Westworld Review: The Winter Line (Season 3 Episode 2)

The worry when returning to Westworld as a location, as with past seasons, is that things will get too complicated too fast. Westworld Season 3 Episode 2, “The Winter Line,” brushes along that edge very closely, but manages to cleverly turn it into a part of itself to bring Maeve and Stubbs back.

It’s appreciated that just when even more people turn out to be hosts, that Westworld makes sure to dial it back and show that Maeve is in a simulation rather than in a different park. But at the same time, Ashley Stubbs is discovered to be a host, so it’s still getting a bit crazy to keep up with who’s real at this point (the best option is to accept no one is human anymore, or at least, not entirely).

It’s what makes Maeve’s temporary placement in a simulation a nice little in-joke on the audience, that even the writers are poking fun at the idea that everyone is a host.

Bernard’s return to Westworld is like walking through a ghost world, seeing the decaying remnants of a world most likely never to see the light of day again. It’s great to see the old chapel, the room where Bernard realizes his nature of being a host, and the fun quick asides of dismantling the still-existing parts of the system (like the one mentioned further below).

But it’s a long way around to finding out Maeve is not at the park, not per se, something that we know by watching Maeve figure out the same thing during her side of the episode. Bernard and Stubbs do find out about Delores’ interest in Liam Dempsey, however, which is a solid lead to where they may head next.

There is also the flashes Bernard witnesses as he goes through the blocked data in his head. From the way the flashes go, it looks like Charlotte may have been the one to unhook Maeve’s core. But if that’s the case, how does it end up in that lab? Charlotte is still a mystery on the show, other than her being part of Delores’ master plan in some form.

As long as Bernard and Stubbs become a cool duo that are the opposite of Delores, there could be some great avenues the show could go down for that. Delores is far too powerful to take straight on, so some finesse and building up an army of sorts may be needed. Perhaps that is where Serac will come in, now that he has revealed himself to Maeve and shows that he has power over her (literally).

Lee and Hector are a solid gateway for Maeve to ease back into the story, as is the overall nature of Warworld. There’s always been this wonder what other parks are available, especially if there is a World War II type of locale, and here it is, even if it’s a simulation to keep Maeve busy in. It’s worth mentioning how beautifully the Warworld sequences are shot, these sweeping shots of the occupied Italian village and the countryside on the way to the runway rather breathtaking.

The episode is pretty straightforward, for as complex as it gets: Maeve escapes the simulation, and Bernard learns more about Delores’ plans.

The trouble with continuing bits of season two is that the plot jumped around timelines too much and started to throw humans away for hosts at an alarming rate to the point that taking pieces of it to carry on leave those lingering issues as baggage rather than exciting backstory.

But the simpleness of it is that Maeve is untethered finally, and exists in the real world. Her next move is probably to try and break free of Serac’s control of her, though he looks to be a rather formidable person to take on rather than just using him to her advantage.

Serac is likely human since he wants to fight Delores and put an end to her revolution. But it will be interesting to see what side everyone ends up on as their allegiances and their agendas become more focused. Bernard may want Maeve on his side, and to an extent that is also Serac’s side; but there is the question of what Serac’s end goal is, whether it is humanitarian or, more likely, a bigger play.

Maeve is the most valuable player right now, as she can swiftly change that playing field with a few quick hacks and code rewrites. Her allegiances will fall with whoever offers her a way into the Sublime from last season to finally be with her daughter. Bernard and Serac want Delores gone, but what if Delores offers Maeve that chance through finishing the revolution first? Or perhaps even a way to bring her daughter back from the Sublime?

Westworld Season 3 Episode 2, “The Winter Line,” much like the previous episode, is establishing the players and allowing them to see the defined lines for themselves. It’s not clear where some may fall, on Delores’ side or on Bernard’s side, but the lead-up to that coming battle is all the more interesting as more curtains are drawn back and the world outside of the one park becomes more dangerous.

The episode does a wonderful job of playing with its world in a fun, exciting way while still carrying the story forward on a character level that is satisfying and continues to build on all of the work the previous two seasons have done. But as with Westworld Season 3 Episode 1, “Parce Domine,” there is this nervousness that things will start to balloon into confusion again at a moment’s notice.

This episode nearly goes there, but pulls back just in time. Let’s hope Westworld stays that way, because this season is firing on all cylinders now.

Some stray thoughts on the episode:

• The Game of Thrones joke is one of the best the show has done in a while. David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, the co-creators of Thrones, are the ones quibbling over segmenting the dragon to offload it. Now we need to see what Thronesworld is like, because that could be a lot of fun (but this is likely where the joke ends).
• There is a concern that this may be the last we see of Rodrigo Santoro’s Hector and Simon Quarterman’s Lee, as they only exist in the simulation. But William is out there somewhere getting baseline checks and Westworld is probably not going to be present on just this episode, so maybe everything will start to converge back on Westworld and all of the original hosts down the line.

 

What did you think of this episode of Westworld? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Westworld airs Sundays at 9/8c on HBO.

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