Westworld: Zhuangzi (4x05)

No Caleb or Maeve this week, which means my attention was wandering even more than it usually would! Oops!

Cons:

I'd say by and large, this episode didn't really give us new revelations, just showed us the impact of last week's new data. That's... fine, except that in a lot of ways the pacing seemed slow. So for example, Christina spends this episode building up to the huge reveal that she has been writing out the fates of all human beings, instead of just writing stories for video game characters. We see her also start to write the story of Dolores from the Westworld park, as it seems some spark of memory is trying to push its way through. It's with Teddy's help that she has her big "aha" moment. My issue here is one of pacing. We, the audience, had already figured this out a couple weeks ago. So watching Christina, a character who doesn't really have anything interesting about her other than the fact that she's a part of Dolores, come to the conclusion we've already reached just isn't as thrilling as I want it to be.

Same with Charlotte's whole philosophy of being like a god, controlling the humans. It's not bad in and of itself, it's just the kind of thing that could have been explored more succinctly. I guess I feel like generally speaking, the ideas and scenes in this episode could have been half as long, and we could have pushed things forward with Bernard and Stubbs at the same time.

Pros:

While it's not exactly groundbreaking stuff for a sci-fi show, I do like the idea that the robot overlords have taken over all human brains, but some people are mysteriously resisting and the bad guys don't know why. That's a cool concept that I could see them exploring in myriad different ways. The fact that William has his own doubts and is trying to figure out the nature of his existence best he is able, is also really interesting.

While I have my problems with the pacing of the stuff with Christina, I once again adore any moment that "Dolores" and Teddy spend on screen together. They have this magnetic chemistry that's impossible to deny, and I like the idea of these multiple versions of sentient beings, in different bodies and with different memories and objectives and roles, finding this pull towards one another again and again. It's that cosmic question of predestined connection and love, and I gotta say, I eat that shit up in a fictional context. Can't wait to see where it goes.

As always, keeping it short, because I don't want to get too in the weeds. Some cool concepts, even if they're not the most original, but this episode was missing the parts of the season I've found the most gripping thus far, so it's not going to get particularly high marks from me!

7/10