Westworld Flashback Friday: Exploring ‘Akane No Mai’

Thandie Newton won an Emmy for her outstanding performance in season 2 of Westworld and for Flashback Friday, we are honoring her Emmy submission, “Akane No Mai”. 

Westworld had a decent night at the Emmys but perhaps the most unexpected win of the night went to Thandie Newton for Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. The competition but our fierce Maeve came out on top and walked away with the Emmy.

Newton submitted, “Akane No Mai” for her Emmy submission, and honestly, we could not have thought of a better choice from season 2. The fifth episode of the season took us into Shogun World, a place fans had been anxiously awaiting to see ever since the season 1 finale.

Shogun World is set in the Edo period and is full of ninjas, warlords, samurais, and more. It is in this episode that we learn how Lee Sizemore essentially copy/pasted narratives and characters into this world, and each character was similar to someone from Westworld.

What was the most exciting aspect of this episode was learning about how strong Maeve’s powers truly were. She was able to use mind control to take over hosts and have them do her bidding which truly raised the level of badass she already was.

There was a haunting beauty to this episode that was brought to life with the visuals and stellar background score by Ramin Djawadi. Most notably, the scene with Maeve and Sakura dancing moments before the shogun murdered Sakura had a mystical allure to it and it comes as no shock that this episode landed Newton her Emmy win.

And if you recall, the episode ends with Maeve controlling the shogun’s men and having them turn on one another as the army continues to rush in. It was truly a visually appealing adventure, and Newton did such an unbelievable job in this episode that brought viewers into another park unlike ever before.

Now, let’s celebrate Newton’s Emmy on this Flashback Friday with our favorite moments from “Akane No Mai” by visiting our Twitter, @BeyondWestworld.