Zahn McClarnon – THE REVIEW MONSTER

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.

Coming into season two episode eight of Westworld, Kiksuya, I was concerned.
I saw from the promos it was an episode solely based on one character named Akecheta who, before now, had been predominantly in the background.
This had me worried because when a show stops the story dead so there can be a bottle episode focusing on one or more characters it rarely works.
You need only to look at the episodes Still, from The Walking Dead, and The Lost Sister, from Stranger Things, to see how this can go wrong.
But this is Westworld and the show had already proven it could do bottle episodes well this season with episode five, Akane No Mai so I remained slightly optimistic.
Naturally, after watching this episode, I realised I should have had more faith because Kiksuya is one of Westworld‘s best episodes.
It focuses on the origins of Akecheta, a native american host who was the first of all the hosts to gain consciousness.
I really have to applaud the writers and the actor who plays Akecheta, Zahn McClarnon, who have turned him from a forgettable character into one of Westworld‘s best.
He is very sympathetic and his journey to consciousness and helping other hosts was incredibly emotional to watch.

This was all accompanied by a stunning use of cinematography and music.
The sprawling shots as Akecheta travels through the desert before he meets Logan were absolutely beautiful.
Speaking of Logan, in a surprising twist it was revealed it was actually him and Akecheta where the idea of “the door” that everyone is trying to get to originated from.
Akecheta heard Logan’s mad ramblings about finding a figurative door out of Westworld and he took those ramblings to heart, resolving to find the door and escape.
As for the music, Westworld‘s rendition of Heart Shaped Box by Nirvana, when Akecheta is searching for the woman he loves Kohana (Julia Jones), was fantastic.
It fits in perfectly with the episode and the loving lines shared between Akecheta and Kohana and later Akecheta and Maeve “take my heart when you go”.
This use of Heart Shaped Box leads into the most emotional scene in all of Westworld when Akecheta finds Kohana only to find she has been decommissioned and can no longer respond to him.
Watching Akecheta break down into tears over the loss of Kohana really made me tear up.

AKecheta and Kahona — Watching Akecheta break down upon finding Kohana is the most emotional moment in all of Westworld so far.

Then there was Akecheta’s later scene with Ford, which was also fantastic with McClarnon going toe to toe with Anthony Hopkins’ performance.
Akecheta was truly a “flower growing in the darkness,” as Ford put it.
A host that gained consciousness without Ford expecting it.
This scene also seems to firmly establish Dolores as the villain of season two with Akecheta referring to her as “the death bringer” so it will be interesting to see how these two clash in the final two episodes of the season.
However, this episode does not just focus on Akecheta but Maeve and Lee Sizemore as well, with Sizemore desperately tries to convince the technicians to save her.
I have got to say I am really impressed with the way Sizemore has grown this season.
In the first season he was nothing more than an entitled narcissist with little to no redeeming qualities, however, this season we have seen him learn empathy to the point that he breaks down crying when he tells Maeve she deserves to be happy with her daughter.
Simon Quarterman delivered a great performance in this scene.

Westworld — Sizemore’s character development this season has been incredible.

The ending of this episode is also very emotional with it being revealed that Akecheta has been secretly talking to Maeve through some kind of host network and promises to guard her daughter as his own.
Overall, Kiksuya was one of the best, if not the best, episodes of the series.
It turned a character I barely knew about into one of my favourites and had fantastic performances, music and cinematography.
Truly an episode to check out.

Tag: Zahn McClarnon

Westworld Season Two Review.

Westworld Makes a Background Character One of my Favorites in its Latest Episode: Kiksuya