Saddle up! But beware potential spoilers in this review, which will discuss elements of the episode.
If you were one of those wondering when Westworld would get around to more Game Of Thrones-level combat action, the show certainly decided to provide for this episode. But that's towards the end of Virtù e Fortuna, which kicks off with a visit to one of Delos' other parks on what we now know is an island – Known as The Raj, it's very much in the style of lavish period drama. At least until the robo-revolution affects this park too. So, as the tiger – who we meet in its much more alive form here – proved, the disruption has spread across most of the parks. The opening, which is a fun (if culturally insensitive) break from the usual locales, also introduces us to a protagonist called Grace (Katja Herbers) whose story we seem destined to follow down the line, as she washes up in Westworld at the end, only to be met by Ghost Nation warriors. Yeah, that probably won't end well. And yes, that was The White Stripes' Seven Nation Army played on the sitar at the start of the Indian sequence. Nice touch.
The majority of the episode's story was split between three chunks – Dolores' continued battle against her former human masters, Maeve's hunt for her child and Charlotte Hale's continued search for the data she was attempting to smuggle out of the park/the QA team's mission to put down the revolution. Of them, the Dolores plot is carrying more of the heavy lifting, with Evan Rachel Wood doing the most speechifying of any of the characters. Dolores, with the Wyatt personality showing through, is a dispassionate leader and military tactician, given to throwing allies into the fray so her people can survive. But we're also shown glitters of the old Dolores in the emotional reaction to her father's reappearance. There's a tragic parallel with dementia at play here as Peter Abernathy (more great work by Louis Herthum) struggles with his corrupted mental system.
Naturally, when Hale's story dovetails with Dolores' as she snatches Abernathy from Fort Forlorn Hope, she rekindles Dolores' Terminator-alike side. The battle itself is impressive, even if it can't compete with, say, Thrones at its most spectacular. But then, Westworld usually opts to spend its money elsewhere. Even if any mention of Westeros has us wishing for that crossover before the end of both series.
Tessa Thompson continues to be a highlight, whether she's ordering QA military teams around or giving the finger to angry bandit Rebus (The Walking Dead's Steven Ogg, bringing his typical swagger) before having Bernard reprogram him to be a heroic saviour. Hale might be a scheming rotter, but she's a whole lot of fun.
Bernard, meanwhile, keeps slipping around in time, and were it not for the subtle powers of Jeffrey Wright, he'd be a lot less interesting than he is. The continued timeline trickery wavers between interesting and annoying, but is fortunately still on the positive side.
And if you're after pure entertainment, the Maeve story delivers once again. Whether it's Lee Sizemore commenting on how he wrote Hector's love story (we also enjoyed his confusion that his creations could break out of their narratives) or Hector turning out to have untapped Ghost Nation language skills, the evolution of her plot and character has been one of the more successful. She's not just the badass we met last year, she's both more and less than that when faced with challenges. She, Hector and Lee (who we catch up with leading a donkey, in an ass-and-asshole situation) encounter a flamethrower-wielding Armistice (Ingrid Bolsø Berdal), reunite with human techs Felix and Sylvester, and, right at the end, run into a Samurai. A visit to Shogun World can't be far away now!
Virtù e Fortuna continues to deliver all the talk of free will and theorizing about the nature of AI that we've come to know from the show. But it also breaks out of the usual confines and keeps the timeline hopping to a minimum so your brain doesn't start to hurt. At least not too much.
Big Questions
1. Is there more going on with Bernard than we've been led to suspect so far? Our guess is hell yes.
2. Did you notice how Maeve wasn't able to shut control all the Ghost Nation warriors she encountered? We're guessing the loss of the network has something to do with it, or perhaps the sheer number who show up.
3. What will happen with Grace? We can't imagine that the Ghost Nation has a warm attitude to unusual strangers on their territory.
4. Has Teddy doomed himself by sparing Major Craddock and the Confederados that Dolores orders him to execute? It's certainly not a good step. Poor, conflicted Teddy.
Read previous episode reviews below...
Season 1
Season 2
Westworld airs on HBO in the US on Sunday nights and Mondays on Sky Atlantic in the UK
