Westworld season 2 episode 2 'Reunion' spoiler review: The show develops sinister Facebook-Cambridge Analytica parallels
The already viscous plot thickens as we learn why the park exists
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Your support makes all the difference.Though it might not be as sexy and cinematic as a hidden maze or a naked robot jailbreak, Westworld served up probably its biggest reveal to date tonight, as we learned the real reason why the park exists and the nefarious business logic behind it.
After an arguably slightly lacklustre season opener, episode 2 kicked off very strongly as the action moved outside of the park for the first time, in the form of a flashback to the days when Westworld was merely a concept being shopped around to wealthy potential investors.
Logan was quick to bite, we find out, in a smart little scene where he is encouraged to spot the host amid a party of humans, only to be told everyone single one of them has a motherboard instead of a beating heart.
From there, we learn a bit more about how William became the Man in Black and how the park developed. William is a nasty corporate profiteer, it turns out, which feels pretty inconsistent with his general saintliness in season 1 yes, but there's no time for worrying about that! Here's how early timeline William pitches Westworld to his skeptical boss (Logan's dad, played by Ozark's Peter Mullan):
"Half of your marketing budget goes to trying to figure out what people want, because they don't know. But, here, they're free, nobody's watching, nobody's judging - at least that's what we tell them. This is the only place in the world where you get to see people for who they really are, and if you don't see the business in that then you're not the businessman that I thought you were."
This all feels very 'Facebook harvesting your data without being fully open about it and selling it to advertisers' - kudos to creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, as this was all written and shot long before the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and this game-changing reveal should add a fresh poignancy to the show going forward.
Later-timeline-William, or "The Man in Black" explains further (to a robot no less, who is seemingly just there to have the plot of the show explained to him for the viewer's benefit):
"They wanted a place hidden from God, a place they could sin in peace. But we were watching them, we were tallying up all their sins, all their choices. Of course, judgment wasn't the point, we had something else in mind entirely."
I sense that Delos has been using this ill-gotten data for ends more sinister than pushing mason jars or right-wing fake news on customers, but what they are is anyone's guess right now, especially after an overly mysterious conclusion to the episode.
I was on board with the outside-the-park stuff and the corporate intrigue, but the final third falls into a familiar Westworld trap, a "maze" or a "Wyatt", if you will.
Essentially, there is something called "The Glory" that looks like some kind of bridge but is actually a weapon or a Westworld level to be completed, depending on who you talk to. The episode ends with the Man in Black and Dolores both on the hunt for it, in an ending so inscrutable the credits may as well begin: 'Now go on Reddit and discuss!'
What else to round up? Maeve! She mercifully pours cold water on Dolores stomping around the park like a superhero with the cutting remark, "revenge is just a different prayer at their alter darling, and I'm well off my knees." Then there's the surprise appearance from Gus Fring himself, Giancarlo Esposito, as El Lazo. Don't expect the Breaking Bad actor to return, though, the five bullets the Man in Black pumps into him after he's already dead may as well sound out 'Just. A. Cam. E. O.'
Westworld continues on HBO and through Sky Atlantic and NOW TV on Sunday nights.
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