Westworld Season 2 Episode 4 Review: The Riddle of the Sphinx
Carissa Pavlica
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William was doing exactly what I thought, but whether he achieved his goal without the help of his father-in-law remains to be seen.
The narrower focus on Westworld Season 2 Episode 4 allowed us to get some very useful insight into why a business like Delos would want to invest in a theme park like Westworld, and what was going on in that hidden facility discovered earlier in the season.
It provided just enough to be dangerous when it comes to theorizing.
Elsie is alive!!
Poor Elsie. She seemed to be killed by Bernard during Westworld Season 1 never to be seen again, but Bernard found her chained up in a cave that ultimately led to the hidden laboratory.
Bernard used the "my memories are all jumbled up" excuse as to why he can't remember anything, but someone was obviously taking care of the girl. She wasn't chained there for any length of time without food and water.
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She confirmed Bernard's scrambled "unaddressed" memories and it gave her enough faith in the guy to accept his promise not to ever hurt her again. That was obviously unwise given what he then recalled doing in the lab before making off with the brain of another human.
Bernard has been exceedingly wicked of late. He's sure not afraid to kill.
The brain he took looked a lot like my mouse trackball, so I'll hold onto my extras in case there's a way I can upload my noggin to my trackball. The times they are a changin'!
I've postulated that Delos managed to upload human consciousness to host bodies to keep people alive forever, but whether that happened or another company succeeded where they failed -- well, who knows?
William and his father-in-law sure tried, though. At last count, we went through about 30 years and 149 uploads of Jim Delos into a printed body and none of them took well without rejection. The rejection wasn't something they could calculate, though. Bill said it was as if humanity rejected reality at a particular point.
Delos: You little pisser. I take it I didn't recover.
William: No.
Delos: How long has it been, give or take?
William: Seven years.
Maybe a real person cannot live inside of an inhuman body at that stage of the world.
When Bill arrived in Westworld, he was ranting about why he was kicked out and that they had no more use for him. I wondered if his brain was already uploaded. Now it seems possible he was kicked out due to failure to succeed with life after death.
Has he been coming back to Westworld all these years because he thought there was something inherent in the hosts themselves that might give him the key to success? Or did he just blow off steam when he visited Jim?
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What I found the most interesting was that even though Bill claimed he was playing the game to the hilt when he chose not to kill Lawrence's wife this time he was in town, his memories of working with Jim Delos were changing him somehow.
When did we ever see him have a reaction the likes of the one he had when Craddock blew off the arm of the bartender with the shaky pouring hand who had successfully carried the shot glass without spilling it? Bill showed feelings.
The man who once took pleasure in killing everyone in his view suddenly wanted to kill the bad guys and save Lawrence and his family. Bill was seeking the happy ending for once.
Bill: You think death favors you, that it brought you back. But death's decisions are final. It's only the living are inconstant, they waver, don't know who they are or what they want. Death is always true. You haven't known a true thing in all your life. You think you know death, but you don't.
Craddock: Is that so?
Bill: You didn't recognize him sittin' across from you this whole time.
Life and death were weighing on Bill's mind and in light of what he'd experienced with a human brain in a host's mind, he couldn't let Craddock hurt the newly sentient hosts around him.
Wow, right?
The title "The Riddle of the Sphinx" says Bill was supposed to be understanding something about mankind, and I think he did. I'm just not quite connecting all the dots to figure out what it is.
Related: Westworld Season 2 Episode 3 Review: Virtù e Fortuna
Probably the best reveal was the discovery that Grace is not just any cool girl with a disdain for sex with hosts, but William's daughter. Now that's a relationship I want to explore.
Is there love in that family? What was it like to grow up with hosts running about? The daughter who told Dolores at the party she was pretty was Emily. If she's the same girl, she's changed her name.
This hour didn't suffer at all with the lack of Wyatt and her shenanigans. It was stronger with the ability to plunge into depths of characters we don't often get to see in such great detail.
Dolores and Wyatt often talk in riddles and that can sometimes become tiring listening to her wistfully speak about splendor and all that jazz. Even with his mind shoving different time frames into his view, Bernard was still easier to follow.
Bill's past coming into play and a member of his family was unexpected and delightful. More!! Let me know what you think. If you're here, why not drop me a line?
Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She's a member of the Critic's Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on X and email her here at TV Fanatic.
