"Westworld" Metanoia (TV Episode 2022) Poster

(TV Series)

(2022)

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9/10
"Survival of the fittest."
CulvertonSmith8 August 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Wow. Really big episode for a lot of characters. I really like this as an end for Bernard, he gives it his all even with no hope of saving the world, and Jeffrey Wright gives another great performance. Was also sad to see the "real" William bite the bullet, because I think he's such a great character, but I'm very excited to see what this means for the new version of him and how that will play out in the season finale. Great show, looking forward to seeing where it's all heading next Sunday!
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9/10
Good stuff
znmstr8 August 2022
You know an ep is really good when you just keep thinking you don't want it to end. An excellent penultimate episode. All the characters shine. I can't wait for the finale.
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9/10
Complete 180
unkommon8 August 2022
I wrote in a previous review (episode 4, I believe) that this season had actually used the mess of the past two seasons (mainly 3) as a good groundwork for the new plotline the show runners had been setting up. It's hard to say they didn't have this entire thread built up, but based on the way things played out in the last season, it definitely feels like they felt the pressure of the looming chopping block and went back to the drawing board to completely take on this new season from scratch. Regardless of how they went about conceiving the main story this season, they definitely addressed their shortcomings in the execution this season.

Not only have the twists been unexpected enough that I had little idea of where the overall story was heading, but from a narrative standpoint, they haven't been throwaway, shock-value twists, they've actually benefited the plot (except, maybe, the twist at the end of this episode, but that remains to be seen) in a way that doesn't feel convoluted or gimmicky. In the end, it feels like the twists have capitulated what was (at least in season 1) a thrilling chess match between the park's creators, William and Robert, back into play. However, the game seems to have a lot of promoted pawns and new pieces with nonstandard move sets. That is to say, the stakes have been raised by incorporating more and more powerful pieces, and the variety of outcomes have increased by incorporating pieces that make the play much more unpredictable.

It's an enormous shift in the quality of writing between the seasons and even one significant enough to truly reintegrate Westworld into the canon of compelling television. What's more, here, in (what I believe is) the penultimate episode of the season, many of plotlines come to a head and feel like they are leading to (if not have already met) satisfying conclusions. It might be enough that even the weaker plot lines (Frankie, "Christina", e.g.) were still strong enough on their own that they had already been at least as well written as the better elements of season 3, but that they actually worked towards an even more tantalizing situation already puts this season leaps and bounds above its most recent predecessor, further, that it has proven them worthy of having stuck around and given them due attention.

As to whether or not that will ultimately be the case and that what's been built throughout the season will have a successful payoff remains to be seen, but at least it's been worthy enough of making the first 7 episodes worth watching, and this episode is no exception (perhaps even moreso than any other episode so far this season). Despite any shortcomings I may have felt regarding the final revelation of the episode and perhaps the overall execution of some of the action sequences (which says a lot about a show that basically built itself around flashy action sequences), I still feel this episode delivered on what has been a promising 180 in quality of storytelling and introduction of tantalizing twists. 8.5/10.
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10/10
Divine Gore or Order out of Chaos?
kataleja-martyr8 August 2022
This episode brings the Westworld series to a whole new level of brilliant execute ideas. It's easy to rate this episode as one of the best WW episode ever. And I can't wait for more. Beautiful.
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10/10
We died a long time ago
Near-L8 August 2022
Warning: Spoilers
A lot of things could be better executed but Last 20min were absolutely fantastic. MIB is "back" and more entertaining than ever. The Sublime twist with the real world made so much sense. Perfect song to go along too. 9.5/10. I don't fully understand this season yet so it should have good rewatch value even tho there are too many repetitive and cheesy scenes along the way it will still be worth it.
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10/10
Why are you rating it now?!
hanimhomsi7 August 2022
The episode hasn't aired yet and 26 people rated it with an 8.6 total rating as of the moment I'm writing this review. Please stop rating episodes before they air no matter what show/movie you are seeing.
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10/10
"These violent delights have violent ends."
ashutoshaswaleho8 August 2022
My god, what an end!!!! (Of the episode) That David Bowie song is a perfect match for the situation!!!

I'm satisfied so far, i don't care whatever the outcome from finale, Since Christina's storyline wasn't much interesting so far.

Unless something extraordinary happens, finger crossed.
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9/10
The end is near?
W011y4m58 August 2022
Warning: Spoilers
And so after 4 brilliant seasons philosophically pondering the potential meaning of creation (attempting to discern its purpose, if there is any at all), in tonight's penultimate installment, it only seems fitting that the show finally settles on its own cynical conclusion to that age old question, subversively resulting in what has always been the impending inevitability of its polar opposite; wanton destruction.

Thus, I can't help but feel as though thematically, S4 is tying up all of the loose ends & drawing each character's narrative to what is arguably their natural end & therefore, the finale may very well be the show's last. It would surely make sense & hence, wouldn't surprise me.

It additionally seems fitting - in hindsight - that the constant battle between order V chaos has evolved in to something new & much greater than any of us could've expected, now that original conflict has eventually borne a victor; no longer are individuals trying to preserve any semblance of what once was, but from henceforth, they must fight for what *could* be & consequently, the strife is not one created from a differentiation in ideology, but simply of hope V hopelessnes; petty disputes over what civilisation should look like pale in comparison to the wider dilemma - should there be a civilisation at all?

I guess we'll find out...
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10/10
William finally gets what he wanted
Bovice5018 August 2022
My god that shot at the end set to David Bowie is one of the best I've ever seen on TV or a movie.

This was an amazing episode. No spoilers, watch for yourself. As I've said in reviews of a few episodes this season, this one for me cements it as being just as good as season 1.
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6/10
Dr Strange and the Mystery Box of Mediocrity
Spoon_Man0114 August 2022
Why write a great story that's well presented when you can just have characters allude to something substantive and have the audience project greatness onto it.

10/10 jumped that massive gap over the frenzy of sharks and landed on a sick, twist ending!

This episode broke me a little.
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10/10
Search for meaning, survival, and the pessimistic view of the writers
projectinjector8 August 2022
Warning: Spoilers
We all know Westworld was never mainly about characters or storylines, it was mainly about the pursuit of meaning, the future of humans, the concept of "free will", and the hope for mankind. I could see throughout the seasons the struggle that the writers had in answering some of the most important philosophical questions humans have.

This episode serves as answer from the writers' perspectives, it needn't to be true. Although, I share the pessimism the writers have and how in the end, our purest intend is to just survive like cockroaches and "how human intellect is like peacock feathers".
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6/10
Not good
Riddler918 August 2022
Warning: Spoilers
I know I'll again get downvoted for saying this, I am used to the Westworld hivemind fanbase by now, but this was not a particularly good episode. No character gets a decent resolution. I didn't get where the sudden distrust between Bernard and Maeve came from, William dies in the most ignoble way, I'm sure Bernard still has a card up his sleeve but by now I care very little about that because it disappointed me too much. Hale and Maeve die after a pointless fight and we get another twist at the end with Dolores that, again, I care very little for. All the more, since the episode it's called "Metanoia", let me have a few words about the way the writers always try to get meta: it's annoying and it fails. William and RoboWilliam have a heart to heart and all of a sudden William rants out of nowhere something about how culture doesn't survive. It does, btw, it's how we know so much about extinct people. And this is not the first time, the meta dialogue between RoboWilliam and those two at the beginning of the 5th episode was also cringey and it tried to tell us something about white privilege and that sort of thing. Dolores' story also stalls and the only reason I'm not that angry at that is because Evan Rachel Wood is easy on the eyes and I'm content watching her getting all confused like it's a comedy or something. There's also an intense desire on the writers' past for gratuitous violence. And yes, I know, that's what the show started with but in the context of the park it made sense, here it's just meaningless.

Honestly I don't see HBO giving this more than one season, the show is very expensive and the writers seem like they're out of ideas. Cue the horde of downvoters.
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3/10
Childish, cringeworthy philosophy
noalygh10 August 2022
What a waste. I would say that all of these existential crises this show has was settled all the way back from Blade Runne (book + movie). This has been redundant. Eternal truth?? Transcendence? Destruction?? Darwinism? Who cares?? Everybody understands, we are just here enjoying life without thinking about these petty grievances. The writers apparently differ. I constantly said no during the episode. I did not give consent, yet Westworld shoved this rubbish into my face anyway! Also, how does applying "survival of the fittest" mean having all the humans and hosts fight to death? Is this a battle royale until there's one man left standing and everyone else dies? That's not evolution, that's just having an active street brawl LOL. In this case, it would be too apparent that hosts would kill all humans (since they're physically stronger).

Also, I just yawn really big every time I see a fight, and that says a lot on how much I enjoy this episode since it was action-packed. Like is anyone gonna actually be hurt or die? Would any consequential thing even happen as a result of this action? Most oftentimes not: some deus-ex-machina mechanism magically appears to reverse everything, or the character finds out they're in the past (like Caleb), or the person dies and just gets resurrected without any major plot changes.

Location: from season 2, the show started go wide instead of going deep. They skipped from one location to another in matter of episodes like Shogun-world, Civil War, Raj world, the Sublime, Roaring 20s, Hoover Dam. Even though it is eye-candy to see the great work production designers do, everything just feels extremely shallow and remote. The plots are often times self-indulgent and simplistic. This just shows how disastrous it is to have commitment issues!

What I'm most upset about is Maeve's character development. In season 1, she embarks on the journey to gain consciousness and ultimately disobeys her code to find her daughter. Season 2: she learns to let go and leaves her daughter in the Sublime. Now this main female lead, with immaculate powers, has been strung along by multiple male side characters as a "weapon" to further their plots in the vague promises of "reuniting with my daughter" :'((

Enough being said! I'm officially done. I skipped through season 3 just to watch this mess and I refused to do further. It's time I break out of my loop to stop watching this show like a real sentient being (given how badly it had turned out for a few years)!
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10/10
Metanoia - It's all in the title
EagleofVenice8 August 2022
Warning: Spoilers
This series has always had the same ring to me as the likes of The Matrix and Fight Club.

In this episode some of the main characters have a red pill moment (or "burn down my apartment" moment if you like). They (want to) abandon their current persona and get closer (or return) to their true self. A struggle that many people go through in their life at some point.

It also contains the seed for various interesting new story lines and technologies, hopefully to be further fleshed out in a season five. True selves will be revealed and it looks like we are set-up for another clash between good (Dolores) and bad (MIB).
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10/10
They keep me coming back
asterblasterth8 August 2022
After the first season I thought they couldn't keep me interested because the twists en plots were already uncovered. But this show actually keeps me interested and coming back for more. I even thought this show ended after season 3 but here we are almost at the end of season 4 and still this show has me wondering. Sure there are things more obvious because of past seasons but still the show manages to keep surprising me.

It's just a fantastic show and I am really curious to see the season finale.
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8/10
Great Episode, but Not Giving It a 9 Because It Was Confusing and Somethings Feel Contrived
MamadNobari978 August 2022
Warning: Spoilers
I am "cautiously" giving it an 8 because I am hopeful they are gonna resolve these confusing plot lines in the finale.

I enjoyed this episode, but every major character is suddenly killed by The Man in Black and William once again comes up at the top really easily. The confusing part is that we've spent the whole season seeing Bernard, Maeve, and Christina trying to stop Hale and Chrissie trying to find out what she is. But then android William has a change of heart and wants a Mad Max world, and just starts headshotting everybody like it's nothing and suddenly everything we've seen from Bernard, Maeve, and Hale from these past 6 episodes suddenly feels pointless.

First of all, why did Maeve bring a knife to a Hale fight? Why is Bernard still mysterious and doesn't tell anything to anybody, even Maeve, after 4 fkn seasons? What's with the secrecy? If Bernard has seen so many ends and knows what's gonna happen, why doesn't he prepare for William coming to kill him? Why doesn't he put up a trap on the door or just wait for him and shoot him with a grenade launcher or something? Because from where I'm standing, if he had killed William right then and there, he could've then blown up the tower and freed everyone. So why exactly doesn't he do anything in the season other than just looking mysterious?

And the only way they can bring back Maeve and Hale and Bernard from the dead for the hundredth time, is to do the "haha we trolled you, it wasn't the real timeline, just a simulation". But it is presented as the real event of the real timeline of Westworld, so they're shooting themselves by killing Bernard and Hale, even though it is obvious Hale will come back one way or another. I noticed that she didn't get shot in the center of her head so her core might be intact or something.

This season's plot and storylines have been pretty much straightforward after each reveals and it isn't as frustrating as season 2 was with all the mysteries and unanswered questions, but this episode exactly felt like season 2 and I'm hoping they will answer the questions in the next episode.

Everyone having to die all of a sudden and William winning like always feels really forced and contrived, especially when we don't even know wtf Bernard was up to this whole season. So if they don't make the same mistake they did with last season's finale and just resolve everything with b movie action scenes and every cliché and trope in the book, and they don't repeat season 2 by being mysterious and vague for no reason at all other than dragging the story, and just be straightforward with the story in the finale for once, this might be saved.

So if my rating of this episode was changed from 8 to a 9, that means the finale was good, but if they didn't resolve all these things they've been setting up this season and suddenly "seemingly" destroyed in this episode with killing these 3 in a decent and believable way, then I'll even go lower for this episode.

Let's hope to a good finale that can resolve what they've done here nicely.
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10/10
This is greatness
Roswellf8 August 2022
Jesus.. a stunning, heartwarming penultimate episode. Every moment is thoroughly enjoyable and emotional. The music (especially ending song selection), acting and directing is at series best. Cant wait for finale.
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9/10
Architecture is art and science!
mr-kntl9 August 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Impressive Architecture, design, and digital art. The art directors really did a great job in this episode.

I stopped almost every scene while I was watching this episode and really impressed by both real buildings and digital arts.

Respect to art directors. You guys are amazing.

Thanks.
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10/10
The man who solde the world
barcawidz9 August 2022
Incredible episode. Thanks for this show I really enjoyed with season 4 . The last scene with Nirvana song just amazing shot.

Can't wait tge last episode.
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6/10
Turn Left at the Fork
yevhen1148 August 2022
This season has been a real pleasure so far, however penultimate episode seems to be too self-indulgent on long speeches and short on any real "meat" to the story

I sincerely hope last ep will be splendid, alas this one feels like an indication that show might slide yet again in a fustercluck loop it seems to follow each time finale is in sights.
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10/10
A 360' turn
moviesfilmsreviewsinc15 August 2022
As the fourth season of Westworld races towards its conclusion, "Metanoia" demonstrates the limits of the accelerationist approach that the show's most recent seasons have taken to plotting. As the season-long arc is preparing to pull into the station, Westworld finds itself coming off the rails. "Metanoia" is obviously the penultimate episode of the season. It is structured to move the various plot threads into alignment, in anticipation of reaching a crescendo in the season finale. While "Zhuangzi" and "Fidelity" offered stories with a tighter focus on smaller subsets of characters, "Metanoia" brings the streams together. Maeve (Thandiwe Newton) confronts Charlotte (Tessa Thompson). Stubbs (Luke Hemsworth) and Frankie (Aurora Perrineau) unite with Caleb (Aaron Paul). Given the nature of the show and this season's decision to bring back performers like Evan Rachel Wood and James Marsden following the deaths of their characters, it is hard to take the executions of Maeve, Charlotte, and Bernard at face value. They seem unlikely to remain gone unless Newton, Thompson, and Wright decide to leave the show. While people may complain about prestige television gratuitously killing characters, the issue is that so few stay dead. The stakes don't feel real. Metanoia" strains desperately to assure the audience that there is a real threat here. "We can't win," Bernard tells Maeve as they rush towards their confrontations with William. "There's no way to save this world. Everyone here's going to die. But we can save one tiny part of it." Early in the episode, Charlotte warns Caleb that "a 7-gram bullet to (his) pearl will end (him)," as if to assure the audience that William's headshots on Charlotte and Maeve at the climax actually matter. Westworld may be contemplating its own unnatural end. Reports suggest that showrunners Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan initially planned for six seasons. More recently, Ed Harris hinted that the show has "one more season" left. Even then, ratings for the fourth season are not promising, and HBO has yet to announce a fifth season. Of course, the fourth season was produced long before broadcast, but ratings had already taken a disastrous tumble between the second and third seasons.
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4/10
Getting stale
cnpnztpmwy8 August 2022
Way better than season 3, but so incredibly worse than season 1 and 2. This show is becoming very forgettable.

The events feel very forced, with "twists" that feel so forceful.
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BAD DIRICTED
farhadhashimey12 August 2022
Unfortunately, this important episode is very poorly directed in the story line and we are watching a poor quality performance from the actors and an overall unsuccessful performance of the nature of Westworld.
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9/10
The Man Who Sold the Westworld
Trey_Trebuchet14 August 2022
Okay but WTF

That last act went hard. The scheming and twists of Westworld continue and I agree that this is the best they've been done since the earlier seasons. Everything is not at all what it seems in this show sometimes... I genuinely am questioning who is what and where this is going to end. I'd say it's evident there could be a fifth and final season. But maybe not... maybe this truly is the end. I have no idea. I'm scared and excited.

The episode starts out feeling kind of rushed, but the pacing got better as it went along. This finale came come soon enough.
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5/10
We finally find out was is Caleb's purpose in the show!!
sadako1113 August 2022
Warning: Spoilers
According to Charlotte Caleb is bait. That's it! Bait. He is a plot device used as an episode filler. Take him out of the show and he wont affect the main story. I personally don't care about him or her daughter.

I have nothing against the actors. I love the cast, but they deserve a better script.

This season is a one and a half hour long story extended over eight hours. There is not enough meat in the story for eight episodes.

I did not care about the 'twist' with Delores. So all this season her bland story has been a simulation? Wow what a twist. Yeah right. What a waste of time.

The side story with the desert rebels saving the world is so generic lame!

The best part of the episode is when RoboMiB got rid of Maeve and Charlotte and decided to blow up the world. Thank you RoboMiB!!!

The problem I have with RoboMiB is that there was no proper build up to this. He just went coocoo.

If Bernard can see the future why is he not prepared to face RoboMiB? At least he could have been wearing a bullet proof vest!! I hope his generic 'sacrificing himself to save the future' make sense in the final episode.

Season 3 was very bad but at least the writers wrote more content.
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