MovieChat Forums > Westworld (2016) Discussion > Season 4 Episode 4

Season 4 Episode 4

posted 2 years ago by joi2049 (5562)
9 replies | jump to latest

For anyone else who was as confused as I was here's parts of a link that explains what happened:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/news/westworld-season-4-episode-4-s-timeline-twist-ending-explained/ar-AAZGs2H

Maeve and Caleb's Golden Age breakout fails spectacularly. Accosted by the Men in Black, Maeve uses her powers to remotely detonate the explosives dotted around Charlotte Hale's "park extension" construction site, and they're buried under the rubble. Caleb, meanwhile, believes reinforcements are coming, but the onrush of soldiers is actually a squad of bad guys who put him down and rescue Hale. Caleb wakes up a whole 23 years later to find hosts have taken over the world, and Hale is in control.

Westworld season 4 has glossed over the downfall of civilization, then, but Hale's exposition does at least provide enough breadcrumbs to figure out exactly how humanity was beaten. It all started with the Golden Age park's fly experiment. Guests were infected with the black goop parasite, which was then transmitted throughout the population like any other virus - Westworld boldly playing on COVID-19 fears here. According to Hale, the process was imperfect at first, with some humans able to resist the flies' programming. Caleb himself demonstrates this through much of episode 4. Fortunately for Hale's hopes of global domination, Delos' flies just loved kids, and after the old-timers died out, the next generation grew into the perfectly complicit human race Hale envisioned. This explains Westworld's "Generation Loss" episode title - the generation lost to subservience under hosts.

Hale's takeover could certainly be the apocalypse Rehoboam predicted back in Westworld season 3. Incite's AI program anticipated human extinction was nigh, and by adding Westworld season 4's latest time jump to the 7 years between seasons 3 & 4, the current timeline sits somewhere between "population collapse" and "end of human civilization." Maybe Rehoboam predicted that hosts would succeed in overthrowing mankind if humans were left without its own guidance.

the Caleb Westworld viewers know and love dies on a Delos construction site.

Rather than let a good test subject go to waste, however, Hale has repurposed Caleb's mind to continue the immortality experiments started by James Delos. As revealed in Westworld season 2, the company's founder believed he could cheat death by programming a human mind - memories and all - into an artificial host body, thus extending natural life. The Man in Black undergoes this process in the far-future but, as of yet, no one in Westworld has managed to transfer authentically by passing the dreaded "fidelity test." Hale claims 278 (presumably failed) Calebs have been attempted during the 23-year time jump.

Westworld's "fidelity test" hosts aren't the same as regular hosts. Caleb should retain his same personality and memories from before, but that's assuming #278 doesn't fritz out like most human transference hosts seem to.

Bernard and Stubbs' timeline is happening 30 years after Westworld season 3,
these young adults (who would've all been children when the takeover began) avoided the flies or proved immune, then banded together to strike back against Delos. The drones floating over the desert (not to mention the hosts Bernard killed at the diner) prove how desperately Hale's hooligans want these rebels caught.

The "weapon" Bernard helps the resistance dig up turns out to be Maeve

Buried under tons of dirt during her fight against the Man in Black, Maeve has spent the past 23 years out of action, but those host pearls - their digital brains - are notoriously difficult to destroy. Someone with Bernard's knowledge could almost certainly bring Maeve online again.

the resistance fighter Bernard and Stubbs met in a diner parking lot is actually grown-up Frankie, Caleb's daughter, who is now around 30-years-old

[–] WhereIsRent (1080) 2 years ago

One of the best episodes of the series, I loved it.

You would think Christina would ask the name of her mystery date when meeting up though haha.

I’m still sticking to he’s Robert Ford and Christina is in the past. Maybe someone is even viewing Christina’s memories in the future/new present in a way to try and understand how host control works with the tower in order to be able to find a weakness? I’m going to guess a similar tower was used in the past to keep hosts on a loop and Hale has now built her own tower to control humans.

[–] joi2049 (5562) 2 years ago

Perfect TIMING Rent !!! I just asked over on another topic if TEDDY (or whoever he is) ever said what his name was when he meets CHRISTINA!!!

Did you also notice how that scene between them only lasted for about 5 or 6 min??? I really MISS DOLORES when she's not around as much and hope to see more of Christina. Because watching the newer characters that have been introduced doesn't interest me as much as watching the original cast members does.

I'm also still thinking CALEB might be a younger VERSION of FORD and that might also explain the reason why CHARLOTTE/DOLORES torments him. Because remember how FORD was also the one who wanted to PIMP OUT DOLORES to LOGAN as a way to MAKE MONEY for the PARK???

Then BERN objects saying she's NOT READY yet for that, and the other girl takes her place. So maybe a part of the reason why C/D is on the WARPATH now with CALEB is because he's a younger VERSION of FORD???

And we also know they can make a YOUNGER FORD due to the way FORD also made that other BOY VERSION of himself who had the FACE that OPENED UP (the same way as the face of the YOUNG FRANKIE did when it INFECTS CALEB with the FLIES).

So maybe C/D wants to TORMENT FORD (or CALEB as a YOUNGER VERSION of FORD) due to the way FORD was also responsible for the way DOLORES was repeatedly RAPED and ABUSED inside of the WESTWORLD park???

And IF TEDDY is supposed to be FORD, then don't you also think that's going to be a MAJOR ROADBLOCK in their relationship???

Remember how DOLORES also asked the OLDER FORD one time if they were FRIENDS and he replied back saying NO he wouldn't describe their relationship that way???

Anyhow, you're also right about how C/D is the one who controls the TOWER(s). Because that's also been confirmed in REVIEWS of the show that have been written.

And that's also problematic due to the way that DOLORES fights against SERAC back when he CONTROLS humans by using ROHOBOAM last season.

So WHY would this other COPY of DOLORES (the BODY of CHARLOTTE who has the PEARL of Dolores inside of it) do the same thing as she previously fought against Serac doing to humanity???

[–] elmacho (983) 2 years ago

I thought the opposite while watching it. The Maeve/Caleb story was so rushed. Although I guess it made sense after the reveal that they didn't want to spend too much time on a past story.

[–] joi2049 (5562) 2 years ago

This article agrees with you about things being too rushed:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/westworld-season-4-episode-4-review/ar-AAZI6f0

And it also has other unkind things to say about the way that the story is being told to us.

And it also ECHOS what I said in the message up above by saying this:

And then there's Bernard. This particular character is somehow one of the main personalities of the show, who also happens to be on-screen for about five minutes at a time. In total, it feels like the show showed the audience the fan favorites only to pull them away and focus on the characters that simply aren't as interesting.

Here's what I said:

Did you also notice how that scene between them (CHRISTINA and the TEDDY look-a-like character) only lasted for about 5 or 6 min??? I really MISS DOLORES when she's not around as much and hope to see more of Christina. Because watching the newer characters that have been introduced doesn't interest me as much as watching the original cast members does.

And when they also had the first guy that CHRISTINA meets on a date saying "NO ONE CARES" about the kind of secondary characters that she creates and portrays at her job, surely that means those who create the show should also be aware of how UNINTERESTING these NEWER characters are in comparison to the MAIN CHARACTERS (who should also still have CENTER STAGE and not be BACKGROUND characters with MINOR ROLES).

We're HALF way through Season 4 and Teddy (or whoever he is) has only appeared for about 7 min out of 240 min??? And Christina was only on screen for about 5 min out of 60 this past week? And Bern didn't even show up until Ep. 3 or the episode before this past week???

🤔

[–] elmacho (983) 2 years ago

hopefully they have a plan. and a guess technically "Dolores" has much more screen time if you count "Hale"

[–] joi2049 (5562) 2 years ago

I'm also thinking this HALE character doesn't have the PEARL of DOLORES inside of it anymore, because she's ACTING just like FORD now.

NOTE the way she FREEZES everyone in the CITY (except for CALEB) in the PREVIEW CLIP for this coming week.

FORD also did the same thing way back when the other woman that HALE replaces was having a meal with FORD and FORD FROZE the WAITER who was pouring the WINE into the glass which made it SPILL all over the table.

And outside of the window where they were sitting you could also see other characters who were working in the FIELDS who were also FROZEN in PLACE.

PLUS we also saw FORD FREEZE the SNAKE in place when he was talking to the LITTLE BOY version of himself that he'd created.

So that's why I suspect DOLORES or someone may have SMUGGLED out a PEARL that contains the consciousness of FORD. Because HALE is behaving more like FORD than she behaves like DOLORES.

Because last season DOLORES was on a MISSION to FREE HUMANITY from the CONTROL of SERAC and ROHOBOAM. But the GOAL of HALE (or whoever this is) is to CONTROL HUMANITY by using the FLIES and the TOWER. So that's also 2 completely DIFFERENT and CONTRADICTORY PLANS.

But since FORD FORCED BERN to murder that other woman (the one that HALE replaced), maybe that could be the reason why he'd want to destroy humans who were planning to take his PARK away from him. And one could also see the reason why he'd be HELL BENT on creating still another PARK again where he'd have HIS ROBOTS TORMENT the humans this time who previously tormented him.

So IF this theory is right, then HALE might be FORD (not DOLORES).

But watching HALE as FORD (or DOLORES) still isn't as satisfying as watching WOOD herself in a ROLE where she inhabits her OWN body.

Watching her as CHRISTINA works, but NOT having her being inside the body of someone else like HALE.

Hopefully MAEVE is going to REMOVE the PEARL that's inside of HALE pretty soon. Because there's also a scene at the 2:06 TIME MARK ... in the video that's in that link that I gave you ... where those 2 have a CONFRONTATION and Maeve is holding a BIG KNIFE in her hand.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/westworld-season-4-episode-4-review/ar-AAZI6f0

And Hale's also wearing a BRIGHT RED COLORED DRESS in that scene.

Still another thing to NOTE is how a RED PEARL is also being removed from what looks like the SKULL of a human in the poster for this season that's on the HOME PAGE here. And DOLORES also smuggled a RED PEARL out of the park while the rest of the PEARS she had were a GRAY COLOR. And the RED COLOR also seems to indicate it's a HUMAN PEARL. So what other human would she smuggle out of the PARK besides for FORD (who'd also have been in BIG TROUBLE after that MASSACRE of the GUESTS if DOLORES hadn't killed him) ???

🗡️🔪

[–] joi2049 (5562) 2 years ago

Here's parts of another article about FORD that you might find interesting:

https://www.bustle.com/p/is-ford-still-alive-on-westworld-he-may-have-put-a-failsafe-in-place-before-his-death-9218939#:~:text=His%20pearl%20was%20not%20placed%20inside%20a%20flesh-and-blood,his%20mind%20does%20live%20on%20in%20digital%20code.

By Jefferson Grubbs
May 27, 2018

the pearl contained a copy of Ford's own mind, printed by Bernard in preparation for his coup de grâce, to ensure that he would live on after a self-aware Dolores put a bullet in his brain.

Ford is not still alive… at least, not in the traditional sense. His pearl was not placed inside a flesh-and-blood host body, but rather uploaded into the Cradle. Since his consciousness only exists inside a computer, and not inside a manufactured clone version of himself, it cannot really be said that he's "still alive" in the way that he was before. But his mind does live on in digital code.

In the Season 1 finale, shortly before the killing of his corporeal form, Ford gave a speech that turned out to be a moving eulogy to himself. "An old friend once told me something that gave me great comfort," he said to the assembled Delos board. "He said that Mozart, Beethoven, and Chopin never died. They simply became music." In essence, that is exactly what Ford has now done: he has become a part of his own creation. His consciousness is now inseparable from his code.

Ford now exists everywhere and nowhere at once, able to thwart QA's forces from within the Cradle by blocking their every attempt to reprogram his malfunctioning hosts and his new, rebellious narrative. And thanks to the fact that the Cradle from within appears as a perfect simulation of Westworld

viewers should remember one very important thing: "cognitive plateau." In the flashbacks with young William and the many attempted copies of Jim Delos, it was revealed that human consciousnesses copied into a pearl only last so long before plateauing… and then degrading with alarming results.

Did Ford perfect that technology before he uploaded himself into the Cradle? Or are things in the park about to get even worse when the literal ghost in the machine starts to break down and go insane?

Perhaps FORD could be GOING INSANE inside of the body of HALE the same way as JAMES DELOS did before???

Or since he KILLED ARNOLD and the woman who was his lover, maybe he's been INSANE all along???

[–] kenburke (2377) 2 years ago

The show has so many twists and turns you feel like you're riding an out-of-control roller coaster!!!

[–] joi2049 (5562) 2 years ago

Well put Ken !!!

The more I think about it ... it also seems to MAKE SENSE that it's FORD who is hiding there inside of the BODY of CHARLOTTE instead of DOLORES.

Because look at the way we see her STOP or FREEZE everyone in place inside of the CITY in the PREVIEW CLIP ( the same way as we also previously saw FORD FREEZE his HELP in place while they were pouring the WINE and working out in the fields).

So after the explosion that kills the son and husband, maybe Dolores removed her own PEARL from inside of Charlotte's body and placed one that belongs to FORD inside of it???

That might also explain the reason why one of those PEARLS is a REDDISH lookin color instead of it being a GRAY color like the other 4 PEARLS are that she smuggled out of the PARK???

So IF this "CHARLOTTE is really FORD theory" is right, then that might also be still another TWIST and TURN on this ROLLER COASTER RIDE that we've been taking through these AMUSEMENT PARKS!!!