What I’m Watching: Westworld (Season Finale)

Westworld: Season 2, Episode 10 “The Passenger” (B)

I consider it a small miracle that it took me nearly three weeks to watch the season finale of one of the most buzzed-about and popular shows on television and I didn’t have a single thing spoiled. That and I didn’t finish it until a couple days after the Emmy nominations, where this show performed very well with a staggering 21 nominations, including a surprise bid for lead actor Ed Harris, who has grown even more unlikeable all season long. Part of the reason I think I didn’t know what was coming is that I’m still not entirely sure what happened, and I’m trying my best to analyze this episode without reading other recaps to confirm what I think. Early on in this epic ninety-minute finale, Maeve pulled off another mesmerizing feat of mind control, but it was her final effort to hold off the hordes of violent hosts egged on by Clementine that was the most impressive. I still don’t really comprehend what death means in this world since all the hosts should be able to be revived, but things seemed pretty finite when it came to Teddy and some of the others. I loved that Lee stepped in to take Hector’s place and deliver the battle speech that he wrote, sacrificing his own life because he believed in the cause of those he had created. Bernard’s out-of-time experiences were certainly trippy, and after he killed Dolores, it was pretty shocking to see a host version of Charlotte emerge and kill the basis for her existence, a revelation that there was a whole plan all along to truly infiltrate the highest levels of humanity responsible for the creation and manipulation of Westworld. How Bernard is still alive and what that means is a mystery, as is the post-credits sequence in which William discovered that he might be a host (I’m really not sure). What the valley beyond actually was is also incredibly intriguing, and I can honestly say that I have no clue what comes next in season three. I still contend that this is one of the most fascinating shows on television, but I didn’t feel that this year was quite as strong or even as season one.

Season grade: B+
Season MVP: Thandie Newton as Maeve