Top 10 Westworld Episodes

Warning: Major spoilers for the series.

10. Les Ecorches – Season two, episode seven.

Les Ecorches is probably the most action packed episode in all of Westworld.
It features Dolores’ attack on the Mesa to get her fathers’s core drive.
This led to many intense moments, including the best in the entire episode when Charlotte tried to talk Dolores down only to learn that may not have been the best idea.
This was such a great scene with Evan Rachel Wood and Tessa Thompson both giving great performances.
Speaking of which, it is also great to compare Thompson’s performance from the past timeline to the present one in this episode.
Her performance as Charlotte in the past and Dolores acting as Charlotte in the present really hinted at the season two finale’s epic twist.
There was also the great confrontation between Maeve and William, and Ford and Bernard.
It was great to have Anthony Hopkins back in this episode and his interactions with Jeffrey Wright as Bernard were fantastic.
The one reason this episode is not higher on the list is because of the scene where that soldier stupidly allowed Angela to get close enough to grab his grenade.
That scene draws me out of the moment every time so held the episode back.
Other than this though, Les Ecorches is a great episode that definitely deserves the number ten spot.

9. Akane No Mai – Season two, episode five.

Akane No Mai was the episode that reinstated Maeve as my favourite character of the show.
She just had so many fantastic moments in this episode from her learning how to control hosts with her mind to her trying to help Akane free Sakara and connecting with her due to her mothering side.
The other factor that makes this episode a real highlight is the exploration of Shogun World, which hopefully we will get to see more of in season three because we do not know what happened to characters like Akane and Musashi.
It was great to see Sizemore’s plagiarized versions of the characters from Westworld played out in Shogun World and how that changed due to Japanese culture.
The final scene where Akane murders the shogun and then Maeve takes full control of her new ability is both gruesome and a fantastic cliffhanger to led into the next episode.
There are also scenes in Westworld with Dolores changing Teddy’s code to make him more violent, which thankfully made him a more interesting character for me.
Overall, Akane No Mai was a fantastic episode with great moments from Maeve and an interesting in depth look at Shogun World.

8. Dissonance Theory – Season one, episode four.

Dissonance Theory was the first amazing episode of Westworld, being the fourth episode of the first season.
This is in part due to its standout scenes, chief of which was the memorable conversation between Theresa and Ford where he warns her to stay out of his way.
What was most unnerving about this scene was how Theresa suddenly realised that Ford sat them at the exact table she and her parents sat at when she first visited the park.
Hopkins, once again delivers an amazing performance as Ford and really highlights his god complex.
Another standout scene was William and Hector’s prison break, which had some great moments including the repeated shot of Lawrence’s face as William and Hector gun down the men around him.
Maeve is another character who gets a lot of the spotlight in this episode as she is one of the first hosts to fully realise that her world is not real.
This showed just how bright of a character she was, despite technically later being revealed to being programmed to do this by Ford.
Dissonance Theory was the first excellent episode of Westworld with numerous standout scenes that made me love its characters.

7. Contrapasso – Season one, episode five.

“I imagined a story where I did not have to be the damsel,” Dolores said right after gunning down the Confederate soldiers.
With that single line Dolores became my favourite, before Maeve took her place.
This is one of my favourite scenes in Westworld and really highlights how good the rest of this episode is in comparison.
Contrapasso showed us just how ruthless William was because he murdered Lawrence, his supposed friend, to revive Teddy just so he could complete his quest.
He even considered killing the child version of Ford but decided not to because he would not have enough blood in him, talk about psychopathic.
However, this episode was not just dark but somewhat funny as well, which can be seen when Elsie blackmailed the necrophiliac.
It was both creepy yet funny to see this guy get caught in the act.
Coming back to Dolores, there was the intense scene between her and Ford, in which both Hopkins and Wood gave fantastic performances.
Contrapasso was the episode that made Dolores my favourite character and made me understand characters like William very well so it comes in at number seven.

6. The Passenger – Season two, episode ten.

The 90 minute season finale of Westworld season two, The Passenger was a great way to end the season, with its own mind blowing twist.
It is revealed this episode that the Charlotte we had been seeing in the present timeline had actually been Dolores in a host Charlotte body the entire time.
The delivery of this twist was brilliant and props go to Tessa Thompson who pulled off a Dolores impersonation perfectly.
This episode also had a lot of emotional moments as well.
There was the deaths of Maeve and her crew, although it looks like they will be back in season three, and the sacrifice of Lee Sizemore.
Sizemore’s sacrifice was especially well done and perfectly concluded his character arc.
The finale was not all sad though because some characters, like Akecheta, did get a much deserved happy ending, if this is the last time we see them.
The episode even ended with Bernard walking through a door, doors being a central goal for many characters to go through this season.
There were also various things hinting towards the third season like Stubbs hinting that he may be a host and the post-credit scene where William appears to have transferred his mind to a host body.
I have heard quite a few people did not like how this episode went but, personally, I think it was the perfect way to end the season.
The Passenger may not have been as good as the season one finale but it was still a fantastic episode with a great twist and emotional moments.

5. The Bicameral Mind – Season one, episode ten.

The season one finale of Westworld is the better of the two season finales.
One of the things that makes it such a great finale was that if the show ended there I would have been satisfied.
This finale ended all the questions it set up and the only thing the audience was left wondering was what would happen to the characters next.
The episode’s structure was also amazing because it began with Dolores waking up for the first time and ending with her achieving consciousness and killing Ford.
Another thing that makes this structure so brilliant is that if you pay attention to the music at the beginning and end of the episode you will notice it is the exact same music Arnold said was his son Charlie’s favourite.
This music is also played when Arnold is killed so this music really does come to symbolize stages of life.
Birth in the opening scene with Dolores’ creation, death with Dolores killing Arnold and Ford and freedom when Dolores breaks free from her code by murdering Ford.
This episode also had some great reveals like that the Man in Black was William the entire time and the events seen with William and Delores were taking place 30 years ago.
The Bicameral Mind also had the attempted escape by Maeve from Westworld, where she also gains consciousness by defying Ford’s commands and going back into the park to save her daughter.
Overall this season finale was the better of the two with not only a few great twists but powerful character moments as both Dolores and Maeve achieved consciousness.
If we had not got a season two after this episode I would not have been bothered then but now I am so glad that we did.

4. Trompe L’Oeil – Season one, episode seven.

Trompe L’Oeil, is the seventh episode of season one and has the second best twist of the entire show.
This twist being the reveal that Bernard was a host all along.
Watching the episode slowly build up to the actual reveal is a delight with the most apparent hint coming when Bernard asked Theresa, “what door?”
What followed the actual reveal was a gripping conversation between Ford and Theresa, with Ford calling back to Charlotte’s recommendation for “a blood sacrifice”.
The music also goes along amazingly with this moment being both sad and enthralling.
Theresa’s death at the hands of Bernard was sad to see and what he did would weigh heavily on him in the coming episodes.
The episode also had a few good action sequences as well to keep things exciting before this explosive reveal with Lawrence, Dolores and William fighting the Confederates and Ghost Nation.
More hints are also dropped here also for future reveals like William being the Man in Black, as can be seen when Lawrence told him he had a “knack for killing.”
Trompe L’Oeil had numerous hints towards future explosive twists in the series, including its own twist that left me stunned the first time I saw it play out.

3. The Well Tempered Clavier – Season one, episode nine.

If the twist that Bernard was a host is the second best twist of Westworld, then the twist in The Well Tempered Clavier that Bernard was a host made in the image of Arnold is by far the best of the entire series.
This twist, in true Westworld fashion, was revealed amazingly well with the entire episode building to Bernard’s revelation as Maeve makes him remember that he is a host.
The build up to the twist also has some incredibly emotional moments like when Bernard had to let go of Charlie’s memory to learn the truth.
However, although this did mark a positive change for Bernard this episode also marked a bad change for William, as he came closer to becoming the Man in Black.
This episode was the perfect transition episode for him, making the twist in The Bicameral Mind make sense.
Things like William’s photo of his fiancee Juliet and his knife all served to hint the viewer towards this future revelation.
As well as this, The Well-Tempered Clavier had a lot of intense moments, like the older William nearly being hanged by a horse.
The Well-Tempered Clavier is my favourite episode of the first season of Westworld and my third favourite overall because of how it delivers the best twist in the show, along with its insightful hints and intense scenes.

2. Riddle of the Sphinx – Season two, episode four.

The second best episode of season two and of all of Westworld in my opinion, Riddle of the Sphinx is a fantastic episode that focuses on the struggles of William and Bernard.
This episode gave us plenty of insight into both characters and the secrets they were hiding.
William’s character development was the best this episode as it featured him semi-redeeming himself by saving Lawrence and his family from the Confederates Teddy spared in the previous episode.
Through this we got to see for the first time how the death of William’s wife had affected him and this led to an amazing scene where William told Major Craddock he was death himself.
Then there was the ending twist where William reunited with his daughter Emily, which if you watched the rest of the season you know did not end well.
There was also Bernard who reunited with Elsie, which did also not end well by the end of the season.
Together the two investigated the laboratory where James Delos had been kept.
This was the episode that revealed that Delos was striving to create immortality for humanity and even brought this into question by seeing the slow progression of James Delos and how William initially starts the experiment hopeful but by the the last time he visits he has become disillusioned.
The twist where Elsie and Bernard actually run into the now insane Delos was a really good one and added more intensity to the episode.
With great character development for its characters and exciting scenes, Riddle of the Sphinx is my second favourite Westworld episode.

1. Kiksuya – Season two, episode eight.

Coming into Kiksuya I expected it to be an average episode at best because it was an origin story of a character we knew next to nothing about.
So I was amazed to discover that Kiksuya was not just an incredible episode but the best episode of Westworld so far.
This episode took the forgettable side character of Akecheta and turned him into one of my favourite characters.
The fact that they took a character I barely noticed and put him in my top ten best characters in a single episode is nothing short of amazing.
The episode, as I stated, shows the origins of Akecheta and how he became the first conscious host.
What followed was a heartfelt story full of love, determination and tragedy.
The scene where Akecheta finds Kohana only to realise she is effectively brain dead and he will most likely never see her again is heartbreaking.
Zahn McClarnon did a fantastic job as Akecheta and the emotion he showed during this scene made me cry, the only time so far in Westworld.
McClarnon was not the only fantastic actor in this episode though, as Anthony Hopkins appears as Ford again and the two share a scene where both got to show off their great acting skills.
The cinematography for this episode is stunning with sprawling landscapes on display and the music fits the episode perfectly.
The use of the song Heart Shaped Box when Akecheta is searching the Mesa for Kohana is the best use of music in the entire series.
This is just an all around incredible episode.
It made Akecheta one of my favourite characters in just one episode, the acting was great and so was the cinematography and music.
It is Westworld‘s best episode and I hope we can get another like it in season three.

Ant-Man and the Wasp stings with its humor (in a good way).

Another day, another Marvel movie.
In all seriousness I am curious about how long Marvel can keep their cinematic universe going but based off Ant-Man and the Wasp it will probably be a while because this is another good addition to the MCU.
Directed by Peyton Reed, the film picks up sometime after Captain America where Scott Lang’s Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) is under house arrest for his actions at the airport in Germany.
This is until he gets drawn back into the chaos by Hope van Dyne’s the Wasp (Evangeline Lilly) and her father Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) on their mission to save Hope’s mother Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer) from the quantum realm.
By far Ant-Man and the Wasp‘s biggest strengths are its comedy and action.
This movie can be incredibly funny at times with one scene where Janet communicates through Scott making me have to hold my sides with laughter.
A lot of the humor also comes from Michael Pena’s character, Luis, who is one of the highlights of the film.

Michael Pena’s Luis is one of the best characters in the film with his great comedic timing.

As for the action it is very inventive with how Scott and Hope utilize their suits’ powers, which adds to the comedy as well.
I also liked a lot of these characters and even some of the new ones they introduced like FBI agent Jimmy Woo (Randall Park).
Along with the comedy the movie can also be impactful at times especially with the mid-credits scene, which I advise you stay and watch because I have not doubt it will be incredibly important for future MCU films.
However, while this film is funny and impactful it is far from perfect.
The film’s villain Ghost (Hannah John-Carmen) and the character of Bill Foster (Laurence Fishburne) both felt very weak and I found it difficult to like them.
I get what the film was going for with these two but it was just not set up or explained very well.

The film tries to make Ghost and Foster sympathetic to the audience but there is very little setup and not a big payoff to who they are so it feels slightly contrived.

Then there is the new character Sonny Birch (Walton Goggins) who was more a nuisance than an actual threat and had no reason to be in the story.
The way these three characters were used and portrayed really brought down the story for me because of how prominent they are in it.
Thankfully, the humor, action and likeable characters do bring the film up from these problems.
Overall Ant-Man and the Wasp is a good film with its likeable characters and great humor and action, even if it does falter majorly with a few of its characters.

The Walking Dead Issue 181: Another average issue.

I am getting pretty tired of all the average issues The Walking Dead has been putting out recently.
Not to say that any of these recent issues have been bad but the last time there was any real excitement to the story for me was when Michonne discovered her daughter was alive.
Since then there has been some interesting commentary on politics but no excitement to go along with this, except for extremely manufactured excitement.
Unfortunately, this carries through to Issue 181: Together Strong.
Usually I would be more forgiving of this because this is the beginning of a volume and those start out pretty slow but with so many average issues coming before it I cannot help but fault the story of this issue.
Once again, this issue was not bad but nothing all that interesting happened.
The one substantial thing to note was the scene where Jesus and Aaron told Maggie that all the Whisperers were dead.
This moment was either Robert Kirkman foreshadowing that the Whisperers would return or admitting through the characters that he messed up the Whisperer storyline.
I hope it is the former because with the Whisperers returning the story could potentially get more interesting.
Besides, just because Kirkman admits he made a mistake does not fix the mistake.
There were also some fairly average scenes throughout.
One scene that I personally thought would be kind of awkward was when Carl met the new kid Joshua.
I get the feeling this is going to be weird for both Carl and Lydia because both of them had friends named Josh and both of these Joshs died.
Finally there was the moment when the group fought off a small herd but this action felt manufactured just to put some excitement in the story.
Both Princess and Mercer were in danger during this scene but I found it difficult to care since they just got introduced and I know Kirkman is not going to kill them yet.
Although, I will admit the moment where Princess kissed Mercer afterwards was pretty funny.
Then there is the cliffhanger, which also feels manufactured to create tension.
It ends with Mercer glaring at Pamela but we already knew he had a grudge against her and her family so this is nothing new.
As I said, none of this was bad and if this issue had came after some exciting ones to bridge the gap between storylines I would like it more but, with a string of average issues coming beforehand, this one just felt underwhelming.
Sadly, it looks like Issue 182 will be just as average based on the cover.
That being said though, I am excited for Issue 183 because that is where it looks like things will get interesting.
Overall, Together Strong was just an average issue.
Not good, not bad, just okay.

Top 10 Attack on Titan Anime Moments

Warning: Major spoilers for the anime.

10. Eren vs the Armoured Titan – Season two, episode seven, Close Combat.

After the shocking reveal of Reiner and Bertholdt being Titans (more on that later) Eren faced off against Reiner, The Armoured Titan, in an epic showdown that is probably the best fight in the series.
The thing that makes this fight so good is how much thinking goes into it.
For example, when Eren fought the Female Titan there was not a big focus on the tactics of the fighting, just Eren being motivated by the deaths of his squad mates.
Here, however, Eren plans out his attack process and we get to see how this leads to him defeating the Armoured Titan… before Bertholdt jumps in of course.
Another thing that makes this fight so great is how Eren expresses his feelings about the Armoured Titan being Reiner, someone he thought of as an older brother.
This fight showed us Eren’s feelings of anger and betrayal, which go nicely with the fight itself.
The combined elements of fighting tactics and Eren’s inner thoughts turn this fight into the best of the series.

9. First appearance of the Beast Titan – Season two, episode one, Beast Titan.

Probably my biggest question after watching season two was, “who is the Beast Titan?”
Unfortunately, us anime watchers do not have an answer yet but, based on this Titan’s introduction, he looks to be a very important character and a formidable foe for the main cast.
His introduction is the best the series has given us so far as it opens up many interesting questions about the series.
What is probably most interesting about him though is that he can speak without difficulty and can also control Titan’s, although to a lesser extent than Eren I think.
We also got to see how cruel whoever is controlling the Beast Titan is because of the subsequent death of Miche Zacharius, the most gruesome death in Attack on Titan so far.
The Beast Titan just allowed the other Titans to rip him apart while he screamed for mercy and his only reaction to this was an acknowledgement that Miche could talk.
The first time I saw this scene it left me sick to my stomach.
Both gruesome and intriguing, the introduction of the Beast Titan is the best introduction of Attack on Titan.

8. Historia and Ymir’s promise – Season two, episode five, Historia.

One of the things I liked the most about season two of Attack on Titan was how it took forgettable characters from the first season and turned them into some of the best in the series.
Case and point Ymir and Historia.
I will talk about Ymir later but Historia had a great moment of character development in the fifth episode of the second season, where everything we knew about her was turned on its head.
In this flashback it is revealed that not only is her name not Christa but her entire personality has been an act.
Every time she risked her life for someone it was so she could die and be remembered as a hero.
Remember when she went to save Armin, Jean and Reiner in the Female Titan episode?
She went to help them because she wanted to die.
In the first season I saw Historia, or Christa as she was called then, as nothing more than a one note character who was just cannon fodder for the Titans.
This flashback to her and Ymir’s promise changed my entire perception of her and made her much more interesting, which, I am happy to say, it looks like they will be expanding upon in season three.
On top of this the animation in this scene is stellar and some of the best the series has given us.
This moment changed my entire perception of Historia, turning her from someone I did not care for into one of the most interesting characters.

7. Jean decides to join the Scouts – Season one, episode sixteen, What Needs to be Done Now: Eve of the Counterattack, Part 3.

I loved Jean in season one.
His character arc in that season was my favourite out of everyone’s.
He went from a coward who only wanted to join the Military Police so he could live safely in the interior, to the guy who joined the Survey Corps because it was the right thing to do.
His defining moment of the season though came in the 16th episode when he actually decided to join the Scouts.
After learning of his friend Marco’s death in the 13th episode, Jean was at a crossroads being unsure of what to do.
However, at the cremation of all the soldiers who lost their lives during the Titan invasion, Jean remembered Marco telling him he is a good leader because he knows what needs to be done.
This inspired Jean and in a heartfelt moment he declared to the other cadets that he intended to join the scouts before bursting into tears.
This is a very powerful moment for his character because we can see he is scared through how he had to grasp his shaking hand and repeat himself a few times before he could bring himself to tell the others his decision.
This moment showed that, despite his fear, Jean was willing to risk his life to do the right thing.
Jean was my favourite character of the first season and this scene really highlights why.

6. Advance!!! – Season two, episode 11, Charge.

I can distinctly remember screaming in horror when a Titan came out of nowhere and dragged Commander Erwin Smith away by the arm.
However, this screaming soon turned to cheering with one word: “ADVANCE!!!”
With a single word Erwin Smith became one of my favourite characters because he showed he was willing to sacrifice everything in order to save humanity.
I could not believe that he was putting the mission ahead of his own life like that but I thought it was an incredible way for him to die… only for him to survive.
Because a few minutes later Erwin was back fighting, with only one arm.
The he saved Eren’s life, once again, with only one arm.
If there is any moment of Attack on Titan that highlights Erwin’s character it is this one. It is one of the most awesome character moments of the entire series.

5. Eren’s reaction to Hannes’ death, Mikasa’s confession and the Coordinate reveal – Season two, episode twelve, Scream.

This scene marks a pretty huge achievement in my eyes.
I hated Eren in the first season of the show and yet this moment actually made me cry for him.
Watching Eren break down into a hysterical fit of tears and laughter, after the death of Hannes, was heartbreaking to watch and it only got better from here.
This is because, after Eren’s breakdown, Mikasa chose to confess her feelings for him.
I have never really been a fan of the idea of Eren and Mikasa getting together because Eren often acts like a jerk towards her and Mikasa seems to be obsessed with Eren rather than in love with him.
Just like the Historia scene though, this moment changed my perception of their relationship as this was a beautiful moment portrayed with great voice acting from both Yuki Kaiji and Yui Ishikawa.
If we get more scenes like this between the two of them in season three I might actually get on board with their relationship, although if they act like it never happened I will not.
Finally there is Eren’s Coordinate abilities being revealed right after Mikasa’s confession, which brings new hope to the series and combines with everything else to make this all a truly memorable moment.

4. Deaths of the Levi Squad – Season one, episode 21, Crushing Blow.

This was the first time I actually shouted at my TV screen when watching Attack on Titan.
Prior to this I had felt sad about some of the deaths in the show but none had made me feel like I had been punched in the gut afterwards.
The deaths of the Levi Squad, consisting of Oruo, Petra, Eld and Gunther, changed that with three of them dying in the span of two minutes.
First there is Gunther, killed during the ending moments of episode 20 by Annie in human form.
In the very next episode the remaining Levi Squad tried to kill the Female Titan only for her to kill Eld, Petra and Oruo in quick succession thus putting an end to the Levi Squad.
This moment had me screaming at the screen for the characters to get out of there as they were quickly killed one by one and left me feeling emotionally drained.
Their deaths were not quickly forgotten either, with the very next episode dealing with the effects their deaths would have as we got to see all of their families wait for their arrival, some with a feeling of dread and others with no idea their loved ones had been killed.
The deaths of the Levi Squad are the most gut wrenching of the series so far, but this is Attack on Titan so sadly I think we will get more of these kinds of deaths in season three.

3. Eren transforms into a Titan to fight Annie – Season one, episode 24, Mercy.

Attack on Titan has a lot of transformations but this is one of my favourites.
Everything in this scene just combines to make a truly epic moment.
In this scene, Eren was struggling to accept Annie’s identity as the Female Titan and this lead to him being crushed and impaled by rubble as Annie desperately tried to capture him.
However, remembering the deaths of his mother and the Levi Squad and Mikasa’s words to him about “a cruel world”, Eren was able to accept what needed to be done and impaled himself further on the rubble to begin his transformation.
This emotional moment lead into the epic transformation where the music exploded into a grand crescendo with the OST Attack on Titan.
The use of this OST really sold the scene and the visuals work all the better because it did not actually show the transformation, just the lightening generated by it, along with how the characters reacted to the transformation.
All of this built up and up until Eren rushed at Annie in his Titan form and punched her through a church.
This scene is the very definition of epic and never fails to get me excited every time I watch it.

2. Ymir’s backstory flashback – Season two, episode ten, Children.

I mentioned earlier, that season two did a fantastic job of turning forgettable characters into some of my favourites and a prime example of this is Ymir.
In season one she was not even a character but a trope of the typical mean girl who insults everyone.
So I was absolutely blown away with her character development in the second season and I think there could be a reasonable argument that this second second is her story.
The scene that really established her as one of my favourite characters was the flashback that revealed her backstory in episode ten, Children.
This is the greatest flashback I have ever seen.
Not only does it tell you almost everything you need to know about Ymir but it also gives major hints as to what is really going on.
I think I have actually figured out some of the things that are going to be revealed in the future of the show because of the hints given here.
I see more hints in this flashback every time I watch it.
Best of all though is what this flashback does for Ymir.
The moment when Ymir turns back into a human and realizes that she is now free to live the life she wants is the most powerful moment of the entire series and was the first time I cried during Attack on Titan.
This is helped once again by the fantastic music, with the OST Call of Silence, which is not just an amazing song but the lyrics also say a lot about Ymir as well.
This flashback made Ymir one of my favourite characters.
I am so glad it was added as this stage in the anime as I have been told this flashback comes much later in the manga.

1. Bertholdt and Reiner are revealed as the Colossal and Armoured Titans – Season two, episode six, Warrior.

If number two was my favourite flashback of all time then number one is one of my favourite, if not my absolute favourite, twist of all time.
The reveal that Reiner had been the Armoured Titan and Bertholdt was the Colossal Titan the entire time was not only shocking but incredibly handled as well.
The way it is revealed has to be the most nonchalant twist reveal of all time.
Out of the blue Reiner just confesses to Eren that they are the Titans who started all this like it is no big deal.
I had to watch this scene a second time to make sure I had not misread the subtitles.
It completely subverts expectations but in the best of ways.
The moments following this confession are also stellar as in a flashback the show pieces together all the hints of Reiner and Bertholdt being Titans from prior episodes.
What follows is the best transformation of the entire series as one of the flags atop the wall is blown away, prompting the two’s transformation.
Did I mention that Attack on Titan had some incredible OSTs?
Well, I will say it again because the OST they chose for this transformation, YouSeeBIGGIRL/T:T, is absolutely perfect for the moment.
This is not only because it is a great song but also because it is a different version of the song played when Eren’s mother was killed in the very first episode and, given that Reiner and Bertholdt are responsible for her death, this makes the placement of this OST here absolutely brilliant.
The reveal also left an amazing cliffhanger for the audience as to what would happen in episode seven.
I consider this to be the best moment in all of Attack on Titan because of how brilliantly the twist is revealed, the insane things that happen following the reveal, and the genius use of music.
The Reiner and Bertholdt twist really highlights why I love Attack on Titan.

Sicario: Day of the Soldado is realistic and disturbing.

When I first heard about the Sicario sequel I was concerned that it would take the realistic elements of the first film and turn it into an overblown action flick.
Thankfully, however, that is not was happened because Sicario: Day of the Soldado sticks to its realism in a gritty and rather disturbing manner.
Directed by Stephano Sollima this time and once again written by Taylor Sheridan, the film follows the sicario Alejandro Gillick (Benicio del Toro) and agent Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) as they try to start a cartel war after these cartels are labeled as terrorist organisations by the United States government.
What follows is a complicated, yet enthralling story that, while not as good as the first, delivers a chilling story that highlights the mortality of what these characters are doing.
The opening scene alone is very disturbing and not for the faint of heart as the film fully displays how innocents are so often caught up in terrorism and acts of war.
Emily Blunt is absent from this film because, according to Cinema Blend, Sollima said he prefers “not to have a moral guidance for the audience.”
This leaves Alejandro as the main character and del Toro once again delivers a fantastic performance as the chilling sicario.

Benicio Del Toro — “Adios”, Alejandro declares as he brutally shoots a cartel member multiple times.

Brolin also does a great job as agent Graver, making it three great performances he has given this year including Thanos and Cable.
This film is also brimming with tension and the violence is super realistic, especially in the final moments.
Sicario: Day of the Soldado is not completely perfect, however, because the story does change half way through.
I personally did not find this change in story to be that jarring but I can also see how other people would.
Another problem had to do with how the character of Isabela (Isabela Moner) was treated by Alejandro.
Alejandro serves as her protector in this film but, given what I know about him from the first Sicario, I find it highly unlikely that he would want to protect this girl and that he would actually want her dead.
It just felt like a big plot hole to me.

alejandro and isabela — Alejandro wanting to protect Isabela did not make sense to me because of what I knew about both characters.

Overall though, Sicario: Day of the Soldado was still a very good film with great performances and disturbing elements of realism.
Just be be prepared for the switch in story and you will have a good time with it.

Attack on Titan: Signal of the Counterattack features the worst adaptation I have ever seen.

I just watched the three part miniseries Attack on Titan: Signal of the Counterattack, which is a part of the Attack on Titan Japanese live action movies.
When I started watching these episodes I thought they would be bad but I had no idea they would be worse than the live action films.
They were terribly acted, boring and one of the episodes was the worst adaptation I have ever seen and made me feel insulted as an Attack on Titan fan.
So I will now take you through each episode and why I found them to be so atrocious.

Episode 1: The Strike Back Begins

When I read the synopsis for this episode, I thought it might actually be good because it starred Hans (Satomi Ishihara), the adaptation’s version of Hange, who was one of the few good things about the live action films.
Yet, somehow, this episode managed to ruin her character for me.
Just because something works in anime does not mean it will work in live action and the portrayal of Hans in this episode is a testament to that.
I found Ishihara’s performance here to be laughably terrible, which unfortunately goes the same for the other actors in this episode.
This episode is also terribly shot with time lapse shots that may work for a documentary but not a fictional TV series.
On top of this, there is a moment that blatantly contradicts the continuity of the live action films.
Hans shows that the Titans cannot move at night but we saw them move at night in the first film.
While this change is more in line with the anime if you set something up in your version you have to continue with it because otherwise it destroys all continuity.
This episode is a mess, with the only enjoyment coming out of its laughably bad performances.

Episode 2: The Arrow of Hope

With the most cringe worthy title of all three episodes, if I could describe The Arrow of Hope in one word it would be “boring”.
This episode focuses on the character of Sasha’s (Nanami Sakuraba) backstory and at no point did I even remotely care about what was happening.
I did not care about Sasha’s dog, I did not care about her catching the food thieves, I did not care about Han’s involvement.
The story telling was that bad.
Along with this, Sasha’s character is, just like in the films, butchered in comparison with the manga and anime.
Her only character traits in this is that she is obsessed with food and is an expert with the bow and arrow.
Sasha’s character was so much more than this in the source material and the jokes they use surrounding her character here do not work at all, once again unlike the source material.
They basically made her a Katniss Everdeen wannabe in this version.
Much like the previous episode, this one is also terribly shot with a point of view shot from Sasha’s dog being particularly atrocious.
Then there is the cringe factor, with so many scenes that made me groan.
The way Sasha’s bow and arrow skills completely defy physics and her literally making heart eyes at someone were the worst moments of the episode.
There is just nothing enjoyable in this episode.
It is completely boring from start to finish.

Episode 3: The Departure of Freedom

Coming into this episode I expected it to be bad.
What I did not expect was for it to be one of the most torturous experiences I have ever had watching any form of media.
The Departure of Freedom is not just a terrible episode but the worst adaptation I have had the displeasure of seeing.
It is so atrocious that it makes The Last Airbender and Dragonball Evolution look like cinematic gold.
This episode basically focuses on the budding romance between Fukushi (Shu Watanabe) and Lil (Rina Takeda), two characters from the first film.
They are based off Hanna and Franz from the source material, who were minor characters and did not need an entire episode like this focused on them.
You remember the saying, “still a better love story than Twilight”?
Well, this love story actually manages to succeed in being worse than Twilight, and that is saying a lot.
There entire relationship starts with Lin almost beating Fukushi to death, how is that for romantic?
Them falling in love is so unbelievable and stupid.
It goes from them trying to kill each other to them being head over heels in love in seconds.
For the third time, this episode is shot terribly as there is way too much slow motion.
This is a 41 minute episode and if you were to remove all the slow motion scenes then the episode would be cut by at least 20 minutes.
This shows the people who made this had no idea what they were doing and were trying to just fill in time by using slow motion.
CGI is also used in this film and it is atrocious and completely unnecessary.
However, the reason why I consider this to be the worst adaptation ever is the comedy.
About half way through this episode I realised it was not meant to be taken seriously but that does not excuse the fact that adapting Attack on Titan as a comedy with incredibly unfunny cringe humor is completely insulting to any fan of the source material.
There are two women in this film who for some dumb reason are dressed in skimpy outfits while in the military who provide the worst joke in the entire episode.
When one of the soldiers insults their superior officer one of these women glares at her with the the most over the top frown and kissing face and her eyes rolling into the back of her head.
I laughed so hard at this, and not because it was funny but, because I could not believe they were actually doing this.
The final fifteen minutes of the episode delves into a complete cringe fest with some of the most juvenile humor I have ever seen and I hated every minute of it.
This episode was absolute agony to watch.
They took the dark and compelling story of Attack on Titan and changed it into a cringe fueled comedy with no humor whatsoever.
Avoid this episode like the plague.

I don’t know how they managed it but somehow this live action miniseries was 1000 times worse than the live action Attack on Titan movies.
The episodes were laughably bad, cringe worthy, boring and had one of the most insulting adaptions of an original work ever.
I am only thankful that I have finished watching these adaptations and therefore never have to see them again.

The Incredibles 2: Inventive Action Sequences and Great Character Moments.

The Incredibles is probably my favourite animated movie of all time because of its fantastic appeal for both kids and adults, presenting a superhero story that had a great family drama at its heart.
Now, 14 years later, the sequel has finally been released.
Once again directed by Brad Bird, The Incredibles 2 picks right up from where the first film left off with the superhero Parr family attempting to stop on an attack by the super villain The Underminer.
However, this gets them into trouble because superheroes are still illegal but then a billionaire named Winston Deavor (Bob Odenkirk) provides a way to make superheroes legal with the help of Helen/Elastigirl (Holly Hunter).
I was a little concerned coming into The Incredibles 2 that, after the 14 year hiatus, the film would struggle to capture the feeling of the first film but, thankfully, this was not the case.
Although I do think the original is better, The Incredibles 2 is still a great follow up that blends the family drama excellently with its super hero story.
The standouts of this movie were by far Elastigirl and her son Jack-Jack (Eli Fucile) who had many great scenes, with Elastigirl taking part in a very inventive action sequence involving a train.

Elastigirl was one of the standout characters of the film with great action sequences to boot.

However, this does lead into my one problem with the film, which is its portrayal of some of the Incredibles.
In the first film it felt like every member of the Parr family had a chance to shine but unfortunately, due to the focus on Elastigirl and Jack-Jack, it felt like some of the other family members did not have much to do, especially Dash (Huck Milner).
Even though I did have a problem with this, the characters who the film did focus on were done very well.
The comedy of the film was also well delivered but even more so the action.
Along with the train sequence there were many other well choreographed action sequences that actually greatly improved on the original.
There is a new character in this film named Voyd (Sophia Bush) whose superpower Bird really had fun with by creating various ways for her to use it in the action sequences.
The family drama moments with Bob/Mr Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) staying home to watch the kids also led to some funny scenes like how he tried to fix his daughter Violet’s (Sarah Vowell) relationship with her boyfriend.
Both the action and family drama scenes were done very well and blended together seamlessly.
One thing I have heard people criticizing about The Incredibles 2 was that its villain, The Screenslaver, was one dimensional but I honestly did not find this to be the case.
While not as great of a villain as Syndrome from the last movie, The Screenslaver was an interesting one due to the motivation for what they were doing and their inventive way of committing crimes.

: Some say that Screenslaver was one dimensional but I disagree as I did find them to be a good villain.

Overall, The Incredibles 2 is a very fun film with a seamless blend of action and family drama that offers even better action sequences than the first and some great character focus.
I would not be opposed to seeing a third one but if there is let’s just hope it does not take another 14 years to come out.

Westworld Season Two Review.

The second season of Westworld aired on Monday bringing to an end a season full of twists, action and character moments.
I had been eagerly anticipating Westworld season two since I saw the first one in 2016.
This first season was fantastic and I was hooked right from the first to the last episode so I was very excited to see it return this year.
But could this season recapture the magic of that first one?
Well if you looked at my weekly reviews of the show you will already know that I thought this season was excellent.
This is clear through the fact that I never gave an episode anything lower than four stars, with four of them getting the perfect five stars.
Was this season as good as the first, well that is debatable but it is at least on par with it and, since I loved the first season so much, this is not a problem.
Westworld delivered some truly excellent episodes in its ten episode run this season with my five star rated episodes Riddle of the Sphinx, Akane No Mai, Kiksuya and The Passenger being particular standouts.
Each of these episodes were absolutely fantastic with episode eight Kiksuya being what I believe to be the best episode of Westworld.

Season two delivered the best episode of Westworld so far with Kiksuya.

I loved how this episode focused on the new character of Akecheta (Zahn McClarnon) and how much they made me care about him with just one episode.
Watching his emotional journey to find his wife and then setting out to lead all of the hosts to the Door was one of the most emotional moments of the entire series.
But Akecheta was not the only stand out character of the season.
Dolores Abernathy (Evan Rachel Wood) and Maeve Millay (Thandie Newton) were both great this season with me constantly switching which one was my favourite character.
The actresses who play these two really deserve awards for their performances.

Dolores and Maeve — Both Evan Rachel Wood and Thandie Newton gave fantastic performances and should at least be in the running for awards.

Even characters I thought of as one note last season really surprised me in this one as I come to like Ashley Stubbs (Luke Hemsworth) a lot more and Lee Sizemore (Simon Quarterman) had one of the best arcs of the season, going from an unlikable narcissist to a redeemed hero.
One flaw I do have with the characters though is that a few of them were underwritten, most notably Sylvester (Ptolemy Slocum) who went from disliking hosts in season one to apparently willingly helping them in season two with no character arc.
However, I will not mark this as a point against season two because Sylvester is just a minor character and had literally no impact on the story this season so can be seen as a nit pick.
Along with the amazing characters and story there was also amazing plot twists, like the one seen in the season finale The Passenger, incredible music and cinematography.
Season two of Westworld was amazing.
Even the weaker episodes of the season like Journey into Night and Phase Space were still really good episodes.
I cannot wait for season three but it will probably be a while before we get it and I do not know how on earth they will pick up from the season finale.

Westworld, Season Two Finale: Passenger – What Just Happened!?

Warning: Major spoilers for the finale.

The Westworld season two finale, Passenger, aired two days ago and ever since then I have been in a state of shock.
This 90 minute finale was absolutely incredible with emotional deaths and moments, mind boggling twists and more than a few intense cliffhangers.
The episode started off as a fairly standard episode of Westworld but by the half-way point it had hopped on board a train of absolute insanity and stayed on board all the way through to the post-credit scene.
Even before this half-way point though, the episode had plenty of typical fantastic Westworld moments, like the heroic death of Lee Sizemore.
I was very surprised by Sizemore’s character arc this season.
In season one he seemed like an irredeemable jerk who would only cause trouble, however, this season they actually redeemed him giving him many emotional moments like his breakdown in front of Maeve in Kiksuya.
They even gave him a great way to go out with him holding off Delos security to give Maeve and the others time to escape while he shouted the speech he had written for Hector.
It was a sad and yet oddly triumphant end for Sizemore.

To to rescue — Sizemore, Hector, Armistice and the others attempt to rescue Maeve right before Sizemore’s heroic death.

However, Sizemore was not the only character to die this episode as we got multiple characters deaths with Maeve, Charlotte, Elsie, Hector and Armistice all dying.
One tiny problem I have with this though is, once again, I am not sure if Maeve, Hector and Armistice are actually dead for good, due to them being hosts.
The finale seems to hint that Felix and Sylvester will bring Maeve back but we will have to wait and see.
Speaking of which, Maeve’s death was very tragic as, much like Sizemore, she sacrificed herself to save her daughter.
What was not tragic, however, was the death of Charlotte Hale, which led to the explosive twist that Bernard had replaced her with a host version of her with Dolores’ mind inside.
So the entire time we were seeing Charlotte in the future timeline it was actually Dolores in a host Charlotte’s body.
I knew something was off about Charlotte when she reappeared in the future timeline but I thought it was because she knew Bernard was a host.
I never expected this huge twist and it was excellently done.
More revelations soon followed with Ashley Stubbs (Luke Hemsworth) hinting that he may be a host to Charlotte/Dolores and, in a post-credit scene, William going through a fidelity test run by a host version of his daughter years in the future.

Is Stubbs a host? Or is he just following Ford’s orders? I guess we will have to wait until season three to find out.

Honestly, with all these plot twists, it feels like the show will be completely different when season three airs, whenever that will be.
What makes the wait for season three more exciting though is the questions the finale left us with.
I genuinely do not know if certain characters will be returning.
I have no idea if Akecheta is returning, for example, and honestly I both want and do want him to come back.
I want him to come back because he is such a great character and it would be really good to see him again, but I do not want him to come back because he got a happy ending this episode and I want him to stay happy with Kohana.

: Akecheta, Maeve’s daughter and her new mother escape to The Valley Beyond.

In considering who among the hosts who died will be returning, I think Maeve is probably coming back, along with Hector and Armistice, but other than them I have generally no idea.
The final big take away from this episode was that Dolores and Bernard are now enemies, with Dolores acknowledging they are both important to the hosts’ survival but that they cannot work together because of their differences.
Personally, I am on team Bernard because Dolores has certainly become a villain this season and, as Bernard puts it, she will kill “every man, women and child” on the planet if she could.
I have heard more of a mixed response from people when they talk about Passenger but I for one think it was an incredible finale with many shocking moments.
I am not sure if it is as good as the season one finale The Bicameral Mind but it is still a fantastic way to end season two.
I have no idea what is going to happen in season three but I cannot wait.

Attack on Titan Part Two: End of the World – Somehow Worse than Part One.

After watching part one of the Attack on Titan live action movie I was not looking forward to seeing the second part.
And, I am to sorry to say, my concerns were correct because part two is, not only terrible but somehow worse than the first pat.
Attack on Titan: End of the World is an absolute mess from start to finish.
Directed once again by Shinji Higuchi, the film picks up with a ten minute recap of part one, which goes on for way too long.
After this, the movie opens up with Eren (Haruma Miura) having a flashback to his father giving him an injection that supposedly gives him the ability to turn into a Titan.
This really should have been set up in the first movie so Eren transforming into a Titan did not come completely out of the blue.
Worst of all, however, Eren’s mother shows up in this scene.
If she was a part of the story then why did the director not just have her die in the first film?
This would have given Eren the motivation to fight the Titans instead of the weak reasoning we got in the first film.
Anyway, this scene sets up multiple questions for the film to answer.
Why was Eren’s father testing the Titan ability on his son, how did he create this ability, what happened to Eren’s mother and father, who is Eren’s older brother they are talking about?
These are just some of the many questions that are set up in this scene and the movie answers none of them.
If this had been in the anime it would have been acceptable because we know the answers are coming but this movie does not look like it is getting a sequel, even though it has an incredibly confusing end credit sequence.
So if we are not going to get answers what was the point of setting these questions up?
Sadly, the movie does not get better from here.
The story comes across as very contrived and also extremely rushed.
The first part definitely moved through the story at a very fast pace but in this film they took it a step further by giving the story no time to breath.

Armoured Titan 1.png — The story of *Attack on Titan: End of the World* moved so fast that it was hard to get invested in what was happening.

Even the individual scenes were bad.
This movie “tried” to explain the truth behind the Titans and Titan Shifters but failed miserably.
I really hope this is not the explanation we get in the manga and anime because it made absolutely no sense.
The entire scene where they explained the Titans origins was the worst in the entire movie because of how confusing it was.
In one shot Eren and Captain Shikishima (Hiroki Hasegawa) are watching footage of Titans being created and then the shot cuts back to them and they are suddenly sitting on beach chairs in the sand with no explanation as to where the chairs or sand came from.
And why was The End of the World song by Skeeter Davis playing during this scene?
Was it just so they could put End of the World in the title?
I have no idea what was going through the writer’s head when he wrote this scene.
What made this situation worse was the acting, which was once again terrible.
Just like in part one, Miura gives a terrible performance as Eren.
Someone just as bad as him though is Hasegawa, as Captain Shikashima, who laughed way too much in this film.
It felt like he laughed after every line of dialogue.

Hiroki Hasegawa turns in a cringe worthy performance as Shikashima with his constant unneeded laughter.

The other characters were also very badly handled again.
Armin (Kanata Hongo) is completely useless, just like he was in part one, and Mikasa (Kiko Mizuhara) is made to be a victim who does not care about Eren at all.
Then there were the characters created solely for the films, who are just as bad, with one character Sannagani (Satoru Matsuo) having amazingly stupid levels of strength in both parts.
The color palette was also pretty bad in this movie, although not as bad as the first one so that was something.
What was worse in this part, however, was the special effects, which are some of the worst I have ever seen put to film.
The Microsoft Paint blood effects are back and the scenes where characters turn into Titans are laughably atrocious.
I know Japanese film companies do not have the big budgets of Hollywood blockbusters when it comes to CGI but this was just embarrassing.

Microsoft Pain blood effects — Blood splatters onto the camera with effects that looks like they were completed using Microsoft Paint.

Speaking of the Titans, they are a non-existent threat in this movie.
One of the few things the first film got right was the Titans who were very creepy, with the first shot of them giving me goosebumps.
Here though, with the exception of the Titan Shifters, the Titans felt like a complete afterthought.
The one redeeming factor of this film was once again Satomi Ishihara, as Hans, who is a joy to watch.
She brought a smile to my face every time she appeared on screen.
Other than her though, this film was absolutely awful.
Incredibly rushed story, terrible acting and characters, atrocious effects and a complete lack of suspense.
This movie really encompasses why so many adaptations of anime go wrong.
The reason so many people connect with Attack on Titan so much is because it was written by Hajime Isayama.
He has a clear vision in writing the manga series, which you can see when reading it.
His vision works perfectly with this story and if any other person had come up with Attack on Titan, it probably would not have worked.
So when adapting something to live action, if it is going to work, you need to adhere to the creator’s original vision because, if you do not, nine times out of ten the film will completely fall apart.
This is the case with films like the Attack on Titan live action adaptations where the director kept the story but threw out the creator’s vision for their own and this new vision combined with Isayama’s story just did not mix.
If the Attack on Titan movies had stuck to Isayama’s vision then they would have been a lot better and connected with more people just like the manga and anime.
Instead they will just be remembered as entries in a long line of horrible live action anime adaptations.