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We’re past the midpoint of Westworld‘s debut run and finally things are starting to become more coherent. ‘The Adversary’ was a tense and, sometimes, creepy offering, and just may be Westworld‘s finest offering to date.
The Man in Black’s story didn’t really progress at all this week; his and Teddy’s ambush and subsequent capture felt like filler material to stall them from reuniting with Dolores until next week. I’m quite excited to see this happen though – I wonder if Dolores will remember what the Man in Black did to her. But the fact that Teddy knows she is in Pariah with William suggests that both stories are taking place in the same time period, and that William isn’t actually the Man in Black from the past. Oh well, I’m sure there’ll be a bigger twist to come anyway.
Likewise Lee’s story, in which he got drunk and pissed on the gigantic map of Westworld, seemed shoehorned in for a little bit of humour in an otherwise dark episode, but I’m sure it’ll have importance next week. I wonder what Ford will have to say about his park being taken over?
Speaking of Ford – we all knew it, didn’t we? We all knew the little kid was a robot version of him. This scene was both creepy and emotional. We’d all love to replicate lost loved ones, and Anthony Hopkins managed to bring empathy towards Ford, whereas previously we’ve felt little in the way of likeability for his character. Don’t get me wrong, he’s brilliant, but he’s obviously dark, too. Ford is becoming increasingly convinced that Arnold is alive, or rather has left part of his consciousness in the park. I guess we’ll have to wait till the finale to find out, but I can’t wait!
And we also knew that Elsie was going to get abducted when she was discovering incriminating evidence about the original Hosts going against their core directives, but it didn’t make it any less shocking. Who has her? Arnold? Certainly not Theresa (speaking of which – the fact that it’s she who is sending data out of the park came as no surprise at all!), but I’ll be surprised if Elsie survives next week. A shame. I like her.
But once more it’s Thandie Newton who steals the show, as Maeve manipulates Felix and later Sylvester. The long shot in which Felix takes her through the upper levels in which she sees what happens to the Hosts when they’re killed in the park, how they’re crafted to begin with, and her realisation that her ‘dreams’ are actual residual memories, was haunting and creepy. It was scored beautifully, and Newton exceptionally conveyed the confusion and horror that her character was feeling. Give her an award already!
But what will it mean now that she’s been given complete intelligence? Surely the inevitable uprising is going to happen sooner rather than later, but Maeve is just one Host. She can’t do much by herself, so she’s going to have to amp up the intelligence of some others before anything can realistically happen. With Newton’s seductive charm, I’m sure she’ll be more than capable.
As a side note, HBO seriously need to renew this show already! I’m starting to get a little worried.
