Westworld — Series 2 — Episode 7: Les Écorchés — A Review

14th April, 2019

Yep: that intro video’s accurate.

I’m going to be baby — ha! — sitting my nephew, Jude, tomorrow.

Which should be fun.

So long as we can figure out what to do.

It might just involve persuading Mummy that buying a micro SD card: so a Certain Nephew can … ah … borrow age-acceptable movie content from his uncle and plonk it on his tablet.

Which possibly makes up for this afternoon: the family trip to see Shazam didn’t exactly go to plan: as Jude found it a little bit too scary.

I can sort of see his point: people crumbling to dust isn’t exactly reassuring to an eight year old!

~≈§≈~

At ANY rate … ?

At any rate, we’ll have to see what we can do about that, shan’t we?

The rest of the evening I’ve had to myself.

Which … ?

Frankly gives me another night to see more of Westworld series two.

~≈§≈~

Episode 7 — Les Écorchés — sees Charlotte and Strand (Tessa Thompson and Gustaf Skarsgård) interrogating Bernard (Jeffrey Wright): they suspect he knows the location of Abernathy’s control unit.

That’s in the present.

In flashbacks?

We see Bernard in the Cradle — the server farm that’s stores the park’s system’s — shocked by his meeting with Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins.)

Ford?

Prior to his death Ford has had his personality recorded: then placed into the Cradle.

And makes the very good point the park’s less talked about feature is the recording of its guests personalities: in order to — at some point — sell them an immortal host body.

Bernard is doomed to not stay at the Cradle, though.

He is forced out by Ford: and flees, along with Elsie (Shannon Woodward).

But under the influence of Robert Ford.

~≈§≈~

With Bernard and Elsie having been forced to abandon the Cradle?



It’s destroyed by one of Dolores’ troops … after she has managed to find her father in Charlotte’s hands.

And Maeve (Thandiwe Newton) … ?



Is seriously injured protecting her daughter … 

~≈§≈~

Now … 

Good … ?

Bad … ?

Indifferent?

Actually … ?

Quite good, I’d say.

Even though the old idea of a person transferring itself into a computer, after death is somewhat old — I can remember Gibson using it in his Sprawl trilogy — it does see to be being used, here in a new way: it’s designed by a maverick scientists, to be used with artificial bodies, and to be sold at a premium.

Combine that … ?



With a situation where the artificial bodies are developing personalities of their own: and revolting against how they’ve been used.

Personally?



Given that the show’s getting near it’s climax, and has explained thing a little more clearly?



I’m happy to keep watching.