HBO
The most recent episode of Westworld is called ‘Metanoia’ which may refer to a psychological term of mental rebirth after breaking down, or a religious term meaning a kind of reformation or repentance. Both could apply here in multiple ways — there’s an underlying message of the world being doomed, as Bernard tells Maeve, but that something small might survive. She later tells Hale that perhaps there’s hope for the next one.
Certainly a violent tearing down, as Host-William goes through his own sort of rebirth too, but one closer to his original human version. He ends up shooting many of our major characters, including Maeve, Host-Hale, Bernard, and even the human William — and also sets everyone in the city against each other in a survival fight to the death.
The action scenes this episode were pretty fun, and it’s always fun to see Maeve go nuts — her fight with Hale was short but well done. I liked how we see some of the Bernard thought process with a repetition of the first scene, first in the simulation, to test how things might go poorly or well. At least it certainly feels final now, as Bernard tells Akecheta that all paths lead to him dying (which we’ve already heard at the start of the season).
When we realize that Maeve realizes what Bernard has been saying about sacrificing themselves for the future, it’s a meaningful moment, one said without many words between the two great actors. It’s not exactly a huge shock in the normal sense, once the Host-William killed the human version after being told to do ‘what must be done’ it’s not hard to figure out what he’d do next.
HBO
But on the Teddy/Christina side, it’s more confusing — at first it seems that they are in the same place, as Christina triggers an alarm and unlocks Caleb’s door. But then we see the two hosts go down a hallway and Stubbs and Frankie come back the other way — a break in the timeline in some way, it seems, although it’s still not entirely clear how it’s broken.
Perhaps she was “there” in some way but then is there no longer, because then we see her unable to influence anything — Teddy informs her that although the world is real, she is not. But was she ever? It’s honestly a big question mark that I’m still not sure about, it’s one of the bigger questions yet unanswered, the nature of the Christina/Teddy situation.
Of course we don’t know what’s next for Stubbs (who did survive, having incorrectly guessed he wasn’t going to make it in a sad retroactive realization) or the reunited Frankie with her Host father Caleb. No matter what, that’s certainly an awkward situation. But the final music cue of ‘The Man Who Sold the World’ by David Bowie is so apropos it’s ridiculous.
Overall it was a pretty entertaining episode, not as tense as perhaps it could be but that may be that it was heavily foreshadowed by the start of the episode. But tension isn’t required for the episode to work, and with this show, you really never know who might come back. I have really felt that this season has been a big step up from season three, and hopefully the season finale really ties it all together and brings us to an interesting place — and fingers crossed a final season five.
New episodes of Westworld air Sundays on HBO and stream on HBO Max.
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