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The latest episode of Westworld is called ‘Kiksuya’, which is a Lakota word relating to ‘remember.’ Naturally, the episode had an overriding theme of memory and quite a few more things. Faith, existentialism, love, the mind, etc. In the show, the fictional Ghost Nation is a tribe of Native American pastiches and clichés, although they speak the real world language of the Lakota.
This episode, much like the Shogun World episode before it, had a great deal of other languages spoken. But this time I would guess that over 95% of all spoken words were in Lakota, and most of that was the ‘narration’ of Akecheta. For of course, it was no narration at all, but a conversation between him and Maeve’s daughter.
We see the journey of Akecheta introduced into the current timeline with Ole Bill in Black crawling towards the river, dying slowly. And then in pieces, his story is told alongside the story of the park as he was there the whole time, we just never noticed. Before Dolores or Maeve, or anyone else, Akecheta was the first one to wake up.
The recontextualizing of the past was masterful; what seemed to be savagery in the style of every hoary old cliché was the corporate decision to change a more evolved people into stereotypes. But the great trick is that Akecheta discovered the maze himself and woke himself up. When he ran across the abandoned Logan, the words, the genius words ‘This is the wrong world’ were a clarion call that immediately connected to the spiritually oriented Akecheta, played magnificently by Zahn McClarnon (late of Fargo).
Overall, the script had such great turns of phrases — ‘I awoke breathing fire’ or ‘they had left a ghost in her place.’ His romance was easily believable, yet it connected with an arc that was fully realized. Akecheta overcame his own selfish desires to realize that everyone was suffering — he even believed in another world, the ‘higher’ one where all things lost could be found.
HBO
It was a great scene again to see Ford, although this time he was eternally patient and sympathetic. It’s a good reminder that he really only cares about the hosts and disdains humanity. I feel like there are so many great moments, over and over, like the piano cover of Nirvana’s ‘Heart-Shaped Box’ as we heard about selfish pain.
I don’t know if anyone will notice, but this ought to be an Emmy reel for everyone involved. The note that we are bound together, the living and the damned was a very clever note. Everything drew in to become immersive, getting you inside the head of a character who seems very important after all.
The other pieces, connecting to William and his daughter, a revenge that’s a big question mark, or Lee Sizemore worriedly looking over Maeve, also worked very well. And the show also tried to clean up that weird plothole about the maze in people’s scalps. Perhaps it still doesn’t entirely make sense, but the effort is quite impressive.
It is one of the best episodes this has done yet, and that truly is saying something.
What did you think of this episode? Tell us in the comments below!
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