Westworld: 5 major takeaways from ‘Kiksuya’
By Leigh White
This week on Westworld, ‘Kiksuya’ took us to amazing places. It was a true departure and a brilliant, cinematic love poem. It took time to pause and do some real storytelling. I don’t think I was the only one touched by the impeccable writing and gut-wrenching acting.
The cinematography was like seeing one incredibly crafted painting after another. Pure magic. There is a lot of love and loss in this revolutionary episode and we learn a lot. Now, let’s take a look at the biggest takeaways.
Warning spoilers ahead!
Ake was the first woke host
Dolores was allegedly the first host to understand her true reason for being and achieving sentience–she had bragging rights. But not so fast Miss D! Ake from Ghost Nation discovered the Maze long before Dolores. It was right after she killed Arnold and the first hosts in Escalante three decades earlier.
Ake is a fast learner. He keeps a steady focus during this epiphany and for decades afterwards. He shares the symbol of the Maze everywhere– even Kissy’s scalp. He was planting seeds for all the other hosts.
Freedom is something he wanted for everyone, and he did not turn into a Wyatt derived sociopath. Even though his violence setting is maximized under Ford’s direction, he discerns between programming/narrative and who he really is.
It is the unbreakable love he has for his wife that haunts yet propels him. He even gets killed by a park guest intentionally to find his true love in the afterlife/The Mesa. It’s his muscle memory. Reminds me a bit of the Robin Williams movie ‘What Dreams May Come.’
Ake finds his true love in cold storage (damn you, cold storage!) He tries to awaken her but much like Clementine and Peter Abernathy, she is intellectually hobbled into retirement.
He is devastated. I was devastated. One of the best scenes ever in the entire series! This is the love story we wanted with Teddy and Dolores and never got.
Ghost Nation is not evil
Season 1 and season 2 set up Ghost Nation as straight up evil–until this episode. In earlier episodes, we only see them as terrifying demons committing acts of extreme violence to fellow hosts and park guests alike. Maeve is terrified of them in her earlier narrative and even in her host reckoning/Super Maeve persona.
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After all, her mental superpowers of persuasion do not work on Ghost Nation. Only when Ford orders their propensity for violence to be over the top before the park originally opens, do they embrace the dark side. In this pivotal and enlightening episode, we learn the true nature of GN.
In their beginning some three decades ago, Ghost Nation are some of the original hosts. They were kind, peaceful, and loving people respecting the beauty of the land and each other. The settings in these flashbacks are incredible–truly breathtaking. This is the epic cinematography I expected in Shogun World and did not get.
The Door is for hosts as well
Remember when the child Ford host tells the Man in Black that “The Door” is a game he can play. The Man in Black is happy to hear this even if its older Ford’s voice coming out of young Ford’s host mouth.
Turns out the door is for hosts as well. Persistent Ake finds the door in the Valley Beyond. Logan gave him the idea in his sun-crazed, naked ramblings. Ake searches and searches and finds a distinctive silhouette. He gets closer and sees a metal door.
The same row of peaks is shown at the lake full of dead hosts at the beginning of Westworld season 2. And the very same row of peaks that young William shows Dolores. The door physically exists. We still don’t know what is behind that door. But what we do know is that Ake wanted to take his wife there very desperately.
Zahn McClarnon is a true artist
Many of you may know Zahn McClarnon from his exceptional work on Fargo, AMC’s The Son, and Longmire (with Westworld buddy Louis Herthum.) After Westworld episode 6, I am in awe of Zahn. He brought such a tenderness and grace to this entire episode. He even manages to convey this yearning and heartbreak despite black Ghost Nation face paint.
His eyes don’t lie. There is a deep soulful connection he makes with the audience that is easy. Not only that, he speaks fluent Lakota and still manages to make all the nuances of his character so mindful and elegant. The tenderness he feels for his wife Kohana and Maeve’s daughter is beyond description.
He is so gentle and caring when he is speaking to Maeve’s daughter. He was never their enemy. He was always looking out for her and Maeve. Her daughter easily understands the Lakota language just as Sizemore declared. Terribly wounded, Maeve is at The Mesa but can “listen in” on Ake and her daughter.
He promises to look out for her daughter and help her escape with his tribe. Maeve softly responds, “Take my heart when you go.” There’s not enough Kleenex in the world for all the tears I shed at that scene. Ake will do right by Maeve’s daughter.
There is unfinished business
Speaking of daughters, Emily retrieves her wounded father from Ghost Nation. I told you so. She will make him pay for the death of her mother, her uncle Logan, and perhaps her grandfather James Delos as well.
Next: Westworld: 4 burning questions after ‘Kiksuya’
Meanwhile, Maeve may not make it. Her physical wounds are major. The Delos tech assigned to her is only monitoring her programming, not tending to her physical wounds. Where is Felix when you need him?!
Her fate is in Charlotte’s grimy hands. Speaking of takeaways, I wish someone would take Charlotte away! Episode 9, Vanishing Point, might enlighten us with new revelations. I hope to see more of Ake. I think we all do. Zahn, if you need a date for the Emmys, I’m available.
Watch Westworld on HBO Sundays at 9 p.m. EST!