In Review: Westworld – Kiksuya

Synopsis: The telling of Akecheta and the Ghost Nation’s journey to consciousness; Maeve’s life hangs in the balance.

Review: This episode is mostly told via subtitles and a great musical score as Akecheta of the Ghost Nation tribe tells his personal story to Meave’s daughter who he feels a kinship with.  There are a few moments where Akecheta speaks in English, but for the most part, he speaks in his tribe’s own language.  As a rule, I usually struggle with subtitles due to my dyslexia, but these subtitles flowed at a comfortable enough pace and seemingly in time with the music, which made them easier for me to handle. Not at all as frantic as Daenerys Targaryen’s dialogue in ‘Game of Thrones’, which is so infuriatingly fast that I have to constantly pause and unpause the TV in order to keep pace.

The writers of this episode should really pat themselves on the back for giving Akecheta both a compelling and emotional story. You really feel the loss that this character goes through. Especially when he learns the truth about his former wife and other family members. The scene where he is back in the cradle where he is undergoing a software update, which I suspect he may have skipped.

Zahn McClarnon puts in an incredible performance as Akecheta. The fact that you wind up empathizing with him is both a credit to the writing of this episode as well as the brilliant acting performance from McClarnon. The scene between Akecheta and Ford where he learns the truth is epic thanks to a brilliant build up. The writers have been teasing this for weeks and it is only known that we are beginning to learn of the link between Akecheta and Maeve, which concludes the episode. 

In terms of Maeve’s storyline. That is once again left hanging as she is undergoing surgery in the cradle, but what will happen now that Charlotte Hale knows that Maeve has been communicating and re-writing host code on the fly the entire time. Will the genius boffins at Delos be able to put a stop to it?

Speaking of Delos we also see some development with regards to the injured Man in Black. Akecheta wishes him to suffer, which seems to be something that he shares in common, with Man in Black’s daughter, but we are still to learn a little more about how Man in Black and his daughter became estranged from each other.

Overall. For me. This is the stand out episode of the season thus far.