Westworld season 2 episode 8 felt like an optional DLC: Review

Hurriedly sketching out the Native American hosts' backstory, this standalone episode trod a lot of old ground and felt a little like filler

I spent the first 40 minutes of this week's Westworld wondering if HBO hadn't accidentally stuck on an episode that was cut from the first half of season one, as it was almost entirely taken up with Ghost Nation leader Akecheta having the very same realisations Maeve, Dolores et al had episodes ago.

It was a mostly slow plod through the Native American's backstory, which threatened to get interesting when it saw the return of Logan and teased the nature of the elusive "Door", but backed away from both of these to focus on an 'I must find my missing wife' plotline, which I struggled to care about having spent approximately 30 seconds in her company.

"This world. It's wrong," Akecheta declared at one point as the penny started its glacial drop, simultaneously summing up the theme of the show and exemplifying its often clunky dialogue.

Fortunately, this was all going somewhere beyond just telling the 'hosts become conscious' narrative from the perspective of a set of robots in a different costume, as we learned how the maze symbol was Akecheta's (misconstrued) way of trying to awaken hosts' consciousness (consider a pamphlet next time dude), and that Maeve can communicate with hosts through a mesh network. Thought to only transmit data, this network means the hosts are essentially capable of telepathy, Akecheta promising at the close to keep Maeve's daughter safe until she's Neo'd her way out of The Matrix.

Logan makes a brief return

Oh, and Lee's done a 180 from uncaring asshole to "please, you must save her!" viz a vis Maeve after a brief sojourn in a kimono in Shogunworld. Sure!

Yes, the episode looked good, but it's the fucking desert, it would be hard to not manage a base level of beauty filming there with an old generation iPhone.

The show's forays into other parks and areas have been disappointing this season and can't imagine wanting to revisit them, though next week looks to hopefully get things back on track with some good old pre-park flashbacks out in the real world where people don't just speak solemn metaphors at the horizon.

Westworld's penultimate episode, 'Vanishing Point' will air on Sunday night on HBO in the US and through Sky Atlantic and NOW TV in the UK.