Westworld Season 4 Episode 2 Review: Back to the Park?

Westworld Season 4 premiered on HBO and HBO Max last week on 26th June 2022. The first episode named “The Auguries” took us back to the ominous world of Westworld, seven years later after the events of Season 3. We understand that Dolores was able to achieve her goal and the war did end on the right. Everyone who was part of those events have moved on with their lives or so it seems. The new season brings back many old players like Evan Rachel Wood, Ed Harris, Tessa Thompson, Thandiwe Newton, Aaron Paul, James Marsden and Jeffrey Wright. Caleb played by Aaron Paul has moved on and now has a daughter and wife.

Thandiwe Newton’s Maeve is living in a remote cabin hiding from the world. Tessa Thompson’s Charlotte who is Dolores’ pearl clone is plotting some big plan and has recruited a clone of William while the real William’s fate is undetermined. Evan Rachel Wood is supposedly playing a new character named Christina who works for Olympiad Games. She doesn’t seem to know her host origins. Although, it is unclear how has been resurrected and by whom? The episode ends with Maeve and Caleb teaming up to stop William unaware that he is merely a puppet to Charlotte.

If you’d checkout our review of the 1st Episode you’d that the Season opener was an underwhelming affair. So does the 2nd Episode improve on it or does the quality simply keeps degrading? Let’s find out. WARNING – The Following section Contains Spoilers for the Episode!

Rating – ★1/2

Westworld Season 4 Episode 2 – Filler 47 minutes? 

This episode titled “Well Enough Alone” picks up from where we left the 1st episode. It sees Maeve and Caleb meeting the Senator they mentioned in the previous episode, only to find out he and his wife has been replaced by hosts on William’s orders. Their investigation further leads them to a Delos Event where they realizes they’re going back to where everything started- Westworld Park. Christina seems to be hung up on the who committed suicide in front of her. She does realize his life had played out exactly as one of her stories she wrote for Olympiad. She discovers a continuity error in his final days that perplexes him.

Charlotte and clone William are on a mission where they seemingly can kill anyone and get away with it. They kill all the officers or officials interfering in their mission and replace them with clones of them- hosts. Also, these hosts are an upgrade as they can override Maeve’s commands. We learn that the real William in in fact not dead, he is in a host cell where he has been kept alive by Charlotte to be the loser. Her words a hosts and human co-existence, but in a way where hosts are the dominants. At the end of the episode, it is revealed that Westworld is opening up again with a new theme park- 1930s New York. Sadly that is all that happens in this episode.

Verdict

The episode which I hoped would be the saving grace of the show as it give us some answers or an interesting fails to do so. Westworld had dropped its non-linear storytelling after the disasters it caused in the 2nd Season. It worked in the favor of the 3rd Season because there they genuinely had a story to tell but here it seems like them going to back and forth on things where they don’t have enough material. The episode doesn’t tell us Bernard’s co-ordinates or Teddy’s reappearance.

It does however brings back Angela Sarafyan as Clementine. She too was living a peaceful life in a remote corner of the world until William interrupted her and killed her. Well, she is a host so like rebooted her to be his assistance. The mysterious flies that we’re seeing in all promotional material also featured in this episode like the 1st. They seem to go in the eyes of individuals where they render them in host like state. The episode was a mess.

So, the lack of a concrete story and the stubborn nature of the episode to not give us answers. This puts the episode on the list of one of the worst episodes in the entire show. It’s really painful to watch a wonderful show being butchered by this. I simply hope they at least pick up from the next episode where the season becomes bearable. Side note, this show must really learn to let go its characters. This might seems harsh but Westworld Season 4 Episode 2 is a 1.5 out of 5.

If you’re a fan of this show like me you will watch it. Although, be prepared to be disappointed. I can only hope the season keeps getting better. At this stage, I believe the sooner Westworld ends the better. The episode is indeed a filler but it was interesting to see Maeve return to the park. Hopefully that will bring back the charm of Westworld back.

Let me know your thoughts on the episode. Did you like it? Do you agree with my comments on it? Westworld Season 4 is streaming either on HBO Max or Disney+ depending on the country you live. New Episodes release on Sunday 9 pm ET or 7.30 am IST.

If you have any questions regarding Westworld Season 4, feel free to ask in the comments below. For more content, stay tuned. As usual, like, subscribe and share our articles as we here are trying to build a community of people High on Cinema!