HBO
The most recent episode of Westworld was called ‘The Absence of Field’, which is a reference to a poem by Mark Strand. In his poem, the phrase goes like this: ‘In a field I am the absence of field. This is always the case. Wherever I am I am what is missing.’ There are a lot of connections to that concept in the episode.
First is the mention of Serac, a black hole of information, only capable of being inferred from the fact that there is a missing trillion dollars of the economy. Serac is the missing element of the world that is filled by himself but no one else can see. And of course, it also refers to Charlotte Hale, robot host, in an existential crisis.
Charlotte-Host is taking the place of real Charlotte Hale, in the absence of Charlotte Hale, but she cannot be the same person because she is not the same person. She is suffering emotionally because her mind and body are splintered — it is still a mystery who she was before, but she is not the same externally as she once was.
The options are fairly limited, because it’s not Maeve nor Bernard. Could it be dear Clementine the Destroyer, her vanished father, Teddy her paramour and antagonist, or Angela the martyr? The clues are muddled and I have no idea. But whoever it is, Charlotte is conflicted because she doesn’t know how to reconcile herself with the vision of whomever Charlotte actually was.
Apparently Charlotte was a distant mother and difficult wife to Jake (Michael Ealy), which feels a bit clichéd to be honest, even if Tessa Thompson is very good at handling these scenes. Some of it is a bit confusing, to the point where it took a minute to realize that the guy she was choking to death was actually a sexual predator. I was wondering if all the back and forth about the ‘mole’ was hiding that Charlotte wasn’t the mole, since that was the obvious choice — but now, she was the mole, except that it isn’t Charlotte at all.
This is connected to the other storyline by Dolores comforting and manipulating her too to some extent. It leads to a stark image of Dolores in black, all hard lines and leather, spooning Charlotte-Host, clad in white. Is this symbolism and if not, why not? Could be inverse symbolism too, or simply aesthetics. It is a striking tableau in any event.
HBO
On the other storyline, Dolores converts Caleb fairly easily to her revolution. In the Bible, there is a story of 12 spies sent into Israel by Moses — ten return and lie, without faith, but two returned with the truth: Joshua and Caleb. So on this show, where meaning is everywhere, is his name a coincidence? I somehow doubt it. Even if Caleb is known for being the spy with faith, what does this show’s Caleb have faith in?
His life, as revealed by Dolores, is a cage simulated in the mirror worlds of Rehoboam. He is declared ‘Unfit for Social Promotion and Reproduction’ because of his likely suicide ten years off, which is a trap that Dolores acknowledges is self-perpetuating. The system keeps the system going.
No wonder Caleb is all too gung ho about the first ‘real thing’ in his life in ages. The episode cleverly utilized the Rico app of crime to show Dolores as a target and Caleb as a new target, cottoning him the whole business. Right now, there is the Serac mystery and Maeve as his unwitting tool, the Hale-robot crisis, Bernard’s quest, and Dolores’ revolution.
So far, this existential crisis isn’t quite as interesting, but as always, Westworld knows how to keep me watching.
Westworld airs Sundays at 9:00 PM on HBO.
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