain into a robot.

 

season three is a bit of a blur.

Only the supercomputer controlling everyone's lives is clear in my mind

 

[bruce marshall 1,314]

On 05/06/2022 at 4:24 AM, JNHFan2000 said:

 

 

...The actors, production, effects & visuals are all just soo good. And Djawadi's music for this series is always a joy.

Yes.

Just don't mention the storytelling.

[GerateWohl 4,320]

I finished watching it after season 2. 

I found season 1 interesting.

But at season 2 I permanently had the impression the series tries to convince me even more that people, when they have free choice are just aming for killing and raping. I cannot connect to that.

And secondly, I was not at all interested in the emotional problems of androids.

But I guess, I said that before.

[Jay 37,249]

Westworld 4x03 Années Folles

 

This is certainly the best episode of the season yet, and the easiest to follow as well.  After the somewhat confusing nature of the season premiere, I feel like they've really settled into a nice groove of storytelling where you can follow what's going on, and yet more and more mysteries keep revealing themselves.

 

Bernard and Akecheta in the Sublime - awesome!  I loved that they got around having to show what the Sublime looks like by Akecheta saying everything we are seeing is Bernard shaping it for himself.  It was so good to see Akecheta again!  I hope he gets to do something else this year.  I liked that Bernard uses the Sublime to run possible outcomes over and over again before exiting, and the ambiguous nature of how long he was in there before he left!

 

Bernard and Stubbs - I love this dynamic, they have great banter with each other.  I'd like to know more about how Host biology works, since he sat there for years with no power source and is fine apart from some achy bones, and then doesn't even need food, just orders coffee.  I also really like that Bernard has become a sort of mini-Rehoboam/Solomon himself and can see a path to defeat Evil Doloroes in Charlotte's body, with a singularity point along the way that if it doesn't go their way they can't win, and that no matter what, in order to win he must die I liked the start of their adventure together here, with Bernard knowing exactly what to do but not telling Stubbs any more than he needs to know, which both leaves us the audience in suspense, but makes sense because if he tells Stubbs too much, he could ruin the plan.  I have a prediction about what the weapon in the desert they are looking for is that I'll save for a bit

 

Caleb's wife and Frankie - I was really not sure for the longest time why we were even following these characters - what was the purpose, what story point or character illumination would be revealed?  Of course by the end, it all made sense!  Within this episode, their scenes mostly exist to set up the twist that Frankie under the park is a Host the whole time, but now they've they've escaped from the Good Girls Host, I wonder if we will continue to follow them and where their story will go.  I liked how Frankie both discovered that dude was a Host on her own, and that she shot him with her toy gun to distract him so her mom could finish him off.  The Sarah Connor vibes continue!

 

Caleb & Maeve - Their whole story this episode was great.  I loved their time in Temperance and how all the old locations and characters from Sweetwater (and the other parks) had new analogs.  I loved Maeve's plan to get underground, and how it seemed to easy - only to reveal of course Evil Charlotte had planned for guests to do this, and the whole underground is an easter egg part of the part based on the massacre.  It's kind of funny in this world there'd be a theme park based on a massacre of people only 8 years after it happened, it'd kind of be like having a Columbine ride somewhere in 2007.  I then liked that when Maeve figures all that out and then gets them into the real underground, you still don't know after the ending reveal how much of that was staged vs reality, since it's clear Evil Charlotte/Hale planned on along to infect Caleb here.  I tend to think it's all actually real stuff - that's the real parasite, real flies, those were all real humans under the parasite's influence and now all really died, and only Frankie was a Host.  Now that Caleb is infected, I wonder what Evil Dolores/Charlotte has in store for him?

 

So my prediction is that when Bernard wakes up, he's not in the same "7 years after season 3" timeline that Maeve and Caleb are in, but is actually some amount of years after that.  I think the desert he goes to is the former location of the 1920s theme park, and the weapon buried underground is either the giant spire thingy that made the sounds, OR it's Maeve's Host body.  Like perhaps Maeve/Caleb storyline will end with them blowing up the park somehow, but her body survives, and now years later Bernard will retrieve it for whatever purpose.  I also think that "C", the character they rode into the desert with, is grown up Frankie, who is involved with this resistance movement because of her dad (maybe she's even hoping to find him alive in the desert)

[Edmilson 7,367]

I liked that, with season 4, they kinda took the show back to its roots (including callbacks to the first season), while still retaining some of the elements from S3.

 

However, despite liking this season, I'm not sure if I like where the main plot is going. Apparently, we'll have a showdown between the "Evil Hosts" led by Charlores, who want to slave/destroy mankind, and the "Good Hosts plus their good human allies", who want to stop her and believe in the pacific coexistence between humans and hosts and the power of love, etc.

 

It's a very simplistic "good vs evil" narrative, and while this may work on bringing back the viewers who disliked the complexity of S2 and 3, it's still a little underwhelming, in my opinion. 

[Jay 37,249]

I think on the surface it's "just" a battle between good (Maeve and Caleb) and bad (Evil Dolores in Charlotte's body with WIlliam-bots), I think it's clear that the result of their face-off here in 2060 will only be the start of the grander story.  It's still deliberately unclear where the Bernard/Stubbs and Doloroes-Christina scenes fit in with everything else, and I am pretty sure it's going to be leading towards a story about the end of human life on earth and Hosts inheriting it, and what their life and spirituality is really all about

[bruce marshall 1,314]

Man, Jay is really on the case!

The rest of us are wandering in darkness!😄

[bruce marshall 1,314]

was THE SUBLIME mentioned before?

is that where the American Indians went?

[Jay 37,249]

1 hour ago, bruce marshall said:

was THE SUBLIME mentioned before?

 

Yea

 

1 hour ago, bruce marshall said:

is that where the American Indians went?

 

What? 

[A. A. Ron 1,736]

I’ve been thinking since Season 2 that this series might show us the extinction of humanity and then its complete or at least partial resurrection at the hands of hosts like Maeve. Whatever else this show is, it’s never been boring for me.

[bruce marshall 1,314]

36 minutes ago, Jay said:

 

Yea

 

 

What? 

Wasnt there an episode where Indians " died" and went thru a portal to a heaven like land?

[JNHFan2000 2,938]

5 hours ago, bruce marshall said:

Wasnt there an episode where Indians " died" and went thru a portal to a heaven like land?

The finale of S2

[JNHFan2000 2,938]

Episode 4x4 

 

I didn't put anything in spoiler tags because it's a thread about Westworld, so I thought it wouldn't really mind.

And sorry for the long post

 

WOOOOW! This was the best Westworld episode in more than a season. This was just incredible!! I was completetely shocked by the couple of twists that happened. They were done in a brilliant and very satisfying way.

 

Let's talk about part that was a bit slower bit still great. The meeting between Christina/Dolores and Teddy. This was such a great moment. The way she loses her lipstick and he picks it up like their storyline in the first park was perfect. I loved it. It is so great to see Marsen again, he is a very charismatic actor and his chemistry with Wood is off the charts. I loved this scene, even though it was just a small part of the episode.

 

Then I can't really talk about the other 2 storylines in a separate way anymore.

I'm so happy they did a reveal this big halfway through the season and not in the last moments of the season finale.

 

Maeve & Caleb's escape with Hale through the park and showing that Hale was controlling the vistors in the park was a nice hint of what was to come later in the episode.

 

The other standoff between The Man In Black and Maeve had a big emotional impact on me because Maeve dies. I thought this was done very well, and it made it even sadder because of the scene earlier in the car where Maeve tells off why she walked away from Caleb all those years ago. And that she was the reason that Hale found where he was in the first 2 episodes.

 

After Maeve's it is revealed that the Caleb we're seeing is not actually him anymore but he is now a host. Not just any host but the 278th one. Hale has been experimenting on him for 23 years!

At this moment that we cut back to Bernard and C in the desert where they find 'the weapon'. The weapon is revealed to be Maeve on the place that she sacrificed herself and that C is Caleb's daughter Frankie, all grown up. Another great reveal!

 

The final scene of Hale controlling all the people in the plaza and Caleb saying 'You Won' with her replying 'Welcome To My World' was so cool. Hale is really a villain I love to hate and Thompson is just so good in the role I actually hope she sticks around in some way.

The way the season so far set it up that it would be about preventing Hale to do what she was planning. To the reveal that she actaully already succeeded was especially scary I thought.

 

Final thing I want to touch on is that Caleb escapes from a building which has Olympiad all over it. Which means that Christina/Dolores is probably created by Hale and that her roommate is working for Hale and for them to try to get anything out of Dolores I think.

 

After the 3rd season I am so glad that Westworld is this good again. I think this episode was the best one since S1's finale. I just absolutely loved it!!

[Marian Schedenig 8,153]

11 hours ago, JNHFan2000 said:

I didn't put anything in spoiler tags because it's a thread about Westworld, so I thought it wouldn't really mind.

 

It was mostly just proving everything Jay prophesied last week anyway.

 

The acting this week was particularly strong I thought (in a series filled with strong performances).

[Jay 37,249]

Yea I nailed that Maeve was the weapon, Bernard and Stubbs were in a timeline many years after the Maeve/Caleb scenes, and that C was adult Frankie.  Didn't see it coming that Caleb would get Host-i-fied though!

And I was wrong that Christina was in a simulation, seems clear she's in Evil Dolores/Hale's world and the goal for the second half of the season is for Bernard, Stubbs, C/Frankie, and hopefully rejuvenated Maeve to destroy the tower and free humanity from the parasite control

 

And I think I was right that Bernard caused Teddy to be there for Dolores, but I think he uses those glasses to pull his data from the Sublime and put him in a body, so we'll probably see them find body-making pods soonish

[Jay 37,249]

Westworld 4x04 Generation Loss

 

This was a great episode for multiple reasons!  It was easy to follow, made perfect sense, explained so many things that had been building up over the previous 3 episodes, and leaves you with plenty of questions for the second half of the season.  It also had good twists and turns, good acting, good pacing, decent action scenes - gives me hope that they've really righted the ship this season and have even more great stuff to come.

 

Maeve and Caleb flashback - it was nice to see the full version of the lighthouse scene we saw Maeve remembering in episode 1.  Decent action scene here, and I like the confirmation here (as far as we know!) that he did survive and recover as wasn't turned into a host until after.  The reasons Maeve gives for both leaving him alone for 7 years and returning to him when she did were great.  I do kind of think that the mission being that they were destroying another Rehoboam to be a little annoying.  So much was made that they saved the day at the end of season 3 by destroying both Rehoboam and Solomon... now there's this one that remained, so who's to say there isn't others out there too?

 

Maeve, Caleb, Host William, and Host Hale - I liked that Maeve and William got to have another round of fighting, and I loved Maeve's plan to turn off her auditory sensors and mess with the equipment there to get the upper hand.  I didn't exactly get why Evil Hale stayed subservient and let them trudge her around the whole time without her able to resist at all, but I guess that is kind of explained by the ending?  I think we are supposed to believe that everything we see up through the explosion that "kills" Maeve and Host William really happened, and everything from when he wakes up right after that to the end is the upteenth fidelity test.  I hope they don't pull later trickery and say some of the earlier stuff didn't happen the way we saw!  Maeve's body being found at the same location is good evidence they won't do that of course.  I also think it's very possible that the real human Caleb is still alive in the Bernard timeline; He doesn't necessarily have to be dead for Evil Hale to fidelity check Host copies of him.

 

Bernard, Stubbs, and "C" - I liked the little bit where they hit from one of Evil Hale's drones; Reminded me of The Two Towers.  I am very curious about the "outlier" that some of the group broke off to go find with Stubbs - can't wait to see what that's about next week.  As mentioned I was not surprised by the reveal that they are actually years after the Maeve/Caleb storyline and that Maeve was the buried weapon, but the reveal was still executed very well.  I wonder if Maeve will be reactivated, or if Bernard will somehow imbue himself with her super control powers?

 

Christina and Teddy - I think it's very likely that her timeline has been some time after the Bernard timeline the whole time; She's obviously living in the Evil Hale-controlled New York City where everyone is under her fly control except the older guys who talk about the tower, and the random guests in the first episode who were like "it's so cool to be here!".  I do think that the only reason Teddy is there is because Bernard pulled him from the Sublime and put him there to help her awaken; I can't think of any other way that's possible.  I also wonder WHY Evil Hale has put a copy of Dolores (perhaps taken from her own internal data from before she became evil?) into New York City and is having her write stories that are actually memories from her past.  It does feel like she's trying to get her to unlock something, but she doesn't have the key to The Sublime or The Forge buried inside her so I'm stumped.  Anyways, I really liked the dinner date scene with her and Teddy, the bit where he picks up her lipstick was great homage and their chemistry was top tier, plus the dialogue they had was interesting.  Also interesting was her roommates earlier talk about the fly nightmare, not sure what to make of that.  I also loved the "does it look like anything to you?" line!

 

Can't wait for the second half of the season!

[Marian Schedenig 8,153]

1 hour ago, Jay said:

I also loved the "does it look like anything to you?" line!

 

Oh yes!

[JNHFan2000 2,938]

Episode 4x5

 

Another great episode.

Glad Christina/Dolores'  storyline finally moved forward in a significant way. Some amazing acting of Wood and the reveal that she is the one that wrote all the storylines of people was really cool.

 

Hale remains to be a great villain. And Tessa Thompson is just so magnetic.

Her scene on the street with William was great. I especially liked the part where she said 'chair' and 3 women formed a chair and she just sat on them. That was so cool. She doesn't give a single fuck. And it really made me think about how we today handle certain people of animals.

And the way in which she told William that she is kinda bored by the world was also good. And to me it showed that she is willing to change anything in this world without anyone having a say in that.

 

Ed Harris also remains to be incredible. His scenes that opened the episode were great. And his final scene with human William was also very nicely done.

 

I'm very excited to see where this season is going. And I really hope they get to make at least a S5 to really wrap everything up.

 

And although I'm certain we will see Maeve again this season. I really missed her this episode. Thandiwe Newton is such an integral part of the show, and you really notice when she is not there.

[scallenger 480]

I'm all caught up. Definitely better than Season 3 so far, although I am starting to feel like after this season is over with whatever conclusion it has... where else can you really go with the story/concept? I do hope we get a Season 5, but as mentioned in the post above, I think they really need to make it be the last before it truly feels dragged out.

[Marian Schedenig 8,153]

Good episode. Tense - which is something that S3, as far as I recall, never managed to be. Hard to rank it against other episodes when Ed Harris is so fantastic in it that I just want to watch it over and over again.

 

Hale's rant in the middle of the episode makes me think the hosts have hit the classic Gödel barrier between control and free will.

 

Mandela effect side note: Until two episodes ago I was perfectly ignorantly convinced that Thandiwe Newton's first name is, and has always been, Thandie.

[JNHFan2000 2,938]

1 hour ago, Marian Schedenig said:

Mandela effect side note: Until two episodes ago I was perfectly ignorantly convinced that Thandiwe Newton's first name is, and has always been, Thandie.

 

Her name has always been Thandiwe.

But she explained in an interview that she was told to change it because otherwise she would get less work.

A few years ago she changed it back.

[Marian Schedenig 8,153]

Ah. Not the Mandela effect after all.

[Oswin Pond 58]

Someone is posting all the unreleased track from the series : 

 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzyAam36-QJ0FtXghULK0364SzwGKmQcU

 

Those are the actual tracks, not extracted from the episode! Not sure how he got them.

 

[dylanskie 104]

5 hours ago, Oswin Pond said:

Someone is posting all the unreleased track from the series : 

 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzyAam36-QJ0FtXghULK0364SzwGKmQcU

 

Those are the actual tracks, not extracted from the episode! Not sure how he got them.

 

Looks like they’ve been uploading them for a while! I’ve only listened to a few, but yeah, they seem real… perhaps a sessions leak has been floating around like Game of Thrones season five. Hopefully they also have season three!

[JNHFan2000 2,938]

https://consequence.net/tag/westworld/

 

A series of 5 articles/interviews with Djawadi about the music of Season 4.

After each episode a new article comes out. There's some fun inside stuff on themes and the way he composes the cover songs

[Marian Schedenig 8,153]

Oh, and re the Händel: I should have expected that, or at least in a way half did. Ever since we first heard that strange acoustic thingy the tower does I'd been wondering if it's supposed to hint at a specific melody. But I never thought of the Händel.

[bruce marshall 1,314]

Four episodes in.

Not feeling it.

I'm sticking with FOR ALL MANKIND for now.

Maybe, I'll come back to WW in the ' future'😉😜

[Positivatee 327]

This season is definitely shaping up to be better than S3, but that really isn't hard. 

 

It's the next logical step of the robots' evolution and I'm sad I can't didn't see it coming. Instead of remaking the park, turn the world (or at least, that very clean NYC that we've seen) into the park. 

[bruce marshall 1,314]

Season three had an excellent main villain with  an intriguing master plan to control the population.

This season just has a different plot to control the population and a different villain.

Neither of which I.find remotely engaging, let alone comprehensible.

Im just not interested in having to constantly try to figure out Nolan's puzzles.

I don't do crossword puzzles either.

 

 

[Edmilson 7,367]

I really enjoyed the last ep. I'm liking the whole idea of this season of living in a world where not only the hosts won, but also did to the humans the same thing humanity did to them. However, I wish this season was 10 eps long so that we could explore this setting further. Can't believe there's only three episodes left.

[JNHFan2000 2,938]

Another strong episode!

 

This episode was mostly centered around Caleb, I thought it was very interesting.

To see the different versions of him and the way he was escaping and finding others versions of him already died during their escape was great.

His storyline had a particular boost because of Aaron Paul's acting. He was incredible. He really sold the pain he was in and the moment he recorded the message to Frankie was some beautiful acting from him.

 

Hale is total psyhco and love it. It's great to see some her weaknesses and that she's getting annoyed that she can't figure out what makes Caleb special. I also really get the feeling that she kind of knows she is sort of losing control.

The shot of her on top of the building was awesome.

 

I anticipated that Jay would be a host now, when in the last episode he was walking up the stairs. But the way they revealed it, with the flashback of him saying he is not Frankie's brother, and that being the clue for her, was good writing. Aurora Perinneau also had some good scene which she really made even better by her acting.

 

AND SHE'S BACK!!! I'm so happy Maeve is finally back. I really missed her and Thadiwe Newton the last 2 episodes. Let's hope she gets some cool scenes/action in the final 2 episodes. The way it was revealed that she was already back online during the fight between Frankie & Jay, and that straight up putting the knife in his head was cool. And a very Maeve thing to do.

 

Djawadi had some wonderful music this episode. It was mostly based around Caleb's theme. The 2 moments that stood out to me was the music that played when he was recording the message. Beautiful strings!

And the final cue of the episode, where we start with a solo piano to give a sort of emotional edge to Hale, and then during the credits a 'modern' version of the main title theme is played. This was great to hear!!

Hope both are on the score release and we get another release of abouth 1 hour and 40 minutes. Just like seasons 1 - 3

[Marian Schedenig 8,153]

I like how Caleb's (Doctor Who) Heaven Sent light ordeal is revealed to be just a design of Hale's to figure out his supposed secret. Also how the opening sequence of the episode could be straight out of The Matrix while at the same time very much being an organic part of what Westworld has turned into.

[Bayesian 1,353]

I wish I was as enthusiastic about this season as many of you are, but I’m finding it considerably weaker than last season. Apologies in advance to the fans, who probably won’t care for the rest of this post.
 

First, I’m annoyed they chose not to show us any of the host-human war, especially since they left the war as the S3 cliffhanger. Maybe they couldn’t integrate it into an eight-episode storyline, but they should have figured out how give us a better payoff—more hints that the world somehow changed after the war ended. Instead, everything looks and feels almost exactly the same. Skyscrapers in L.A. were exploding in the S3 finale, if I recall, but suddenly we’re seven years ahead and NYC (basically the only civilization we’re ever really shown) looks completely fine. No evidence that something world-changing occurred a few years earlier. No exposition about socio-political fallout or lessons learned or adaptations required of a world that intentionally chose to lurch backwards technologically. Just a line with Caleb about robots being turned into scrap metal. How deeply unsatisfying.
 

Second, flies? To physically deliver a parasite that makes people sufficiently suggestible to low frequency sound waves that they’ll kill themselves? Fucking Sharknado made more sense than this hooey.

 

Third, Charlotte and William eventually prevail and take over humanity (presumably by getting flies to crawl into 8 billion people’s eye sockets) and all we see Charlotte do is hang out in NYC? Did Christina write 8 billion NPC routines in all the time she wasn’t skipping work and painting and being forced to go out on boring dates? Are there no rogue host-android-whatevers outside NYC to help expand the scene-setting beyond Olympiad’s building and that same park-plaza space we see over and over?

 

Fourth, I can suspend my disbelief only so long. A city’s worth of commandeered humans can’t manage to  capture or chase down a couple outliers before they saunter back onto their boat? Please. The faceless white host things can get suspicious when a human blinks behind its back but somehow can’t tell an un-parasited human from a parasited one when directly scanning one an inch from its face? Uh-huh. Bernard sees the sole way humanity wins out over hosts so specifically that a meal choice at a diner makes a difference. Give me a break with this Dr.-Strange-scans-millions-of-scenarios-and-sees-only-where-the-avengers-win-and-of-course-that’s-the-one-that’ll-take-place kind of bullshit.

 

It’s weird reading so many people rave about this season. What are they seeing that I can’t? To wit—the scene where Charlotte “plays” with her human puppets in a NYC street: people talk about how chilling and sublime that scene is. Um, no, it’s not. I mean, it could have been, but the writing is so poor that we get no sense of the potential depravity of the situation (at least as far as the humans are concerned). The human puppets are blankly compelled to dance for a bit, slowly at first, then faster. A few fall down without injury. So what? Three of them are forced to make a chair, which ought to be seen as demeaning but instead looks like nothing because the humans don’t react at all to it. The pianist’s fingers are bloodied, perhaps from being forced to play endlessly, but we don’t see his face to know if he’s actually feeling any pain. At the end, everyone resumes their daily lives like nothing happened. The problem is that this scene is such a wasted opportunity to show us the insidious threat that charlotte represents. What if she forced those same people to dance so vigorously that they started breaking ankles or having cardiac arrests or dislocating shoulders? Or compelled the ice carving guy to carve so fast he loses control and slices off a finger? Not to be gratuitously violent, but if Charlotte is the product of human intellect and harbors human-style revenge impulses, where is her willingness to push the boundary with her subjects, just to see what happens? As viewers, we’d gain a hatred for Charlotte that would be truly earned. And it’d be a nice parallel to the reverse situation that existed in Delos’ Westworld in S1.
 

This show is finally buckling under its own high-concept weight. There’s too little substance behind the facade. Much like TED talks or the Economist magazine or Christopher Nolan’s movies, Westworld turns out to be not much more than an upper-middlebrow-feinting premise—all sizzle and precious little steak. (Going by my examples, it sure seems the Brits are quite good at getting the world to fall for this kind of thing. The Nolan matriarch must be so proud of her boys!)

[A. A. Ron 1,736]

Well that was... "a load of hooey."

[Jay 37,249]

Westworld 4x05 Zhuangzi

 

Wow, this was great!  Between this episode and last week, I love how many answers we are getting!  I'm glad they are no longer doing confusing mysteries that don't get explained until the final episode or 2 of the season; This is much more satisfying to learn so much at this point.  Between these 2 eps I feel like I understand everything going on so far, but still have so many questions about what's next, which is a perfectly fine place to be.

 

I love that Evil Dolores/Charlotte won, she got what she wanted, she has humans as her subservients and the Hosts rule the planet... but she's miserably unhappy!  And I like that her main cause of unhappiness is that all her "children" are unhappy; They all could "ascend" (whatever that is) but don't, and go suicidal when coming in contact with humans who aren't under fly control.  I so wish we knew more about what "ascending" is to know more about why so many Hosts are deciding not to do it, but I love that the humans that sucessfully fight off her fly control encourages Hosts to question their role under her rule as well.

 

It was also interesting to see William go through all this within the episode, and I loved that he thawed the human William for advice  I'm so glad they didn't write Ed Harris off the show.

 

Meanwhile, the Delores / Christina stuff continues to be one season-long mystery that earns it's slow build and (hopefully!) payoff.  I really want to know how Teddy is here - my old theory that Bernard pulled him from the Sublime is clearly out the window.  Is he maybe just all in her head, like a bi-cameral mind thing?  And is Christina the only Host that can control any human at will, or could any of them?  Or only certain ones? (We've seen William do it).  And how does Teddy know what he knows?

 

An entire episode without Bernard, Maeve, or Caleb.... looking forward to seeing what they're up to!

[Jay 37,249]

Westworld 4x06 Fidelity

 

Caleb's journey this episode was pretty cool!  I loved how each previous dead Host gave him clues or support to keep going, and the final result of all of it was just leaving a message for Frankie.  And I loved how frustrating it was for Evil Delores/Charlotte to learn that!  I love that he tells her that the Hosts just don't like her and want to escape her control.  Yea!

 

The other story where Bernard and Frankie eventually get Maeve back online was OK, the whole thing where there was a traitor in the group and it turned out to be Jay (explaining that scene of him in the stairwell) was OK I guess, felt sort of like an unnecessary detour.  But at least it wrapped up in one episode.

 

Another episode without Delores/Christina at all.  Well, with only 2 episodes left, I think there will be a lot of answers coming... and I suspect by the end, a massive time jump to lead into the final season.

 

[JNHFan2000 2,938]

Episode 4x7 Metanoia

 

This episode was insane. I loved it so much.

 

Is started of quite slow, but the moment everbody was in the city is really moved fast and it didn't let up until the end.

 

Soooooo. The Man In Black is back, but now in complete host form having killed his human self. And he is crazy as f**k. And the way their conversation early in the episode paid off for what he did at the end was very strong writing.

He just straight up killed 3 main characters this episode: Maeve, Hale & Bernard.

Then when he took over The Tower and put out that message where everyone fights until only the cockroaches are left was cool. The whole world is in chaos now, just like he wants it. In a way, it's back to season 1, back The Wild West. Back to Westworld.

 

The fight between Maeve & Hale was cool and beautifully shot out on the water. The reveal that Hale's plan was to put all the hosts in one of those robot thingies was the thing I thought would happen a few episodes ago.

I loved the moment she got interrupted during her own prodedure by Maeve saying she knew she lost her mind. That was hilarious.

Thandiwe Newton & Tessa Thompson are both so brilliant in this show I truly hope that their characters didn't really die. But as of now, I don't see how they would bring them back.

 

Caleb & Frankie's reunion was very sweet, but they weren't a big part of the episode overall.

 

It was nice to see Christina controlling all the people just like that and really brought some S2 & 3 Dolores vibes.

Then the reveal that she actually isn't in this world makes a lot of sense. I hope we get to see her get out and maybe bring some more hosts. And I want to see how Teddy is in this world.

 

Few other things. This was one of the best scored episodes of the series. Some great reprises of themes and the action music was all powerful. Something that I sometimes felt lacking in S3, but which has been great in S4.

It's always great to see Zahn McClarnon. He is very charismatic and I hope he comes back.

 

I honestly don't know how they are going the end this season. It's complete chaos now, so it is a cool place to start the finale.

Whatever way they are going to end the season I hope we get a season 5 to completely wrap up the series. This show right now is I think the best it has ever been.

 

And this episode was directed by Meera Menon. She also did 2 episode of Ms. Marvel. Great director

[Jay 37,249]

Westworld 4x07 Metanoia

 

Well, that was a very exciting and cool episode!  I figured we'd get a lot of buildup this week and a big payoff next week, but really once this episode got going, I felt like I was watching the season finale already!  At one point I thought that they might just wrap up this season's story this week, and next week's episode would be set after a massive time jump, perhaps to act as a bit of a finale since they thought they weren't gonna get renewed.  But, as soon as it got to the Bowie song and long dramatic exit of Host William into the burning city I knew we were ending there for the week.

 

I am a bit confused about Bernard's plan - his calculations of only way to "win" include himself, Maeve, and Evil Hale all getting shot in the forehead by William, and William successfully programming all fly-infected humans to kill each other?  It just seemed so... preventable?  Like, if he knew William was gonna walk into that room, he coulda done something about it?  I dunno.  I'll hold judgement on that until I see what happens next week I guess.

 

It was nice seeing Caleb and Frankie reunite, though I am afraid we'll see his fidelity break down in front of her next week and that will be sad.  Host William was a cool badass this episode, it's kind of not surprising that the end of the human William's long character arc is to convince a Host version of himself that humanity isn't worth saving, the Host killing him, and then setting off to kill all of humanity.  Bleak!

 

So I guess "ascending" this whole time mean having your pearl put into a weird 10 foot tall white body with no arms and bouncy legs?  WTF? I hope we get a better explanation next week.

I liked that I was right all along that The Sublime was stored in the Hoover Dam server room, though it's still unclear to me how it got from the satellite Delores beamed it to, to there, and why.  I liked that Charlotte couldn't access it, but let it run.  I liked that Bernard and Maeve went there to open a rift again, though I don't know what that means exactly - can the Hosts in the Sublime leave it at will now, or what?  And how, like who would print their bodies? Or is it just a rift in the other direction only, like any Hosts who travel there can enter it, leaving their bodies behind and existing only in the Sublime now?

 

And finally we got an explanation for what the heck is up with Christina!  The way I think I understand it is that she is some kind of Augmented Reality thing, so only  humans under fly control can see (and be controlled by) her - free humans and Hosts can't see her at all.  I guess this means if we went back and watched the whole season, she'd never actually interact with any physical objects outside of her apartment the whole time?  Maybe?

 

So I guess Evil Delores/Charlotte either got this copy of Delores from Lawrence's body (he was never killed in season 3), made a copy of her own marble, or rebuilt her from memories? And why is she having her write every human in NYC's loops, is it some form of punishment, or does she think Delores is the best person for the job?  And why does she think her name is Christina?

Lots to answer next week!

[Mr. Who 919]

1 hour ago, Jay said:

At one point I thought that they might just wrap up this season's story this week, and next week's episode would be set after a massive time jump, perhaps to act as a bit of a finale since they thought they weren't gonna get renewed.  But, as soon as it got to the Bowie song and long dramatic exit of Host William into the burning city I knew we were ending there for the week.

Ed Harris said in an interview a couple of weeks ago that season 5 will be the last.

[Jay 37,249]

I know, I meant if HBO chooses not to let them make a 5th season, that perhaps they wrote the season 4 finale in such a way that it could act as a decent series finale too

[Marian Schedenig 8,153]

3 hours ago, Jay said:

I am a bit confused about Bernard's plan - his calculations of only way to "win" include himself, Maeve, and Evil Hale all getting shot in the forehead by William, and William successfully programming all fly-infected humans to kill each other?  It just seemed so... preventable?  Like, if he knew William was gonna walk into that room, he coulda done something about it?  I dunno.  I'll hold judgement on that until I see what happens next week I guess.

 

3 hours ago, Jay said:

I liked that I was right all along that The Sublime was stored in the Hoover Dam server room, though it's still unclear to me how it got from the satellite Delores beamed it to, to there, and why.  I liked that Charlotte couldn't access it, but let it run.  I liked that Bernard and Maeve went there to open a rift again, though I don't know what that means exactly - can the Hosts in the Sublime leave it at will now, or what?  And how, like who would print their bodies? Or is it just a rift in the other direction only, like any Hosts who travel there can enter it, leaving their bodies behind and existing only in the Sublime now?

 

I figure Bernard's plan was that the path they're on is going to lead to something that will save at least a part of the world, and any other path (i.e. preventing the current one) would not. And since I have no idea what it actually *means* that they've opened the Sublime, it's probably somehow connected to that.

 

The score remains as it has always been… mundane.

[Jay 37,249]

Hmm so maybe he learned no matter what he couldn't stop the extinction of mankind (something Rehoboam predicted too), and this is the only path where the Sublime would be saved? And the Hosts in The Sublime will take over the Earth in 80 years when the Hoover Dam stops collecting enough power to keep it running there? 

[Jay 37,249]

So what is everyone's expectations, hopes, and fears for this weekend's finale?

[Edmilson 7,367]

20 minutes ago, Jay said:

So what is everyone's expectations, hopes, and fears for this weekend's finale?

My biggest fear is that the season ends with some sort of cliffhanger (like the previous three seasons), then HBO does not renew it to Season 5. 

[saulocf 79]

50 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

My biggest fear is that the season ends with some sort of cliffhanger (like the previous three seasons), then HBO does not renew it to Season 5. 

Season 1 end, although not closing everything, feels like a good conclusion to the series, had it ended there.