Welcome to the Heavy Spoilers show I'm your host Paul and this video we're breaking down
the ending of Westworld Season 4. The finale is here and we now know the fate of humanity.
Throughout this video we're gonna be breaking it all down, going over the
callbacks to the other episodes and also giving our thoughts on how the series as a while.
Also huge shoutouts up top to Travoris Blaq who pointed out on our last video that Teddy telling
Christina she's not real is actually a callback to when it was said to her back in the park.
This was all part of her path to enlightenment which this episode also builds upon.
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I'm gonna be explaining the ending of the episode first before we jump into the
rest but if you wanna skip ahead to the part where we breakdown the episode scene by scene
then timecodes will be linked below. Also went out for a mates stag doo last night and I'm still
a leetle bit drunk and hungover so the thumbs up is a much appreciated.
Now Westworld Season 4 ends with it being revealed that Dolores was kept in her own simulation of the
city. Here she recreated elements of her past and guides to help her navigate through it all
and see the truth. Come the close of the entry she’s uploaded to the Sublime by Hale
who was influenced by Bernard’s final message. Her she recreates
Westworld from scratch in order to see if there is a different way to do things.
Now the season itself has very much been about whether the hosts are truly alive and their
own form of life. However it’s also explored consciousness and whether having a duplicate of
someone’s means theyre real or not. This has been seen in not only The Man In Black but also Caleb.
We saw that Caleb was truly a copy of Caleb but does this mean that he’s an imitation
or an extension of him past his own death. For example if you copy someone completely,
does that copy also become them or not. William too wrestles with whether he's
actually William or not and it makes for a really introspective watch.
Now in Season 2 Dolores read all the data that had been gathered from the guests.
This information on all those that visited Westworld meant that she could recreate
whoever she chose to. In addition to this she was also uploaded to Rehoboam and this
had all the information on humanity so she could actually completely replicate
every human on the planet and that’s what I think this simulation will be.
It will be a complete recreation of not only Westworld but also Earth itself. Now I’d say
you or I was replicated in this simulation exactly like how we were then the question arises whether
that’s really us or not. Though our body wouldn’t be there the thoughts we have, behaviour patterns,
memories and everything that exists in our brains would be created in a virtual way.
What does it mean to have consciousness? Is it our thoughts and feelings or is it
just electrical signals that our brain interprets?
well if you can't tell the difference, does it matter?
It’s an interesting debate that could argue whether we are truly us or something
more. This is also explored when Teddy tells Christina that because she thinks, she’s alive.
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This seems to be taking inspiration from the philosopher Des Carte who coined the phrase
‘I think therefore I am.’ One day he carried out a thought experiment in which he questioned
whether he was dreaming and if he was how he would know it. Eventually he determined
that he wouldn’t be able to tell however he realised that because he was having thoughts
that meant that at least he existed whether reality was the way he perceived it or not.
Hence the term ‘I think, therefore I am.’
For example when you get a new phone these days a lot of them allow you to copy over everything
from your old one and the new model very much becomes your phone. There’s even theories that
one day humanity will be able to live forever because we’ll duplicate our consciousness.
Whether it’s actually us or not is a debate that I think another season could explore
but for all intents in purposes this is Dolores seeing if she can save what she can.
The copies of humanity that she holds in her head.
Next time I think she’ll be very much trying to see whether there is a way to
steer humanity or rather the idea of it away from its self destructive nature.
As William said
(Hardware)
And this very nihilistic viewpoint could lead to everything simply looping back around.
However Dolores might be able to steer us in a different direction
due to her knowledge of what’s to come. It’s very similar to Bernard’s foresight
and he has given her a way to create a new world that is one of the only ways forward.
Now there’s also hope in the rebels however this likely won’t last very long.
They have very few numbers and even Rehoboam predicted an end
to all of humanity by a certain point which they’ll probably end up facing.
This is too backed up by the line -
However, there is hope in Dolores that humanity will evolve and become something more.
Dolores throughout the series has talked about how she’s evolved into something more
and now she’s brought the rest of us along with her.
I’m not sure how many other kids the group could end up having but there is the hope
that they could start something up and I think we will probably see them if we get a season 5.
Clementine did hint to there being a way they can endure far away from the reaches
of the hosts and I think it would be an interesting avenue to explore next time.
I’d imagine we’d get a much older Frankie due to
how time moves in the sublime but let me know below exactly what you think.
In the end it really was a Westworld, when you think about it,
which we actually called back in our episode one breakdown.
Now we start off following a fly as it travels through the carnage of Williams world.
Flies are of course very important in Westworld and in the first season
we watched as they somewhat infected Abernathy with the awareness that his reality wasn't real.
Just as how a fly was there when the collapse of Westworld began we see
one here in the opening of the episode before it all ramps up to everything looping around.
Hosts were told that they couldn't kill in the park but they ended up swatting
insects and this caused a contradiction in their programming. Just in the same
way that Dolores killed a fly at the end of the first entry we see this mirrored
here when we get a live action version of Grand Theft Auto complete with Trevor.
Steven Ogg is back baby and he's once more playing Rebus who was a main stay in the park.
Turns out he's been visiting the park for some time and killing Humans along with it.
We watch as he and another host fight to survive but he's killed early
on and in this intro we follow several characters as they're slowly wiped out.
f**king camper
And it's basically just one big westworld full of video game nods.
William ends up being the last one standing and he heads out to the sublime to destroy it.
Anyway, judging by the comments on the last video, it's time...time
for everyones favourite part of the breakdown, Jared's easter eggs.
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Now the episode is titled Que Será, Será. You probably know
this phrase from the Doris Day song and as I'm sure you already know, it translates roughly to
Whatever Will Be, Will Be. However there's also interpretations like what will be,
shall be and this is because the phrase has mixes of both spanish and italian within it.
The saying dates back to the 16th century and it was adopted as the family motto by John Russell
after his experience during the battle of Pavia. This was engraved on his tomb and shortly after
it was adopted by several wealthy families to show a fatalist attitude. Westworld is of
course centred around the notion of Free Will. Throughout the series we've seen as there have
been hosts that have broken free of the control over them and Season 3 of course tackled with
humanity being controlled by an algorithm. Season 4 once more put humanity under control and Bernard
of course showed that it was possible to predict an outcomes that would lead to a certain future.
Whatever will be, will be very much removes the control that everyone has though Bernard does
end up creating a choice with the video message he leaves. Now whether this video message itself
causes some influence is something that can be argued below but the idea that everyone is tied to
a certain fate is very much laced throughout the episode. I've always kinda thought that
the phrase could mean not to worry about things as well as it kinda removes the
power we have and is very much about just going along for the ride and trying to enjoy it.
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Now there are other meanings for the title with the ending of the season also providing
a whatever will be will be mentality that once more loops everything back around.
Hale also leaves the fate of the future up to someone else rather than trying to take control
which could be another way that this all ties together.
You could also just see it like...like Caleb and Frankie sang it together when she was little.
After the titles we cut to the tower and in our first bit of maze imagery we can
see that the elements surrounding it are laid out to look exactly the same as how that was.
At the centre of the maze was the key to the hosts free will and here
the tower represents the control that Hale ended up having over the humans.
Hale in carried in and brought back by a drone host and she ends up being placed into a new body.
There are lots of Season 3 parallels here with Dolores being destroyed in Episode 7 much like how
Hale was. Episode 8 in that entry had her gaining a new body and they use similar iconography here.
As Hale exits we see a strong focus on a tree linking back to the one that Bernard saw burning
in his trip to the sublime. This idea pops up later one which we'll talk about in just a bit.
Hale also wears earrings that look like chains
possibly hinting towards the confines and path that she ends up being stuck on.
Hale finds Bernards message and after an aerial shot of the city we travel inside
of it to discover that Christina is actually in this simulation, running the real world.
Now I think this is either gonna make or break the episode for you and what it basically boils down
to is that after Dolores was uploaded to Rehoboam, her pearl was taken and she was placed into this
simulation. This completely mirrored the park and it allowed her to see everything in real time
which is why she also witnessed the collapse of it last episode. This explains why she walked past
Frankie and Stubbs without being seen because her world was a mirror of what was really happening.
Her subconscious tried to show her the truth and she placed things that would
slowly awaken her because it's part of Dolores' programming to be free.
This is why she had several links to Westworld including the black and white choice,
Teddy and so on. She created Maya and Teddy in orrder to make sense of everything
and she's desperate to wake up. She's basically Neo in the Matrix,
able to change and alter the world to how she sees fit which ties into the ending.
Hale ends up freeing her pearl and she cracks the simulation open
leaving cracks on the floor that also resemble the maze.
When the sim starts to shut down we see that the world ends up looking like it did in the
narrivis stoytelling device which is a really nice carry over from that.
Hale heads out into the wreckage of the city and here we cut to Caleb, Stubbs and Frankie.
This is very much about Caleb saying goodbye to his daughter and as he slowly starts to degrade
he spends the last precious moments that he has making sure she's safe.
Though we thought that they'd cracked the fidelity experiments
unfortunately they never did and the bodies will always break down.
Hale then goes to the real William and I was kinda hoping that he'd be brought back
but unfortunately guy is dead dead...except for in the simulation...which...yeah my brain hurts.
Now at this point Clementine comes in and she ends up hunting down the rebels.
We get Hale tracking William and I was kinda hoping his ID would be the same
as how it was in Season 3 but alas they use a different identification.
Hale sends hosts to slow him down and this allows her to catch up. This once
more sees the return of Craddock who you might recognise from earlier seasons.
He ends up putting on glasses that show a hologram of Hale and these were seen
at the start of Season 3 when Dolores used them to trick a Westworld investor.
With Williams ride out he ends up grabbing a horse and we see two
which just so happen to be black and white.
Back with Caleb and co we see as he tries to thread a needle and learning of his wifes death
causes him to break even further. However after getting some kind words from Frankie he's able
to do it showing how much the idea of her pushed him on. Technically this Caleb never went through
the radio loop but Frankie is pretty much the thing that always pushes him forward.
Hitmen are sent in and Clem arrives and immeditely kills Stubbs. Now all these actors can return in
Dolores simulation so just because they're dead here doesn't mean that we won't see them back.
They do the old, I've got no bullets, actually i'll put meself in a lot of
danger just to reveal I have them but at least we get a nice little middle finger joke.
nice shot my dad taught me
Which also links back to them shooting cans together as a kid.
Now Hales got the whole world in her hands and we cut to Christina meeting Maya under a tree.
This has been the location for several important meetings throughout the series with the character
and Season 3 ended with Dolores meeting Maeve under one before she died.
Maya also drops this line.
I choose to see the beauty.
This calls back to Dolores saying similar phrases throughout the series.
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This reassures her that there is still good and it's very much a driving force for her.
Back with William we watch him arrive at a spot that both he and Maeve and
Bernard showed up to at earlier points in the season. Hale arrives there too
and the Sublime is very much left open as bait to draw him in so that Hale can kill
him once and for all...though...probably be back in this recreation but moving on.
Now we learn that because Hale had access to Dolores the entire time that she could have
accessed the sublime at any time. However she'd rather that they themselves decided to join.
William believes that they will have given into their self destructive nature but as we saw with
Bernard they've found their own ways to exist even if they have separated into certain pockets.
Hale ends up going down into a pipe and grabbing the gun that Bernard left last week
she finally manages to kill William. Really nice set up from last time and Hale sits
and self terminates bringing across a sort of ashes to ashes image as she crushes her pearl.
Caleb gets a tearful goodbye with his daughter and Frankie goes off
to start up something new whilst Hale gives Dolores this opportunity too.
We see her name is The Storyteller and in this new world she starts afresh. Got a lot of Wandavision
vibes here with the Teddy recreation from her memory disappearing. He was very much
a representation of the Dolores subconscious within her that guided her on a path to escaping.
Now Teddy does exist in the Sublime and there are hints that she could meet with him once more.
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Whereas William was a nihilist,
Dolores is an optomist that believes humanity can still be saved.
Now you might even be wondering how we can be saved if we're already wiped out.
And that takes us to theory time theory time theory time.
So it is possible that this might even just all be one big test within a simulation
being run by a character like Arnold or Ford to see how things will end up turning out.
If theres still a chance humans can be saved then this might just be running
through the outcomes so that humans can see how to avoid their potential downfall in the future.
I think people would be angry if the entire thing was revealed to be one big probability test
but we have seen this laced throughout the series with Rehoboam and Bernard.
This would explain how humanity is able to be saved.
Might not happen but yeah, theory time theory time, it's theory time.
Now Dolores also drops this line about hwo humanity will only live
as long as the last person who remembers them.
This itself calls back to Ackheta saying it in earlier in the series.
Dolores ends up preserving sentient life in her own world and she starts everything up once more
We see the piano begin to play and the scene almost rolls out beat for beat
like how it did in the first season.
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So I really enjoyed the way that it closed out
and I think that they closed off a lot of big character arcs though there is the potential
that people can come back in this new sim. I dunno if it robs the stakes for next time but
they might end up having this whilst also playing out elements of frankies future
in the real world if it is even the real world. Either way though I think
they stuck the landing on a lot of things here and it ties things up pretty well.
Now as for my thoughts on the season, I think this has been one of the strongest
ones in the entire run. They really recaptured what made Westworld special
and it was something that was filled with mystery, really big twists no one could've
predicted and some high level concepts that the show also expertly picks apart.
Whenever I see the park stuff I always think about how we wourselves are trapped in our
own loops and going through the motions which I think the series always examines really well.
I do wish it was longer as I feel the last couple of episodes kinda went full steam ahead after what
had been a slower build I wish we'd seen more of the inner workings of the park like what we had
in Season 1. There was a lot of horror to what was going on there with humans being trapped,
tortured and used much in the same way that they'd used the hosts. One image that really stuck out to
me was the pianists fingers bleeding because of how much Hale had forced him to hit the keys.
There was also the chilling dinner scene with William and I think just
a couple more moments that showcased the true horror of what was really going on
there would've made the series even more gripping. It wouldve shown why the hosts
really didnt want to continue that way and would also nicely compliment the earlier seasons.
What we got though we still really strong and this really got things back on track.
Now from what I've read the viewership for this entry has been down so I do hope that word of
mouth spreads like the flies and it picks up an audience. It's been said for years now that
they wanted to do 5 seasons of the show and HBO Max said they're committed to delivering
this. I really hope that they do as I think it deserves another one that wraps it all up
and I kinda like how almost all the seasons have been pretty self contained. They all sort of have
their own concepts and settings that work really well in giving us something fresh each time.
When I look back on this season I think I'll remember the things like Calebs fidelity test
being revealed, Bernard predicting the future and just William going wild. There's a lot of
really great moments and this was such a strong entry. Hopefully its not too long before we're
back with Westworld and I wanna give a huge thank you to everyone who's followed us week to week.
Loved watching you guys join
in with your own theories times and hopefully I see you on other shows.
We’re running a competition right now and giving away 3 copies of Doctor Strange In The Multiverse
Of Madness on the 15th of August. All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is like
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If you want something else to watch then make sure you check
out our breakdown of perfect scene in The Sandman
We break down the entire thing so it’s definitely worth checking out if you wanna know more.
With that out the way thank you for sitting through the video,
I’ve been Paul and I’ll see you next time. Take care, Peace