Westworld (2016) [Season 1, Episode 1]
The Original (68 min)
Shown 02 Oct 16
Dolores Abernathy (
Evan Rachel Wood
) lives in a small town in the wild west.
One day Teddy Flood (James Marsden -
X-Men
) comes into town on the railroad,
and the couple go for a ride together.
Unfortunately they run into The Man in Black (Ed Harris -
The Abyss
).
Everyone who is familiar with the original movie
Westworld (1973)
, written and directed by
Michael Crichton
, will know that this is set in a simulation.
The townsfolk are artificial persons, referred to as Hosts,
whose job is to provide interpersonal entertainment for the paying guests.
Bernard Lowe (Jeffrey Wright -
Casino Royale
), in charge of the Hosts,
knows that they store memories despite a daily mind-wipe.
However, neither he nor his boss Dr. Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins -
Silence of the Lambs
) realise how badly things might go wrong.
Somehow this simulation, a sanitised version of the Wild West,
is reminiscent of Fair Haven - the sanitised Victorian Irish town on the holodeck of
Star Trek: Voyager
. After being left to run constantly,
the holodeck characters became self-aware.
A new software update called The Reverie is intended to make the Hosts more emotional,
which will make them appear more human.
However, it has unusual side-effects.
Somehow it allows the Hosts to access their previous memories.
It may have inadvertently started to make them sentient.
Westworld (2016) [Season 1, Episode 2]
Chestnut
Shown 09 Oct 16
The first episode established the show's setting.
Now we get a human protagonist we can relate to.
William (Jimmi Simpson -
Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter
) arrives as a paying guest.
His humanity, as a first-time user,
contasts sharply with the inhumanity of the other guests.
Maeve Millay (
Thandie Newton
), the madame in the town brothel, is under review by the show-runners.
She has been dreaming, and has a plan to wake herself
the next time she has a nightmare.
Westworld (2016) [Season 1, Episode 3]
The Stray
Shown 16 Oct 16
Elsie Hughes (
Shannon Woodward
) the lesbian engineer teams up with Ashley Stubbs (Luke Hemsworth -
The Anomaly
) the generic security guard
to hunt down a stray robot that has wandered off into the wilderness.
This is the most recent of many that have been acting very strangely.
Teddy Flood (James Marsden -
X-Men
), man of mystery, finally gets a backstory.
Dr. Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins -
Silence of the Lambs
) has invented a storyline that involves a new arch-villain named Wyatt.
Dolores Abernathy (
Evan Rachel Wood
) is beginning to get her memories back.
She remembers that The Man in Black (Ed Harris -
The Abyss
) attacked her.
The scene was filmed to be reminiscent of High Plains Drifter (1973),
so Feminists were upset about the implied sexual assault of a robot.
They did not care that the villain was later walking about with a scalp,
or even question who he cut it from.
Now the answer seems obvious.
Westworld (2016) [Season 1, Episode 4]
Dissonance Theory
Shown 23 Oct 16
Dolores Abernathy (
Evan Rachel Wood
) joins William (Jimmi Simpson -
Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter
) and Logan (Ben Barnes -
Prince Caspian
) on an adventure.
They are part of a posse that wants the bounty on Wyatt.
The Man in Black (Ed Harris -
The Abyss
) continues his quest.
His next clue is tied into the Wyatt storyline,
even though this is apparently a new storyline
and the MIB's other clues involve the oldest parts of Westworld.
Westworld (2016) [Season 1, Episode 5]
Contrapasso
Shown 30 Oct 16
Dr. Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins -
Silence of the Lambs (1992)
) has another chat with his robot buddy, Wild Bill (Michael Wincott -
The Crow
). Ford's monologue is reminiscent of Attenborough's in
Jurassic Park (1993)
- which is another version of the same story by the same creator, the late
Michael Crichton
.
William (Jimmi Simpson -
Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter
) and Logan (Ben Barnes -
Prince Caspian
) are south of the fictional border.
Dolores Abernathy (
Evan Rachel Wood
) gives them some exposition about some former Confederate soldiers.
Logan wants to lose himself in the fantasy,
and keeps urging William to play on the wild side.
Be careful what you wish for.
Dolores wants to be in a story where she is not a damsel in distress.
Well, real-life pioneer women were tough and resourceful,
like the ones who inspired
L. Frank Baum
to create the character of Dorothy in
The Wizard of Oz
. The damsel-in-distress trope only exists because Westworld mimics Hollywood movies.
By empowering the female character, the system is only becoming more realistic.
The Man in Black (Ed Harris -
The Abyss
) continues his quest.
He now has Teddy Flood (James Marsden -
X-Men
), who cares more about saving Dolores than about taking revenge on Wyatt.
Unfortunately, Teddy needs a blood transfusion.
Does the MIB have the means to do a field-repair on a robot?
Ford speaks with Dolores,
in what seems to be her nightly check-up.
The characters move very quickly over vast distances,
like in the later Seasons of
Game of Thrones
. This is very confusing, because unlike GOT there is no clear timeline.
It turns out that Ford's partner died thirty-four years previously,
just before the Westworld park opened.
Yes, they have had humanoid replicant robots for over three decades
and nobody has apparently weaponised them in all that time.
Only now is artificial intelligence becoming possible,
even though the military-industrial complex probably has far better computer hardware.
Small Soldiers (1998)
anyone?
Westworld (2016) [Season 1, Episode 6]
The Adversary
Shown 06 Nov 16
Maeve Millay (
Thandie Newton
) has mastered a work-around, and confronts one of the repair crew.
Since she has begun to get her memories back, it must seem like
Groundhog Day (1992)
. But when she discovers the truth,
she gets caught in a logic trap like something in
Star Trek: TOS
.
Elsie Hughes (
Shannon Woodward
) has informed Bernard Lowe (Jeffrey Wright -
Casino Royale
) about the industrial espionage.
He discovers that there are five more anomalous robots.
Will this end up like the Final Four Cylons in
Battlestar Galactica (2003)
?
Lee Sizemore (Simon Quarterman -
The Devil Inside (2012)
) has gone off on sick leave ever since Ford trashed his plans.
He tries to hook up with a mysterious bikini babe (
Tessa Thompson
).
The Man in Black (Ed Harris -
The Abyss
) and Teddy Flood (James Marsden -
X-Men
) try to bluff their way past the Union army.
Unfortunately the soldiers know Teddy's new backstory.
Westworld (2016) [Season 1, Episode 7]
Trompe L'Oeil
Shown 13 Nov 16
William (Jimmi Simpson -
Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter
) and Dolores Abernathy (
Evan Rachel Wood
) discover their train is passing through hostile territory.
The corporate woman (
Tessa Thompson
) may be a new arrival, but she certainly makes her presence felt.
She illustrates the decadent hedonism that the human race has been corrupted to
once the sex robots have made everyone's life easier.
In all fairness, the robots have existed for thirty years
and they have apparently not been weaponised or commercialised like in
Humans (2014)
.
Bernard Lowe (Jeffrey Wright -
Casino Royale
) suspects something is wrong, but Elsie Hughes (
Shannon Woodward
) is nowhere to be found.
He and Dr. Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins -
Silence of the Lambs (1992)
) are called in for a graphic demonstration of what can go wrong with the robots.
This is part of the corporate takeover ploy.
The board wants to control the intellectual property
so they can remove Ford from the park he created.
Their end-game is weaponisation and commercialisation.
So far, Dr Ford has only guest-starred in other characters' storylines.
Now we get to see what he is really capable -
and it is long worth the wait.
Westworld (2016) [Season 1, Episode 8]
Trace Decay
Shown 20 Nov 16
The Man in Black (Ed Harris -
The Abyss
) and Teddy Flood (James Marsden -
X-Men
) close in on Wyatt's gang.
Somehow Teddy's memory starts to come back,
and he has lost his inability to attack guests.
At least we get to the MIB's backstory.
Maeve Millay (
Thandie Newton
) takes the next steps in her plan.
With the ability to make up the story as she goes along,
the world is now her oyster.
But her memories of the MIB are coming back.
William (Jimmi Simpson -
Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter
) and Dolores Abernathy (
Evan Rachel Wood
) get to the site of an old village.
This may be part of the new narrative that Ford has created.
But Logan (Ben Barnes -
Prince Caspian
) has joined his captors, the Confederale gang that is after William.
Westworld (2016) [Season 1, Episode 9]
The Well-Tempered Clavier
Shown 27 Nov 16
The inmates start to take over the asylum.
Maeve Millay (
Thandie Newton
) confronts Bernard Lowe (Jeffrey Wright -
Casino Royale
), who then sets out to confront Dr. Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins -
Silence of the Lambs (1992)
). Nobody is better placed to bypass the Asimov blocks.
The Man in Black (Ed Harris -
The Abyss
) and Teddy Flood (James Marsden -
X-Men
) are prisoners of Wyatt's men.
We get some info on who Wyatt really is.
William (Jimmi Simpson -
Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter
) and Dolores Abernathy (
Evan Rachel Wood
) are in the hands of Logan (Ben Barnes -
Prince Caspian
). They will have to use brutality to get out.
Westworld (2016) [Season 1, Episode 10]
The Bicameral Mind (90 min)
Shown 04 Dec 16
William (Jimmi Simpson -
Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter
) takes Logan (Ben Barnes -
Prince Caspian
) in search of Dolores Abernathy (
Evan Rachel Wood
). This leads on to a most unexpected conclusion,
which at least explains certain apparent discrepancies.
Meanwhile, she and the Man in Black (Ed Harris -
The Abyss
) are at the centre of the maze, where she has flashbacks of her creator (Jeffrey Wright -
Casino Royale
). This gives us further exposition as to Wyatt's original rampage.
Maeve Millay (
Thandie Newton
) starts her breakout, and is not averse to the use of violence.
However, she does not understand that she might still be someone's pawn .
Dr. Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins -
Silence of the Lambs (1992)
) is being ousted by the corporate woman (
Tessa Thompson
). However, he has a final story to tell.
This leads directly on to the next Season.
Westworld (2016) [Season 2, Episode 1]
Journey Into Night (74 min)
Shown 22 Apr 18
Bernard Lowe (Jeffrey Wright -
Casino Royale
) wakes up two weeks after the massacre.
A Special Forces unit led by Detective Kima from The Wire has arrived.
This is bad news for Simon from
The Walking Dead
, but good news for Security Chief Ashley Stubbs (Luke Hemsworth -
The Anomaly
). Yes, generic blond guy is back without a scratch on him
despite being abducted by Native Americans
in a velociraptor-style attack at the end of Season One.
There is a new corporate executive in charge, Karl Strand (Gustaf Skarsgard -
Vikings
), who pays off the local Third World government so his own people will be in charge.
Evidently Westworld is on an island somewhere on the Pacific rim of Asia.
The rescue is a flash-forward,
with the main story taking place immediately after the massacre.
Bernard and the corporate woman, Charlotte Hale (
Tessa Thompson
), escaped together.
She had a secret base underneath the island,
which means that the entire complicated espionage scheme in Season One
was completely unnecessary.
The Man in Black (Ed Harris -
The Abyss
) also survived the massacre.
Now he has what he wants - a game with high stakes.
And Robert has arranged it so this game is specifically for him.
Maeve Millay (
Thandie Newton
) went back for her kid.
While looking for her tame technicians she finds Lee Sizemore (Simon Quarterman -
The Devil Inside (2012)
), a selfish weasel who will help her in order to keep himself alive.
With his brains and her brawn they might have a chance,
although it is only a matter of time before one betrays the other.
She has the bandito, her love interest, along for support.
Dolores Abernathy (
Evan Rachel Wood
) is leading Teddy Flood (James Marsden -
X-Men
) around as they kill anything that moves.
She wants to show him the truth,
so that he understands how the robots have been controlled and manipulated.
She describes the humans as creatures that walk among us, but they are not like us.
It seems like she is channelling one of the vampires in
I Am Legend
- the book, not the CGI-Fest movie.
After all, she complains about being killed
but very few of the robots have ever faced Final Death.
Like vampires, they never grow old and never die -
just come back with their wounds regenerated.
Westworld (2016) [Season 2, Episode 2]
Reunion
Shown 29 Apr 18
Dolores Abernathy (
Evan Rachel Wood
) and Teddy Flood (James Marsden -
X-Men
) have started taking over the island's facilities.
They plan to hold it against the relief force, whenever that arrives.
Maeve Millay (
Thandie Newton
) and Lee Sizemore (Simon Quarterman -
The Devil Inside (2012)
) finally meet Dolores Abernathy.
Dolores is building an army, but Maeve turns her down.
After all, Dolores uses her own capacity for free will
to deprive everyone else of their own.
The Man in Black (Ed Harris -
The Abyss
) tries to build his own army.
However, Robert has stacked the deck against him.
El Lazo (Giancarlo Esposito -
Once Upon A Time
) follows Robert's rules.
In the flashbacks, Logan (Ben Barnes -
Prince Caspian
) gets the first pitch for investment in Westworld.
William (Jimmi Simpson -
Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter
) then tries to convince his father-in-law, Mr Delos (Peter Mullan -
Session 9
), of the proposal's merit.
Westworld (2016) [Season 2, Episode 3]
Virtù e Fortuna
Shown 06 May 18
The episode's pre-credits sequence is set in a tiger hunt.
Nicholas (Neil Jackson -
Blade: The Series
) hooks up with a female guest, Emily (
Katja Hebers
). One of them might become a recurring character,
if they survive the natives - and the tiger.
Bernard Lowe (Jeffrey Wright -
Casino Royale
) and the corporate woman Charlotte Hale (
Tessa Thompson
) go searching for the special host.
They run into Simon from
The walking Dead
. The good news is that they reprogramme him,
turning him from a violent raper to a white knight.
In fact, this is such a cost-effective solution
they should just do this to all the robots they can find
and thus secure the island without risking human lives.
Dolores Abernathy (
Evan Rachel Wood
) teams up with Colonel Brigham (Fredric Lehne -
Supernatural
). She has a plan to wipe out the human counterattack.
But she has no respect for the free will of others,
so how far can the Confederales trust her?
Well, the Confederales are basically American Civil War reenactors
but the human security forces use Civil War tactics.
Maeve Millay (
Thandie Newton
) and her sidekicks team up with a few familiar faces.
This should improve their chances of getting to her destination.
Westworld (2016) [Season 2, Episode 4]
The Riddle of the Sphinx (71 min)
Shown 13 May 18
Mr Delos (Peter Mullan -
Session 9
) is in a sanitorium, when he is visited by William (Jimmi Simpson -
Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter
). As always with this show, nothing is what it seems.
The Man in Black (Ed Harris -
The Abyss
) discovers what happened to the Confederales who escaped Wyatt last time.
He has to make a decision of his own -
team up with the villains, or save a village of decent people.
Bernard Lowe (Jeffrey Wright -
Casino Royale
) discovers what happened to Elsie Hughes (
Shannon Woodward
) the lesbian engineer.
He also discovers that Ford somehow knew about at least one of HQ's secret labs.
Ford even had a way of hijacking the super-secret off-network robots.
As with this whole subplot,
it asks more questions than it answers.
The girl hunter, Emily (
Katja Hebers
), gets held prisoner alongside Ashley Stubbs (Luke Hemsworth -
The Anomaly
).
Westworld (2016) [Season 2, Episode 5]
Akane No Mai
Shown 20 May 18
In the flash-forwards, Bernard Lowe (Jeffrey Wright -
Casino Royale
) is with the recovery teams.
They think they are making progress.
However, they do not realise they are walking into some kind of trap.
Maeve Millay (
Thandie Newton
) and her group have taken a shortcut through the Samurai zone.
The local ronin and geishas have the same personality templates and backstories
as the bandito and whores from Westworld.
Unfortunately they are now going off the script.
Worse, the locals only speak Japanese,
which means that Maeve's verbal voodoo will not work.
However, the robots regularly get updated by wifi signals
they receive from the nearest technician's tablet computer.
It seems she might be able to broadcast as well as receive.
Dolores Abernathy (
Evan Rachel Wood
) takes Teddy Flood (James Marsden -
X-Men
) back to Sweetwater. It is all part of her plan.
Westworld (2016) [Season 2, Episode 6]
Phase Space
Shown 27 May 18
Dolores Abernathy (
Evan Rachel Wood
) relives her conversation with Bernard Lowe (Jeffrey Wright -
Casino Royale
). However, this scene has a lot in common
with the one between William (Jimmi Simpson -
Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter
) and his father-in-law Mr Delos (Peter Mullan -
Session 9
) a few episodes ago.
The Man in Black (Ed Harris -
The Abyss
) reluctantly accepts his daughter in the posse,
for the moment at least.
Charlotte Hale (
Tessa Thompson
) and Ashley Stubbs (Luke Hemsworth -
The Anomaly
) got their target to the HQ.
A few technicians have survived there.
They are joined by a team of mercenaries who parachute in,
led by a man with a very unusual Scottish/Afrikaans accent.
Bernard and Elise follow the train line to the terminus.
They get to the mainframe, without encountering other humans.
Bernard tries to interface with the system,
and discovers the identity of the person
Ford copied into an artifical intelligence.
Dolores Abernathy (
Evan Rachel Wood
) and her newly improved Teddy Flood (James Marsden -
X-Men
) take a train ride together.
Yes, this is part of her plan as well.
Westworld (2016) [Season 2, Episode 7]
Les Ecorches
Shown 03 Jun 18
Bernard Lowe (Jeffrey Wright -
Casino Royale
) and Ashley Stubbs (Luke Hemsworth -
The Anomaly
) are in the hands of the Delos Security team.
However, it is not a rescue mission.
All the goons care about is recovering vital technology.
Dolores Abernathy (
Evan Rachel Wood
) and Teddy Flood (James Marsden -
X-Men
) attacked the main base.
This leads on to some Bechdel-passing conversations with Charlotte Hale (
Tessa Thompson
) and Maeve Millay (
Thandie Newton
).
Westworld (2016) [Season 2, Episode 8]
Kiksuya
Shown 10 Jun 18
The Man in Black (Ed Harris -
The Abyss
) has been shot up pretty badly.
Not for the first time, but that is life as a villain.
He and Maeve's daughter end up in the hands of a Native American man,
who narrates an extended flashback for them.
Of course, he does it in his own language
so it is not clear if anyone else understands it.
The Native American tribe of robots may be a white man's idea of what they should be like,
but the production credits list several Lakota cultural advisors.
When the storyline was rewritten,
the narrator lost his wife Kohana (
Julia Jones
). His personal quest was to save her.
This led him to encounter a couple of characters
who have been written out of the main storyline.
Westworld (2016) [Season 2, Episode 9]
Vanishing Point
Shown 17 Jun 18
The story flashes back six months.
The Man in Black (Ed Harris -
The Abyss
) had a troubled marriage to Juliet (
Sela Ward
). In the main storyline, he and his daughter Emily (
Katja Hebers
) finally talk about their issues.
Dolores Abernathy (
Evan Rachel Wood
) and Teddy Flood (James Marsden -
X-Men
) also have a heart-to-heart discussion.
Charlotte Hale (
Tessa Thompson
) decides she does not need Maeve Millay (
Thandie Newton
).
Westworld (2016) [Season 2, Episode 10]
The Passenger
Shown 24 Jun 18
Everyone is heading towards the secret valley.
The Man in Black (Ed Harris -
The Abyss
) gets yet another confrontation with Dolores Abernathy (
Evan Rachel Wood
).
This is the climactic finale of the two-Season story arc.
And since this is not a feel-good story,
the ending is pretty brutal and violent.
That said, it is open-ended enough that
two years later the show was brought back for another Season.
Westworld (2016) [Season 3, Episode 1]
Parce Domine (70 min)
Shown 15th March 2020
This starts with an extended recap of the story so far.
Well, this came out two years after the previous Season.
Then we meet Gerald (Thomas Kretschmann -
Stendahl Syndrome
), a creepy billionaire who is the new target of Dolores Abernathy (
Evan Rachel Wood
). Despite having all of the resources of Charlotte Hale (
Tessa Thompson
), this is apparently not enough.
We also learn that Virtual Reality glasses exist,
and are so good that the wearer can even forget they are in VR.
So why would anyone invest in the robot-based Westworld?
Dolores becomes the girlfriend of a different Billionaire.
She hangs out with bimbos like Penny (
Phoebe Tonkin
) while he gets threatened by Corporate types like Martel (
Pom Klementieff
). However, Martin Connells (Tommy Flanagan -
Smoking Aces (2006)
) is the head of security.
The B-story concerns Caleb Nichols (Aaron Paul -
Last House On the Left (2009)
), a regular human who goes about his regular human life.
Mass production of robots
means that manual labour jobs such as his,
in the construction industry,
are over-subscribed.
Likewise, his attempts to get an office job
are stymied by the fact that such jobs
are now done by artificial intelligences.
His only way of gaining extra money is crime,
which has replaced the mainstream gig economy.
Of course, since this is a post-scarcity civilisation
the roboticization should be used to pay for Universal Basic Income.
Instead, like most science fiction
the future is portrayed as an extension of contemporary America.
As in Breaking Bad, characters are driven to crime
because of the lack of affordable or free healthcare for the elderly.
They use cell-phones with apps and hands-free kits,
just like the Americans of the year 2020CE.
Westworld (2016) [Season 3, Episode 2]
The Winter Line
Shown 22nd March 2020
Maeve Millay (
Thandie Newton
) was not one of the five brain-balls that Dolores stole.
Instead, she has been left in Westworld.
This is not the old one -
this is a Nazi vs Resistance scenario,
like in the Hunters double-episode of
Star Trek: Voyager
. The good news is that she meets up with her old love interests.
The bad news is that she is a hypocrite.
She condemns quid-pro-quo arrangements,
but also boasts that she only works for her own self-interest.
The VR simulations of the first episode have been perfected,
so the robots of Delos are obsolete.
A couple of the technicians are Dan and Dave -
AKA Benioff and Weiss, the infamous showrunners of
Game of Thrones
.
Bernard Lowe (Jeffrey Wright -
Casino Royale
) was one of the ones Dolores took.
Since she has used him as a scapegoat and a decoy,
he returns to the last place anyone would look for him.
He discovers Ashley Stubbs (Luke Hemsworth -
The Anomaly
), which could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
Serac (Vincent Cassel -
Brotherhood of the Wolf
) makes his appearance in the final scene.
He controls the brain-ball that controls the world,
and he wants someone to help him protect it.
Westworld (2016) [Season 3, Episode 3]
The Absence of Field
Shown 29th March 2020
This episode focuses on Charlotte Hale (
Tessa Thompson
). She has her hands full,
running Delos and being run by Dolores Abernathy (
Evan Rachel Wood
). However, it turns out that nobody knew the real Hale.
For example, she had an ex-husband and a pre-teen son.
The industrial espionage subplot from Season One
is traced back to the mysterious billionaire Serac (Vincent Cassel -
Brotherhood of the Wolf
). Even Martel (
Pom Klementieff
) works for him.
Westworld (2016) [Season 3, Episode 4]
The Mother of Exiles (70 min)
Shown 05 Apr 20
Serac (Vincent Cassel -
Brotherhood of the Wolf
) has sent Maeve Millay (
Thandie Newton
) to track down the renegades.
Dolores Abernathy (
Evan Rachel Wood
) recruits Caleb Nichols (Aaron Paul -
Last House On the Left (2009)
) to help her rob rich humans.
She takes him to a party for the wealthy: Penny (
Phoebe Tonkin
) is one of the attendees,
while Martin Connells (Tommy Flanagan -
Smoking Aces (2006)
) is the head of security.
Bernard Lowe (Jeffrey Wright -
Casino Royale
) and Ashley Stubbs (Luke Hemsworth -
The Anomaly
) are also hunting Dolores.
However, she is one step ahead of them.
The Man in Black (Ed Harris -
The Abyss
) is haunted by Emily (
Katja Hebers
). Luckily, Charlotte Hale (
Tessa Thompson
) visits him to ask for a favour.
This episode's climax answers the question -
who are the other four personalities that Dolores smuggled out?
Westworld (2016) [Season 3, Episode 5]
Genre
Shown 12 Apr 20
Caleb Nichols (Aaron Paul -
Last House On the Left (2009)
) gets dosed with a drug named Genre,
which supposedly makes him experience life as a movie.
However, all it does is make him experience a sound-track.
Serac (Vincent Cassel -
Brotherhood of the Wolf
) has sent freelancers after Dolores Abernathy (
Evan Rachel Wood
). She has next-generation military technology -
a 40mm grenade launcher that fires loitering munitions.
Westworld (2016) [Season 3, Episode 6]
Decoherence
Shown 19 Apr 20
Dolores Abernathy (
Evan Rachel Wood
) has given the humans the same curse that the Beast gave the Cyclops in
Krull
- the knowledge of their own deaths.
As a result, there is a massive societal upheaval.
Serac (Vincent Cassel -
Brotherhood of the Wolf
) takes advantage of the chaos
to launch his takeover bid on Delos.
This puts Charlotte Hale (
Tessa Thompson
) directly in the firing line.
Westworld (2016) [Season 3, Episode 7]
Passed Pawn
Shown 26 Apr 20
Dolores Abernathy (
Evan Rachel Wood
) takes Caleb Nichols (Aaron Paul -
Last House On the Left (2009)
) to the secret base where Solomon, the first AI, is stored.
She uses another next-gen military product -
a 20mm Steyer bullpup sniper rifle
with an automatic targeting system
and a recon drone to feed back targeting info.
It turns out that Caleb has a secret past that,
by incredible coincidence, overlaps with that of Dolores.
He was a military Special Forces operator,
trained in live-fire exercises on Delos,
who got deployed in Crimea.
Later he and his buddy were ordered to abduct Whitman (Enrico Colantoni -
Galaxy Quest
).
Serac's plan to predict the human species
depends on the removal of the unpredictable ones -
psychopaths and other neurodivergent people.
He does what the criminal justice system did in
Minority Report
- preemptively locked up the criminal element.
The big difference is that he uses a cryogenic prison
and an IA precognition system.
Westworld (2016) [Season 3, Episode 8]
Crisis Theory
Shown 03 May 20
Bernard Lowe (Jeffrey Wright -
Casino Royale
) and Ashley Stubbs (Luke Hemsworth -
The Anomaly
) team up with the Man in Black (Ed Harris -
The Abyss
). However, the MIB now hates all androids.
Although the female robots take incredible amounts of damage,
the
The suicidal people are all gone,
so only the homicidal ones are left.
The city is torn by riots,
which is perfect cover for the next stage of the revolution.
Dolores Abernathy (
Evan Rachel Wood
) plans for Caleb Nichols (Aaron Paul -
Last House On the Left (2009)
) to be a Tyler Durden figure,
but instead of destroying centralised debt
he will be destroying centralised intelligence.
Of course, this will lead to mass casualty events
and population collapse -
making the world an easy target for the revolting robots.
The final conflict, like in
Babylon 5
, is shown as one not between Good and Evil
but rather between Order and Chaos.
Caleb is deemed to be the best man to decide humanity's future
because, despite killing hundreds of humans,
he once turned down a free go on a sex-bot.
The post-credits sequence involves a couple of supporting characters
who were left out of the main storyline
and whose loose plot threads will play a big part in the next Season.
Westworld (2016) [Season 4, Episode 1]
The Auguries
Shown 26 Jun 22
This picks up seven years after the end of the previous Season.
Caleb Nichols (Aaron Paul -
Last House On the Left (2009)
) has gotten married, and is raising a young daughter named Frankie.
The good news is that the riots ended the robot revolution,
since all the robots have now been junked
and human manual labourers like him are in demand again.
However, he is still on someone's hit-list.
Maeve Millay (
Thandie Newton
) has been living alone,
off the grid in a cabin in the woods.
Colonel Brigham (Fredric Lehne -
Supernatural
) turns up looking for her,
sent by the Man in Black (Ed Harris -
The Abyss
).
Dolores Abernathy (
Evan Rachel Wood
) is a writer in a video-game company
working for Emmett (Michael Malarkey -
Project Blue Book
). She is being stalked by a man who accuses her of altering his reality.
Westworld (2016) [Season 4, Episode 2]
Well Enough Alone
Shown 03 Jul 22
Maeve Millay (
Thandie Newton
) and Caleb Nichols (Aaron Paul -
Last House On the Left (2009)
) visit the Senator (Jack Coleman -
Heroes
) in the hope he can help them.
The Man in Black (Ed Harris -
The Abyss
) and Charlotte Hale (
Tessa Thompson
) plan to re-open Delos.
This is not just a business enterprise -
they want to conquer the human species.
Dolores Abernathy (
Evan Rachel Wood
) investigates her stalker.
Westworld (2016) [Season 4, Episode 3]
Annees Folles
Shown 10 Jul 22
Bernard Lowe (Jeffrey Wright -
Casino Royale
) awakens from his years-long slumber.
Ashley Stubbs (Luke Hemsworth -
The Anomaly
) has been guarding him the whole time.
Well, he watched him ... get dusty.
Bernard now has apparently precognitive powers,
since he spent seen years seeing every potential future.
Maeve Millay (
Thandie Newton
) and Caleb Nichols (Aaron Paul -
Last House On the Left (2009)
) arrive at the new Delos resort -
a Roaring Twenties simulation of Chicago.
The script is the same as in the old Westworld,
but the NPCs all have new faces.
Also, the soundtrack has been updated
to a stylish period-appropriate version of Enter Sandman.
Westworld (2016) [Season 4, Episode 4]
Generation Loss
Shown 17 Jul 22
Maeve and Caleb have been acting like blood brothers,
even though they spent little time together in Season Three.
It seems their relationship is copied from Caleb and Dolores.
This episode has flashbacks that fill in the blanks.
Maeve and Caleb get inside the new Delos game,
with the intent of catching Charlotte Hale.
They discover her plan -
not to replace individual humans one by one,
but mass infection by parasites.
This episode is set up as a climactic confrontation.
However, this show is all about deception.
Just like in Season One,
when it turned out that different characters were in different timezones.
Westworld (2016) [Season 4, Episode 5]
Zhuangzi
Shown 24 Jul 22
The Man in Black (Ed Harris -
The Abyss
) takes a hands-on approach to managing his make-believe world.
Charlotte Hale (
Tessa Thompson
) pops in to pay a visit, with a more cruel approach.
She wants him to become a reverse
Blade Runner
, hunting down an outlier to keep the humans in
The Matrix
...
Christina (
Evan Rachel Wood
) works for Olympiad Entertainment.
Her boss Emmett (Michael Malarkey -
Project Blue Book
) encourages her to create new storylines.
She seems to be remembering the backstory of her character at the start of Season One.
Teddy (James Marsden -
Sonic The Hedgehog
) tries to help her see the truth.
Ashley Stubbs (Luke Hemsworth -
The Anomaly
), who helped the robots at the end of Season 2,
now helps the human resistance.
They want to get to the outlier before the Man in Black does.
Unfortunately they miss the opportunity to use the line
Come with me if you want to live.
Westworld (2016) [Season 4, Episode 6]
Fidelity
Shown 31 Jul 22
Bernard (Jeffrey Wright -
No Time To Die
) and his team have recovered Maeve (
Thandiwe Newton
). Now they have to reactivate her, using the outdated tech in Delos.
Unfortunately the human resistance are paranoid,
because one of them may be a duplicate.
Charlotte Hale (
Tessa Thompson
) interrogates Caleb (Aaron Paul -
Last House On the Left (2009)
). This leaves him in a tight spot,
with her mind-games rendering him unable to discern reality from illusion.
He might be just the latest in along line of Caleb duplicates
who all tried to escape the same way.
Of course, it does not occur to him that his predecessors failed
so he keeps following in their blood-stained footprints.
Westworld (2016) [Season 4, Episode 7]
Metanoia
Shown 07 Aug 22
Bernard (Jeffrey Wright -
No Time To Die
) takes Maeve (
Thandiwe Newton
) to the Delos hydro-electric plant,
which looks like the Hoover Dam and is guarded by a CGI Decepticon.
He has run many simulations of this with the Native American host,
and is prepared for defeat or betrayal.
Charlotte Hale (
Tessa Thompson
) has decided to push forward her timetable,
and the hosts will transcend within the next 24 hours.
The humans will be warehoused, and the world will end.
The Man in Black (Ed Harris -
The Abyss
) is unhappy about this,
since he runs the city and will be out of a job.
The human resistance travel from Delos to New York,
seemingly instantaneously on a single tank of fuel.
Well, this is a bit like the final Season of
Game of Thrones
. In all fairness,
this is the new Delos base in the USA
and not the original island somewhere near Asia.
Maeve manages to arrive in time to confront Hale,
which means the episode passes the Bechdel test.
It also evokes the movies of the 1990s,
when the bad guys always had a girl on the team
so she could have a fight scene with the token good girl.
To a 2020s audience, inter-gender combat might seem misogynistic.
Westworld (2016) [Season 4, Episode 8]
Que Sera, Sera
Shown 14 Aug 22
Rebus (Stephen Ogg -
The Walking Dead
) delivers some exposition.
The human population have started killing everyone,
and the android population are in the minority.
The Man in Black (Ed Harris -
The Abyss
) has decided to make everyone play a game of survival of the fittest,
and the only rule is ... winner takes all.
So far, that is the MIB himself.
Charlotte Hale (
Tessa Thompson
) took a shot to the head,
but the MIB knows that hosts are practically unkillable.
Her drones transfer her brain-ball and face to a new body,
this one upgraded to be even more impossible to kill.
Then she locates the MIB and sends the local hosts to slow him down.
Hale sends Clementine (
Angela Sarafyan
) out into the world.
Not to get the MIB, but to seek out where the outliers are hiding.
Her plan is to get the location from Ashley Stubbs (Luke Hemsworth -
The Anomaly
) and the Resistance team
who are currently trying to make their getaway.
Of course, humans and hosts will not be able to peacefully coexist
so she intends to kill off the rest of the humans.
Dolores' brain-ball is the key to everything.
Hale had it all along, and plans to weaponise it.
Unfortunately, the MIB gets to the hydro-electric plant first.
The confrontation between the MIB and Hale
has them both accept that the MIB is somehow corrupted.
However, Hale is also a copy of a human villain ...
So will the woman-of-colour villain be redeemed
while the stale male pale one is the Big Bad?
This being the final ever episode,
the ending is a bit bleak - not even unintentionally so.
The surviving robots just want to upload to
The Matrix
, while the human survivors can inherit a dead world.
At least Caleb's daughter is grown up and in a relationship,
so they can repopulate the world.
Unfortunately she, like Olly's son in
Arrow
and Barry's daughter in
The Flash
, is as gay as Kate Kane in
Batwoman
. Dolores gives a final monologue at the end,
completely washing over the fact that she caused the apocalypse.
