Westworld: The 5 best moments from season 2, episode 4

Let’s take a look at the 5 best moments from season 2, episode 4: ‘Riddle of the Sphinx’. An episode that marks Westworld co-creator Lisa Joy’s directorial debut!

Spoilers, spoilers, spoilers ahead!

Westworld has no evidence of slowing down. Thank goodness! While the first few episodes were more about the host rebellion and chaos taking control of the park, this episode, in particular, began to shed light on events that are very different.

Episode 4 was aptly named ‘Riddle of the Sphinx’. As per usual, some questions and fan theories have been answered just as more are raised in this 71-minute long episode.

First of all, I have to mention this was Westworld co-creator Lisa Joy’s directorial debut. After the episode aired it was immediately hailed as one of the season’s best episodes. This is largely in part to Lisa’s incredible work and talent as a director.

Cast members praised her all over social media, calling Lisa the “future of storytelling” and a “personal hero.” “I really wanted to play with different genres in this episode,” Joy tells Variety magazine.

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Episode 4 focused on the following storylines: some history behind son-in-law-from-hell young William and James Delos along with Major Craddock’s fate, courtesy of the unlikely duo, Lawrence, and William. Also, Elsie is alive and well and we learned that Bernard is not as sweet and vulnerable as we thought. He may be a sort of Delos double-agent.

Grace is revealed to be William’s daughter. Clementine may be in Dolores’ ‘squad’ but appears to be manipulated to still do Ford’s bidding via dragging Bernard to the right cave. There was a lot to process so let’s dig into the 5 best moments from this week’s episode!

William’s Daughter

I’m just going to go ahead and address the biggest mic drop moment of the night. It is, in fact, the very last scene we see in the episode. William’s daughter is Grace. Yup. Raj World and Bengal tiger survivor, Grace.

There is a hint about this explosive reveal in the recap. You know what I mean. The ‘Last time on Westworld…’ thing. I admit to only catching this moment because I was re-watching the episode to write this article.

In this pre-show recap, they show newcomer Grace pulling herself onto shore and looking up to see Ghost Nation natives looming over her. Next, they show William telling Teddy that ‘last year’ his wife took the wrong pills. As he tried to console his daughter, she said her death wasn’t accidental. His wife, Grace’s mother, killed herself.

I’m sure some fans figured this out. I tend to believe that Westworld fans are some of the most intelligent, most clever fans I’ve ever run across. And I don’t even read anything on Reddit! This all comes from my personal interactions on our Twitter page. I digress. Within our FanSided community exists a great article by Patrick S. on the Grace is Emily is William’s daughter fiesta.

Grace has already proven to be a lover of the park mysteries. We saw her notebook containing the same symbol seen previously on the door and control panels from the drone run lab. The book also had a map. Even when it all goes to hell, she tells Ashley she has no intentions of leaving the park. She is seeking someone in the park and we realize now, it’s her dad. She’s brave, fearless and confident. Must be a family trait.

 Elsie is Alive

The last time we saw Elsie, Bernard wasn’t being very nice to her. Seeing her alive was genuinely a happy surprise to see. Though the actor who plays Elsie, Shannon Woodward, had been pretty actively teasing us on social media sites for a while about whether or not she was indeed dead.

Fan theories were everywhere regarding her season one fate. Most Westworld fans assumed Bernard killed her the same way he killed Theresa. Ah, but the savvy fans also put together she may not have passed away. There’s a very well done video on YouTube that explains why they feel Elsie isn’t dead and it all has to do with an Easter Egg left on the Delos Incorporated website.

I’m not as clever as a lot of the fans but I can say that at the end of season 1, episode 6 there was something that had significance. Our buddy Stubbs saw the system report that Elsie was on vacation. However, we also we saw her tablet’s GPS signal pinging she was in Sector 20. When Stubbs got curious and decided to go investigate the anomaly, he was overcome by the Ghost Nation warriors.

Thanks to episode 4 we were all rewarded with the answer to Elsie’s true fate. Bernard had apparently only choked her out and then took her to a cave and chained her up. Having mercy on the poor fragile human, he left her some protein bars. Such a gentleman.

Bernard’s Even Darker Side

I did NOT see this part coming. Bernard seems so kind and vulnerable–sweet even. He seems to be a victim of manipulation and circumstances beyond his control. So when he has one of those flashbacks that give him a major headache and we find out he was the one responsible for the carnage in the lab, I died a little inside.

Aside from aforementioned flashback, let’s discuss what leads up to this brutal scene. Bernard recalls Ford sending him to the cave/lab so he could print a host in the image of a previous human–which human we aren’t sure. Of course, we aren’t. This is Westworld. Most would think it was another copy of Ford. After all, we’re still not convinced he’s dead.

What we do know is that Bernard watches as the machine finishes printing the red ball we all assume is inside the white cases that get put into the hosts’ brains. He then takes the ball and puts it in his pocket, but a lab tech catches him. Bernard utters something into the ear of a drone (Oh please let it be ‘these violent delights have violent ends’) and the drone kills the tech.

While all hell breaks loose, I noticed the tech that gets slammed and impaled onto the spoke of the metal circle that’s off to the side ends up in the iconic season 1 Vitruvian Man pose. Dammit, Bernard! My hope was there were some hosts with redeemable qualities, err, programming. My hopes have been crushed. Like the tech’s head he stomps on. Ha!

Major Craddock goes Boom!

I have to share how this all went down while I was live-tweeting with Westworld fans and actors (Yup. They often chime in with us!) during the show. Here’s an example of the fun we get into Sunday nights. A little light-hearted exchange with the actor who plays Major Craddock, Jonathan Tucker.

"Me: I really wish Teddy would have killed Mayor CraddockJonathan Tucker’s reply: “care to discuss this tweet?” -craddockMe: Can’t. You blew up."

I was watching this part of the episode with utter disdain and some downright hatred of Major Craddock. This guy is so horrible! Like American Psycho horrible. There are way too many similarities between the way Major Craddock acts and how William does. But even William is unnerved by him. That is saying a lot!

William and Lawrence get taken hostage by the Major and some remaining Confederados in Las Mudas where Lawrence’s family and friends live. They wreak havoc and do disgusting, psychotic things to the townspeople. At one point including a sick dance with Lawrence’s wife and some twisted treatment towards a bartender.

The Confederados open a cargo box holding liquor bottles filled with nitroglycerin. This happened back in the season 1 episode named ‘Contrapasso’. Most fans are now feeling that nervous, anxiety build up in their bodies. We just know something is going to explode. And it does in the best way ever!

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Mayor Craddock has Lawrence beat up. While Lawrence’s wife and child are huddled together, he calls his wife over and begins to slow dance with her. He then tells his wife to go over and give him a shot filled with the nitroglycerin. William decides he’s had just about enough of the Major’s cocky attitude and decides to do something truly out of character–get justice for Lawrence.

William tells the Major he’s been sitting across from death the whole time. He then smashes a bottle on the side of a table and sticks it into the Major’s neck. William picks off the Confederados one by one. He goes over to Lawrence’s wife and takes the shot glass from her. He then forces the Major to swallow it. The music driving the scene is impeccable by the way!

William grabs a shotgun from the stockpile and gives it to Lawrence. As Lawrence raises the gun, Craddock begins to stumble away – as if he’s going to get far. Ha! And in what I think is THE BEST of the 5 best scenes, Lawrence shoots him and… he explodes! I jumped up off my couch, threw my arms in the air and yelled, “Yes!” True story.

James Delos’ Groundhog Day

James Delos is experiencing the worst Groundhog Day I’ve seen in recent TV history. At one point the camera swoops across a fishbowl with a goldfish inside. As we see later, James is ironically in the same situation. I’d like to think this metaphorical shot was deliberate.

A young William shows up to this apartment holding a bottle of whiskey. The conversation that follows will be seen 3 more times throughout the episode.

Next: Westworld season 2, episode 4 recap: The Riddle of the Sphinx

During the last of the 3 conversations mentioned, William looks older–has some gray weaving through his hair, and James notices. William callously tells him his wife died of a stroke, his daughter committed suicide and Logan (Oh nooo! Not my Logan!) died of an overdose. William tells him that he too is dead but has been brought back and placed in a host body.

James comes to realize he is defective. It reminded me of how Peter Abernathy would glitch out.

Here’s when we find out this is a deliberate scientific experiment that has been repeatedly performed ad nauseam at the expense of the man William hates.

The goal of it all may be to cheat death and to take people’s DNA and create a drone from it. Then turn the guest’s recorded experiences into a red ball and place it into the drone. At least that’s what I think.

What do you think? Let me know by leaving a comment below.

Written by fans, for fans.  Follow Beyond Westworld’s Twitter and Facebook accounts for everything you need to know about Westworld. Enjoy this article? Follow and see more from Renay here.  

Westworld airs every Sunday on HBO at 9 P.M. EST!