HBO Max Westworld Season 4 (2 Viewers)

[Josh Dial]

Bring yourself back online.

Season 4 premieres Sunday, June 26.

I know folks around here weren't as enamoured with season 3 as they were with seasons 1 or 2. Personally, I liked season 3 the most (an opinion which seems almost heretical!).

I think seasons 1 and 2 were both fun, and both had very interesting things to say and explore about consciousness. But I think season 3 pushed the show to where it needed to go: a new setting (the real world), with new characters, and with new themes (not just consciousness for AI, but humanity for humans). As good as seasons 1 and 2 were, we could only ride around with Dolores and Maeve in Westworld proper for so long. The show needed to expand and it did.

Anyway, season 4 is the show I'm most looking forward to in 2022.

Links to previous season threads:

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

 

[TonyD]

I watched season over the course of almost 2 years but left the last episode until S4 started so I guess I can finally watch the end of S2 now.

 

[Walter Kittel]

I am definitely looking forward to season four. To be honest, I have forgotten some aspects of season three, but I expect them to come flooding back when I begin viewing the new season (and what I assume will be a recap of sorts.)

- Walter.

 

[Keith Cobby]

Bring yourself back online.

Season 4 premieres Sunday, June 26.

I know folks around here weren't as enamoured with season 3 as they were with seasons 1 or 2. Personally, I liked season 3 the most (an opinion which seems almost heretical!).

I think seasons 1 and 2 were both fun, and both had very interesting things to say and explore about consciousness. But I think season 3 pushed the show to where it needed to go: a new setting (the real world), with new characters, and with new themes (not just consciousness for AI, but humanity for humans). As good as seasons 1 and 2 were, we could only ride around with Dolores and Maeve in Westworld proper for so long. The show needed to expand and it did.

Anyway, season 4 is the show I'm most looking forward to in 2022.

Links to previous season threads:

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

I'm with you, I also preferred Season 3 which I am currently rewatching. One of the few television shows released on 4k disc. Season 4 is on Sky Atlantic and Now in the UK.

 

[Josh Dial]

One of the few television shows released on 4k disc.

All three seasons also have really great Atmos tracks. The audio team put some excellent work into making an expansive soundscape and (unlike many movie Atmos tracks) actually placed object-based sounds overhead and moved them around.

 

[Keith Cobby]

I'm currently watching Person of Interest, Jonathan Nolan's prior show, but this is episodic television. Westworld plays like a long movie and has excellent A/V.

 

[Jeff Cooper]

I thought season 3 was great. Season 1 was the best, then after the trainwreck of season 2, season 3 brought things back on track. Excited for season 4.

 

[SFMike]

Season three was great as I also thought the story had run out of steam in season two. Looking forward to season four.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Despite being...you know...utterly terrible...Season 3 sold well on physical. However I think Lisa Joy's recent filmmaker foibles may be wearing a bit thin with the new bosses.

 

[Walter Kittel]

S04E01 - The Auguries.

First things first; the term auguries is a reference to the William Blake poem Auguries of Innocence and refers to signs or omens. How perfect to have a William Blake reference in the first episode.

Spoiler

We pick up seven years after the riots at the conclusion of season three. The current timeline should be approximately in the year 2060. The series revisits some of the main players from the series, with some still in the wings.

We see William make a cartel an offer they can't refuse for a data archive that contains what I believe is the encrypted data from the Park. (IIRC, we see the human version of William killed in season three by The Man in Black.) Host William employs some form of robotic insects to take down the cartel and secure the data archive facility. What the entities that he controls are and how he exerts influence upon them is a mystery.

Much like season one's focus on the loops of Dolores, we see the daily routine for Christina (Evan Rachel Wood). Dolores is out of the picture and there is a real question as to the nature of Christina's reality. Is it real or is it a simulation of some sort? Two factors make me question what we are seeing with Christina. An individual who may be an NPC from a game that Christina participated in creating claims that she is ruining his life. (Think a darker version of Free Guy.) The final scene with the reoccurrence of a familiar face from the past makes me think this reality is something else. Perhaps we are inside the data archive that is the object of Host Williams' desire? Dolores was connected to Rehoboam at the conclusion of season three. (?)

It appears that much of Christina's storyline may represent a meta approach to the series as her focus is upon storytelling, which is at the heart of what the series does in its own way.

William has his eye on Maeve and Caleb as well, despite their relatively uneventful lives over the past seven years. We see Maeve living in a secluded cabin somewhere in the mountains. She encounters and dispatches William's hired guns and jacks into the mind of their leader and determines that William is responsible for the disruption of her solitary existence. Nice use of Hendrix's The Wind Cries Mary to set the tone for the first scene with Maeve, BTW.

Caleb meanwhile is living a domestic life with his wife and daughter Frankie (who was just terrific in every scene, BTW.) He is still dealing with the trauma of his past but is managing to keep things in check. Eventually one of William's men appears and in a bit of convenient timing Maeve appears just in the nick of time to rescue Caleb and Frankie with a well placed sword thrust. Caleb and Maeve hit the road in search of William.

As is typically the case for this series the production design is front and center one of the most visually appealing characteristics of the series. I believe I used the term 'architecture porn' to describe some of the settings in season three and that that holds true (to perhaps a lesser extent) in season four. We have seen at least three or possibly four primary locations for episode one, but there is still some uncertainty as to exactly where we are.

Still a little bit fuzzy on some of the details but writing this post sort of helped organize my thoughts, so there's that.

- Walter.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I thought season 3 was great. Season 1 was the best, then after the trainwreck of season 2, season 3 brought things back on track. Excited for season 4.

I would also rate the first three seasons 1-3-2. The second season was too enamored with its own mysteries, to the point where the show too often lacked stakes because the audience didn't have enough information to evaluate motivations and consequences. The third season had a lot going on, but at least you didn't have to wait until the end of the season to know what people's goals were.

I enjoyed the fourth season premiere tonight. It seems pretty clear that Dolores-as-William is making some big moves, and wants Maeve and Caleb off the board when she does. I'm assuming the other hosts (in the Sublime) are what is being stored in the data center at Hoover Dam.

Less clear:

• Who "Christina" is. She's in Dolores's body but doesn't seem to have any knowledge that she's not human, though some of her plots seem suspiciously like Dolores's storylines in the dark.
• Why Peter thought she was controlling his life, and what he was hoping she'd stop.
• How Teddy got resurrected.
• How Dolores-as-William got the gangster to kill his own associates and then himself, and what his change of heart had to do with the flies infesting his home.

I really enjoyed the future New York City. Like Washington DC in Minority Report, there are enough recognizable landmarks to know where you are, but a lot that's different too. The High Line and 1WTC are still there, along with a number of other iconic skyscapers, but there are a whole bunch of new skyscapers too. The trend toward few roads and more pedestrian plazas appears to have picked up significantly, with many of the roads down to single lane, one-way traffic and the remainder of the space turned over to park land and pedestrian and bike traffic.

 

[Walter Kittel]

I would also rate the first three seasons 1-3-2.

Agreed.

It seems pretty clear that Dolores-as-William is making some big moves

I couldn't remember precisely, but I thought that Dolores was the host controlling a version of The Man In Black. I wrote one thing in my last post that I am having second thoughts about. Was the real, i.e. human William actually killed or just captured? I don't recall.

I really enjoyed the future New York City. Like Washington DC in Minority Report, there are enough recognizable landmarks to know where you are, but a lot that's different too.

Completely missed New York City as the location for Christina.

- Walter.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Completely missed New York City as the location for Christina.

Oh phew I thought it was just me! And I’ve lived there! Recently!

 

[Josh Dial]

I quite enjoyed the season premiere.

It's interesting that Caleb's life has went against the life Rehoboam "allowed" him to have. His profile noted he wasn't allowed to have children and here he is with a little girl. Incidentally, did everyone catch that the guy who threatened the daughter (skewered by Maeve) was the "growing boy" host from season 1 (the one drinking the milk during the Abernathy farm attack)? The "tête-à-tête" host from the attack on Maeve's cabin is also from Westworld.

The lamp posts in NYC all look like the tower in the opening credits and promo material. There was a homeless person in the premiere with drawing of the tower ranting about how the government is using the towers to control everyone's minds.

While Christina is walking to work we hear some bros saying things similar to parkgoers from the first season. "That was insane!" "Yeah that was fucking wild!" "I can't believe this is your first time."

Some options for who/where Christina is:

1. She's just a host in Futureworld. The dialogue from the bros supports this. Perhaps Futureworld is "accessed" through VR. The "stalker" from her apartment (who is, interestingly, named Peter, and played by Aaron Stanford who played Cole in the excellent 12 Monkeys TV series) apparently disappeared from sight after the attack.
2. She's in the real world but doesn't know she's a host. She's waking up (or someone is waking her up--someone is showing her the maze). Many (all?) of the other humans are hosts 2.0 "created" by Hale (who is Delores whose "on a new path") using the mind control towers (and flies?). Christina is actually writing stories for the human-hosts (the NPCs).
3. She's partly in the past, before Westworld. She's a human. She's the basis for Delores. Like season 1, some shots--even within the same scene--are the real Christina, and some shots are the "present" with host Christine. It has to be partly at best, though, because of the bros' dialogue and the presence of the maze. Maybe some (all) of the hosts were taken from real life.

Stray thought from Season 3: where is the Delores copy who was inside Lawrence's body?

 

[Keith Cobby]

I was underwhelmed by episode 1. Clearly there are many threads being pulled and hopefully there will be some focus in future episodes. I watched Reminiscence recently, exemplary cast and production values but weak script, I hope season 4 picks up.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I was pretty impressed by the golf acumen of Hosts.

 

[Walter Kittel]

Episode two cleared up my confusion over the fate of William, but the series still feels overtly opaque in terms of its narrative (at least at times.) I wish had Maeve's ability to detect hosts and more importantly whom is inhabiting the shells.

- Walter.

 

[Josh Dial]

... the series still feels overtly opaque in terms of its narrative (at least at times.)

For good or for ill, that's a feature, not a bug. In each season the disjointed narrative structure has served to reinforce the actual story. Whether one agrees that it was necessary or effective is another matter, but that is plainly Joy and Nolan's intent.

Season 1 - The story features Delores' journey inward toward the centre of the maze, and ultimately consciousness. She's been on the journey once before (and came ever so close), so we are shown two time frames intercut (often within the same scene). Similarly, William is on a journey of self discovery (despite the maze "not being for him"), and is being accused (by his family) of hiding from them who it truly is. And so, through the multiple time frames, who he truly is (the man in black) is hidden from us the viewer until the exact moment he discovers it for himself.

Season 2 - The story features Bernard de-addressing (jumbling up) his memories so that QA and the other Delos teams can't figure out what he did (killed Charlotte, attacked Elsie, put Delores' pearl into the Charlotte host body, etc.). So the events are told extremely jumbled--even more than season 1.

Season 3 - Time frames aren't really played around with this season. The story features Serac using Rehoboam to control humanity by putting them all on loops and granting them "permissions" (e.g. to have kids, to get promoted at work). The real theme is "human" will and "outliers" (people who act outside Rehoboam's predictive algorithm). So we see our characters placed in situations where they choose to alter their fate (e.g. Caleb helping Delores).

 

[Walter Kittel]

For good or for ill, that's a feature, not a bug. In each season the disjointed narrative structure has served to reinforce the actual story. Whether one agrees that it was necessary or effective is another matter, but that is plainly Joy and Nolan's intent.

Oh, I am well aware of that aspect of the series. There are a lot of elements in the series that endlessly fascinate me, but honestly to date this season hasn't really engaged me as much as I had hoped it might. Episode one held my interest partly due simply to the return of the series and catching up on where we were at in the universe of WestWorld. I found myself frustrated a bit in episode two with the whole 'three card monte' game of Hosts and not-Hosts.

I am still watching and I am curious about 'The Tower' and how it fits into the season, but at this moment the narrative feels a bit too deliberately obtuse for my liking. One of the big mysteries is Christina and I expect that will continue to be the case until the season finale or the penultimate episode of season four.

Maybe I'll get up on the other side of the bed when I view episode three. Maybe.

- Walter..

 

[Jeff Cooper]

So far I have found Season 4 to be fantastic. I'm excited to see where it goes. It's looking to me like Season 2 was the only real misstep. Glad they could recover after that.