Westworld: Les Écorchés (2x07)

This episode was a bit of a letdown. It wasn't bad. I've yet to encounter a bad episode of this show. But I felt some ennui while watching. Let's dive in to the specifics.

Cons:

I've been alluding to this for a while, but it feels like everything is buildup without payoff. Dolores keeps talking about her quest to be truly free. Maeve continues to under-utilize her new superpower and worry for her daughter. Bernard is confused. Hale doesn't know what's going on. And even this episode, which had a bunch of confluences and moments where characters finally came together, didn't feel as impacting as I think it was meant to. I still feel like I'm waiting for everything to click together.

Ford is super creepy and obviously Anthony Hopkins is doing a great job, but there were a few lines in there that were... less than subtle. When he's talking to Bernard he says something about how the human brain is the "last analog device in a digital world" and it made me cringe just a bit. These are the kinds of lines that draw far too much attention to the show's attempt at social commentary. I'm not saying it's a bad attempt, there's just no need to point it out so obviously.

Maeve is very inconsistent with the use of her powers, and it bothers me. Why would she fail to control the humans as they ran in and started shooting, but remember it with the Man in Black at a different point? Some rattled nerves could be an excuse for some of this, but not everything. She's acting like her daughter is leverage that can get her to obey, but she can literally control people's minds. Nobody is hurting her kid if she doesn't want them to. Seems like this power could be explored more.

I forgot to care or pay attention to the Hemsworth character and I still don't really know what his purpose is in the story. When Charlotte was pointing out that he has no real value to the company and is just a pawn, I found myself agreeing with that assessment. He's pretty to look at, but I don't really get what his character is doing here.

Pros:

That's a long section of complaining, but as I said, this wasn't a bad episode. There are still so many pieces of it that are intriguing to me.

I loved the sheer surreal power of seeing Teddy with modern clothing and weaponry, with a whole army of hosts from Westworld dressed like present-day soldiers. It's chilling, what Dolores has managed to accomplish. I also liked Hale trying to compliment her on her remarkable achievements, but Dolores just wanting nothing to do with it. Good thing her connection to her father is still stronger than her desire to kill Hale!

Even if I was slightly underwhelmed by how some of these pieces are coming together, I still did enjoy that we're getting some characters in the same room at last. Dolores and Maeve have another exchange. I love the fact that these two women, and then Charlotte among the humans, are really the shot-callers. Of course there's also William, but we've seen that he's susceptible to Maeve's powers just like everyone else, so that's knocked him down a few pegs.

Speaking of - that was undoubtedly my favorite scene in the whole episode. After everything that William has put Maeve through, the moment when she controls his mind and makes him shoot at his own allies was a real treat. And he gets shot as well - for one glorious moment, I thought he was going to die, but of course we've still got three more episodes of the season, so that didn't happen. Even so, the whole scene was enormously satisfying.

Anthony Hopkins is obviously brilliant, and Ford's scenes with Bernard in the backup files were really chilling and powerful. We've known for a while that something more was going on with Ford's plan, and now we get it spelled out for us. In some ways, the idea that the hosts are just there as a control group to find out how to copy the human mind seems... trite. Obvious. In other ways, it perfectly suits the story and everything we've learned up to this point. Ford has achieved a ghost-like immortality. He can't leave the backup world and go into the real one, or his files will start to degenerate. And yet, he seems to have downloaded part of himself into Bernard, which is just creepy on a whole other level. Suffice it to say, I'm glad we've got Sir Anthony back with us, and I'm excited to see what comes next for his character.

There are probably other things I'm forgetting to talk about, but that's all the time I have for now. I'm still gripped by a lot of the characters and plot points of this season, but I'm getting a bit worried that we're beginning to tread water. Exciting, choppy water, yes, but no forward motion all the same. Is this whole season just biding its time for whatever they have planned for us in the final weeks? If so, I'm annoyed, but still excited to see what's in store!

7/10