The perfect closing of the circle of Westworld 4, review

The perfect closing of the circle of Westworld 4

A goosebumps season finale, the one that closes Westworld 4, and that allows us to take stock of what we have seen. With the center of gravity shifted towards the inevitable control of androids over humans, the series by Lisa Joy and Christopher Nolan has finally made that evolution towards an event perhaps always underground foretold since the first episode of the first season, but powerful enough to bring together every thing towards the close of the circle. The first episodes of Westworld 4 had left us, in our first impressions, with many reservations dictated by the sunburn caused by the third season. However, what had been the initial positive perceptions find full confirmation in this season finale and, indeed, the conclusion of Westworld 4 goes even beyond expectations. And here's why.

Beyond the wall of sleep

Westworld 4 consists of 8 episodes, which could be identified in three sections: an opening represented by the first 3 episodes; the central plot twist that upsets the events, which instead is the fourth episode; and the last 4 to act as the evolution and conclusion of the complex events. At the end of the third episode we had left Caleb and Maeve busy discovering, and eventually stopping, the plans concocted by Charlotte Hale in cahoots with William. Arriving at their new Golden Age theme park, however, Caleb discovers in the finale of the stunning fourth episode (Generation Los s) that his attempts to destroy Hale and protect his family are in vain: his arrival at the park has only done so. so that he was infected with a parasite transmitted through flies, capable of placing humans under Hale's control through special sound waves and, once infected, Caleb died. Twenty-three years ago.



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Meanwhile Christina, the young woman with Dolores' appearance, is approached by what we have known from the beginning as Teddy Flood (James Marsden), who pushes her little by little towards the disconcerting truth. Christina is effectively a version of Dolores and her power within the artificial intelligence that is currently ruling the world makes her create narratives for all the inhabitants. Will the 'storyteller' of this new world eventually do what Hale has failed to do - create a better world?

As surprising as it should be

In our previous review we wondered if Westworld had managed to learn from its mistakes. With this fourth season, broadcast on Sky and NOW at the same time as HBO, he proved yes, finally making the leap he probably should have made immediately after the second season. What the first seasons had accustomed us to was, first of all, the constant sense of surprise that the episodes conveyed by playing on the characteristic of being a "multilevel" series, complex and layered to leave the viewer continually to reflect on what they saw. Westworld 4 returns to its original splendor, detaches itself from the coldness of the third season and progresses towards a product that is not only visually satisfying from numerous points of view, but also full of many intersecting levels, to leave us always displaced and with something in our hands to think about.




Westworld 4 is stratified through the omnipresent relationship between man and artificial intelligence and, by extension, between god and man, between creative entities and created subjects. Something that has marked every episode with a blood-red line since the first season. However, what comes from the new episodes of Lisa Joy and Christopher Nolan is the reversal of the denominators in these equations. It is no longer man who is in a position of privilege, but artificial intelligence, which controls every aspect of his existence and even builds his identity. But above all, God no longer seems to be an abstract metaphysical entity belonging to a supernal world otherwise inaccessible except with death. It is the same artificial intelligence that "creates" and moves men, alive and present among them, so much so that some of them are able to perceive it, to feel the power of a dark presence that governs their lives, leaving them alone with a fictitious, simulated idea of free will.









This is what Westworld 4 plays a lot on: on catching us off guard due to the complexity on which it is stratified, thanks to plot shocking twists, revelations, sudden choices of the protagonists who can sometimes be extremely human even when it comes to the residents. After episode 4 there are in fact numerous other twists, up to the last, conclusive turning point which, in addition to being astounding, represents the closing of that circle traced in 2016 with the first season of Westworld and which now, even without the one that has already been heralded as the fifth and final season, it could be a worthy conclusion without further development.

More Westworld 4

The fourth season of Lisa Joy and Christopher's series Nolan is not as flawless as it might appear. In its evolution towards the powerful, magnificent final closure, for example, it leaves some small plot holes, almost as if they were narrative choices initiated and then forgotten by the authors themselves. For example, the fact that Maeve is awakened from her "death" for her to serve as a weapon in the fight against the tyranny of the androids towards men, but that in fact she does not ultimately play this long-awaited role. But also the evolution of the narrative regarding Caleb, for which seas and mountains are moved, although then finally it seems that the character ends his journey with nothing, despite the high expectations for him. However, the general expectations have not been disregarded: Westworld 4 is a high-level product, also visible in the graphic choices made through the CGI and the construction of breathtaking scenarios, but also in a photograph that leaves clues about this in the details and colors. that we might expect from the characters on stage.





Even the initial intro is a clear reference to what we will see: the evolution of the images saw in the first season the horse as the protagonist, an animal tamed as were the residents of the park; the bull for the second, a beast with a rebellious character, depicting the rebellion of the residents; an eagle was the symbol of the third, a metaphor for the freedom longed for by men and residents; finally, the fly is the protagonist of the Westworld 4 intro, a symbol of control over humans as the residents were equally controlled at the origin, but also a reference to death. A circle that closes through a story that repeats itself.



It is certainly necessary to have the patience to grasp its deep and layered complexity, but the final prize is certainly worth a lot. Westworld 4 has managed to evolve while returning to its origins, re-proposing well-established sequences from the first two seasons and recreating them in a different world. It is the perfect squaring of the circle, the exit from that labyrinth traced by Robert Ford at the beginning. In this realm where we talk about conscience, ethics, faith, control, Christina / Dolores is the absolute queen: the character from which everything began and with whom everything ends, with a textbook interpretation by Evan Rachel Woods who manages to return his Dolores to the original characterization we have always loved and which, should a fifth season ever be produced, leaves us with a strong guarantee for the future.