What I’m Watching: Westworld

Westworld: Season 4, Episode 3 “Années Folles” (B+)

This show has so many threads going that it’s often hard to remember which characters are even still alive, if that’s a word that has any relevance in its world(s). Bernard certainly did look like he had been in storage, emerging from that lengthy slumber after his stasis interaction with Akecheta, a reminder that Zahn McClarnon is always great and should be in more shows (like “Dark Winds”). Stubbs seemed more intrigued than anything else to see him finally wake up, though he got tired quickly of Bernard predicting what he was going to say over and over again. The idea that he’s going to save the world is interesting since it’s never quite so clear whether he’s on the same side as anyone else, though I would imagine that he’s much more closely aligned with Maeve and Caleb than the new versions of Charlotte and William. The casting of Manny Montana from “Good Girls” as Carver was reason enough to suspect that he wasn’t trustworthy, and Frankie was aware as soon as she saw him cut out part of her doll that he wasn’t actually on their side. They did manage to outwit him, but Caleb didn’t know anything about that when he was drawn to a host version of his daughter who definitely infected him with those same flies. The notion that there is a new level of the Westworld mythology that includes the massacre as part of the game where the players get to live through all of it is immensely disturbing but indicative of the unfortunate human impulse to enjoy others’ suffering.