A battle brews on Westworld
“Fidelity” finds Charlotte in full villain mode and Caleb enduring a cruel exercise
TV Reviews westworld
The guiding thesis I’ve been advancing about Westworld’s fourth season is that the show has been cannibalizing itself, keenly revisiting old themes and character arcs. I’d call it a retooled show (or a reboot, even) if not for the fact that we have the same cast of characters—or, actually, the same cast. When you think about it, we do have a very different set of characters: William and Caleb, for instance, are now hosts; Dolores is basically (?) gone and in her stead we have Christine; Charlotte has gone through her fair share of transformations; and even the likes of Bernard, Stubbs and Maeve have, to some extent, evolved from who we once thought they were. This is the thrill of working with a premise as pliable as Westworld’s: When you have hosts who can be rebuilt and rewired, you can truly just reshuffle (and reanimate) them to your will. Which is all to say: I’ve been making the argument that we’ve been getting a Westworld 4.0 that looks distinctly like Westworld 1.0.
Except, of course, the very controlled environment that characterized season one of this HBO show looks very different than the diffuse one that’s become the backdrop of this fourth season. We’ve officially left the park—and even the “real world”—and are wandering a world that’s half finely constructed and half…well, empty? Desolate? Equal parts Minority Report and Mad Max: Fury Road? But the recursive nature of the show remains the same. Repetition has always been a constant narrative conceit with loops and revisited memories being central to how hosts experience their world—and, more to the point, how the show packages its own storylines for our sake. In this episode, this was most obvious in Caleb’s subplot, with him returning to his older memories before needing to literally retrace steps previous versions of himself had already taken before achieving that which none of those other Calebs had done. Hosts, it seems, are destined to live in continued loops even when they’re not in the park serving what used to be their human overlords.
Instead, some of them have found in Charlotte a leader (boss? dictator? overseer?) whom they clearly don’t vibe with. It explains why some of them are choosing death over the orderly environment she’s so painstakingly created. And while Charlotte may spout just how perfect her kind is (so much more perfect than humankind!), she can’t run away from the fact that she’s becoming if not just as petty then just as tunnel-visioned as those who first wanted to see just how far the hosts in Westworld could evolve. How else can you explain her Caleb torture exercise? She wants to figure out what’s wrong with the world she’s built but she’s also intent on extracting such information with a cruelty that belies her interest in humankind in the first place.
Perhaps that’s why she’s so rankled by Caleb’s words at the end of the episode and why, inexplicably, she goes around and builds herself yet another version of him (#279!) for…well, we’ll see soon enough.
While Caleb was living his Die Hard fantasy, we got another glimpse into the outlier rebels. Caleb’s daughter Frankie lets herself get guided back into the park so Bernard can reboot Maeve since she’s apparently the weapon that will help save humankind. (See? Old character, new trappings, or is it the other way around?) Throughout, we get some more banter about Bernard’s weird probability slash clairvoyant powers which don’t quite make a dent into the story itself but help set up another issue that’s plagued Westworld throughout its run: Who can you trust?
As with Caleb’s storyline last season, I do find Westworld struggles when it tries to have us care for folks we’ve only just met—especially when its ensemble is already so stacked. (Whither Teddy and Christine? Where’s William? Why must Clementine be so sidelined?) And so, while grown-up Frankie dominated the other half of this episode, all I kept doing was counting the minutes until Maeve would wake back up and, well, kick this episode into high gear. Which she does, setting up the ongoing battle between the rebels/outliers and Charlotte, which will no doubt find our own Caleb in the middle. And hopefully, the confrontation will involve those other characters who were nowhere to be found in this outing. We can only hope, I guess.
Stray observations
- “Am I now?” is a great line. A great Westworld line and one I do often find myself asking when I’m not given a human character to help anchor me in time and space: “When am I?”
- You gotta love a subplot that imagines a world where, despite having technology to capture people’s consciousness via mirrors, data transfer still requires what look like USB cables and a not insignificant amount of time.
- If this episode kept Maeve from us for far too long (though it did give us a badass return to form for the fan-favorite character), at least it showed Charlotte in full villain mode. It’s clear Tessa Thompson has been relishing playing honeyed hostility every chance she gets. Even when she’s throwing a chair across the room, there’s such control and grace that, as the kids say, you can’t help but stan. Because, honestly, humans are petty and, yes, “everything they do is so small it’s exhausting.” Clearly she speaks my language—and reminds me that maybe I would not be the main character but the villain who would rightfully expect everyone to adhere to the very strict rules I’ve created for them. (I know, I’m working on it). But honestly, it brings out the best of what Thompson as an actor can do, which is offer a steely demeanor that’s as alluring as it is terrifying.
- I’ve been trying to figure out what was striking me about the set-pieces in this latest season and now I have a wholly unsubstantiated theory: Maybe COVID-safety restrictions pushed the Westworld cast and crew to shoot mostly in exteriors and/or with small groups? I know we’ve dispensed with the packed Westworld park (and its attendant 1930s copy) but you have to admit we’ve been seeing a lot of outdoor stand-offs and open air interactions that rarely involve more than a few actors. Maybe it’s just that I’m noticing it more, especially as the aerial shots throughout the season have stressed the vastness of the desert where the park used to be or the imposing skyline of Charlotte’s city. But it’s given the season a kind of lonely and alienating vibe, with much of its actors left to stand in frames devoid of anyone else around them. Whether or not it’s by design (or by a design that’s responding to on-set concerns), it’s helped deepen the thematic concerns of a season that stresses just how important human connection really is.
110 Comments
I’m usually the first to criticize Paul’s acting, but he was pretty solid this week, probably because all he really needed to do was that angsty, desperate emoting for the entire episode. I’m just not really feeling any sense of urgency or desperation from the plot as a whole in this episode. I mean, the setup of “who is the mole” was as painfully obvious as it could possibly be—-I feel like i’ve seen this kind of lame deflection a thousand times before.C seems about right.
Was that a waste of Daniel Wu, or what?
My exact comment when watching this episode. Same thing I said about Manny Montana – both actors showed up for barely a few scenes, then had their host double kill their character off, and then subsequently be killed off too.I still think either actor might have been a better fit to play Caleb than Aaron Paul and his floppy hair …
This is a show that hired Pom Klementieff to play a not-even-that-glorified extra.
I love the AVClub comment sections where MCU bit players (I had to look her up on IMDB) are held in the same regard as Daniel Day-Lewis.
When Bernard talked about the mole, I was like, “Oh, it’s going to be him, he’s the only character I know something about.”
No, it was SO obviously Wu….saw that coming a mile off!
Yeah I groaned a little bit
Yah the one thing about this episode that fell flat for me was how obvious it was who the mole was from the moment it got mentioned. Like the next scene he enters the room to comfort Frankie and tell them they gotta team up cuz they can’t trust anyone…. like c’mon. At least make us at all suspicious about literally one other character. It wasn’t going to be the girlfriend.
My thoughts exactly. They didn’t even give him a decent fight scene. Although I suppose there’s always a chance they’ll make another host version of him.
The only reason to hire that actor is for a good fight scene. His acting is just meh, but his fight skills are top notch. I was a big fan of his show Into the Badlands.
I find him handsome and charismatic enough to be watchable when he’s not fighting, but c’mon, it’s Daniel Wu! Give him a good fight scene!
Yeah, the problem is I don’t care about the host version of people, they’re just cheap copies.
yeeeeah like I love Bernard cuz I never cared about Arnold but like…. I could give rats ass what happen to the host versions of William and Caleb. Caleb is dead.
Yeah, host copies of humans are new characters. You can’t expect the audience to transfer their emotional investment with one character to another just because they look the same.
I’d much rather see OG William escape.
Yes! I was ready to give up on the show when it I thought he was killed and replaced. I think they realized this was a dumb idea so he somehow survived the throat slitting.
To clarify tho, he was never a host (I think?). It was implied he just got fly-hosted – no?
But didn’t flashback show him encountering the mole version in the stairway? Wouldn’t that mean it was a regular host? Plus, wouldn’t a fly host still remember the brother thing? In retrospect, maybe they should have used a fly host.
Just in general, the “rebels” stuff has been the least interesting part of it so far (aside from Bernard, Stubbs, Maeve, and Caleb).
Just like the terrible Matrix 3!
I just read an interview with him where he makes it sound like he’ll be back next season. So maybe not a total waste.
The whole thing was seemingly obviously building up to a Jay vs Maeve fight that it was strange seeing them not use a legit martial artist when the show’s most prominent warrior was literally right there.In addition, the mole should’ve just been Lindsay. Hale faking an outlier needing to be rescued would’ve been a more villainous move than replacing a guy nobody seemed to really. Odina was a no-go, cause we really don’t need more of Bury Your Gays.
Where’s Jose Zuñiga when you need him?
Pretty uneven episode, but damn, I will probably keep watching if only for Ramin Djawadi’s music. He just knocks it out of the park every time.
“out of the park”…i see what you did there
That ending theme was great. Kind of Giorgio Moroder-ish.
Same!
OK, I found this episode entertaining, and simultaneously quite bleak to watch. And a lot of things that should have packed a punch kinda fell flat. Caleb’s daughter has been sending him messages every day for years – the moment she finally hears a radio message back from him should have felt momentous but, meh! She and Daniel Wu have been side by side for two decades – his loss to her should’ve had more … oomph!And Charlotte Hale! I’m usually good at ignoring glaring plotholes and character inconsistencies but some of it was just too much in this ep! So, decades later she sends someone to stop the crew from reviving Maeve … when she could have definitively disposed of Maeve at any point in the past couple of decades if she wanted to – just get a team to excavate and destroy Maeve! Also, she tells Caleb she’s sent someone his daughter’s way – wouldn’t that have been the perfect opportunity for her to get host-Wu to wipe out the resistance?Aaron Paul had a lot to do here, and once again I found myself thinking that – casting-wise, he’s one of the weaker links on the show. He still looks a young apprentice technician or something – and the floppy hair doesn’t help …
Urgh, now I’ve slept on it there are more illogical things about the episode gnawing away at me like the skin on Halores’s left arm.We learn Daniel Wu has been off grid with the resistance for over 2 decades. I could understand a fly-controlled-but-still-human Wu infiltrating the group – but no way a whole different host-Wu that was already up and running, ready to kill him and take his place, would pass detection. I don’t see how this host-Wu would have any of dead-Wu’s short term memories. Once Bernard said one of them had been switched on the last mission – all they’d have to do to find the mole is a simple test like “OK guys, write on a piece of paper what we had for breakfast just before we went on that last mission?”.
Yes – and why the heck would they not scan all rebels who have been to the city before allowing them to return to rebel base? They have scanners after all. Heck an X-ray of everyones head should do the trick. Trackers implanted in peoples bodies. Some sort of more robust system in place at least would be good. This show is always frustrating. It can be awesome and thought provoking but they often miss or overlook logical details.
Yes – and why the heck would they not scan all rebels who have been to the city before allowing them to return to rebel base?Thank you! They live in a future where they know robots make robot copies of people. Common sense would dictate they’d repeatedly check everyone is human/who they say they are…
I would have failed this test.
Host-Wu would’ve scanned human-Wu before killing him in the stairwell, and so would know everything Wu knew up to that moment. Bernard scanned Franky in a short time in this episode, and we’ve seen earlier in the season how hosts replaced humans in a matter of moments in the same way, like with guy that was supposed to protect Frankie. The guy is killed and replaced by a host in a matter of minutes, while he goes out to get her teddy bear. The host returns it turn to her, so obviously has the human’s short term memory. What’s wonky is how any of this tech really works. It’s basically as fast or slow or effective as the plot demands. For instance, host-Wu, who clearly has Wu’s memories, still proceeds to say something Wu never would’ve said. Which doesn’t feel organic to what we know. It feels like the writers just said we need some way for Frankie to detect host-Wu and this is the best thing we could come up with. What’s your issue with Hale’s arm? That’s one of the few things I have no issue with. She never replaced it since it was burnt when Serac killed her children, and her scratching at till it until it bleeds harkens to the self mutilation of that arm when Dolores forced her own consciousness into host-Hale and she struggled to reconcile them. Basically showing that she can’t create a perfect simulation for hosts or humans because she isn’t perfect herself, and subconsciously knows this. With the broader theme being that nothing can be perfect if free will is involved, but that’s not a bad thing. It’s the only way humans or hosts can be free.
“The guy is killed and replaced by a host in a matter of minutes, while he goes out to get her teddy bear. The host returns it turn to her, so obviously has the human’s short term memory.”But he didn’t remember he was teaching the bear martial arts.
Host-Wu would’ve scanned human-Wu before killing him in the stairwell, and so would know everything Wu knew up to that moment. You see, they should have shown that. For example, Robot-Wu shoots human-Wu in the leg, then grabs him and we see robot-Wu’s eyes scan him or something (making the same noise he heard the mirror make, for example).What we actually saw was Robot-Wu shooting human-Wu from a distance in a stairwell, and presumably killing him. You’re making excuses for the show if you’re presuming we are to presume from the little we saw, and following the show’s own rules, that there was enough time to do any memory scanning before/during those shots in the stairwell. (A throwaway line somewhere is all that’s needed – for example, about residual brain activity in a dead person being scannable)Why this bugs me is, we’ve had SO many (too many!) examples so far of bot-version-of-person-A strolling up and killing person-A, then immediately taking their place, yet this was one where, if the writers left their bubble and thought about it for a second, they’d see it can’t be as easily waved away as being feasible like the others. What’s your issue with Hale’s arm? That’s one of the few things I have no issue with.Oh, I have no issue with it either, I was just making a clumsy metaphorical comparison of me picking away at the illogicalities of the episode and Hale picking away at her arm …. i.e. neither one of us seem able to just STOP!
wasnt it somewhat implied that it was Fly-Wu not Host-Wu?
wasnt it somewhat implied that it was Fly-Wu not Host-Wu?It was crystal clear that it was Host-Wu because they actually showed us a Host-Wu killing Human-Wu.
and also the end scene with Hale making a new Caleb sorta demonstrates how quickly they can build hosts now… which raises a lot of other questions but meh.
Frankie’s reaction to Caleb’s message seemed more of “I knew it” rather than “I can’t believe it”. Granted, it should’ve been given more gravitas, but this basically confirms that they’ll reunite one way or another, even if briefly.Wu’s character should’ve gotten more development and then perhaps I would’ve cared more. He was a stoic wet blanket, but that’s most of that rebels group anyway. I do like Frankie and Maeve teaming up though, that should be neat.Speaking of Maeve, it didn’t seem that Hale cared about her all that much. Until now, probably, it looks like. She knew that Maeve died when Caleb did, but she didn’t know that Maeve was the weapon Bernard and the rebels were looking for. I’m fairly certain that Hale re-discovered her when Host-Wu did and now knows Maeve’s back. Besides, Hale had her whole “take over the world(?)“ plan to enact. I’m still not sure if she did take over the entire world or not? They say she did, but did she really?I’m also very possibly wrong on many of these accounts, so feel free to prove me wrong!
Frankie’s reaction to Caleb’s message seemed more of “I knew it” rather than “I can’t believe it”I mean, sappy moments on screen can be hit-and-miss for me, but if there was ever a time where some sentimental music was warranted (plus maybe even a close-up of a tear forming in Frankie’s eye) – that was it! She’d been sending messages out since childhhood! For 20+ years! And finally Daddy replies and – nada?
I have a hard time imagining a reunion between Frankie and Caleb that isn’t brief… Caleb is dead! Why do I feel like a crazy person saying this. Caleb died. There’s no “I knew it” etc. Frankie wasn’t “right” that he’s still “out there”. Caleb is not still out there. Caleb was rebuilt by Hale as a host which in no way is the same as him being “still out there” or Frankie being “right”. Their reunion can only be brief like a nod from a distance in passing or something because I refuse to understand how it could make narrative sense for those two characters in their current incarnation to have a continued relationship.
Like really if your father was a robot now and looked not a day older than the day he died everything would just be normal after your reunion? Yah okay. If anything the embody of Host-Caleb represents a ghost that Frankie needs to let go of – IF ANYTHING. They have no relationship to eachother, Host-Caleb has been programmed with memories believing he is Frankie’s father and he looks like her father, that is the beginning and end of what they mean to eachother because he’s a hunk of metal and not alive!!
(takes deep breath) so… I don’t think the mentality “Frankie’s father is still out there” is in anyway a healthy mindset for grown-up Frankie and she needs to accept the death of her father.
Agree! I also can’t understand how much of the world is really controlled by Halores. I just can’t believe it’s really a whole world, to me seems like an isolated part of it, like a park. But they keep saying that they control ‘’the world’’ so who knows…
So agree. All through his scenes, which were a centerpiece of the episode, I kept thinking what a better actor could have done with all that screen time and expensive cgi.
I kept thinking what a better actor could have done with all that screen time and expensive cgi.Um, that’s some phenomenal username/comment synergy going on there…
Wish I could say it wasn’t a coincidence.
Hmmm, I was also not a fan of his acting previously – but this time it worked for me and really got to me. I think he did well – especially performing as deteriorating copies with such a doomed look, and all the pain yet determination in his look when speaking about/to Frankie and spiteful resistance to Halores.
Hmmm, for me this is the first time his acting really worked and got to me. Especially him playing his deteriorating copies and of course sending message to Frankie or talking to Hale – so much conveyed through the eyes. Agree about the hair though lol.
One of the reasons they can’t go back to the park is because the sets for season 1 and 2 burned down in real life.
They did?
Yes, in 2018. The whole wooden set is gone. That’s why when Bernard returns to Westworld to get Stubbs in season 3, you only see a little shack.
The Woolsey Fire got it.
would his beard really be that awful with some grey in it? the dye is so distracting and weird-looking on my TV, I keep getting distracted
Looks like Eminem at the Super Bowl
Off-topic, but I commented last week that Tessa Thompson’s look during that whole waltz-in-the-streets scene – with the white dress, slicked-back immaculate pony-tail, and hoop earings – seemed like she was channeling a certain smooth operator from almost 4 decades ago. I went back to watch the music video and I was right! – all she had missing was some extra-bright-red lipstick!
Also – there are these insurance ads on TV here in England – that make me wonder, maybe what Charlotte Hale and all the suicidal hosts need is a nice trip to Brighton beach ….
I’ve had an idea bouncing around since this season started that maybe the real Caleb died back when he was shot on that last raid with Maeve. Of course, that would mean he was already replaced with a host before his daughter was born.
Wasn’t he dying on the sand and Maeve did something to “rescue” him?
She activated the “drip” in the roof of his mouth—the same device that was installed in William—I assume to release painkillers.I always wondered if the drip was related to the host technology.
“Hosts, it seems, are destined to live in continued loops even when they’re not in the park serving what used to be their human overlords.”We all live in our behavioral loops. That was an ongoing theme in the first two seasons, with the humans and the hosts following their individual routines. Caleb’s loop centers on his daughter, and it will no matter how many times Charlotte brings him back.
God save us if bad guys ever realize that they shouldn’t gently toss their victims to the side when they have those victims by the throat, helplessly thrashing about while they desperately try to find a little bit of air.
a) yes, then we’ll be really screwed
b) in this case, it’s actually on purpose, as we later learn that Caleb is SUPPOSED to survive the fight, so that Hale can study his actions and determine what it is he knows. Presumably the fight is choreographed by Hale to feel just dangerous enough to convince him that he’s successfully escaping, but not so lethal that he actually dies like all those other Calebs did
c) when Hale actually wants Caleb dead, later, she breaks his neck easily
Presumably the fight is choreographed by Hale to feel just dangerous enough to convince him that he’s successfully escapingThough I’m pretty sure Caleb wouldn’t have objected to an easy escape. “Something’s wrong, this is too easy! Better get back to my cell then”.
God save us if bad guys ever realize that they shouldn’t gently toss their victims to the side when they have those victims by the throat, helplessly thrashing about while they desperately try to find a little bit of air.Neither pin them to the floor, because they’ll just find an improvised weapon conveniently lying there at arm’s reach to hit their assailant with and get free.
Again, it was done on purpose.
I guess maybe it’s their programming to be more lifelike and human, but it seems completely random if an attack on a host will do nothing to them like a terminator, or when they’ll react exactly like a human would.
God save us if audience like you would actually start WATCHING and LISTENING and understand that it was done on purpose…
I’m still loving Bernard doing his Robot Kwisatz Haderach thing. It’s entertaining to watch, and funny to see the others react to it (especially Stubbs). I still think they’re playing Caleb rather stiff, but it was still enjoyable to watch. It was kind of an obvious twist that it would turn out to deliberately be something Hale set up, but I enjoyed it. Not sure why she brought him back yet again after that. I also like the implication that Hale herself is being changed and unsettled by interaction with the original outlier (Caleb), as seen with whatever was going on with her arm and the moment where she was standing on the edge. Aside from Bernard and thankfully Maeve again, the “Rebels” storyline has been my least favorite. I did like the bit with the leader, where he rejects any sort of familiarity with her – it’s a nice twist on that usual dynamic. Next episode trailer is interesting. Title is “Metanoia”, which refers to a “change in one’s life from penitence or spiritual conversion”. Obvious candidate there would be Host-William, although I’m open to it being Christina or something else. I was thinking that Hale was going to get tired of humans and just give the order to end it, but I actually think she’s going to try and wipe out all the hosts and humans.
The Hale bot was always a little off, her version of Dolores did not have an easy time adjusting to her surroundings and she took out stress by cutting into herself with her fingernails. All these perfect hosts she’s made she’s made as copies of herself, just like OG Dolores did to make herself a Hale. Therefore, I assume all the hosts she’s made are inherently sort of disturbed.
Good catch! I’d forgotten about the self-harm aspect of her from Season 3.
Host Hale’s arm is still scarred from when Serac bombed and killed her family. The act that basically made her embrace the Wyatt aspect of Dolores. She’s keeping it like a reminder, but also now repeating the self harm she did to herself when her and OG Dolores’ consciousnesses were forced together. The show is basically repeating the same concept over and over, attempting to remove free will to make a perfect world. Now with the reversal that a host is in charge. Hale is even denying free will to her hosts in an attempt to make a perfect existence for them, and can’t figure out why both humans and hosts can crack in the face of them seeing their own bondage. Even though, frankly, this should be obvious to her given all she knows, and from an audience perspective it’s just more of the same.
funny to see the others react to it (especially Stubbs)Which is the only reason Stubbs exists, apparently.
I’m fine with him basically being there to be a mildly aggravated sounding board for Bernard who can also occasionally do action scenes.
I keep seeing “A Battle of Brews on Westworld.”
I thought this was more of a solid B. Even though Caleb is the third character to get the Delos Treatment, he’s still sympathetic enough where you’re not thinking, “Yup, he deserves this.” It’s paying off his character from last season and this season. And though I’m starting to go the other way and not hate-on Aaron Paul (I think he’s doing fine on this show – no more, no less. His vibe is different, that’s all. He’s not nails-on-the-chalkboard, for me anyway) I would be fine if this was the start of his character getting written out. He fathered Humanity’s Savior: a good enough end for his arc. If he’s on for the entire run, (assuming they go 5 and done) I hope the show allows Caleb to find a new gear and be his full-brain I’m an android-now self.
The grade really doesn’t make much sense when looking at how positive the review was.Anyway, Caleb has won me over this season. He has actual personal stakes and it helps that Frankie is still around and she even has a personality, go figure! But I’m with you in thinking that this is setting up his endgame. Fairly sure that Caleb is going to die in the finale, but he’ll reunite with Frankie first somehow.
He’s already dead! Why do I feel crazy repeating this?
And if you mean die in the Host sense then… diiiid you see this episode? Him dying as a Host is trial. Zero stakes.
If you’ve ever worked at a tech company, you know that person far down the org chart in quality assurance or support or whatever who knows far more about the products than the people who created them.
That person is your company’s Bernard.
It’s funny how Human Bernard and Host Bernard have essentially lived the same exact life.
So someone correct me if I’m wrong, but from what we’ve seen, nobody (either human Delos employees or the hosts) has successfully resurrected a human in a host body after decades of trying with hundreds of attempts, right? They all seem to malfunction and self harm within hours! They can make hosts that look exactly like a specific human, but bringing back the dead always seems to be a highly time limited phenomenon, like the last scene of Spielberg’s AI.Why hasn’t Hale given up yet? She doesn’t seem to learn anything from the 278th Caleb, so other than the fact that Aaron Paul doesn’t appear to have been written out of the show, what’s going to be different about number 279?
Not really a resurrection, but host William seems like a successful copy. Also I got the impression that Hale deliberately designed the Caleb hosts to be defective and start to malfunction after a certain period of time.
Host-William seems like something different — it’s trivial to fabricate a host who looks exactly like Tessa Thompson or Ed Harris, the problem is that an exact host-replica of a human consciousness seems to fail because the mind rejects the body (or maybe vice versa). Host-William is either a copy of Haleores or a unique AI programmed with just enough of William’s knowledge to take his place in the Delos offices and facilitate Hale’s plan, but I don’t think he ever woke up in that body thinking he was the real William, which is the trick that never seems to work.
Host William definetely isn’t a human consciousness in a host body. William wouldn’t be going along with Hale’s plan. Human William is Hale’s prisoner. It seems like host-William is a host that Hale implanted a decent amount of human William’s personality into but also programmed him to be completely subservient.
I also got the impression that Hale designed the Host-Caleb we followed throughout this episode and the others that had attempted escape to have a limited lifespan, just enough time to eventually reach the radio and send Frankie a message. The 3 other Caleb’s we saw in the cells I don’t think had this limited lifespan built in, and were all attempts at actually resurrecting Caleb’s consciousness in a permanent host body, they all show the same behaviours of self-harm etc we’ve seen in previous resurrection attempts and have been around long enough to see multiple other Caleb’s attempt escape and give hints to new hosts. Catching up on this season and haven’t watched episode 7 yet so apologies if this has already been cleared up.
He could be a hostage I guess for trapping Frankie and the rebels? With this show who knows?
With this show who knows?This should be the tagline of the show.
WestworldWith this show who knows?
I’d argue that the mother isn’t brought back from the dead in the last scene of A.I. The mother was shown repeatedly to reject David in real life. And suddenly, she turns into a loving, accepting mother to him.What most likely happens is that the 41st century robots want to study mankind, with whom they never had any kind of direct interaction. They know that David was programmed to mimic the emotions of a 12-year-old boy, and is the closest thing to a real human being they’ll ever get, even if he’s a totally outdated unit. So, they tell him a fairy tale, that they can resurrect his mommy for a limited time through the help of the strand of her hair, and that can only happen once. Which makes no sense given that her personality and her memories were never coded in her DNA, or that they don’t need to use the entire strand. But that’s totally the kind of bullshit that a kid would buy.So, they immerse David into a simulation, where the roles get reverted, based on what they found inside his memory units, and they trick him into assuming that it’s real. He had spent all his life trying to get his mother to accept him, as a real boy. And he gets his wish, except that it’s not his mother but some projection of how he imagined his mother to be. She even says that she had always loved him, which is definitely not true. And this way, the robots can study how he would react alongside humans, how kids were supposed to play, show affection, etc. The irony is that, when you think about it, you’re sad for David, because he will be unplugged after this (there’s no room for him in this new world), and that the last vestige of humanity ultimately turned out to be a robot, but more human than most human characters seen in the film. He even gets a fairy tale ending to hide the harsh truth.
You appear to be correct except William’s host is somewhat stable. What the show has NOT answered is how Charlotte Hale has been able to create hosts from humans she has not captured. For example, young Frankie was created to lure Caleb to the flies at the new Westworld but Charlotte never captured Frankie. Same with the leader of the insurgent in the desert. He met his host in the City when going after the outlier. Can anyone explain this?
I think the explanation there is that the host body fabricator is so advanced that you can just feed it a few still images from someone’s social media feed, and it spits out an exact 3D printed body double. Of course, it’s 100% accurate because whenever they want to show a host double of a human character, they just bring back the same actor to play the host.The physical side of this has been portrayed as totally trivial since the start of the series, with the difficulty being managing the emotional and psychological stability of the hosts.
This show fucking blows. Unwatchable. Battlestar Galactica did these themes much, much better.
Sadly, I think you’re right. I was riveted by all the mysteries in Season 1 and now I can’t find a single storyline I care about. I’m going to finish the season, but won’t bother tuning in for a Season 5 if there is one.
Amen. Terrible writing. Pointless characters. Repetitive, video-game-style nonsense. I hate watch because I enjoyed season 1, but getting to the end of my rope with this jumbled mess.
This show fucking blows. But somehow still very Unwatchable.FIFY
This episode cribbed so hard from Chell’s storyline in the game Portal that I thought it would get mentioned in the credits.
And here I was going to bring up either the Doctor Who episode “Heaven Sent” or the Sam Rockwell vehicle Moon.
They took more than the iterative cloning idea from Portal – they also cribbed the whole wall markings from previous iterations showing the path forward to the current copy
maybe I would not be the main character but the villain who would rightfully expect everyone to adhere to the very strict rules I’ve created for themSeems a bit gutsy for a reviewer to admit they’d do some war crimes if only they had the authority. Good job.
When Hale finally figures out how the outliers are “infecting” the hosts:
Maeve’s degraded pearl was being synced with the
alternate pearl, hidden in the piano by Bernard to avoid detection. Bernard and
Stubbs were tied up and supposedly restrained. How did Maeve spring into action
to kill Host Jay….how did her pearl get re-inserted into her body and by whom?
I think we’re supposed to assume Frankie made the decision to to put it in before Daniel Wu shows up and turns on her. All I got at least.
Oh also wtf is up with Bernard maybe collecting data on the rebels? I haven’t seen anyone comment on that here nor in the review…. is the endgame that Bernard is aware of that humans go extinct and he “saves” the outliers by having them wake up as Hosts as Caleb did… if so whaaaaat in the fuck kind of bs ending is that?
That sounds right. Didn’t they say that humans going extinct is inevitable, even Rehoboam was just working to delay the inevitable?
“You have to trust me!”Is there some reason he can’t just explain what’s going on? It seems a lot more likely that these rebels who don’t trust you will listen to a reasonable explanation of your plan than they will to just blindly trust you. (Except that the plot requires it)
I was amused, but kind of not surprised during the C vs Host-Jay scene, at the well-worn trope of “I know you’re a near-unstoppable killer robot, whose weak spot is the head/brain, but despite my proficiency in combat, I will fire all of my bullets into your torso”.Good thing Maeve was on hand with a knife and some common sense.
Yeah that was dumb. How have they made it 20+ years? It would be more believable if we heard Halores say she’s told the hosts NOT to harm the rebels, as she finds them a source of amusement …
This reviewer seems to be basing these letter grade soley on how involved Maeve is per episode, we get it, you like Maeve.
the final paragraph
“And hopefully, the confrontation will involve those other characters who were nowhere to be found in this outing. We can only hope, I guess.”
This isn’t a sitcom where every principle ensemble member needs to have a certain amount of screentime? What are you talking about? Last weeks episode was entirely Christina… This show has always operated this way…. why are you acting so upset about this now? That just seems like an arbitrary gripe… You don’t have to like Caleb, but you do have to review this episode, just saying.
I liked Aaron Paul in Breaking Bad, but his Batman/Clint Eastwood growl he’s doing in this show is a bit much and I can’t say he’s the only current actor in Hollywood guilty of doing it these days.
So no one’s talked about the wierd hats/mirror exposition that Bernard looked frankly embarrassed about? One interesting tidbit was the dump that they tested the hosts in a simulation originally… With Bernard realing off multiverse probabilities I actually think that s3/s4 (maybe even s2) is a glorified threat modelling simulation to see what would happen if the hosts went rogue (the trigger being Ford’s death). The ‘robot heaven’ is just the program Ford’s created to model all threat possibilities. So, Hale will eventually ‘win’, the simulation ends and then we’ll go back to Ford, who’s doing what he can to ensure the hosts are safe… It was all a dream, simulation, etc…
Why must Clementine be so sidelined?Was she ever not?
Speaking of COVID impacting the production and stories- for the past couple episodes, I;ve noticed various BG players wearing masks. Always the same type of mask, in black.
There was a bartender in the 3rd ep, a ccouple of waiters and patron-types. Just a handful in the BG, but easy to spot.Did the actors just not take off tgeir masks for that take, or is it something elae?