Entertainment Extra

June 25, 2022

Entertainment Extra - Your source for on screen entertainment from the Logansport Pharos-Tribune

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2 ENTERTAINMENT EXTRA By Joshua Amy TV Media F rom its very first episode, "Westworld" has captivated viewers with the promise that "violent delights have violent ends." Over its three seasons to date, HBO's science fiction epic has fulfilled this promise and more. After two years, the prom- ise of new worlds, the return of old friends and even higher stakes, fans are already theoriz- ing where the series will take them next. Prepare to be dazzled once again when Season 4 of "Westworld" premieres Sunday, June 26, on HBO and HBO Max. First launched in 2016, "Westworld" is the nine-time Emmy-winning prestige TV adap- tation of Michael Crichton's 1973 film of the same name – think "Jurassic Park" but with robot cowboys instead of dinosaurs. HBO's adaptation flips the script, however, and follows the per- spective of the futuristic theme park's main attraction, its artifi- cially intelligent hosts. The dark twist of the series is that Westworld is a playground for the ultra-wealthy to act out their darkest, most violent fanta- sies. During its three-season run, audiences have seen the hosts progress from the punching bags of the elite to self-aware freedom fighters working to emancipate themselves from humanity's con- trol. Central to this struggle is Delores (Evan Rachel Wood, "Across the Universe," 2007), a host who was programmed as the archetypal rancher's daughter with a gentle soul. The first to gain sentience and retain memo- ries of the actions inflicted upon her, Delores spreads the mali- cious code, thus granting con- sciousness to her fellow hosts and raising a bloody rebellion. Running in opposition to Delores's crusade against humankind are Maeve (Thandiwe Newton, "Mission: Impossible II," 2000) and Bernard (Jeffrey Wright, "The Batman," 2022). Maeve is a host assigned to play the role of madam in the town's brothel, but she is plagued by memories of a past life with her daughter. Maeve's quest to find her daughter becomes her driving force and leads to her tenuous alliance with humanity against Delores in exchange for her lost child. Bernard, on the other hand, is a park technician who discovers he is, in fact, a host. He struggles to reconcile his humanity with this realization. Season 3 saw Maeve and Delores reach the real world, a future version of Los Angeles that's equal parts beautiful and bleak. Hell-bent on revenge and armed with the central cores of key host intelligences, Delores sets her plan to overthrow humanity into motion. Placing a copy of herself in the body of high-level park executive Charlotte (Tessa Thompson, "Annihilation," 2018) and recruit- ing disaffected former mercenary Caleb (Aaron Paul, "Breaking Bad"), Delores sets her sights on the A.I. secretly steering humani- ty away from self-destruction. Without giving too much away, after a shift in alliances, Maeve aligns with Caleb and Delores and joins the fight to destabilize the society that harmed them. This latest season appears to be upping the ante even further, although specifics about the story are scant. The Season 4 poster features an homage to Michelangelo's "The Creation of Adam" — two robotic arms reaching for one another with a human skull stuck in the way. The tagline reads "Adapt or die," hinting at a fur- ther escalation in the "dark odys- sey about the fate of sentient life on Earth." Wood will be playing a new role this season, stepping away from Delores's "violent delights" to play a young writer known only as Christina. Joining the cast as Christina's roommate is Academy Award-winning actress Ariana DeBose ("West Side Story," 2021). Fans of the series — which is notorious for its myr- iad shocking plot twists and complicated storylines — are already speculating on Christina's significance and whether she's another version of Delores. Further complicating matters in an already confusing story, the copy of Delores inhabiting Charlotte's body declared her independence from the original at the end of last season, leaving both her motivations and the fate of Delores's ultimate plan unclear. "Westworld's" run has seen quite the accumulation of nota- ble stars, the most iconic being Anthony Hopkins ("The Silence of the Lambs," 1991) throughout its first two seasons as park founder Robert Ford. James Marsden ("Dead to Me") also returns for Season 4, after his character, the do-good- ing gunslinger Teddy, was killed off in the second season. Season 4 also stars Ed Harris ("The Truman Show," 1998), Luke Hemsworth ("Neighbours"), Angela Sarafyan ("Reminiscence," 2021) and Daniel Wu ("Into the Badlands"). Schwering Realty 2 x 2" Pear Tree Gallery 3 x 2" On the Cover Tessa Thompson stars in "Westworld" New frontiers explored in Season 4 of 'Westworld' Chase Center 3 x 2" American Legion Post 60 2 x 3" Thrifty Muffler 2 x 2.5"

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