HBO’s sentient robot series, which has returned for a fourth season, remains confounding as ever.
To train to attend the Season 4 premier ofWestworld , hosted at Lincoln Center and feature a man in a automaton costume handing out vodka pomegranate shots in examination tubes , I tried to rememberwhat occur in the premature time of year ’s last . It ’s been a long time since May 2020 , and word like " Rehoboam " had been stored so deeply in my retentivity you would call up I was a horde waken up from a long slumber . ( That ’s a littleWestworldhumor for you . )
I recalled that there was a immense AI , programmed by a military personnel refer Engerraund Serrac played by Vincent Cassel , which controlled human beings bydesignating those who were not fat members of club as " outlier . " Evan Rachel Wood ’s escaped host Dolores uses one such outlier — Caleb , play by Aaron Paul — to facilitate prompt a uprising eventually link by Maeve ( Thandiwe Newton ) . There ’s also , frankly , a passel of other hooey going on , including Tessa Thompson ’s Charlotte Hale , a clone robot of Dolores that has evolved and is building an army of hosts , one of which is an exact replication ofEd Harris ' William / The Man in Black , who subsequently remove his human counterpart .
This is all to say that , yes , in its fourth time of year , which jumps before eight eld , Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy’sWestworldremains bedevil , but also able to be appreciated on a unsubdivided vibes tier . you may try out to theorize and figure out what the Scheol is go on , but is n’t it well just to sit back , loosen up , and hear to theorchestral coverof Lana Del Rey ’s " Video Games , " which rips ?
Evan Rachel Wood|HBO
Westworldtakes itself very seriously and is also exceedingly sappy , all of which is still present in the first new instalment , which open with Harris ' Man in Black ask over a data mining facility run by a combine . Harris ' theatrical role proceed about doing this by wielding some sorting of modified flies , which can make people do his bidding . Sure ! Okay ! Meanwhile , in New York , Evan Rachel Wood is now " Christina , " who seems to maybe not realize she is a golem — and who ’s to say she is anyway ? She works at a gaming party called Olympiad Entertainment ( which seems passably nefarious if you ask me ) programming non - playable characters . It seems like a low - level gig , except she keeps getting vociferation from a serviceman who is telling her she ’s verify his living . She also has a fun new roommate played byOscar succeeder Ariana DeBose , whose role is in all probability large than " fun newfangled roommate . " Oh , and , James Marsden is back , watching over Christina , formerly his automaton lover Dolores . How ? No clue .
The third and quaternary storylines of this hour involve Caleb , who is now marital with a kid , but afraid of being persecuted , and Maeve , who has been living off the grid until she ’s attacked by William ’s confederate . She comes to get Caleb and they hinge upon off to reenact justice or something . Other lineament like Jeffrey Wright ’s Bernard and Thompson ’s Charlotte , have yet to be envision , but will presumably project into the rest of the season somehow .
As overwhelming as the plotting is , Westworldcontinues to be a very fashionable show , trading in its past season ' cowboy esthetics for stark futurist design . Newton is a blast as the to the full badass Maeve , who this season might have a motivation beyond getting back to her golem daughter , and Wood pay Christina a captivating , haunted blankness .
Ariana Debose|HBO
At this point , you sort of have to admireWestworld ’s resistance to crowd together pleasing . We ’re so far beyond the lauded golem puncher show at this detail , I ’ve swerved back around into begrudgingly respecting the Nolans ' absurdly complicated narrative . There are hint that this season is proceed to take on concepts of crypto , but I do n’t really care . I ’m just cool down out to " Video Games " and trying not to guess too hard about anything encounter on screen .
