Westworld Season 4 Episode 3 Review – Finally Some Redemption?

Another episode of Westworld is it? Oh kill me already. Hold on to your horses before you say such things which I was saying. After two disappointing if not disastrous episodes we have another episode of Westworld right on time. As we’re all aware Westworld hasn’t been itself for a good time now. Season 1 was the peak of the show and it has not been able to match the quality ever since. Season 2 had opened on the promise of taking the story of Season 1 ahead but its own ambition was its undoing. Season 3 in my opinion had potential in the ideas that it talked about, as for the entire show the humans were the villains but now we realize they too are a victim of something similar. However, Season 3 couldn’t execute that well and thus ended up being an unworthy addition to a prestigious show.

After Season 3 there was a hope they’d learn from their mistakes and make Season 4 worth our time. The first two episodes definitely didn’t suggest that. If anything, they suggested a complete quality degrade. So, I was walking into episode 3 bracing myself to be disappointed once again and see one of my favorite shows being teared up. HBO really knows how to screw up their best show and yes, we’re all thinking about the same show here. Just when I had given up hope for Season 4, Episode 3 was a surprise. So, did Westworld just redeem itself? Or is the 4th Season an absolute travesty? Warning: The article contains massive spoilers for this episode.

Review Marathon – Episode 1 / Episode 2

Rating – ★★★1/2

Westworld Season 4- What is Années Folles and the Sublime?

Episode 3 is titled, “Années Folles”. Années folles? Pardon my French but what the fork is that? Well thankfully it is just another fancy French word. The word directly translates as Crazy Years, it is reference to the 1920s as it was a crazy in France that time. It was coined in accordance to the rich social, artistic, and cultural collaborations of the period. The same period is referred to you as the Roaring Twenties or the Jazz Age in the US. So the title refers to what we saw in the last episode, Delos opening a new park themed after the vintage New York.

We had predicted that but the park is based on the 20s rather than the 30s. Now that we understand the title let’s proceed to the story. If there is one thing I’ve ranting about in the previous episodes, it is the lack of answers and one of them being Bernard’s and Stubbs’ fate. The last we saw of them was in Season 3’s post credit scene. Where Bernard travels to the Sublime and gets up all dusty. This episode begins right there. We finally see what the Sublime is and what is Bernard being doing there this long.

In simple words, it is like a pocket dimension for the host’s consciousness to live there in a world of their own choosing. Similar to the Valley Beyond. Time is much slower as in, 1 year in the real world accounts for a millennia in there. If I have the timeline correct, Season 4 is set 7 years later the events of Season 3. That means Bernard was in the Sublime for 7 Millennia? Wow! In the Sublime as time moves slower the hosts can derive multiple versions of the read world’s future and see how it ends.

Bernard does the same in his time there and when he comes out he is the Doctor Strange on Westworld.

Does Westworld Season 4 Episode 3 give us an Engaging Story?

So when Bernard has glanced through 14 million 605 possibilities, he figures out that in each possibility he dies, where he tries to save our world. When he gets the perfect outcome, he snaps back to reality and along with Stubbs goes on a mission to trigger a series of event that will lead to that outcome. Their first stop happens to be a coffee shop where he beats two men who were hosts and then go with a new unknown character who supposedly works for something called “the cause”.

He shows her a symbol of the maze and then she him to the rest of the group where Bernard tell them that he knows the weapon they’re looking for in the middle of the desert. This is one track, the other track was Uwade and Frankie packing to leave with Carver but he is killed and replaced by a host version of him. Uwade succeeds in shooting him and both run for their lives. The main track of the episode was Maeve and Caleb infiltrating the park and finding out what is cooking there.

When Maeve and Caleb reach the ground level they realize that there is some kind of virus that the park is infecting the flies with. Then what appears to be humans are controlled by a sound made by a mysterious machine. All the humans in captivity are made to shoot themselves, one of them being Frankie. Caleb manages to stop Frankie only to realize she is host and a ploy to capture Caleb. Maeve tries to save him but is interrupted by William. The episode ends with Maeve realizing this is the host William and Caleb being attacked by the flies.

All three tracks were good, Caleb-Maeve being the most interesting. Honestly, I feel like as long as Westworld remains in the park nothing can go wrong. The Episode definitely had a good story and not filler scenes. We thankfully don’t see Christina in this episode. Good call, as her track was the least interesting.

Verdict

This shot that we’ve been seeing in the trailer and all promotional material finally features in this episode. This shot had intrigued a lot of people, including me. I don’t know about you but I definitely didn’t see Frankie being this little girl. To wrap up, the episode was written well where the audience is hooked to what’s happening and you see the few twists coming. The callbacks to the previous seasons with the park having the same narrative was quite enjoyable and nostalgic.

This episode gave us the glimpse of what Westworld was and the hope that it can get better. Although, I won’t keep my hopes high, one good episode doesn’t really clear their track record. This was an episode Season 4 needed that gives us the hope about the future. I hope they build on this and give us 5 solid episodes that make us appreciate this season rather than feeling burdened by it. Westworld Season 4 Episode 3- “Années Folles” is 3.5 out of 5 stars. The episode asks us questions but questions that intrigue us not the ones that confuse us.

Is this redemption, to answer that we have to wait for the next episodes but as far as Episode 3 is concerned, it is redeemed.

Is Westworld back? Does the 3rd Episode make up for the previous two? What did you think of Westworld Season 4 Episode 3?

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!