The title “Akane No Mai” has a clever double meaning in Japanese Is the Dolores stuff in this episode thoughtful or torturous? HBOĪja Romano: I am so new, and what an episode to drop into! Like everyone else, I stuck with an oft-frustrating first season despite ongoing structural upheavals and sideswipes that felt more like gimmicks than coherent plot development. But you’re new to the Westworld beat, Aja, and I’d love to hear how you’re feeling about the show in general and this episode in particular.
I have other problems with the episode, especially with the Dolores subplot, which isn’t bad but definitely feels grafted on to an episode that’s about other things. Just giving her a new power that lets her control things mentally is a little bit of a cheat. Part of the fun of this episode was the various Shogun World Hosts finding ways to subvert Maeve’s power, then Maeve having to adapt to overcome their maneuvering. But this whole “new voice” business felt a little cheap to me. And, look, I’m always happy to have more Maeve, and I’m glad Kikuchi’s going to be sticking around. That’s why it was disappointing that the last third of the episode just ended up being a straightforward trope fest, at least until Maeve used her “new voice” to save herself and Akane (Kikuchi’s character) from death. This wasn’t enough to kill my love for the episode, but the more it seemed like writer Dan Dietz and director Craig Zobel were aware of the tropes they were playing around with, the better the episode was. They’re doing this because, in the world of Westworld, the rich and comfortable clientele of the parks wants such a stereotypical experience, to feel like they’re living a bad parody of a samurai movie.īut at a certain point - and here’s where some of my problems with the episode’s last third came in - doesn’t it feel like acknowledging those stereotypes doesn’t go far enough? Doesn’t that, in some ways, make “Akane No Mai” a lackluster samurai film itself? Don’t get me wrong. It’s clear that the folks involved in Westworld know that they’re playing around with stereotypes and storytelling devices that tend to paint with too broad a brush. When Maeve and company travel to Shogun World, they discover many of the stories are just very barely disguised copies of Westworld tales! Rinko Kikuchi (one of my favorite actors) is Maeve’s Shogun World counterpart! It’s more difficult for Maeve to take control of Hosts in Shogun World, even when she speaks the local language, for reasons that only slowly become clear! (I think this is a metaphor for how certain power structures will sometimes take advantage of revolutionary moments to further entrench themselves, but it’s vague enough to mean just about anything, in true Westworld fashion.)Īnd yet I can’t escape these little ideas that keep tickling the back of my brain. There are so many clever ideas to enjoy here. (I feel like the air sorta leaks out of it after that, for reasons we’ll talk about shortly.) Todd VanDerWerff: For the most part, I really love “Akane No Mai,” which is probably my favorite Westworld episode of the season and definitely is if we’re only counting the first two-thirds. This week, they’re discussing the second season’s fifth episode, “Akane No Mai.” Spoilers follow! Proceed with caution if you haven’t seen the episode! Every week, critic at large Todd VanDerWerff and internet culture reporter Aja Romano get together to discuss the latest episode of HBO’s sci-fi drama Westworld.
0 kommentar(er)
