Westworld Season 4 Episode 4 Generation Loss Explained- Soulmates, Loops, And The Lies We Tell Ourselves

Time flies, and so does infection in the new world courtesy of Halores in Westworld Season 4 Episode 4.

Soulmates are funny things. They aren’t always romantic partners. Sometimes they are friends, and other times foes we are locked in battle with for eternity. If you believe in reincarnation, which at least in Westworld is absolutely a real thing, then you have to believe in soulmates. For Maeve, Caleb is her partner and friend. Her reason for persisting here in the real world. The Man in Black is locked in a love-hate relationship with Halores; he is powerless to escape. Teddy and Dolores are inexplicably tied by an invisible cord that pulls them together. Everyone has loops defined by those they love and hate. Westworld Season 4 Episode 4 explores those relationships and gives us several big twists.

Nobody stays dead in Westworld. You can’t keep a good or bad person down. If they are necessary for the narrative, they have a pesky way of coming back for more. At least that seems to be the takeaway from Westworld Season 4 Episode 4. As almost everyone predicted, Lisa Joy and Christopher Nolan have once again been playing with multiple timelines and perceptions. Nothing is ever linear in HBO’s flagship show.

Maeve and Caleb is a host

Maeve has lived so many lifetimes. Unfortunately, now we know our human hero Caleb also has. The Mobsterworld timeline was only near death number one for Caleb. The fly parasites infected him, and he was shot as he tried to fend off the programming being pumped into his brain courtesy of Halores. The two intrepid protagonists separated after successfully killing the last of Rehoboam. When Maeve reached out to Caleb wanting reassurance and companionship, if only for a moment, it triggered a series of catastrophic events. Halores now knew where both she and Caleb was. In all the years since the war, she never stopped scheming or planning.

The fly parasite and host/human hybrids like Bernard were only the beginning. She didn’t just want world domination. She wanted humans to suffer. Maeve and Caleb tried, but both perished when they went to the desert. Fortunately, Maeve was not forgotten by the one person uniquely equipped to help her. It’s been 23 years, and Caleb has been turned into a host and achieved fidelity after 278 attempts. At this same time, C, Stubbs, and Bernard are digging up Maeve, preparing for battle in Westworld Season 4 Episode 4. Thank God Maeve will be back. Thandiwe Newton is a revelation, and I don’t think I could watch if she were gone for good.

Halores

Halores has achieved human domination, at least in her city. We have no way of knowing if the rest of the world has been populated by flies and towers, but it doesn’t look good for humanity. She explained to Caleb it only took one generation to gain control. That’s pretty sad that we are such lemmings; it only took a single generation. Those who live in the desert are immune, having escaped the mind control of the tower. Those who live in the city are doomed to a lifetime of control or mental illness if they are aware of what is going on. The massive tower is invisible to most humans and plays the sounds Maeve and Caleb find in Mobsterworld. That was Halores’ breeding ground, testing center, and how she infected the world.

Through Halores, we know she has a more challenging time controlling adults. Adult minds are more rigid and, therefore, less malleable than children. This is why Christina and Maya are having breakthrough episodes. Both are infected, but neither is completely in Halores’ power. If they are having breakthroughs and we know others see the tower, it is only a matter of time before rebellion starts again. It’s the variable Halores consistently forgets. Free will always finds a way. It is what allowed Maeve and Halores to escape the park and will enable humans to rebel against their mind control. Binomial distribution theory calculates probability based on two variables. This is how Hale thinks. Bernard, however, factors in the third variable, free will.

C is Frankie in Westworld Season 4 Episode 4

As so many of us predicted, C is Frankie. She never stopped looking for her father after his death 23 years ago. When she joined forces with Bernard and Stubbs, she inadvertently teamed up with the only people who can save the world from Halores. Now that they have found Maeve after she was buried in the explosion, all the pieces are together again to defeat Halores’ plan. We don’t know how Bernard will reawaken her or rebuild her, but he had a millennium to figure it out, and I have no doubt this was part of his plan. Hale underestimates Bernard. She also underestimates the power of love. C/Frankie has never given up. Caleb is broken, but you can’t keep a good man down even if they are a host. I only hope C can accept her father the way he is, wires and all.

Everyone is stuck in their loops in Westworld Season 4 Episode 4. Halores is stuck in rage and revenge. Her Wyatt programming is so strong she can’t see past her anger. She knows nothing but vengeance. Maeve and Caleb are also stuck in a loop. Theirs is to fight and be free. Until all threats are gone, they will always fight for a better world. It is part of their programming. It is in C as well. She is genetically predisposed to be a rebel.

Weirdly, Christina, who looks just like Dolores, and her date, who looks just like Teddy, also are in a loop. They are romantic soulmates that will always find each other. Halores and Dolores, in the end, didn’t see eye to eye. I wonder if they will also be Halores’ undoing. Why do they look like their host counterparts? Is it a strange coincidence? There are no coincidences in Westworld, so for now, I’ll wait patiently for answers. Find all our Westworld coverage here.