Westworld season 2 review roundup: “Bigger, bolder, bloodier”
Westworld season 2 will premiere this weekend, but HBO allowed critics access to the first five episodes of the new season ahead of time, and the reviews have been coming in. Let’s see what fans can expect.
Westworld season 2 picks up roughly two weeks after the events of the season 1 finale. Dolores Abernathy (Evan Rachel Wood) is leading an uprising of hosts, and things are getting violent. Chris Evangelista from Slashfilm calls season 2 “bigger, bolder, bloodier” than season 1. This is a recurring theme in many of the reviews.
"In Westworld season 2, creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy take everything that worked in season 1, and improve it in nearly every conceivable way."
Kelly Lawler from USA Today echoes that sentiment, saying that season 2 is “smarter, faster, stronger” than season 1.
"The first season felt like a 10-hour pilot, as the writers took their sweet time setting up every chess piece for the inevitable robot rebellion to begin. Now that the hard work is over, the series is more assured, faster-paced and easier to watch. The characters feel more lived-in, and the dialogue, music and settings can be self-referential. Each scene conveys more meaning."
Tim Goodman at The Hollywood Reporter also has kind things to say, generally. “Big changes, big thrills, mostly done well.” However, Goodman doesn’t isn’t as over the moon as his peers, and takes particular umbrage with the constant reminders of what happened in season1, saying it could have been avoided with a lengthier “previously on” segment.
"The exposition makes for a clunky start. In later episodes, there are periodic flashes of this explanatory impulse that are, at the very least, impressively aggressive about the deeper backstory of the Westworld theme park and its creators, while employing a sometimes daring bit of time shifting. The exposition in those instances can be easily forgiven, but the first hour is sure to provoke a few eye-rolling sighs."
Bryan Bishop from The Verge agrees with Goodman, saying there are moments in the first half of season 2 where the exposition becomes overbearing:
"That boost is missing here, and in a few stretches where a prominent character is reduced to an exposition delivery vehicle, the show starts to feel clunky rather than sleek and refined."
That being said, Westworld is a complicated show and viewers will probably need some help in getting their bearings, and it doesn’t sound like season 2 holds their hands every step of the way. Bishop notes, for example, that season 2 ” assumes viewers already know that multiple timelines are part of the show’s DNA.” That aspect isn’t used as misdirection as it was during season 1, when we learned that the Man in Black (Ed Harris) was actually William (Jimmi Simpson), just several decades later, and that Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) was a host created in the image of Dr. Ford’s partner Arnold.
Moving on, Allison Keene of Collider pointed out that Westworld now shares many things in common with Game of Thrones, an idea we were already on board with.
"The series is at its best when episodes focus on just one or two narratives for its vastly spread-out cast, and even better when it investigates different character pairings."
Keene says that, like Game of Thrones, Westworld season 2 has become “mired in relentless brutality.” But that’s to be expected after what happened at the end of season 1, with Dolores leading her robotic brethren in the slaughter of the Delos board members and other visitors to the park. That set a bit of a tone.
Variety critic Maureen Ryan agrees that there are hints of Thrones mixed in to Westworld sophomore season, along with influences from other science fiction and fantasy franchises:
"If you squint at certain moments, you can almost see the gates of Mordor or pennants waving over Winterfell. Even more than it was in its first season, “Westworld” is a fairly credible (and expensive) approximation of “Game of Thrones,” with bits and pieces of “Lord of the Rings,” “Terminator” and “Star Wars” thrown (throne?) in for good measure."
That certainly sounds ambitious. Ryan also notes that the host uprising has given the robots the ability to evolve, saying some of them have become “mystically powerful Jedi warriors,” with one episode featuring a host that has become a “witch” and another a host becoming “what amounts to Galadriel in Edo period Japan.” It sounds like we’ll be getting a look at Shogun World early on.
And it might go further than that, if you can believe Kristen Baldwin of Entertainment Weekly. (Baldwin’s review is laced with SPOILERS, though. SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT.)
"Episode 3 takes us inside a new attraction — not Shogun World — where a mysterious guest is almost eaten by a tiger, though she escapes, thanks to survival skills that rival those of the Man in Black."
The Man in Black will continue his quest to find the end of the game in season 2, and it sounds as if Dr. Ford (Anthony Hopkins) was able to upload a piece of himself (or something that that) into the core code of the hosts, as they will confront William and constantly tease him throughout his journey.
We’ll also see, through flashbacks, how William and Delos came to Ford’s rescue and became the majority shareholder in Westworld. Bernard will try and work his way back among the ranks of the humans, and Maeve and Delos lead narrator Lee Sizemore will go on a quest to recover Maeve’s daughter. Along the way, Dolores and Maeve will meet.
The thought of Dolores and Maeve teaming up to take down Delos has us very excited. Westworld season 2 premieres Sunday night, April 22, at 8 PM CST on HBO.
Next: Kit Harington discusses Gunpowder after “a grueling day” of shooting Game of Throne season 8
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