Summary: Hector comes to Maeve and offers to help her escape. They go together but Maeve realizes that it's all just his loop. She wakes up in the lab and is surprised to find that Felix and Sylvester don't recognize her. She sees Lee who has survived his injuries. Lee takes her to the forge, but Maeve quickly realizes that Lee is a host, and the entire world is a simulation. She overloads the simulation and crashes it, allowing herself access into the real world where she gets a drone to retrieve her core and remove it from the simulation. After, Maeve wakes up and meets Serac who wants to recruit her to fight Dolores. Meanwhile, Bernard gets to Westworld and finds Stubbs who he realizes is a host. Stubbs has tried to kill himself after freeing Bernard since he has no purpose anymore. Bernard and Stubbs try to locate Maeve but discover that someone else has taken her core. Bernard gives Stubbs a new purpose: to protect him, and they go hunt for Maeve.
The Good: This is "Westworld" falling back on what it's good at to set up for the rest of the season. The Maeve storyline is everything we've come to expect from the show, filled with hosts on their loops, constant questioning of what's real and what's not and some pretty fun action. It's enjoyable to watch and the episode benefits from the show falling back on what it's good at. The writing is very strong here. I love how episode slowly reveals its series of twists to let us know where and when Maeve is. The mystery is introduced early on and it's refreshing to see a complete story as we aren't left with any tedious questions coming out of the episode. It's a complete mystery packed into an hour of television as we follow Maeve discovering she's in a simulation and ultimately breaking free into the real world. The Bernard storyline is solid too. Unlike the previous episode, Bernard has direction now as he hunts for Maeve, which will presumably take him to Serac. The return of Stubbs is welcome and I do like the reveal that he's a host. Speaking of Serac, the introduction of this new character was easily the highlight of the episode (see: Best Moment). I'm interested to find out who he is and what his motives are. Vincent Cassel is an excellent addition to the cast, and he stole the show in his one scene. The Bad: The problem with the show returning to the status quo is that it just doesn't interest me anymore. I'm tired of meaningless twists and confused timelines, so I just ended up groaning when I realized that's where this episode was headed. Was it fun to watch? Sure. But there is nothing under the surface here. It's just some fun television to watch as long as you turn your brain off and don't expect to get any kind of interesting character development or deeper themes. Maeve, like Dolores, has just become a killing machine, and she hardly has any character anymore. I don't feel like I can relate very much to her, and so there's an emotional disconnect. So watching Maeve simply escaping a simulation doesn't have me at the edge of my seat at all. It's merely intriguing to me and I don't get any greater emotions coming out of the episode. It's a shame because despite how well written and well directed this episode was, it did nothing to enthrall me. The Game of Thrones reference was pretty unnecessary and took me out of the episode a little bit. It's a nice nod and I would have appreciated it more had it been integrated more naturally into the show's world. But instead it was more distracting than anything else. I really don't have much to say about this episode which is telling. The show remains fun but there isn't a whole lot to dive into at the moment. The Unknown: Why was Maeve put in a simulation? Did Serac do this? Why? Did he anticipate Maeve's escape so they could have their meeting? Why did he go through the trouble of doing all of this? Who is he anyways? What is this system that he created? How is Serac able to control Maeve? What is the device that he has? Will Maeve eventually agree to work against Dolores? Will Bernard track down Serac? Best Moment: Maeve wakes in a well-maintained garden and meets with Serac who knows exactly who she is and proposes an alliance with her. The scene features some incredible acting with both Maeve and Serac trying to control the flow of their conversation, each trying to accomplish their own goals. Maeve wants to understand the nature of her own reality and kill Serac, while Serac wants to win over Maeve's trust and loyalty. Serac is good, but Maeve's confidence in following her own path is too much and she decides to kill him. However, Serac is surprisingly able to control her and shuts down her functions. Then, presumably he prepares to reset the scene and try yet another approach to get her to trust him. It's a very well-written scene filled with intrigue, captivating dialogue and a pair of superb performances. Character of the Episode: Maeve. Conclusion: This was better than the season premier at least, but "Westworld" still hasn't convinced me that it's worth watching this season. While this episode was fun, there wasn't enough under the surface to invest me in the story that is being told. Score: 58
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
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