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Westworld S4 Ep 2: Well Enough Alone
from ew: https://ew.com/tv/recaps/westworld-season-4-episode-2/
By Andrew Walsh
July 03, 2022 at 10:01 PM EDT
This week's chapter, "Well Enough Alone," features a few characters who really should have just taken their little bribes and minded their own business. Especially if they didn't want to join the growing list of people taken over by robot flies.
We open in Mexico, where we find our old friend from Maeve's (Thandiwe Newton) brothel, Clementine (Angela Sarafyen), in hiding. William (Ed Harris), the Man in Black (or is he the Host in Black?), has found her and demands to know where Maeve is, but she claims she doesn't know. He shoots her, and before he slits her throat, she tells him that even if she knew where to find Maeve, she'd see him "in hell" before she told him.
Maeve, it turns out, is on the road with Caleb (Aaron Paul), headed to the palatial California estate of Senator Ken Whitney (Jack Coleman), and his wife, Anastasia (Saffron Burrows). It's quickly revealed that both Mr. and Mrs. Whitney are actually hosts. Maeve and Caleb fight the imposters, and she discovers her wi-fi telepathy powers aren't as effective on these newer models. "It appears William has upgraded his henchmen," she tells Caleb.
She scans the memories of the Host Senator and discovers that William and Charlotte (Tessa Thompson) were behind the robotic replacements. They killed the real Senator Whitney for refusing to play ball with Delos, but kept Anastasia alive for a mysterious experiment Charlotte is running.
They search the grounds and find Anastasia in a stable full of dead horses, surrounded by flies, in a fugue state. When Caleb addresses her by name, she seems to receive a signal only she can hear, then tells them they're invited to "opening night." An old friend is anxious for a reunion. "Don Giovanni." Maeve kills her as an act of mercy.
At Delos, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Counterterrorism Jim Navarro (Josh Randall) — try saying that title three times fast — arrives on behalf of the Justice Department, and is greeted by a new, reprogrammed version of Clementine. He demands to speak with William, but she refuses to let him pass without an appointment.
Christina/Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) keeps replaying the events of Peter's (Aaron Stanford) attack from the premiere. His words about "the tower" — and how she ruined his life — haunt her. Maya (Ariana DeBose) reads Peter's obituary aloud to prove his life was already ruined, and informs Christina that Hope Center for Mental Health was his "charity of choice." A startled Christina recognizes writing something like this once, and rushes off to work. It's very convenient that Maya had this obit already pulled up on her phone. Could she be a host NPC designed to manipulate Christina into solving another maze like the one in the park?
As Christina walks to work, an unhoused man — making sketches in charcoal— yells there is a "song with no sound" coming from the tower and it's "killing them." She asks about the tower and he shouts that "no one can hear its music but me. Me and the birds." When she gets to Olympiad Entertainment, she finds dead birds on the ground outside the building. Frightened, she chooses not to go inside. Look, I get it. I've called out of work for much less.
William and Clementine receive a visit from the Vice President (José Zúñiga), along with two secret service agents, on a private golf course. William sinks every shot he makes in one stroke, lending more credence to the idea that he is a host. The Veep came sans entourage because this is a "friendly" conversation about the "mess out West." Apparently William is up to something that is making a lot of people nervous. When William pushes back, the Veep threatens to crush him. In a surprise to no one except Mr. Vice President and his secret service detail, things take a turn for the worse. Clementine dispatches the agents, and William takes a swing at the V.P. with his golf club before we cut to black. It seems safe to assume he didn't miss that shot either.
Maeve and Caleb arrive at the Angeles Arts Pavilion, dressed to the nines, for a performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni, funded by… you guessed it… Delos. Before he and Maeve head into this obvious trap, he shares their coordinates with his associate, Carver (Manny Montana), who is keeping watch over Caleb's family.
This week's chapter, "Well Enough Alone," features a few characters who really should have just taken their little bribes and minded their own business. Especially if they didn't want to join the growing list of people taken over by robot flies.
We open in Mexico, where we find our old friend from Maeve's (Thandiwe Newton) brothel, Clementine (Angela Sarafyen), in hiding. William (Ed Harris), the Man in Black (or is he the Host in Black?), has found her and demands to know where Maeve is, but she claims she doesn't know. He shoots her, and before he slits her throat, she tells him that even if she knew where to find Maeve, she'd see him "in hell" before she told him.
Maeve, it turns out, is on the road with Caleb (Aaron Paul), headed to the palatial California estate of Senator Ken Whitney (Jack Coleman), and his wife, Anastasia (Saffron Burrows). It's quickly revealed that both Mr. and Mrs. Whitney are actually hosts. Maeve and Caleb fight the imposters, and she discovers her wi-fi telepathy powers aren't as effective on these newer models. "It appears William has upgraded his henchmen," she tells Caleb.
She scans the memories of the Host Senator and discovers that William and Charlotte (Tessa Thompson) were behind the robotic replacements. They killed the real Senator Whitney for refusing to play ball with Delos, but kept Anastasia alive for a mysterious experiment Charlotte is running.
They search the grounds and find Anastasia in a stable full of dead horses, surrounded by flies, in a fugue state. When Caleb addresses her by name, she seems to receive a signal only she can hear, then tells them they're invited to "opening night." An old friend is anxious for a reunion. "Don Giovanni." Maeve kills her as an act of mercy.
At Delos, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Counterterrorism Jim Navarro (Josh Randall) — try saying that title three times fast — arrives on behalf of the Justice Department, and is greeted by a new, reprogrammed version of Clementine. He demands to speak with William, but she refuses to let him pass without an appointment.
Christina/Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) keeps replaying the events of Peter's (Aaron Stanford) attack from the premiere. His words about "the tower" — and how she ruined his life — haunt her. Maya (Ariana DeBose) reads Peter's obituary aloud to prove his life was already ruined, and informs Christina that Hope Center for Mental Health was his "charity of choice." A startled Christina recognizes writing something like this once, and rushes off to work. It's very convenient that Maya had this obit already pulled up on her phone. Could she be a host NPC designed to manipulate Christina into solving another maze like the one in the park?
As Christina walks to work, an unhoused man — making sketches in charcoal— yells there is a "song with no sound" coming from the tower and it's "killing them." She asks about the tower and he shouts that "no one can hear its music but me. Me and the birds." When she gets to Olympiad Entertainment, she finds dead birds on the ground outside the building. Frightened, she chooses not to go inside. Look, I get it. I've called out of work for much less.
William and Clementine receive a visit from the Vice President (José Zúñiga), along with two secret service agents, on a private golf course. William sinks every shot he makes in one stroke, lending more credence to the idea that he is a host. The Veep came sans entourage because this is a "friendly" conversation about the "mess out West." Apparently William is up to something that is making a lot of people nervous. When William pushes back, the Veep threatens to crush him. In a surprise to no one except Mr. Vice President and his secret service detail, things take a turn for the worse. Clementine dispatches the agents, and William takes a swing at the V.P. with his golf club before we cut to black. It seems safe to assume he didn't miss that shot either.
Maeve and Caleb arrive at the Angeles Arts Pavilion, dressed to the nines, for a performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni, funded by… you guessed it… Delos. Before he and Maeve head into this obvious trap, he shares their coordinates with his associate, Carver (Manny Montana), who is keeping watch over Caleb's family.
They enter the auditorium and find it empty — except for a phonograph playing the opera. (Sidebar: is this the same auditorium from the opening of Christopher Nolan's Tenet? Was there a Nolan brothers discount?) Maeve moves the needle from the record and the floor lowers them beneath the stage where they are greeted by a large "Welcome" sign and a door. It leads to a 1920s, Great Gatsby-esque speakeasy. (Oh look, it's Liza Weil!) They grab drinks at the bar, where they vaguely discuss what happened since they last saw each other at "the lighthouse." Did these two hook up in the seven years between season 3 and season 4? It feels like there's a history deeper than just the "war." If so, I'm proposing the couple name Maeleb. Before the conversation can go much further, the room begins to shake. Maeve, distressed, says "I should've known… When I finally set foot back on solid ground, all I found was the same old s—." Cue the strings of the Westworld theme as we see the bar is part of a train leaving Los Angeles.
Jim Navarro — with the extremely long job title — walks to his car in a dark, underground parking structure. Nothing good ever happens in one of these. He screams into his phone, ticked off that the Veep seems to have changed position regarding the national security threat posed by Delos. "So who the f— is pulling the strings?" He won't have to wait long for the answer. Or the string.
He gets into his car and is zip-tied around the throat by Clementine. "We have time for you now, Mr. Navarro," she says, before exiting the vehicle and leaving him alone with Charlotte. She tells him the hosts don't plan to replace all of them. She has plans for his kind. She exits the car as a fly crawls into his eye. EWW. Not looking forward to more of this as the season goes on.
Christina heads to the Hope Center for Mental Health, and in the rideshare there, she learns she did in fact write a character named Peter Myers whose story matches the Peter who died by suicide. In addition, Olympiad Entertainment is tracking her movements.
She arrives at the center and finds it's no longer operational, and in a twist, Peter already has a wing dedicated to him despite having just died. Panicked, she calls Maya, who assures her she isn't insane and tells her to trust herself. Hmmm. Maya, who was dressed in white earlier in the episode, is now dressed in black. Just saying. At any rate, Christina stumbles upon a room where a series of crude drawings of towers are taped to the wall — drawings like the one the unhoused man drew earlier.
Back on the train, Maeve and Caleb are greeted by a host named Sophia (Lili Simmons) — the same host who played the "new" Clementine in the brothel way back in season 1. Maeleb (I'm going to make this happen) prepares to embark on whatever adventure Delos has in store for them, declining to choose either a white or black hat.
In a bright, Apple store-like basement, Charlotte opens a pod and reveals she has been keeping the real William alive in stasis all these years. He used to say winning doesn't mean anything unless there is a loser. She tells him he's just there to be the loser. She's going to control his world just as he and his associates did to her and her kind. After bringing him face to face with the now confirmed Host in Black, she puts him back into a deep and dreamless sleep. How can I get some of that?
On a dark rooftop, the Host in Black speaks to a crowd that includes what can be assumed is a host Vice President. He pulls a lever and lights up Delos's new park — "The Golden Age." Their newest fantasy land leaps to life as Maeleb walk into the roaring twenties. Once again, another Michael Crichton adaptation finds its way back into the park.
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