‘Westworld’ Review: Season 4 Tries to Find Its Way Home In Inconsistent But Improved New Chapter

The third season of HBO’s “Westworld” was a dour death march as the show’s over-reliance on convoluted twists and turns led it to a place in which it barely resembled the clever sci-fi thriller it was in the first two seasons. Breaking the characters of this world out of the park that gave it a name allowed creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy a chance to tell any number of stories, and they arguably lost their way in this vision of the future, diving so deep into its philosophies and technology that they forgot to entertain.

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However, the ambition was still there. Season three attempted to tell a parallel story to season one in the story of Caleb (Aaron Paul), a young man who learns that his mind has been manipulated and his future determined in much the same way that host Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) learned in the first two seasons. Caleb teamed with Dolores to free the human race in a mirror of how the hosts were released from their captivity in Westworld. They destroyed an AI named Rehoboam, a machine that had been given so much data that it could basically control and predict human behavior. In the end, season three felt transitional, breaking open even more narrative possibilities, although it was often such a morose venture that little hope remained that this show could find its way home again.

The good news is that there are signs of life in the first four episodes of the fourth season of “Westworld” that were sent to press. The show’s writers appear to have gotten the note to have some fun every now and then, which is most evident in a crackerjack third episode that is a great standalone action movie that also completely alters the fabric of the show—every other episode has the tendency to do that. If the show kind of dips back into convoluted tedium in the fourth episode, the final one sent for press, it at least ends with a couple of revelations that bode well for the back half of the season. The truth is that the plotting on “Westworld” can still be playfully enjoyable, and the ensemble is undeniably talented. It’s that playfulness that was lost in season three, but the fourth season has some wonderful reminders of this show’s potential.

Most of them are embedded in the arc of William (Ed Harris), returned to his vicious Man in Black state from the physical and mental prisoner he was stuck portraying in season three. At the end of last year, William found his way to Dubai, where he discovered Charlotte (Tessa Thompson) or “Chalores” as she’s sometimes known given she has a Dolores control unit in her host body. Charlotte was building a host army, and William finally came face to face with a host version of himself, who seemingly killed the millionaire sociopath. And so the William of season four is basically Charlotte’s T-1000, a killing machine with the political and social capital to put her plans into motion. Watching Harris chew the scenery as a true villain is wickedly enjoyable, and Thompson comes to life pulling his strings.

Meanwhile, fans will remember that Dolores basically sacrificed herself to free the human race, leading to the question of how Wood could still be top-billed on the show. It turns out that this will remain one of the main queries of season four, as the show opens with Wood/Dolores as a writer named Christina, who works at a virtual reality company creating NPCs. Yes, the host has become the narrative writer, although Christina becomes increasingly fascinated by the back stories and lives of the characters that most gamers ignore, implying that the core of the host who freed her kind is still there in Christina. When a familiar face returns in James Marsden, the sense that Christina’s arc will align with the history of Dolores before the show ends is clear, but it feels like it could be a season-long game.

As for Caleb and Maeve (Thandiwe Newton), they’ve come a long way since the end of season three, but they’re both haunted by what happened in the showdown with Serac. Maeve mourns the loss of Hector, using that as fuel for her fight, while Caleb now has a family to protect. Saying too much about Maeve and Caleb’s arc this season would qualify as a spoiler, but it’s worth noting that Paul seems to be having more fun this year too, not quite so stuck in the observer role as he was in year three, where Caleb was figuring out how much he believed was actually a lie. Similarly, previews reveal that Jeffrey Wright returns as Bernard, but it would also be spoiler-y to dig into his arc too much. Suffice to say, Bernard held the key to the Sublime in season three, and he may end up being the most important player in season four’s fight for the human race.

If it all sounds like “Westworld” is still ridiculously narratively divided and convoluted, it undeniably is, and the show continues to have a frustrating habit of over-writing itself into ridiculously long passages of exposition. It feels like Joy and Nolan built out this world after the first two seasons gave them a chance to escape the park, but expansion comes with a set of problems. People lost interest when “Westworld” went from a show about hosts discovering their humanity to a futuristic study of what it means to be human at all, falling down rabbit holes of philosophical over-exposition. Season four can’t completely shake this problem, but it’s encouraging to see actors like Harris, Wright, and Paul have more fun than they were in the drag of a third season.

Will “Westworld” regain its status as a prestige sci-fi show? Probably not given the inherent difficulty of reversing a backlash in today’s crowded market. But could it reward those who have been loyal to it through the tough times? The program is still being written. [C+]