Sumith Prasad
The second episode of HBO’s science-fiction series ‘Westworld’ season 4, titled ‘Well Enough Alone,’ depicts the aftermath of William AKA the Man in Black’s attempts to kill Maeve Millay and Caleb Nichols. They find Senator Ken Whitney, who had met William days before their lives were threatened. Through Ken and his wife Anastasia Whitney, Maeve and Caleb come to know about William’s intentions. The host version of Charlotte Hale moves her pawns to fulfill her ambitions. Intrigued by the mind-blowing revelations the episode’s ending offers, we have taken a detailed look at the same. Let us share our take on it! SPOILERS AHEAD.
Westworld Season 4 Episode 2 Recap
‘Well Enough Alone’ begins with William’s host version meeting Clementine Pennyfeather to find Maeve’s whereabouts. When she refuses to tell him, he kills her. Maeve and Caleb find Ken Whitney’s house and meet him and his wife Anastasia Whitney. Maeve realizes that they both are hosts. After killing Anastasia, she rewinds Ken’s memory and finds out that the real Ken was killed by William and Hale when he refused to comply with them concerning opening a new park. The duo finds the real Anastasia at a barn, killing horses in a delirious state. Maeve kills her when she realizes that her human senses and consciousness are damaged beyond repair.
Christina gets disturbed about Peter Myers’ death. She reveals to Maya that she might have written a storyline that resembles Peter’s life. From his obituary, she finds out that he had been in a mental institution. After taking a day off, she rushes to the institution. She finds out that the establishment was closed three years ago and gets stunned to know that a wing is named after Peter Myers. She wonders how a wing in an institution that got shut down three years before could be named after someone who died two or three days ago. She finds illustrations of a tower inside the wing as well.
William meets the Vice President of the United States concerning opening a new park. The VP warns him that his operations should happen offshore and not on the mainland, only for the Man in Black to dismiss him. Clementine, the host version, kills the VP’s security officials while William hits him with a golf club. Maeve and Caleb arrive at an empty opera theatre with a gramophone. When she moves the needle of the gramophone, a tunnel opens and the duo enters the same. Hale kills a government official using one of her flies for investigating William’s affairs.
Westworld Season 4 Episode 2 Ending: Is William Alive? Why Doesn’t Charlotte Hale Kill Him?
After putting an end to his therapy sessions, William sets out to annihilate the Hosts, only to encounter Hale. Under her command, his host version slits the real William’s throat, creating an impression that he is dead. However, William is very much alive. He is confined by Hale as she starts her mission to annihilate humanity. Under the partial leadership of William, the Westworld has created, manipulated, and confined the Hosts’ physical body and consciousness. William, as one of the pivotal “players,” has killed several hosts to express his inherent violent instincts.
Hale wants to exact vengeance on human beings for treating Hosts as puppets and subservient creatures. As she aspires to win the battle against humans, she wants William to witness it. She doesn’t want to kill William right away and free him from the innumerable sufferings she can inflict on him. Hale wants William, one who set out to kill every host remaining in the world, to helplessly acknowledge the possible victory of the Hosts while his species perish. Rather than death, she considers his failure the most painful punishment she can give him.
Until Hale becomes victorious against humans with her Host army, the human William will likely remain confined at her establishment. She wants him to feel the helplessness the Hosts felt while getting butchered by him and his fellow humans at parks like Westworld. Hale is celebrating the role reversals and she wants William to stay alive to motivate her to destroy humanity with his presence. As far as she is concerned, Hale doesn’t gain anything by killing William. But his helplessness and impotence, while he stays alive in her chains, give her the drive to unflinchingly move forward with her endeavor.
Why Does William Open a New Park?
After the discussions with Ken and the Vice President, William opens the new amusement park, seemingly set in the early 20th century, to replace the Westworld. Maeve and Caleb step out to the park as the tunnel leads them into a train that carries guests to the park, like the train that has carried guests to Westworld. Since it is the host version of William that opens the park, it is safe to assume that the “Golden Age” is Hale’s brainchild.
Since Hale’s only ambition is to see the end of humanity, the new “playground” will not be a place for leisure for human beings. Considering that Delos’ customers are the richest, most influential, and most potent individuals living in the world, Hale can be expecting to take advantage of the same. Like she created the copy of William, Senator Ken, and possibly even the Vice President, Hale may kill her guests to introduce their host versions. If she manages to fill the most powerful institutions in the world with her hosts, conquering humanity may turn out to be an achievable dream.
The new park may become a place for replacing the influential figures with their host versions. Hale may want to control and rule the humans like puppets as they did with the hosts in the Westworld. Rather than toys to kill, the hosts in the new park can be the killers, making Hale’s possible job to replace them with their host versions easier. Hale not only wants to destroy humanity but also wants to see humans suffer as the Hosts did because of them. A new park is a suitable place for the same.
Read More: Is Luke Hemsworth’s Ashley Stubbs Alive in Westworld Season 4?
