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Westworld Season 4 Episode 2 Review: ‘Well Enough Alone’ Explained

Westworld Season 4 Episode 2 review (HBO)

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Westworld Season 4 Episode 2 continued with the same intrigue and mystery that we enjoyed in Season 4 Episode 1. In fact, it really feels like the old Season 1 Westworld is back, and I’m loving every minute of it.

Here’s a look at the top explanations about what happened in S4E2, “Well Enough Alone.” And while every character really shined this week, I have to give my MVP stars to Caleb and Maeve. They made the perfect spy duo, and I can’t wait to see more of their story. 

This review has SPOILERS for Season 4 Episode 2 of Westworld. 

The Episode Begins with a Sad Story About Clementine

https://twitter.com/Celulas_Muertas/status/1543764371251380226

Clementine as a character just breaks my heart. She can truly, literally, never win. When S4E2 opens, she seems to really be enjoying life in Mexico. It’s a picturesque scene, so beautiful I thought maybe we were in the Sublime. But then William came in and ripped it all to shreds, in a way that was very reminiscent to how he disrupted and tortured Dolores in the old days. 

Only this time, he’s under Charlotte’s control. Knowing that Charlores (or Halores) is controlling Clementine’s subjugation makes me feel like she’s really gone off the rails. Dolores would never want to hurt her own kind like that. At least, I thought she wouldn’t until Season 3, when she seemed to order her own clones to their deaths. But at least then they had a choice. 

For the rest of the episode, Clementine appeared to be completely reprogrammed and under Williams’ control. Is it possible that her Pearl was replaced? Or is Halores simply fine with subjugating her own kind? 

Caleb & Maeve Are the Buddy Story I Didn’t Know I Needed

The next scene shows Caleb and Maeve with an easy camaraderie that paints a sharp contrast to how they were when we last saw them in Season 3. Apparently they’ve been through a lot together and are now pretty much best buddies. I found their storyline in this episode particularly intriguing, pinpointed with moments of levity that were definitely needed. These two actors have really great chemistry together, and I’m enjoying the pairing. 

Of course, their story isn’t without a lot of darkness too. They quickly discover that the Senator and his wife are hosts. It turns out that William and Charlotte paid them a visit previously, and when the Senator wouldn’t go along with their takeover plan (which I’m guessing was to launch a new Delos Park), the two simply killed them and replaced them. Except in the wife’s case, she had to endure a living death first. 

Caleb and Maeve found her in the barn, cutting up her own horses. Her “glitches” seemed strangely reminiscent of the glitches that hosts sometimes underwent in Westworld. When Maeve killed her, she commented to Caleb: “She may have been human, but she wasn’t like any human I’ve ever seen.” 

https://twitter.com/AnnelieseMariah/status/1543764506593169410

The Senator’s wife was bleeding black blood, rather than the red blood of humans or the white blood of hosts. My theory is that these bionic flies are somehow rewriting humans down to their DNA and rewiring their bodies. They aren’t just controlling them like a fungus might control an ant. Their literally changing them from the inside, to the point that very little of the original human remains. 

Christina’s Story Presents an Intriguing Mystery

As for Christina, I’m still unsure which theory about her I’m siding with. (I explore them all in depth in the story here.) Are her stories being used to program human hosts, and Peter was one of those humans seeking to get her to stop? Is she living in a Park herself, and her roommate is trying to keep her on her loop? Or is she in a different timeline entirely? Is she human or host? 

Here are some of our major clues: 

  • Peter’s story is almost exactly like a story she wrote, but it happened after she wrote it. 
  • A maze was found on her balcony. 
  • Teddy is watching her from afar and protecting her. 
  • Another one of her stories seemed similar to Williams’ story. 
  • She appears to be on a “loop” (waking up every morning the same way, just like Dolores of Season 1.) 
  • In S4E2, she traveled to the mental hospital where Peter’s obituary said he gave money. But the mental hospital was shut down, and Peter gave money a long time ago. 
  • There’s a tower that produces a “song with no sound” that only birds and certain people can hear. 

My current guess is that Christina is living in some kind of park or simulation, but it’s simulating a real-life story that happened to a real-life person. Perhaps that real-life Christina helped create Delos. Maybe they’re trying to bring her back because she can contribute something uniquely special to Delos. Maybe they’re even testing her for fidelity right now. 

It’s kind of convoluted and doesn’t exactly fit, but that’s the direction I’m leaning at the moment. 

William & Charlotte Are Taking Over Everything

While Caleb and Maeve are pretty much the ideal duo to me, Host William and Charlotte are a nightmare pair. In this episode, they took over two Senators and the Vice President. I’m guessing these are all replaced by hosts, as opposed to being controlled by flies. The fly thing seems to still be in beta. 

Through the political control they now yield (which is reminiscent of the storyline in the Futureworld movie), they were able to cut through all the red tape and open a brand new park. 

Maeve and Caleb find themselves taken to this new park while investigating what William’s up to. They’re greeted by a host who was once the New Clementine, and now seems to have a promotion. So that’s even more proof that Charlotte and William are accessing old hosts and reusing them. 

When asked to choose a black or white hat, Maeve and Caleb scoff at the choice and choose neither. This is smart, considering that the hats in Westworld were used to scan visitors’ data so they could be later recreated in host bodies. Who knows what these new hats are used for. 

I loved the scenes where Maeve and Caleb were introduced to the park and given new clothes to wear. It brought such a strong feeling of nostalgia, reminding me of everything I loved about Season 1. I hope that this rounds out with an appearance by Ford in the future. 

In the very last scene, they are introduced to a new Golden Age World. It appears to be in the 1920s, so not quite as far back as Westworld. This is the Roaring 20s, and it’s going to be fun to see. But while the new world glitters with beauty, we’re left wondering what’s behind the curtain. Have humans been turned into hosts this time around? 

The possibility is hinted at during Charlotte’s slightly awkward conversation with Human William. She’s keeping him alive in cryogenesis, awakening him occasionally to taunt him.

This time, she tells him: 

“It would be pointless to bring children into a world where they will be consumed by jackals,” she explains. “I had to make sure that they’d be safe. Your kind made a sport out of hunting us. So, I had to cut off your paws. make sure you people would never be able to ever harm us again… really, I should thank you, William. None of this would be possible without you…”

I’m guessing that Charlotte plans to ultimately control all the humans in the entire world with those bionic flies. I don’t think Human William will do much to stop her (I’m pretty sure he’s the one who goes through the fidelity testing in the future, as shown in the Season 2 post-credits scene). 

But perhaps Host William will one day find a way to break out of his programming. This screenshot from one of the trailers makes me think so. 

William on Westworld (HBO)
William on Westworld (HBO)

Of course, there are still a few pieces on the chess board we haven’t seen yet, including Bernard. While Halores has the upper hand right now, I can’t help but think that OG Dolores’ protege, Caleb, and his partner Maeve will end up winning in the end. 

All in all, I’d give this episode a 4 out of 5. It wasn’t perfection, but it was beautifully shot and enjoyable to watch, with a strong touch of Season 1 nostalgia. 

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    Stephanie Dwilson started Post Apocalyptic Media with her husband Derek. She's a licensed attorney and has a master's in science and technology journalism. You can reach her at [email protected].

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