Westworld: Top moments of the season 2 finale
By Ashley Davis
It’s been three days since the Westworld season two finale and this week I’m supposed to write about the top best and worst moments. However, I think we all know there’s not enough space on this website for all I have to say, so let’s break down the nuances of memorable moments and showrunner choices.
Caution: Westworld season 2 spoilers ahead!
I have a bit of an edge here because my synesthesia matches up with Ramin Djwadi’s, so when it’s right, it’s stunningly right, like resonance in your brain and optical nerve receptors. But let’s digress.
My most beautiful moment, synesthetically, was Maeve’s bulls, particularly where the half-robot-structured bull falls over the railing. The music spoke volumes and was absolutely perfect. Hard impact. I loved every moment of it.
Top 5 most beautiful moments of Westworld finale
Maeve’s freezing of the crowd to save her daughter, then falling with a smile on her face. Easily the most moving moment of the season and Thandie Newton outdoes herself here. Of course, I don’t think Felix is done with her yet! This was THE MOMENT of the episode for me.
Akecheta’s reunion with Kohana. If you didn’t cry during this scene, you’re heartless—or, should I say, maze-less.
The meta-narrative of consciousness, reality, immortality, survival instinct, and death being flipped. I called this early in the season and have talked about it extensively, but it fits like a perfect puzzle piece and gives us a broader canvas upon which to view the narrative.
I love that the reason the A.I. kept failing was because they were making them more and more complex, while humans are much simpler and more defined by their “code” than hosts. Lovely wrap-up.
The Ford/Bernard connection moment. Granted, I mostly enjoyed the gloating victory dance I did around my husband when my theory was confirmed dead-on, but could you have a more beautiful juxtaposition of dialogue, narrative realization, and visuals?
Anthony Hopkins takes my breath away, and Jeffrey Wright has proven himself worthy of these world-moving lines, as well. The shot where they panned around Bernard to see Ford was so flawless it gave me chills.
Top 5 best quotes of the Westworld finale
Dolores Abernathy’s admission that she seeks “mankind’s undoing” was well acted and structured very smoothly. I appreciated that scene.
Bernard Lowe: “Most states of consciousness are insane.” Indeed they are, Bernard. I’ll need a whole article to expand on this one! We’ll talk neuroscience soon.
Akecheta: “We have died countless times. If we die once more, at least the story was our own.” This followed by the strong arm clasp was the heartbreaker, and credit to the actors, the writers, and the composer for making this scene monumental.
This had incredible weight to it. My Lakota is rusty (I’m Tsalagiyi Nvdagi), but the touches of authenticity are appreciated.
Ford: “That which is real is irreplaceable.” What a poetic way of stating the meta-narrative of only finding truth in death.
Felix: “What door?” This exchange was a much-needed moment of levity at this point in the episode and the timing was impeccable.
Honorable-mention moments
Dolores walking at William as he shoots her. Raw power there and a beautiful parallel with an earlier scene with their parts switched.
Halores is absolutely fantastic and in control. Tessa Thompson does a fantastic job echoing Evan Rachel Wood’s mannerisms, and the sly, subtle clues throughout the season, complemented by the ones that strengthened throughout the finale, were expertly crafted. Her reveal and her escape were stand-up-and-cheer moments in the finale.
When Charlotte kills Elsie. I know, I know, I love Elsie and Charlotte’s the bad guy, but I was tired of her hiding behind polite bureaucracy and veiled intentions, so I was pleased to see her come into her own and take care of business.
The library is amazing. End story.
Jeffrey Wright’s takedown of Dolores. It was poetic, it was perfect in the narrative arc, and the timing couldn’t have been better. My only complaint is that I think Jeffrey Wright has earned the right to incredible speeches, and this predictable last line doesn’t do the actor justice.
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Top 5 Let-downs
As thrilled as I was to see Logan on-screen in host-in-control form, the Delos story finally told, it came out of nowhere. There really wasn’t enough recent prep and lead-up, despite earlier exposition, to jump this far into it.
It felt tacked-on and didn’t fit smoothly with the rest of the episode. Though I adored that last scene of Logan echoing James Delos’s words from an earlier episode. Another switch moment that worked out seamlessly.
Charlotte meeting her host form. Tessa Thompson can handle some awesome dialogue, writers—let her show you!
It’s not a secret that Tessa Thompson is one of my favorite actors—she played the physicist in
No reveal for William. I expected a bit more to frame what will turn out to be his ending. I can only hope there are aspects we aren’t seeing. The final scenes and the post-credits scene make it pretty obvious that William is alive at the end of Season 2 but is dead and a host in whatever future timeline we’re looking at with Grace.
Clementine is not-so-secretly my favorite, so while her end befits the warrior she is, it was never on her own terms. She deserved consciousness at the end, even if only for a second, though I can see why the writers made the choice they did.
The fracturing of the storyline around Delos’s memories. It didn’t fit. It didn’t match the narrative or the music. However, for me, it was not content but the placement that was the issue. The content was necessary, and the writers were faced with some very hard decisions about how to fit it in this season without disrupting narrative flow.
Top 5 honorable mentions for letdowns
Lee Sizemore was never meant to be the brilliantly clever comic relief he became, but he needed an arc transition from that to the seriousness of his final scenes. Great performance by the actor, but I feel like this character has a big hole in it (metaphorically as well as literally) now. I can see where the attempt was made, but I don’t think they had enough time.
Some characters weren’t given enough of a chance to meet their potential. Chiefly, Armistice. Give that girl a storyline! Hector needed more depth. I want to know more about Elsie and Grace, but at least the after-credits scene gives me hope for the latter.
The final scene and music did not work for me. Like I said before, Wright can handle Hopkins-level stuff, so let’s give him a shot. We needed to end with a quiet but resonant bang. The end music was a light, mossy green for me, which fit the last environment Bernard was in, but didn’t capture the high spirit of the episode as a whole.
The after-credits scene was underwhelming. I was pleased to see the clever fidelity-test switch, though. I was just hoping for something a bit more dynamic.
I miss Dolores’s badass blue dress with bandolier ensemble. Much of the music for her in Season 1 matched that color synesthetically, so I’ve grown rather attached to it.
Top questions of Westworld season finale
Now that Charlotte is Dolores, does that last scene imply a Dolores copy? I’m hoping Evan Rachel Wood doesn’t leave the series.
If Clementine gained Maeve’s powers, why wasn’t Maeve able to reverse her effects during the ride-down scene?
Grace’s backstory. I’m hoping we eventually fill in the gaps.
And will we ever see Akecheta again? That character overwhelmingly took fans by the heart and soul this season, and I can’t imagine abandoning him completely.
Final thoughts on Westworld finale
This isn’t the end of the story, though in some ways it feels like it with Dolores’s quest successful, the hosts in the Valley Beyond, and the meta-narrative wrapping up so nicely. But will Bernard now be Halores’ opposing force? What is her new quest? How does William die? How will Grace and Logan feature in his new reality? Can Maeve be resurrected? What clues did we miss?
Next: Westworld: 5 magical moments from season 2, episode 10
Continue to follow Beyond Westworld for more articles, in-depth discussions, interviews, podcasts, theories, hints, and more! Congratulations to the cast, crew, writers, production team, and everyone else involved on an outstanding season!