The last time we watched Westworld, the show had just wrapped up a cinematic but simplified third season that had mostly done away with the show’s complex, layered narratives. Arriving two years later, the fourth season is almost successful in restoring the season to its former lofty heights. Although the first few episodes are a bit clunky, they effectively build up a dangerous new threat before pulling the rug from underneath its audience’s feet and revealing that the villains have already won. From there, we see how the new world order has drawbacks for both the ruled and the rulers, culminating in a wave of carnage and chaos that almost wipes the playing board clean.
Seven years after helping to shut down Rehoboam, Caleb (Aaron Paul) is back to working construction, staying low, and devoting himself to his new family. His life is rudely interrupted when someone attempts to kill him and his family, and then Maeve shows up to save them, asking Caleb to join her on a new quest to find out the mystery of these murderous hosts. As the pair infiltrate a new Westworld-like park called the Golden Age that focuses on the twenties, we also see Christina (Evan Rachel Wood), who bears a striking resemblance to Dolores. She goes on dates until she meets a charming man, Teddy (James Marsden) who seems to know more about her than she does herself.
We also follow Bernard (Jeffrey Wright), who wakes up years after venturing into the Sublime (the virtual world where the hosts from the Westworld park escaped to at the end of season two), armed with the knowledge of almost everything that’s going to happen, cryptically leading Stubbs (Luke Hemsworth) on as he links up with a group of humans who live in hiding to help them find a weapon.
There’s an undeniable thrill and excitement in following an event series on a weekly basis, but for me, it was especially true for Westworld season four.
Like the third season, this season was also ambitious, but it felt like it was less interested in theatrics for its own sake and was interested in telling a story that had meaningful character arcs as well as effective themes.
The best dramas are rich with character development and plot progression that challenges its protagonists and audience members. Everyone has their own goals and motivations, but often they intersect with other characters’ goals and motivations. Yet, nowadays, most sci-fi shows are rarely pure sci-fi: rather, they are thrillers or political shows with sci-fi as narrative wallpaper, such as Severance or even Foundation. Westworld season four also ventures in this direction. However, the last two episodes undo nearly all the positive development in this season. It felt like the show had been canceled and the showrunners had been told to clean house, even though the season ends on a hook for a fifth and final season.
Westworld has always featured stellar acting, and this season is no different.
Ed Harris gets to put a new spin on his now classic character, and Tessa Thompson gets to straddle the line between hateful villain and flawed protagonist at alternating points of the story. Thandiwe Newton is almost effortless as the sharp-witted Maeve, but her face is now lined with a weariness that comes from having experienced a significant amount of heartbreak and also from living off-the-grid for the last seven years. Jeffrey Wright rarely gets to convey more emotions than being a cryptic know-it-all. James Marsden also gets to have a lot of tender moments with Evan Rachel Wood’s Christina, who is a much different character than Dolores, even down to the absence of her signature accent.
However, it’s Aaron Paul who gets to deliver the standout performance of this season. In one of the middle episodes of this season, we see him struggle to escape his surroundings and make it back to his daughter while following a trail of bodies that are disturbing in the best sci-fi way. His facial expressions, and his physical ticks as his body starts to break down, reinforce why he’s one of the best actors of his generation, a fact that has often been overshadowed by the surrounding presence of masterclass actors like Bryan Cranston.
The production value of the show is as top-notch as ever. We see a futuristic, but familiar New York in this season, and there’s also a new kind of city adjacent to the Big Apple that’s just alien and distinct enough to convey it wasn’t built by human minds.
Am I really interested in seeing the fifth season of Westworld? It depends.
I wasn’t that interested in seeing the fourth season either, but the first few episodes hooked me in. Let’s hope that the series gets to ends on its own terms and stick the landing after what has been an eventful, six-year-long run full of ups and downs.