Westworld: Season 4

Okay, so the Man is Black is Hale's captive and has been replaced by a Host. That actually makes sense, because the Host was killing an AWFUL lot of people. Yes, William is a psychopath. But he used Westworld as his outlet for that, and he wasn't an actual serial killer of people. Apparently the Host Man In Black's outlets are the same, but they work in reverse.

HRG as the Senator Host. Mauve's commands not working right is troubling.

I'm guessing everyone on that train is a Host, and the 1920's world is comprised of humans they can kill and rape to their own delight. If that isn't what's going, on I'll be shocked.

This show continues to get more and more disturbing as it goes on. ****.

The first half was better than the second.

Bernard's new superpower is COOL. And I like that Stubbs seems to take it all in stride.

The reappearance of the Indian at the beginning (all cleaned up no less!) was great. And I think necessary for Bernard's arc. In a season where he's trying to manipulate variables to save the world, I like that the show let us know that every "successful" scenario ends in Bernard's death. But the Indian corrects him there. He can actually live in The Sublime content and happy while the world is destroyed. I like Bernard being forced to make that choice, because even if he IS manipulating chaotic variables to get the outcome he wants, he IS making a choice. He may be a Host, but the heroes' salvation IS down to his free will and his willingness to sacrifice himself for the greater good. And that theme is necessary.

I'm not digging Maeve and Caleb's stuff, and Caleb's seemingly dire end is a part of it. But for some reason, Season 4's version of Westworld doesn't actually interest me all that much.

Is this the first episode Evan Rachel Wood doesn't appear? I think it might be.

Like I said, the first half was better than the second. When the focus was more Bernard, the episode was actually Aces. ****.

Say this for the show: It's never been afraid of blowing itself up. Also the timelines of when everything is taking place have always been a bit hinky.

I'll take a wait and see approach on most everything else, but I think I have two notes.

1. Hale is far more evil than I ever suspected. She is VILE.

2. Teddy and Christina's stuff was the best part of the episode. It turns out I greatly missed James Marsden's character.

I liked it but who knows how it will turn out? ****.

Some interesting ideas, but last week I said I was going to take a wait and see approach. I waited and saw. I'm not digging the new premise. Christina and Teddy's stuff is good for sure. But I feel like the rest of the show is trading entirely in nihilism. Now that's always been an unpleasant factor to the show. But I'd argue before this season it wasn't the dominant one. Things have now gotten TOO bleak for me.

As a thought experiment it's interesting. As a torture I have to see characters I care about suffer through, it's extremely tough to take. **1/2.

All right. I admit it. That won me back.

Aaron Paul needs to put that on his Emmy reel. All of those dying Calebs were horrifying, especially when one of them offers up his body to cushion the blow of the "real" (or rather current) Caleb's fall. I wonder what Frankie will make of the fact that he's now a Host. Hopefully spending a little time with Maeve and Bernard will make her forgiving of that. But he's doing everything to get back to and save a person who might very well despise him for simply existing. That's interesting.

Season 4 Bernard's utter lack of pretense is my favorite thing about the character. I love how annoyed Stubbs is when he claims he was the mole in one reality. Until you realize the reason the mole exists.

I very much appreciate Caleb telling Hale the no-brainer idea that the suicidal Hosts weren't infected by the outliers. The reality she created was just crappy and they didn't want to live in it. Her saying "Caleb..." at the end in a measured voice tells me she's going to approach this next interrogation a bit differently. I believe Hale is a bad person so I expect her to still be the villain of the season that the heroes need to fight against (the previews spoiled as much). But I found that last moment interesting anyways.

Still unsure of the season's new out-there premise, but they delivered a dynamite episode out of it for this week at any rate. *****.

No.

The feeling of hopelessness and nihilism is not my jam. It never was.

I responded well to Caleb reuniting with his daughter, and Christina getting everybody to do what she says, but the psychopathy of both Hale and the Man in Black is just too much to bear. The show isn't entertaining anymore. It's depressing. How is it so much genre television cannot tell the difference?

Not happy. *1/2.

Man, I did NOT like that. At all. Way too dark for me. If you had told me in season 1 the show was building towards this in season 4, I never would have started the series. This is darker and more hopeless than Game Of Thrones. For real.

I did not expect or want that. It angers me a little after the (relatively hopeful) ideas Season 1 put forth. It feels like a bit of bait-and-switch in the premise. I didn't sign up for this. *.