"Westworld" Zhuangzi (TV Episode 2022) Poster

(TV Series)

(2022)

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9/10
The game has changed...
W011y4m525 July 2022
In one of the most intellectually stimulating, ambitious & challenging episodes in the show's history, Westworld goes fully meta this week, reinventing the host's & human's perceptions of reality in one fell swoop until both are equally left questioning their own nature / free will, including the audience. It's an astonishingly audacious, philosophical piece of science fiction which boldly dares to elevate the theme of fidelity until the writing which addresses it - itself - almost becomes self aware, in one trippy, semi-conscious installment. My mind hurts but I'm loving S4 & although I may find the execution somewhat confusing / convoluted at times, I'm in awe of the creator's sheer attempt at tackling an idea this complex. What a remarkable improvement from last season!
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10/10
"You did"
critic-97-41765725 July 2022
Warning: Spoilers
This season is outstanding. What an interesting statement being made about humanity. The closer the AIs get to consciousness, the more they experience the flaws of what it means to be human. The struggle to understand our place, our meaning, our purpose, our worth... and where that leads our minds and mental states. The human need to be in control, always wanting more, and not knowing when enough is enough. What are we really needing to be fulfilled as individuals?

People are flawed. AI designed to mimic us will be flawed. What are the consequences?
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10/10
Season 1 meets first half of The Matrix
chrisgavidia25 July 2022
Combine the plot elements of Season 1 with the first 30-40 minutes of "The Matrix" and thats what this episode resembles. So far easily the standout episode of Season 4 and truly at its core what I feel fans have been yearning for since Season 1.
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10/10
Easily one of the best episodes since season 1
UniqueParticle25 July 2022
I loved all the scenes, everything unfolds perfectly and recalibrating all the pieces of control in for the non hosts! Today was mixed for me and Westworld hit the spot. Ed Harris is magnificent, so is Tessa Thompson, and Evan Rachel Wood all should be praised! I think the series is still great even though some episodes are just pretty good where as others are masterful.
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9/10
"Humans are so bound to what they hear they'll never understand what they don't"
peerawat201025 July 2022
This show just gets me thinking about human nature. We can practically use this show as a material to teach philosophy. Can't believe there are only 3 episodes left.
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9/10
"You're a god."
CulvertonSmith25 July 2022
Very good stuff, really like seeing where Christina's story has developed and am excited to see where it goes in the rest of the season. Glad that Evan Rachel Wood has been given something to do too since she's such a great actor. I'm really enjoying the Charlotte Hale and Man in Black scenes, really looking forward to seeing where it all leads. I still have a blast with Westworld, and Season 4 continues to be entertaining, strong episode!
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10/10
That was actually a good one
benswindin-4103527 July 2022
Been waiting to see if the writers of Westworld could give us an episode that was truly clever and intelligent since the first/second season. This episode definitely delivered, couldn't stop watching. Every scene was engaging and revealing. Let's hope they keep it up with the final episodes.
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9/10
Best the show has been since season 1
sirjack-7693725 July 2022
I've never left a review before but after this episode I just had to. All I can say is WOW this show has made such a massive comeback. Long episode but very rewarding, all the plot lines were excellent and thought provoking. Stand out performances from Evan Rachel Wood and Ed Harris, it's so great they have given Ed a prominent role this season and this episode in particular.

The quality of the writing really feels like season 1 again. I had almost written off this season after the first few episodes but now I am excited to see what comes next. Please don't stuff up the ending like you did with season 3!
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10/10
Clarity and confusion
scrantonicityy25 July 2022
This show, unlike any other in memory, has the unique capability to make you feel like you're starting to understand, while still making you question the nature of the plot and what you believe. Seasons 2 and 3 were a bit disjointed (while still enjoyable). What sets seasons 1 and 4 apart is the cohesion between clarity and confusion. Magnificent episode.
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7/10
Restores quality, but there is no point
noalygh28 July 2022
First, let me start off with the good things. The show has become very engaging and refreshing again, obliterating pass its embarrassing generic sci-fi/action schemes last season that seemed to have been copied by Jonathan Nolan directly from his brother Chris. The latest episodes have been bringing back both the thrilling adventures and the hiding dystopian mystiques like in the first two seasons. The street dance scene with William and Halores is a masterpiece, and Westworld showcases its incredible creativity yet again (shoutout to Lisa Joy!). Plus, production design has been mind-blowingly good, pacing is again timed perfectly (both in story and tones), and key plot points / places / characters have been very direct to pinpoint everything forward extremely well.

However, despite all of these refined qualities, I can't see where the writers are going at this point. The mysteries are intriguing but feel generic by the old formula of lining up the timelines. The characters no longer have interesting driving motives in the show. Christine (Dolores) is just wandering around waiting to be "freed" like Caleb last season. William is side-kick servant like most other characters are. Bernard's quest to "save humanity" is too abstract and ignorable. Halores just wants to play God for no reason. Why does she want to do this to humans and hosts? Nothing about her background as Dolores, nor Wyatt, even Charlotte Hale, warrants this. There are simply no stakes. Boom! You can just take over the whole world in a snap of fingers (after a miraculous time jump). Everyone dies and becomes a host, so no one actually dies! Every host can be resurrected, unless by crushing their marble (which has rarely been done).

I don't understand why the writers struggle so much over the same concept of free will and reality. It's another character waking up another day to find themselves puppeted by some bigger forces, then try to break free. Often times, they are in a simulation or manifested setting that don't really matter. The quality of the plot seemed to have progressively picked up, almost to the point of season 1, but I keep being left unsatiated, baffled by how the characters would have any reason to continue with their little narratives here. Season 1 was revolutionary, but it simply stayed within exploring mysteries of a park. Season 2 with the hosts fighting for their independence piques its own interest. Seasons 3 and 4 are too much ambitious in scope, that they somehow have to concern the survival of the whole humanity, but of course feels far-fetched and unrelatable. Some people like power and control, yes, but the idea of Genghis Khan Serac or Halores is just incredible and uninteresting. After quitting season 3, I thought season 4's reset really interesting, but now it seemed overly floored by cliche philosophical ideas rather than telling a well-crafted story.

PS: btw, how did they even put Caleb in a host body when they killed him before any brain analysis / copy is done? How did his daughter's body get replicated when they never caught her? I hope the writers don't try to cram in so many twists again before stumbling on plot holes. Still, I'm sticking around for a bit. My thirst for good WW episodes hasn't been fulfilled this much in 4 years.
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9/10
Theology Warning: Spoilers
Lots of theological ideas in this one. Free will, predestination, gods, and God's executioner (Satan). People made in the image of God and gods made in the image of humans. But can the kingdom of God, a perfect world, be created through puppetry? It's interesting that this idea was taken from a line in "Futureworld," the sequel to the original "Westworld," but which did not have the involvement of Michael Crichton.
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2/10
So, nobody here has watched The Matrix?!
nakrugt20 August 2022
Apparently, nobody here has watched The Matrix?! That could be the only explanation for 10/10 scores.

Let me explain this season with one phrase: The Matrix with a giant female genitalia watching over. The writers do not have the capacity to subtly put a symbol in a TV show. I mean, who would not notice that giant "covert" symbol watching over the city. I am not writing the actual word as IMDB might delete the comment.

But really?! Is this what show writing has come to?!
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10/10
Evil.. or just curiosity?
scott-donaldson26 July 2022
I gave the episode 10, because for the first time this series, it is apparent that the hosts have questions in paradise.

The nuances of self awareness and identity are being explored, with some cliches concerning immortality and unlimited power thrown into the mix.

Unlike humans, the hosts have opportunities to shorten their evolutionary cycle by engineering fundamental changes to their being to transcend their limitations. Could this be a path the scriptwriters will take? There are many directions the narrative could follow, and this is pure speculation on my part. But if so, would the progeny of gods view their ancestors as savages?

When a child steps on an anthill and destroys a colony, it it not necessarily evil. It could just be curiosity, or a response (as Hale may say) to being "bored".
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10/10
Next the blind will see and the limp will walk
Bovice50125 July 2022
I cannot believe that the show runners and the writers have listened to the fans!

Season 3 was a disaster. I was blown away by the first maybe 3 episodes due to the incredible production values. But then I could barely finish it with how bored I was.

But season 4...wow. Short of the great Anthony Hopkins, this is shaping up to be on par with season 1. Absolutely excellent everything in this episode and the past few. Episode 1 was a bit strange, but the rest of them. Bravo.
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10/10
Back on track
christoph-preisinger25 July 2022
I am literally never writing any text reviews, but after watching this episode of west world, I feel like I have to.

After the horrible season 3 the show seems to be finally back on track. This episode has the quality and mystery the show once had back in season 1.
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10/10
That was the best episode the show has had in years!!!
BatmanHQYT25 July 2022
Warning: Spoilers
WOW. I didn't think it was possible, but the show at last delivered an episode that wasn't merely adequate or better than season 3, but simply spectacular. It felt like the series finally rediscovered what makes for an engaging hour of television, setting aside the obfuscations and empty mysteries in favor of a slickly paced, emotionally resonant, richly satisfying installment that echoed the best of season 1.

Unlike a lot of you I wasn't very impressed with last week's "Generation Loss": its reveals felt obvious, emotionally empty, and derivative of moves the shows has made before, and the writing and directing simply weren't up to par. This one, on the other hand, wisely chose not to make the reveals themselves the focal point, but the emotional and thematic consequences on the characters, which is where all the actual drama lies. And man, what a thrilling viewing experience it was.

It was genuinely incredible seeing Christina hurtle through a journey of self-discovery that felt like a twisted, horrifying mirror of both Dolores and Maeve's triumphant ascents to consciousness in season 1. Evan Rachel Wood gave a gorgeous, understated, truly moving performance that finally allowed her to utilize her talents after two seasons of thankless, one-note material. Her story also found purposeful, powerful ways to refer back to the first season without feeling tacky and superficial, and was gracefully directed so as to allow every stage of her journey to land with an emotional punch. Assisted of course by a wonderful James Marsden, playing a wiser, more reserved Teddy, but with all the warmth and reliability he originally exuded.

This all ran in parallel to a terrific B-plot about William, where Ed Harris similarly got to give one of his best performances in the series (and he's been absolutely owning this season so far). A true "redemption arc" for William was never in the cards, but the prospect of him finding a reason to turn against Charlotte and tear down this sick project of hers is genuinely enthralling. Here's hoping the show commits to this turn.

These stories worked not because of any major "twist" or cryptic games of chicken with the audience, but because they were steeped in tangible thematic and emotional stakes for the characters. Christina writing the humans' narratives was about as predictable as the reveal about Charlotte controlling the park, but rather than try to fool us, the episode focused on Christina's reaction to discovering this for herself, which made it ten times more rewarding and engaging. The episode finally provided answers that didn't simply open up two more questions, giving it a refreshing forward momentum that this series hasn't had in quite some time. And the action/thriller elements of the episode felt earned this time (and therefore genuinely gripping), a lot of it feeling like the best episodes of Nolan's previous show, Person of Interest. Excellent use of the NYC setting as well.

The episode was obviously not without its flaws: the dialogue remains painfully patchy, with most of the exchanges comprised of characters monologuing at each other ad nauseam. Four seasons in, such stilted and unnatural speech just can't be chalked up to the characters being artificial beings. (Charlotte suffers the most from the script's flaws, which is a shame since she's the main villain and should be more compelling to watch, especially given Tessa Thompson's natural charisma and gravitas as an actor.) The episode also tried to wrangle some philosophical ideas whose scope exceeded what could be meaningfully explored in an hour, which meant most of its themes were relegated to clumsy exposition (particularly the bits about hosts not wanting to transcend their human bodies). I feel like some of this could've been solved by the writers not stalling so long before revealing NYC to be a controlled environment, which was blatantly obvious from the start and wasn't worth turning into a "twist". Much of the buildup in the first four episodes could've been traded for a closer look at how the New York hosts have navigated the "game" constructed for them. Instead, this episode sadly had to scramble to fill in this backstory simply because the preserving the "twist" meant it couldn't be be examined beforehand.

That aside, this episode was a gigantic leap in quality for both the season and the series, and if the show can maintain this level of storytelling for the rest of the season, it would be an absolute miracle. The preview shows next week's episode switching back to the Bernard/Maeve/Caleb end of things, which are decidedly less interesting than what we saw today, but let's hope that changes.
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8/10
Finally a Christina Centered Episode That Moves Her Plot Further Than the Last 4 Episodes Ever Did
MamadNobari9725 July 2022
So I wasn't a big fan of the Chrissie storyline from the first 4 episodes, because it moved really slow and you either thought nothing happened or they represented them in a way that made you feel nothing happened. Nonetheless, this episode is mostly focused on her plot as I assume we won't see anything from Caleb and Maeve's timeline, and moves the plot further and reveals lots of things to the audience (some obvious ones), and also to Chrissie herself.

There are also some creepy scenes with Charlotte and her "prisoners" which were really well-done in my opinion and I enjoyed them.

The scene with Man in Black at the end is really good, though a little confusing, but it was really good and enjoyed it, and I wish there was more of Ed Harris in this season.

The song covers that Ramin Djawadi is doing for this season are great as always and this episode had some really good ones and they are probably the one thing I enjoy the most from this show nowadays and I hope for more coming.

All in all, I thought this was a really solid episode but felt more like a setup for the next and while it did reveal lots of things about Chrissie and gave us a little glimpse at what Charlotte is doing and moved the Christina plot really further, it still felt like the story isn't going that fast and I'm really unsure how they're gonna wrap this up in the next 3 episodes. Frankly, I'm not even sure where this season's plot is heading and what the end goal is. I mean, of course I know it's about Bernard and Maeve vs Charlotte/Dolores, but I'm not sure how these plots are gonna get entangled and this feels like a 5th episode of an at least 10-episode season, not 8, so I hope whatever it is, the finale won't be rushed and they wrap up the story neatly and make everything make sense this time and not like season 2.
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9/10
Video
hannahp11 August 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Farewell to the flesh. Great line from from the movie videodrome ! Great movie and a great episode! Wow all these truths becomes reality! Fabulous take on Ed Harris's reality and un reality or un reality if u wish...,
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10/10
This is PERFECT!
Iwona240325 July 2022
People that are looking for its flaws... Or say it's bad... Or not like season1... Simply do not understand this series!

This is perfect in every way possible. It just highest pleasure a sci fi fan can have. Vip to all other series existing now.

I just love it. I am obsessed!
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Top episode
pontram31 July 2022
I cannot deviate from the other reviews here, since I found the acting and direction and the story superb. I had the feeling that Westworld was struggling to find an appropriate afterlife to season one, where acting and mystery were on top levels. Season two was too much of a slaughterfest in my eyes, and season three was very action-loaded and not very subtle, but fun. In this season we are finally confronted with deeper questioning of reality, god-like power, domination, and the nature of humanity, ulminating in this exquisite episode. The waiting has finally been worthwhile.
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4/10
What is happening!?
kalibr-5623131 August 2022
First of all, this seemingly "experienced" or "woke" group of people confront this character Jay, and tell him he's in the matrix and they know the rules. Then the guy that is WITH them is the one that acts a fool and triggers the alert... DUMB writing, glad that guy died. Then the main characters run away in the streets and they just cut to them pulling up to safe house in a van!? Music goes calm, everyone relaxed? Wtf is going on!!? How many scenes were cut just from the first 5 minutes of this? So far this season continues its streak of being mostly minority actors in a country that is mostly white (for now).
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9/10
The Storyteller
tristan_1925 July 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Westworld brings us a fantastic episode, full of intrigue and mystery. Christina gets her chance to shine, and Teddy leads her on a discovery path. The way the showrunners play with themes and questions is really unique and makes the viewer think.

Overall, Zhuangzi is one of the best episodes of the show, and the characters navigate the intricate world created by some brilliant minds. On a meta level, Christina is the storyteller, and she finds out a lot in this installment, having her mind blown at multiple occasions. We also get an interesting display of what it's like to be a God in this universe, and how boring it can become, with Ed Harris' character being brought to question the nature of his own reality.

I was definitely pleasantly surprised and enjoyed this episode as much as the last one. Can't wait to see how the story progresses with all of this knowledge, and the B plots involving Stubbs and co.
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10/10
The pinnacle of television
gtx-4354525 July 2022
I won't say much as I believe everyone should get a chance to fully digest it before we pick it apart but this episode really blew it out the water. Less action-packed than the previous one but rich in that classic Westworld bone-chilling narrative. Really, what does it mean to be human?
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10/10
One of the best episodes
valentinionut25 July 2022
All this revealing is not even the best part of the episode. The play with the possibility is huge here, although it s not quite phylosophycal since the machines get close to human condition but never question the posibility of liberty, existence and so on like ontology does. Like childrem/generations Dolores changes and stays the same until someone does he meaningful thing wich is question reality, question everything.

So, this was an excellent episode and I am waiting to see how the ,,cylons,, react now that they are in the big game of human condition.
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10/10
I am not a bot!
matyagriffioen25 July 2022
Last two episodes were great. Actually this whole season brings me the same experience I had when watching season 1.

It is almost as good.

Season 2 I really had trouble with, but I never got the hate season 3 got even though it was very different.

A show like this is extremely hard to make, having to constantly reinvent itself and the filmmakers efforts to emerge us back into a world we sorely missed are not only successful, it is masterfully done.

This season in like Aliens. Sure it is not Ridley Scott (read: Anthony Hopkins) but god, it's the best Cameron we have ever seen!
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