All Hale Westworld

Episode three of Westworld’s third season turned the intrigue up to 11, as following on from the Dolores-centric season opener and Maeve focused second episode, we had one hour of TV headlined by Charlotte Hale’s tale – or at least, the story of the host/person/brain inhabiting her body.

Let’s start with that little conundrum, shall we…

Who is Charlotte?

One of the big twists in the season two finale was that Delos bigwig Charlotte was killed by a host built to look exactly like her by Bernard. Her pearl was that of Dolores, who had earlier been gunned down by a decidedly desperate Bernard who clearly regretted his decision to remove her from the board.

Upon entering the ‘real world,’ Dolores engineered her way back into her familiar host body and the Hale that we’ve seen in episode three is suggested to be powered by one of the five pearls stolen from the park by Dolores at the end of last season.

The question is, who is it? And that is a particular point of intrigue in this bold, bewildering and beautiful four of television.

My first hunch was that this was Teddy – Dolores’ former Sweetwater sweetheart. She clearly trusts him, he’s clearly more timid when compared with Terminator-spec Dolores and at one stage in this episode, the two lie together in an embrace, similar to how they did in season two, immediately after Teddy called time on his character.

But that would be perhaps a little too ‘route one’ for Westworld. This is the show that likes to deliver bonkers twists, and this ‘whose Hale’ storyline is building to be one of the bigger arcs.

That might even discount my theory that Hale is actually Clementine. Her mannerisms towards the start of the episode in particular resembled that of Dolores’ former and perhaps current soldier. She was timid in conversation but didn’t hesitate when needing to strangle the creepy guy in the park later in the episode. But, once again, that isn’t necessarily a big enough bombshell.

And, after Clem – well – I’m out of ideas. Which is just the way I like it to be honest.

Give Tessa Thompson an Emmy

The level of intrigue and mystery surrounding Hale’s true identity is in no small part propelled by a stunning performance by Tessa Thompson. There isn’t a superlative in the book that would do justice to what she does in this episode. It is honestly sublime.

Hale suffers anxiety at her new identity and her role in Dolores’ game. She’s feels vulnerable in Dolores’ absence. She plays stern board chairman to keep up appearances and delivers a gut-wrenching emotional performance when watching back the footage of the real Charlotte Hale who recorded a last gasp final message to her son Nathan when Westworld was descending into a host-induced meltdown.

Thompson is asked to do it all in this episode and delivers a benchmark performance. Give her an Emmy immediately.

Have you ever seen anything so full of splendour?

The type of cracking narrative that Lee Sizemore could only ever dream of conjuring is matched every inch of the way by pitch perfect cinematography. I wish I could have seen this on an IMAX cinema screen.

I mean, look at it;

Dolores and Caleb team up

I absolutely love the concept of Dolores and Caleb teaming up going forward. Caleb has been a superb addition to the already stacked deck of Westworld characters, and Aaron Paul has played the part inch perfectly so far.

The scene shared between the two of them in a diner, as Dolores showed Caleb the full extent of Rehoboam’s knowledge by recounting the events on the day that his mother abandoned him, was chilling.

Caleb is a human, or at least that’s how he’s being presented, but Rehoboam has been able to artificially determine the state of his existence. It knows his future, his past and has already painted him into a corner in the game of life. At this point, Caleb and Dolores are a lot alike as all of this oversight raises the question of what true humanity is, or rather, how humans in this 2058 future are basically hosts to this ultimate technological power.

Nah, I like being basic

And in closing, a word for the Rico App that Caleb – and seemingly every toerag in this odd future – uses to track down commissions for criminal work. Well, after helping Dolores out of her bullet-wound predicament at the start of the episode, Caleb’s on the hit list and presented to crooks via the application.

Amongst all the Westworldly seriousness, the user options did make me chuckle;