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The second season of Westworld starts with an episode entitled ‘Journey Into Night’, which could be a reference to the Eugene O’Neill tragic play Long Day’s Journey into Night or perhaps it is not a reference at all. The season starts with showing us three different clearly defined moments in time, and focuses on a few points of view, continuing from similar points in the first season.
There is Maeve, the malfunctioning madame searching for revenge and her daughter; Bernard, the robot version of Arnold, the Man in Black (or William or Bill) searching for meaning and stakes; and Dolores, the evolution of consciousness.
Starting from Maeve, we saw her once again take complete control of her future, including shooting many human soldiers, pulling her lover Hector back under her spell, and forcing things around on foolish British writer Lee Sizemore, forced to strip naked, mirroring how Maeve was forced multiple times to appear naked in front of humans.
In a lot of ways, her story is the simplest so far, very straightforward, although we still don’t know why she was programmed to attempt an escape in the first place. Her pushing against her programming is the journey setup, the search for what is real instead of what is ephemeral. The search, perhaps, for the dream that is real instead of the dream that is not.
Sizemore and Maeve are a great pairing, filled with comedy and action, and I liked that much of her writing is inspired by Sizemore in the first place. That led to the great line where she insulted his manhood and he pointed out it was a line he had written.
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Similarly less confusing than other bits is Dolores and Teddy, on their adventure of conquest and self-attainment. Dolores has become a new version of herself, reflected into a new role of ‘herself,’ but learning what that is will be its own adventure, including for us, the audience. Teddy is a good distaff counterpart, presented as moral in his own way but still dedicated to Dolores.
In the first season, her unreliable narrator led us into understanding the true arc of the season and Ford’s plans, but this time, we know the plan is simple: She wants to carve out the world. Seems tough.
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The Man in Black (William) continues his supergame, showing off badass skills and enjoying the hell out of it. His interactions with the child-Ford robot were great, admitting that it’s all code and secrets, but that’s how the game is played. I’m sure rewatching this scene after it’s all over will make sense, but for now, I’m just following along.
Finally there’s the three-part Bernard/Arnold storyline, tricking us obviously in the first scene with a Dolores/Arnold meeting and then throwing us into a new unreliable narrator. Bernard takes us through two stories, one right after the massacre of the season one finale as he and Charlotte Hale attempt to escape and the other eleven days later and far more mysterious.
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The first storyline is already interesting enough, showing payoffs of Delos trickery from last season, but it sets the stage for the rest — he is somehow not showing up as a host yet he’s falling, and experiencing ‘time slippage.’ What a great way to trick everyone.
The second, future storyline answers questions like ‘Where is Stubbs?’ He seems to be alive. ‘Where is Westworld located?’ Seemingly on an island near China. But plenty more come up, like ‘What happened anyway, how did Bernard end up on the beach?’ ‘What happened to Stubbs anyway?’ ‘Where is Elsie? Is she dead?’ And so on.
We see two new characters so far, a bald jerk named Karl Strand, the head of operations taking charge of things and a new tech named Costa (Fares Fares from Homeland and Zero Dark Thirty). They have some interesting personalities so far, so I’m okay with that — after all, some characters are dead.
And of course, the big question: What’s with the sea and the ‘Valley Beyond’? And where’s Felix anyway?
As usual, I barely need to point out that the acting is astounding in this show, and I also love the creepy, insistent score and gorgeous cinematography. The editing is crisp and keeps you guessing without feeling cheated. At least for the time being. I was a big fan of the first season of Westworld and I think you can enjoy it whether or not you’re a theory junkie. Enjoy it clean or dirty, it still works.
What did you think of the season premiere? Tell us in the comments below!
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