Westworld checks in on an unlikely duo
In “Annees Folles,” the show revisits old stories to make way for new ones
TV Reviews westworld
There are times, I have to admit, when I finish an episode of Westworld, look at my notes right afterward, and realize I maybe lost the plot a bit. Or has the show? Sometimes it’s hard to tell. Which is not to say that episode three of the show’s fourth season is befuddling (though, I guess it is, to some extent). It’s just that after two seemingly straightforward and relatively linear episodes, we’ve quite literally gone back to OG Westworld. As in, issues of temporality and narrative recursion have cropped up again and muddled the tidy story we were following.
But let us not get lost in abstractions (no matter how hard the show may try to force us to). Instead, let us focus on the bits and pieces that we could follow. Or that I could follow. Which were plenty, I assure you. After slowly catching us up with Christina (Evan Rachel Wood), Maeve (Thandiwe Newton), Caleb (Aaron Paul), William (Ed Harris), and Charlotte (Tessa Thompson), and even giving us glimpses of Clementine (Angela Sarafyan) and (maybe even) Teddy (James Marsden), we now get to see what’s happened to Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) and Stubbs (Luke Hemsworth) in the seven years since we last saw our unlikely duo.
As is the case this season, we seem to be rehashing narrative and thematic strands from its earliest episodes—going back to basics, as I have ironically put it, as there is never anything basic about Westworld. And so, the images of Bernard dreamily waking through pivotal scenes from past seasons, all while following a white horse (a nice twist on the Alice In Wonderland metaphor that guided Dolores in season one) feel familiar in that eerie way the show so enjoys deploying. He ends in the “Tower” that’s obviously been referenced in Christina’s timeline: It’s there that Bernard realizes he is not in our world but somewhere…else? Yes, this is where he sort of lost me. Stubbs later calls it “robot heaven” and so I’m just gonna stick with that. It’s some plane where he’s able to see every and all possible outcomes in any and all timelines (Westworld goes full multiverse!). Humble and honorable as always, he opts to try his hand at helping to build a better place (“You love them,” Zach McClaron’s Akecheta tells him, almost mournfully in what’s the most Matrix moment in the entire series), even if going back means Bernard will meet his likely demise.
And so he brings himself back online in the “real world” where Stubbs has been patiently waiting. Yes, for years. Not only is he back, he’s clearly come back with plenty of information. Like, all of it. Again, like some Morpheus-meets-Neo character, he now knows what’s to come, in ways both big and small. It only makes him slightly more insufferable than usual (we all know Bernard has always been a bit of a know-it-all), especially as he often uses this newfound awareness of every choice ever to be made for humor, mostly at Stubbs’ expense. Except, before I could settle into Bernard-in-Matrix-slash-Minority-Report mode, the show goes ahead and thrusts him and Stubbs into Mad Max territory instead, connecting their storyline to some rogue organization hoping to…well, we’ll learn soon enough. But they’re clearly tied (again) to the maze that guided much of season one’s storyline.
It’s almost enough to get us to echo Maeve as she navigates William’s latest park: “They made a few changes but it remains the same.” And while “it’s the same old story” (that’s Maeve again) feels like a tired complaint, I am actually quite excited with the show looping into itself this way, spiraling in rather than out as it had done for the last few seasons. That’s why I was happy to revisit “Westworld” in the trappings of the prohibition era. Plus, having Maeve give notes on the new madame lording over the town’s saloon just made the entire visit to this new park a riot.
Another plus: We get to experience it through Caleb’s eyes. And in true Maeve fashion, he gets stuck in a loop (read: trap) involving his daughter. (We’re rehashing plot lines, remember?) Before that, we learn that this new park has an added storyline which involves the Wyatt riot from season one (god, these rich people need some therapy, don’t they?) and that, yes, it’s here that William and his faceless, muscled hosts are creating those flies which are somehow controlling actual humans outside of the park.
Of course, we also get an all-too-brief standoff between Maeve and William that reminds us that they are the Magneto/Professor X of this universe (if, of course, in this world Professor X was just as demented as his philosophical foil). May they structure the rest of the season accordingly. Although Joy, Nolan & Co. are setting up loftier ambitions than just pitting ol’ pals against one another. And it’s a meta-ambition as well: How do you revisit a story without repeating it?
Only the rest of the season will tell.
Stray observations
- We went an entire episode without seeing what Christina (Evan Rachel Wood) is up to. I guess this is what happens when you have such a sprawling ensemble of characters to get through. And while we missed seeing Wood, it was lovely to see so many variations of “Dolores” throughout this episode—including her version in Temperance as well as her Wyatt persona in the meta-level of this new park.
- If every new episode/season/park in Westworld is designed to give us Maeve wreaking havoc while wearing a gorgeous gown, it will all have been worth it. Because, honestly, watching Newton wield a weapon with such ease while in heels and a glittery flapper dress was just as thrilling as anything else in this episode.
- Someone is probably on this already but I’m dying to read an interview with Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan about the choice to turn the fly—which had, in the show’s pilot, first given us hints that something was amiss with Dolores—into a nano weapon of sorts. It’s both so simple yet so effective. (Paging the Jurassic World franchise: This is how you turn an insect into a worthwhile plot point.)
- In between Maeve’s control over all things electronic, William’s seeming invincibility, and Bernard’s ability to “see” the future, it seems we’re only a few episodes away from learning that Christina/Dolores will be bit by one of the flies and become some superpowered host who’ll in turn recruit the others for one final job, no?
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Poor Manny Montana. From playing an evil guy in Good Girls to playing another evil guy in Westworld.
In all fairness, he was a good guy in Westworld who was killed and replaced by a lookalike bad guy host.
I’d love to know what Stubbs was up to while he spent all that time not dusting Bernard.And what do Hale and co. want with Caleb? He just proved he’s no mastermind. Hell, his daughter caught on quicker.
Yeah, the importance of Caleb has always been something that the show has always told us about rather than shown us evidence of. He’s really just another guy.
I’d be more invested in Caleb if Aaron Paul wasn’t just playing his usual “Jesse Pinkman” role….he is NO character actor!
There’s that whole thing with the Lighthouse that they keep mentioning so something big must have happened there. He also was the first one to break the big computer thing, but season 3 was such a mess they seem to be trying to bury it
I think the importance of Caleb this season will be tied to Christina/Dolores. They might want him to get the key to the Sublime from her since Dolores liked and trusted him in her past life.
Charlotte wants Caleb because he’s the only human who can turn Rehoboam (or possibly its predecessor Solomon) back on.
Huh? Why is that?
Because the machine can influence human behavior on a global scale.
Rehoboam deleted itself and Solomon was fried by an EMP. I think Charlotte/Dolores wants him for a scheme to get the key to the Sublime from Christina/Dolores.
I was thinking either or both may be salvageable, but your theory jibes better with Billy-bot’s comments in episode 4-1, when he was saying why he wanted to buy the entire server farm at Hoover Dam.
Stubbs because of who plays him always reminds me of the joke I think it was from 30 Rock paraphrasing here “you’ll be like the less successful Hemsworth brother Eliot (I don’t know if that was the name) a surgeon.”
Wasn’t that from “The Good Place”?
Might have been the Good Place.
They did a similar joke in The Good Place with a “lesser Hemsworth” who was a very successful doctor but always felt inadequate compared to his brothers.
The Good Place*
I’m guessing Stubbs was still there every day, except for occasional trips out for supplies and otherwise occuying himself over the years. Bernard programmed Stubbs to protect and obey him when he repaired him after in Season 3. I doubt he strayed very far. That’s also why he didn’t occasionally dust Bernard off over the years—he’d been told not to touch anything.
It sounded like it was a long time, but no aging and they drive off in a 70s sedan.
The car thing is really ridiculous. I’m pretty sure it has to be around 2075 to 2080 – and they’re still driving 1970’s combustion engine cars simultaneous with driverless electric pods. Who’s making parts? Who’s selling gas? The way this could “work” is if EVERYTHING we’re watching is a Westworld scripted storyline spread out over a massive Westworld setpiece – all of which would be incredibly stupid and render everything we’ve been watching to be meaningless, but I can see them punting and making that up something that stupid as they went along.
This season has been great so far. Going back to the park and then doing the meta Westworld park massacre with the knockoff Wyatt was so good.
It’s pretty ingenious from a marketing standpoint, taking an event that should have sunk the whole enterprise and using it as an attraction. It’s like DisneyWorld building a ride that features alligators with a taste for toddlers.
The actor’s name you’re looking for is Zahn McClarnon.
folks better get used to spelling his name right, he’s on a damn hot streak these days
Isn’t he fabulous? He’s on “Dark Winds,” and he’s absolutely riveting.
“William’s seeming invincibility”William is clearly no longer limited to one host at a time.
He’s turning into Agent Smith.
I think William has become the Terminator for opposition to is it “Halorus” now?He was the big bad against the host and now he has been made the Terminator mold against humanity.
Is “William” actually a host version of real life William, or is it another Dolores in a host William body?
The call backs are overall terrific, but I can see people likely rolling their eyes (really the dropped can of milk?) Heck we even got a player piano cover of Enter The Sandman. But it cued me in to kind of watch for these and indeed as Maeve deliciously dismissed, the Butterfly Casino and role playing was tired. But as Manuel mentions, the extension of using flies as tools for control of humans when the converse of a fly on Dolores was what gave pause in Season One is a fine surprise. Keep it up WestWorld, you’re on track for a compelling corrective of Season 3
They’re still using Lee’s narratives, just changing the window dressing. At least on the surface.
I accidentally watched the pilot ep before this one so it was all fresh in my mind watching the story play out in prohibition Chicago.
Just like most companies who lost talent or are just not willing to pay for new talent. They rehash the hell out of their current IP.
You would think the hosts would have more imagination!
I absolutely hated Season 3 and was hopeful that Season 4 would be more coherent.So far it has been okay, but if it gets any weirder, I think I’ll drop it.The plot is so convoluted, I feel like they’re just fucking with the audience.
dunno who is a robot and who isnt at this point, and the show sure as hell isnt making me care
Well it was cleared up this episode that Caleb isn’t a host now as some people suspected. Caleb was shot by the hosts in the scripted uprising underground but he wasn’t wounded as Maeve was when she was shot.
I feel the same way. This is supposed to be entertainment. If trying to figure it out gives you a headache, it’s not entertaining.
idk fans insisting they dumb the show down after season two is sorta how we got to this point. It’s arguable that the showrunners adhering to fan complaints is what ruined the show. In a similar way that it ruined Rise of Skywalker. Audiences dont understand what they want.
I think the mistake they’re making is in thinking that confusing the audience leads to devotion to the material. Some people get really into making crazy walls to track every element, but not most people. It’s fine if some things are vague or mysterious, but the problem is that everything is vague and mysterious. I find myself having no framework in which to place events, no way to decide whether something that just happened is meaningful or not, or if the characters are any closer to their goals or not. Things just happen, and the show often treats them as Big Important Moments, but I’m like… why is this important? I don’t know what anyone’s goals are, and so I don’t know if any of the things that are happening serve those goals.
Haven’t watched since Season 1, but from this review, I take it Wright and Hemsworth weren’t part of Seasons 2 and 3?
They were a large part of season 2 and 3. This is just the first we’ve seen of them this season.
Got it, thanks.
Yeah! Who’s your favorite Hemsworth now, eh?
…
it’s still Chris, isn’t it
I respect a man who guts it out through an injury and still manages to hang a TV on the wall. Luke gets my vote.https://www.insider.com/westworld-luke-hemsworths-brutal-arm-injury-changed-a-fight-scene-2020-3
I like that you don’t recognize him as a Hemsworth ad yet he still has their family charm and acting chops. Shout out to all the 3rd wheels in acting families!
Larry, obviously.
First, it was great to see Zahn McClarnon reprise his role as Akecheta. He’s a great actor and it’s good to see him enjoying success with Dark Winds. Akecheta’s story was the most moving part Westworld Season 2.It’s interesting that after all his time in The Sublime (aka The Valley Beyond) that he still cares about what happens to humankind. As he explained to Bernard, an hour in the real world can be a thousand years in The Sublime. That means Akecheta has had a very, very long time to think about the fate of humanity and, consequently, the fate of all the hosts in the sublime.That fact also gives some credence to my idea that Christina (possibly Delores Prime’s alter ego) has been in the Sublime for a very, very long time as well. As for Caleb and Meave, I think the whole point of luring them to the park was to expose Caleb to the flies. He still has control of Rehoboam or, more importantly, its predecessor Solomon. I thought it was great that Delos is still using Lee Sizemore’s narratives in the new park. It’s that old joke about there only being 12 scripts in Hollywood, they just change up the characters.
I watched Dark Winds immediately before Westworld and thought “ oh, he’s back”. Dark Winds is so good. I hope there’s more than one season. The books go on forever.
I’d never heard of the books before the show started. I was really happy when I learned about how many books were in the series. There’s no shortage of material for many more Dark Winds seasons in the future.
Here is some good news for you:https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/dark-winds-renewed-season-2-amc-1235299876/
I was so excited to see Zahn McClarnon back and looking so smooth.
It was nice they bought back a lot of the hosts that were originally at the Delos pitch meeting with Logan. Except Angela, RIP.
I’m pretty sure the woman from the Mad Max Militia is Frankie in the future.
Does anyone notice Ake’s wife isn’t there? His whole story revolves around her and he reunited with her in the Sublime, but now she isn’t there…unless she uploaded herself into the horse?
I think they just skipped her to focus on Bernard’s mission.
Urgh, now I wish I’d stuck to my guns and waited to start and binge-watch this season when all the episodes are available – as I did with the last season. With the flies swarming Caleb I thought “Don’t you DARE end here, episode!” but of course it did. Oh well …
So the baddie from Good Girls is gone? Bye Carver, we hardly knew you …(His name is Manny Montana! You killed his character – after barely any screen time! Prepare to die, Westworld!)
Off-topic, but I just saw a picture of Manny Montana with his wife, and I thought “Oh wow! he’s married to Carmen Ejogo – so that would make him – step-father to Jeffrey Wright’s kids! Wonder what that dynamic was like on the set of Westworld …”But, um, turns out I was wrong, his wife only looks like Carmen Ejogo (to me at any rate)…
After two solid episodes, last night was a lot of “I know all the answers but won’t tell you, eat the tuna” and “they’re doing everything the same but I won’t explain it to you, human partner, oh let me pass my hand over an object to access that door”.
I hate that contrivance, yet so many shows have formatted themselves around it – X-Files, Fringe, Blacklist. I don’t see the appeal of it, but I guess a successful screenwriter of influence back in the day dictated it “had to be’ and the industry followed suit. Similarly, is the use of snark in the face of danger and death. Writers write like nothing really matters in an action movie. About to jump off a building? Die in a spaceship crash? Face down a hail of bullets? Don’t strategize to survive, or have an emotional “final moment” – just crack a joke that turns in to a meme.
I thought Bernard’s trip to the sublime was a little lackluster. I hope someone is going to get stills from his flashback? sequence, was a bit fast for my mere human eyes.
The flies are an ingenious choice! Not only for their role as harbingers of consciousness but for the fact that they were notably the only “living” thing in the original park.
Also, can we please appreciate the Billie Eilish cover setting up the recycled Mariposa storyline? Ramin’s work really is impeccable. (Lee Sizemore would be very upset though.)
so, it seems all the principal characters are trapped in their own “westworld” game. feels like whoever put them in there is using it is a Matrix-like distraction prison.
This season continues to inspire a lot of comparisons to The Matrix – and not in a good way …
I know people want to like this show. I raved to everyone about Season 1, but this thing has slid to “Lost Ver 2.0″. It’s random polar bears and smoke clouds now. I think it’s another case of latter day show runners thinking they are writer / narrative visionaries and they just aren’t. They’re production management people and it shows. Season 1 was so much better than these last two it is hard to believe it’s the same franchise.
The production looks cheap and uninspired at all levels except the CGI rendered universes. The actual setpieces and action scenes are amateurish for this budget, network, and cast. They’re inexplicably driving cars that would need to be about 100 years old at this point, in diners and restaurants that seem to have never aged from 1995. Caleb is a character and casting disaster. WAY too much of him walking around exchanging expository dialogue. Robots have been granted ludicrously deus ex machina capabilities to the point they can now use telekinesis (when plot convenient) AND see the future… c’mon. They are regurgitating the characters to the point you just don’t care who lives or dies, or remember what their motivation is in this mess. They even kept Hemsworth around 7 years as the security “muscle” , then have Bernard go all Chuck Norris on the bad guys.
A show hasn’t done such a ridiculous job of pre-cognition plot devices since James Bond had a prison escapee crash a subway train in the middle of a hearing – none of which could have been know by the prisoner when he went to jail. Now we have Caleb and Maeve go through all sorts of subterfuge and accidently stumble on to a train to a revived Westworld (how did THAT happen), arriving in to a predestined, ultimately unnecessary plot point that could not have been known – all seemingly at the control of no character we have been introduced to. It’s just a SMH tropey device to spend an episode trying to recapture the glorious past of Season 1 but actually succeeding in parodying how bad Season 4 is in comparison. The way Maeve mocks the replacement characters in the bar basically mimics the two Seasons on whole.
I am admittedly more critical when it comes to writing formalities and production, etc, ( as I said, I freaking loved Season 1) but my wife has watched all seasons with me more casually, and said she thinks it pretty good – but when I asked what was the plot, or conversely what ANY given character was actually up to or motivated by – she couldn’t answer. It has devolved in to Sunday night, turn-off-you-brain eye candy when it USED to be really well done.
I don’t necessarily agree with all you said, but I agree with enough to warrant upvoting your comment to bring it out of the greys (I recognise your username though, so how come you’re in the greys?)Strong agree about Aaron Paul – I think a different actor in the role would have elevated Season 3. I commented last week that Manny Montana would have been more engaging in that role, and able to sell it better – instead of the thankless bit part he was given this season.I disagree about production looking cheap – I think the one thing I enjoy unreservedly is the production. Admittedly moreso in previous seasons than in this one. Also, a lot of the problems I have with the show were actually already present to some extent in season 1, it’s just that they are more pronounced now, so unlike you I don’t see that first season as flawless …
Thanks for the upvote. I don’t know why I greyed out. Maybe lack of recent submissions since AV Club doesn’t cover that many shows anymore (or at least ones that I’ve been watching).
I can’t think of a production whose action scenes leave me less enthralled than Westworld Season 3 and 4. Their ambiance always seems oddly off with too-few and too-wooden extras methodically appearing while the various battling or rioting people just walk in to range, fire and and methodically drop within the static frame of the camera. The camera work is boring, the sound is lethargic, the acting hardly exists exist due to the stultifying direction. How much of those were/are Caleb casually walking around looking confused? At least his hair doesn’t look like a growing pineapple on his head this time.
Wait, you think Caleb’s hair is better now? I think this alone shows how different our opinions are …(His hair this season gives me Adam Sandler in Little Nicky vibes)
I don’t know if I would say “better” – because it’s still awful – but it doesn’t have the ridiculous presence pineapple presence that dictated it have its own Reddit thread like Season 3. This season it’s still bad – but not as cartoonish. But I really wonder if Makeup was told you have $150 budget for hairpieces for the $6 million dollar actor – and the did the best they could. (I don’t what they paid him).
But it’s another example of bad production IMO. I just think this show is littered with second-rate production / direction talent, and/or combination of poor allocation of funds. Not to necessary slight support employees who might be doing the best they feel they can, or the best their experiencer has set them up to do. It’s just not HBO $100 million dollar quality.
Whatever money they threw at Aaron Paul – they’re not getting a return on it, whether it’s him or the writing and direction. Given his (and other talent) success elsewhere, and the shortcomings in production, I’m inclined to blame the writers and director more than the acting talent in this thing.
Westworld definitely has Breaking Bad connections, so it isn’t weird they hired Paul. I just don’t think Paul or Tessa Thompson are great actors and they have to hold the torch others left behind and so many good actors were killed off in the second season…it was almost like watching a whole different show. If it wasn’t for Dolores and Maeve, I would have stopped watching.
Such a misfire having Aaron Paul in that role. His vacant one-note affect maybe worked in BB because the character was a young slacker but here…And yes, I’m probably in the grays too. *sigh
Indeed you are.
Maybe because …he’s actually a robot!
If they make caleb a robot I swear to god.
Guess you called that one!
He’s so dull these days and has really stagnated as an actor. He needs a project suited to him.
I don’t know who Halores is? wtf is that character?
Hale with a copy of Dolores’ brain nut inside.
Harsh but true. It lacks vision and brilliant ideas these days. They have a cast that’s game for anything, shame they aren’t getting good material.
I have been ok with this season but am starting to get annoyed with this episode. Why are Maeve and Caleb even together? Seems she could do this on her own and Caleb can stay with his family that is clearly in danger. And what are they doing besides walking right into an obvious trap? Maeve has been in hiding for years. Why didn’t she just go back into hiding? What triggered the decision to get Caleb and start this “investigation?” There may be a legitimate reason but I don’t think the plot has made it clear. The other plot lines are vague enough that so far they may make sense but it feels this show is too often a setup for a mystery story they can’t quite land. Oh well so far it’s better than season 3 and they are playing with some interesting ideas. Hope they wrap some of the plot lines in a good way by end of the season.
Maeve started her investigation because Halores and the MiB sent assassins after her and she decided to fight the problem instead of continually hiding from it. Also remember Maeve was going to do this alone but Caleb insisted on helping her, Caleb is protecting his family by proactive measures and also by having his war buddies guard them. He couldn’t know at the time that at least one of them had been replaced by a host.
It’s there that Bernard realizes he is not in our world but somewhere…else? Yes, this is where he sort of lost me. Stubbs later calls it “robot heaven” and so I’m just gonna stick with that….was that not The Sublime?
Yes, yes it was.
I wish they would have showed us more of the Sublime. Anything could happen there so it could be super Legion like surreal.
You expect A. V. Club writers to watch the shows they review?
Maeve and William that reminds us that they are the Magneto/Professor X of this universeAre they? I always thought the Dolores/Bernard relationship fit that dynamic better. Admittedly S3 muddied the waters a bit there, but it did that to the whole show.
Maeve and William are more Jean Grey and Mr. Sinister. A powerful techno-psychic hell bent on having a normal life and a mad scientist cheating death to experiment on all creation. Both are also tied to one another by their opposing goals.
Episode 3 seems to get things going finally with Bernard. The whole story of Calen Nichols in the future with his bad haircut, confused look 99% and family we have zero back story on is getting stale.
Thought the white horse was more a “behold a pale horse” oncoming apocalypse reference. But maybe I’m just carrying that over from Twin Peaks.
I have Tea TV (look into it trust me) so when I clicked on to watch this ep I accidentally watched the pilot ep again. Sat there like an idiot watching it wondering why did they do this? Are they going to show something new mixed in to the old story? When I realized what I did I also realized it was a good thing too.I got to see how far the show had come and all of the little clues that were there from the beginning that matched the latest ep. The flies were there the whole time. The park storyline playing out in the old west and prohibition era was a nice parallel too. Bernard’s behavior in the pilot seems obvious that he was a host now with 20/20 hindsight. Watcher/Bernard is whole different creature. Can’t wait to see where this going.
I have been enjoying the heck out of the show. But man it get’s REALLY hard to follow/figure out the timelines. Like the end of the first season and you realize that you have been following 2 entirely different timelines something like 30 or 40 years apart was crazy. And like in this current season we just had a multiyear time jump with Bernard’s character compared to Maeve/Caleb’s storyline. I still am not 100% sure what’s going on with Christina/Delores. Part of me thinks that this season has just been one dream or simulation like she’s is still jacked into Solomon or something. And like the thing Bernard was jacked into I guess it can predict every single possible thing that can happen in the future? I saw that and it made me think this is all a simulation, like Delores is running through all the possible futures and we are just following one of those possibilities.
Remember season 1 when it was about the original creation of the park, and how Bernard was based on Arnold, and Ford was around? That was good. They dropped all those threads for whatever this is.
I’ve a read/watched 3-4 recaps and y’all compare it to other shows movies, cracks me up. Compare it to Westworld.
I hope all the Zahn McClarnon fans are also enjoying him in the excellent Reservation Dogs
I feel so shallow for being horribly distracted by the beard dye