‘Westworld’ Recap ‘Akane no Mai’
Westworld Recap ‘Akane no Mai’
Maeve and company are apprehended by wayward samurai after stumbling into Shogun World. She once more tries to command the men, but they ignore her bidding. As they’re taken to the village, Lee tells her that the reason they didn’t listen to her is because she wasn’t speaking in their native tongue. Luckily for Maeve, she does know Japanese, but the men gagged her. They arrive in the village when a scenario that is all too familiar begins to play out. The leader of the gang, Musashi, enters the home of the Geisha in order to rob them. Outside, his right hand woman kills the local police. Lee admits that the story line from Westworld was recycled into other worlds. When the assault is over, and Armistice saves Hanaryo’s life, the group are freed and ask to speak with Musashi and the head Geisha, Akane. Their talk is interrupted when an emissary from the Shogun appears, asking for Akane’s best dancer, Sakura. Akane’s response is a knife to the eye.
Meanwhile, Dolores is testing Teddy’s faith. She saw him let Craddock and his men go, disobeying her orders. Dolores recounts a story to Teddy about the time her family’s cattle got sick. They discovered that the flies were carrying the disease. She asks Teddy what he would do protect the cows. Teddy replies that he would build them a shelter and keep the flies away. Dolores tells him that they burned the sick. The flies were kept at bay by the smoke and the rest of the cattle survived. Later, Dolores confronts Teddy, telling him that he is a good man, and where they’re going, he won’t survive. She orders her men to hold Teddy while one of the Westworld technicians reprograms him. Phil says it’s dangerous to do so without fully rebooting his system, but they don’t have much choice. Dolores tells Teddy that sometimes, in order to survive, you have to suffer.
Back in Shogun World, the group are going to get Sakura out of town and away from the Shogun. They are interrupted by the arrival of ninjas. During the fight, Maeve is almost killed because the ninja stops her from speaking. Before he can, though, Maeve telepathically gives him a command to stop and kill himself. He does so. The other ninja stop their attack and flee, but they take Sakura with them. The Shogun strikes back with a vengeance, sending his men into the town to kill anyone who opposes him. Maeve, Lee, Akane, Lutz, and Sylvester escape, while Hector, Constance, Musahi, and Hanaryo are taken. The five disguise themselves as a Chinese emissary to sneak into the Shogun’s camp and rescue their friends. Along the way, they find the bodies of Delos’ soldiers. Lee manages to swipe one of their phones. The five arrive in the camp, but the Shogun was expecting them. He had also heard word of a witch so he removed the ears of his men. Akane asks for Sakura back, and the Shogun agrees, as long as she and Sakura both perform a dance together.
While preparing for the dance, Akane tells Sakura a bit about her past, using the same words Maeve used to say to Clementine. Maeve tells Akane she used to have a daughter and she is on a journey to find her again. She asks Akane to come with her. The words are more of a command, but Akane shakes them off. Maeve agrees that some things are more important than freedom. Just before the dance is about the begin, the Shogun kills Sakura. He instructs Akane to continue with her routine. Akane performs the dance, and in the final moments, pulls a dagger. She murders the Shogun. His men grab Maeve and Akane and are about to kill them when Maeve telepathically instructs them to pull their swords on each other. They do as they’re told, but one manages to sound an alarm before dying. As an army of samurai approach, Maeve picks up a fallen katana, ready to stand against them. She tells Lee that she has found a new voice.
This episode was really beautifully done in the way that it introduced the parallels between the two worlds. It will be interesting to see how the Maeve, Hector, and Armistice deal with their counterparts. Maeve and Armistice like their respective partners, while Hector is not a fan of Musashi. Another interesting moment during the episode was in the opening scene in which Delos is trying to extract host information from (what I’m assuming are) the dead hosts they found in the water. One of the technicians says that all of their data has been wiped. They also reveal that a core command center has been destroyed, which means about a third of the park date is gone forever. Who could have done this? If the scene is indeed from the future, then could Bernard have orchestrated this in order to keep Delos from getting their information out of the park? More questions, less answers, but still a great episode that is setting the stages for a killer second half of the season.
Next week’s episode is entitled ‘Phase Space.’
Covering superheroes, anything dark, horror, and more! Lead writer for Fan Fest
