(Spoiler alert: Please do not read ahead unless you’ve seen Sunday’s episode of “Westworld” Season 2, “Akane No Mai.”)
Maeve (Thandie Newton), give it to us straight, are you a witch? After watching the ex-madam host turn an android Shogun army against itself on Sunday’s episode of “Westworld” — and hearing that one guy scream it — we just had to ask.
The way Newton explains Maeve’s ever-growing power is like this: “She’s really got control over other hosts in the way satellites can give us all information on our screens in our living rooms. It’s technology taken to its sort of obvious conclusion. And it’s not something she can do easily.”
Fans finally got their long-awaited dive into Shogun World with the episode “Akane No Mai,” which began with a Geisha house robbery that’s almost a shot-for-shot remake of the Mariposa Saloon heist from Season 1 and ended with geisha host Akane (guest star Rinko Kikuchi) and Maeve’s teams joining forces in a battle for their lives against the Shogun’s men.
Maeve was able to save herself and Akane from certain death at the last second by psychically forcing their would-be executioners to take themselves out instead. Though she soon had the entire army at its own throat, a mind manipulation stunt of this size is unprecedented for Maeve, whose “powers” also seem to come and go.
“All the times she’s used this skill, it’s a time of great trauma and fear and danger,” Newton said of Maeve’s power. “So I don’t think it’s something that she can just use easily and typically. It’s something that comes at times of high points of drama.
“And I love the fact that it’s erred in that respect. You know, it’s not like a superpower where she can shoot lasers from her eyes or something like that. It’s a superpower that comes out of difficulty in the same way we grow and learn out of difficulty. For me, it echoes that. Where it goes I really, really can’t say — but it’s pretty amazing.”
“Westworld” airs Sundays at 9/8 c on HBO.
'Westworld': Every Sad or Confused Face James Marsden Made in the Season 2 Premiere (Photos)
(Warning: Spoilers for Season 2 premiere) If Thandie Newton and Evan Rachel Wood's "Westworld" characters have been fully awakened to the realities of their robot existence, James Marsden's Teddy is like that moment right after you first open your eyes, when you're still groggy and confused and aren't entirely sure where you are. And Marsden plays the role admirably, spending much of the season premiere looking as resolute and bewildered as a "Westworld" fan scouring the trailer for clues. Here are seven photos of James Marsden trying to figure out what's going on.
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From the very beginning, Dolores rides into Season 2 like a badass, shooting down guests from the back of her horse, with the sunset on her face and the wind blowing through her inexplicably clean hair. Poor Teddy can barely keep up.
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It's unclear how much Teddy actually understands, as far as the robot revolution goes, but he's apparently willing to follow Dolores' lead on things like murder, torture and delivering monologues.
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"Robots? If you say so."
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This is the face you make when you ask your girlfriend to stop murdering people, and she just delivers another monologue about identity and free will. You don't really understand what she's talking about (and you already stopped listening), but you know enough to know that she's definitely not going to stop murdering people, and you just have to be cool with that.
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"But why can't we just buy a house, settle down and, you know, not murder people?"
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Teddy, like Jon Snow, knows nothing and needs to have this fact explained to him repeatedly.
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This reveal at the end of the premiere is a surprise, for sure, but once you sit with it for a while -- was anyone really expecting this guy to survive?
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Poor Teddy might be in over his head
(Warning: Spoilers for Season 2 premiere) If Thandie Newton and Evan Rachel Wood's "Westworld" characters have been fully awakened to the realities of their robot existence, James Marsden's Teddy is like that moment right after you first open your eyes, when you're still groggy and confused and aren't entirely sure where you are. And Marsden plays the role admirably, spending much of the season premiere looking as resolute and bewildered as a "Westworld" fan scouring the trailer for clues. Here are seven photos of James Marsden trying to figure out what's going on.