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Do not read unless you've seen "The Passenger", the season finale of HBO's Westworld.
Trying to understand what is happening in "Westworld" has always been the sport of the show. Are there several deadlines? Where is Elsie? Is Sylvester's beard real or is it an illusion created by the robot horse in the spirit of which the whole series takes place? These are the types of questions that "Westworld" inspires human beings to ask and then respond to each other. The show sometimes feels like a few hundred million dollars spent just to spawn Fan Theories and Reddit's arguments.
But while Season 2 was shooting in its final straight, the plot of "Westworld" has stabilized from hard to impossible. He became hostile to understanding. But then came episode 8, "Kiksuya", a simple story (by the "Westworld" standards) about a tertiary figure, the leader of the Akecheta ghost nation (Zahn McClarnon). It was a difficult break with the standard of the riddle box of the show, and this led to his own question – and if the understanding of what's going on in "Westworld" is not the goal of "Westworld"? And if it does not matter?
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Season 2 finale "The Passenger" ranks with the most confusing episodes of the show. Many are revealed and many more mysteries are generated. But what impresses most about "The Passenger" is the way some scenes and fragments of scenes work like character dramas. It's almost as if the Möbius-strip narrative is here not to be understood, but to provide a backdrop with what scenes about what it means to be human (or what it means to be a robot at the time). human appearance) pop.
The episode begins with Bernard and Dolores chatting again – and yes, that's Bernard, not Arnold. Among the many minor truths learned in "The Passenger", Dolores created Bernard at Ford's request. Dolores, who had spent countless hours with Arnold in conversation, knew him better than anyone.
Then a lot of other things happen. To recount it faithfully, all this does not serve "The Passenger" and "Westworld" as a whole. It is also a bad use of time.
There is a lot of nitpick in this final, which is too long (90 minutes) and very ambitious. But there are also so many things that are worth celebrating. Wright, as always, was fantastic. The same goes for Evan Rachel Wood, whose most important character Dolores remains, but all too often this season has been written as a rumored psychopath. Teddy's death, however, seems to have had a positive effect on Dolores. "The Passenger" seems to be largely to place Bernard and Dolores where they are at the end of the season – in loving opposition, representing two different points of view, triggering a relationship that promises to be largely based on conflict (the kind that makes good TV shows).
It was nice to see Wood get to do something other than drowning and killing. For the first time this season, we get the complexity of Dolores, and Wood reminds us not only why Dolores is so angry, but why this anger is a legitimate answer, perhaps the most legitimate. "If I were human, I would have let you die," Dolores told Bernard after he woke up in his new body printed at home. She did it and seems to like it. This conflictual love seems more real than the love we've been told many times for Teddy and Abernathy – maybe because those relationships were a function of her programming, even long after Dolores had gone beyond her programming . This moment between Dolores and Bernard at the end was felt won.
Less won was the blazing moment of Lee (Simon Quarterman) facilitating the escape of Maeve and Hector. But it was again an entertaining send-off for Lee, who was arguably the most complex character of this season. I do not know if I'll buy him the complete tour of the hero, but I do it almost. Pretty close, anyway, to appreciate what Quarterman and the writers have done there and throughout the season.
The highlight of Maeve's girl quest was where the plot delivered best in the finale. Forget all those things about satellite downloads. The portal to host Eden was smart (although Host Eden looks like a role in a fantastic video game where you try to go from one city to another by leaving the road and crossing a big field of nothing). Seeing Maeve doing her wizarding thing once again was satisfying, and unlike Lee's death, Maeve felt quite appropriate to the arc that she was from the beginning of the series. The moment Maeve saw Clémentine's wave of craziness happen and then, instead of warning everyone, cut in front of the line while scrutinizing the crowd for her daughter was the most Maeve thing ever. Clearly, Maeve will be back next season with the kind permission of Sylvester, Felix and a bodybag. A "Westworld" without Thandie Newton would not be a "Westworld" worthy of being seen. But for now, anyway, Maeve was a good death.
(Okay, one point: Felix.) He was clearly put on a shelf this season to facilitate the Maeve-Lee relationship, but he was still sad to see a character who was such an unexpected pleasure in Season 1 being totally neglected in season 2 Felix represented a unique perspective in "Westworld" and on TV: a worker who was tired of being exploited by his affluent superiors, but guided to act against his own interest by a strong moral . )
Finally, there is Bernard. Like Newton, Wright was indispensable to this show. Of course, it was fun to see Anthony Hopkins chew landscapes in Season 1. But was Season 2 worse for his absence? Was it better for his reappearance towards the end? No, and not really. Wright is a joy to watch, but also the show, making something abstract and ridiculous just feel a bit anchored and relatable. It could be better written, on occasion – Bernard's perpetual distraction at what is happening can sometimes seem to reflect that of the viewer. But the remorse that Wright seems to feel when Bernard realizes that Dolores is wearing Charlotte's face, that he's putting her there, and that she's about to kill a group of people, 39 is "Westworld" at its best.
Some other thoughts
• Raise your hand if you were really surprised to find this short scene between Mr. Delos and Logan surprisingly moving. Another instance of the show that refuses the tricks of the puzzle box for a moment to give the maximum effect of character. Peter Mullan has been a great addition to Delos this season, and the decision to bring Ben Barnes back as Logan has given surprising results.
• Zombie Clementine on horseback that spreads the madness was exactly the strange and cool finale she and Angela Sarafyan deserved.
• While Dolores has returned in the final, MiB-William remains unbearable (sorry, Ed Harris). The post-credit scene where he is shown to be a host did not have the desired effect. No human-host revealer can surprise at this point, and MiB-William has only been an annoying dick all this series, whose history has no impact on no character other than his – and I guess his relatives are dead, but who cares? Please make it go.
• Elsie's transformation of the comic relief of Season 1 into a real character from Season 2 was abrupt, but it was worth it. Elsie's death seemed to have issues.
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