Let’s take a look at the 5 Best and 5 Worst moments from the season two premiere of Westworld: “Journey Into Night”.
Westworld season 2 wasted no time in the premiere episode “Journey Into Night.” The episode reacquainted fans with their favorite characters and introduced some new ones while setting the stage for a whole host of new mysteries.
Season 1 showed a world built on control, slowly chipped away piece by piece. Season 2 is practically the complete opposite of this, a world built on chaos where the characters now search for a semblance of control and purpose. These big ideas are grounded in the core characters of Dolores, Maeve, the Man in Black, and Bernard.
Dolores navigates the role reversal with a thirst for vengeance, but still searching for a greater meaning. Maeve coolly wields control, not for the sake of power but to find her daughter. The Man in Black seems to be the only human loving the new world of chaos, and he even finds a greater mission within the pandemonium.
Meanwhile, in the aftermath of the uprising and also two weeks later, Bernard struggles to uncover all the truths behind what’s really happening, all the while dealing with the complexities of being a host that everyone thinks is human.
While it’s a strong start to the new season, no episode of television is perfect. Let’s take a look at the 5 Best and 5 Worst moments from “Journey Into Night.”
1. The Door
Even though the Maze wasn’t meant for the Man in Black, he still got his wish of a world where the stakes are real and the hosts can fight back. Now that his whole motivation from season 1 has practically been fulfilled, his new motivation came in the form of the host built in young Robert Ford’s image.
The host speaks in the riddles, but what’s clear is that he speaks of the Door, a game he says the Man in Black is meant to play, unlike the Maze which was never meant for him.
Much like the Maze in season 1, The Door opens what’s sure to be one of the driving mysteries of the new season. It provides the Man in Black the new mission he was teased to have. It also gives him the motivation to go beyond simply surviving and killing every host that crosses his path. The killing has more meaning and higher stakes now.
This scene also offers further insight into Ford. His vision for the future didn’t just end with getting shot in the head and allowing the hosts to have free will. He was thinking further into the future. There’s a greater plan out there, one not involving the hosts, but the Man in Black and The Door.
It’s bittersweet to hear Ford’s words and ideas not coming from the man played by Anthony Hopkins, only to have it snatched away by the Man in Black once he gets the information he needs.
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2. Maeve and Lee in the control room
The now nonfunctional map and control room littered with bodies is the perfect metaphor for the dynamics of power shifted. Once upon a time, the hosts and the park were tightly controlled. The control room now lays empty and useless. Thus beautifully depicting the power vacuum existing in the immediate aftermath of season 1.
The relationship between Maeve and Lee further completes the scene. Even while standing among the destruction inside and a sea of dead coworkers, Lee can think on his feet and prove he can be useful and resourceful by understanding the information Maeve now possesses.
His sense of self-preservation is strong. His arrogance and sense of entitlement enable him to criticize the nature of the sector where Maeve’s daughter supposedly resides.
Lee tries to tell Maeve her daughter isn’t real. She’s merely a thing they programmed. Maeve’s following monologue is powerful and thought-provoking–raw emotion at its finest.
She and Lee are polar opposites in almost every way. We’re already seeing how this contrast creates a highly tense, yet entertaining, partnership. Lee may even find redemption and become a changed man while forced to help Maeve.
3. Maeve and Hector’s reunion
Hector could’ve easily died when Maeve left him behind. Thankfully the powers decided against it, recognizing the enormous potential of his character. The ornate pool and bar area is contradicted by the mass body count Hector left behind.
Finding a blood-stained, depressed-looking Hector drinking makes sense. Where else would a gun-wielding, alcohol-loving host go when he’s trapped inside the facilities?
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It’s almost surprising how uplifting Maeve and Hector’s reunion feels. Especially since in the season 1 finale, Maeve had to leave Hector behind to die so she could escape. There’s a palpable sense of relief from both of them when they see each other again. But Hector’s no fool.
He realizes she’s not there for him. Their relationship’s definitely underrated and may end up being one of the more satisfying romances since they weren’t programmed to have feelings for each other. We’re definitely rooting for them.
4. Former enemies unite . . . for now
Maeve, Hector, and Lee aren’t the only intriguing team-up. Another one is Bernard and Charlotte. In season 1, Charlotte tried to make Bernard a scapegoat in her schemes to oust Ford and meet the demands of Delos.
The two now unite in an effort to survive by sharing their unique knowledge and skills. Of course, Charlotte is unaware Bernard is a host, making their scenes all the better. We wait for her to realize something is off.
When Bernard has to quickly assess and repair his damages, the tension is riveting. The mysteries created by this scene are rich. Along with Bernard, we find out Delos has been taking guests’ DNA to copy humans.
A reveal with countless repercussions. We also learn Delos will refuse to send help until they deliver the ‘package’ Charlotte planned to have Lee smuggle out via Peter Abernathy.
It’ll be fascinating to see how long the Bernard-Charlotte team lasts given their very different natures. We see Bernard isn’t with her two weeks later. Neither Stubbs nor the team Delos sent seems suspicious of Bernard.
They don’t ask him any questions about Charlotte either. We’ll see the inevitable repercussions of Delos copying humans and what finally drives them to send a team in later in those weeks.
5. A sea of hosts
Just when we think the guests are the ones who are suffering the most in the aftermath of season 1, we’re shown a literal sea of dead hosts. Not only that, but the dead hosts are floating in a body of water that’s not supposed to be there, and among those bodies is none other than Teddy Flood. Bernard says he killed them all before the credits roll, but it’s a perfect WTF moment for the Westworld season 2 premiere to end on.
This scene also helps further develop Karl Strand, the head of the team sent in by Delos. Before this scene, he appeared to be a caricature of a rough, no-nonsense kind of guy who’s going to do whatever it takes to get the job done. At the very end when he’s on the beach with Bernard, he speaks softer than before and acknowledges the unknown horrors he knows Bernard must’ve gone through.
He uses this to try and coax the truth of what happened out of Bernard, but the way he goes about it seems to convey a kind of empathy and humanity that his character showed no signs of earlier. This moment makes Strand feel more like a real character and less of a caricature. That makes it all the more intriguing to consider how Strand will react to Bernard saying he is the one responsible for killing all those hosts in this recently formed body of water.
1. Introducing Antoine Costa
Tech expert, Antoine Costa (played by Lebanese-Swedish actor Fares Fares) is a season 2 newcomer. We get practically no introduction before he has to open a dead host’s skull in order for the Delos team to figure out what happened.
It’s intriguing to see inside a host’s head but the moment is marred by Antoine’s poor treatment. Since we’ve little to no concept of him, his explanations here and later on seem more like the delivering of necessary exposition than anything else. This character has potential, but it felt like a rushed, sloppy introduction for someone who’ll be figured significantly in season 2.
2. The Man in Black plays a familiar game
It may have been the first time we got to see the Man in Black taking down hosts who could actually hurt him, but it still felt like a repetitive moment. Season 1 was littered with times where the Man in Black gunned down hosts that got in his way. We’ve seen him do this so many times before that it doesn’t feel different even though the stakes are real this time.
It might’ve felt more authentic if the odds had been greater in this situation. Instead of facing off with two hosts on his turf, it would’ve been more effective to put him in a more dire situation. To have him hurt beyond a shot arm in unfamiliar territory and put up against far more than two hosts. This would’ve made his feat feel more impressive and genuine for season 2.
3. A false moment of self-discovery
After years of guests tormenting her, there’s something satisfying seeing Dolores kill guests and making them suffer. Even she recognizes brutal revenge alone is not the answer, even as it’s giving into the Wyatt narrative. She speaks to the guests who are hanging from nooses, their toes barely balanced on wooden crosses. The monologue starts strong but ends rather disappointingly.
Her language and demeanor mirroring the way the park employees once spoke to her is a brilliant demonstration of role reversal. She doesn’t want to show mercy because that’s the rancher’s daughter narrative. But she also doesn’t want to kill them because it’s allowing the Wyatt narrative to dictate her actions instead.
In an effort to be balanced, she leaves the guests as they are–one foot slip away from death. Cruelty of this kind means the Wyatt narrative will heavy influence her actions further on into the season. This was not a moment of true self-discovery.
4. Dolores and Teddy’s conversation
While it’s nice to see Dolores and Teddy’s relationship is still one of mutual support, it doesn’t quite feel like that right now. The way they interact with each other feels awkward and scripted–not as authentic as the other relationships in the show. It seems it should be so much more developed by now.
Next: Westworld: 5 Biggest takeaways from Journey into Night
Dolores isn’t wrong about Teddy being the only positive constant in all her memories, both beautiful and terrible. However, he was only a constant in her life because he was programmed to be that way. Only now has he chosen to be with her. Regardless, they have to start interacting in a way distinctly different from how they interacted when they were controlled by their programming.
Hopefully, their relationship will evolve when they break free of the park. The outside world will test this couple in new ways and determine if they’ll transcend their old loops.
5. Bernard stares at the dead tiger
Bernard sees a dead Bengal tiger and we’re intrigued. Stubbs confirms it’s from Park 6 and supports the idea the borders between parks are crumbling and blending into each other. This moment has had fans debating over it since the trailer release at Comic-Con 2017.
To see this scene with little new information added to it was a disappointment. Hopefully, the mystery will be answered in the coming episodes. Tigers on Westworld will probably end up being even more epic than King Ezekiel’s tiger Shiva on The Walking Dead.
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