Westworld: Season 2 – Episode 4 ‘The Riddle Of The Sphinx’ REVIEW

As well as being the title of an episode of Inside No. 9 that’s all about crosswords, the riddle of the sphinx is that old chestnut about ‘what walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three in the evening’. Depending on what kind of work it comes up in, the answer is either ‘man’ or ‘that many-legged horror what’s coming up behind you’. But of course in Westworld, ‘man’ is a somewhat broader category.

It’s in this sphinxian format that we meet back up with daddy Delos, who’s confined in some kind of high-end hospital where they won’t even let him have a stiff whisky (but, weirdly, let him keep up the ciggies). But by the end of our first encounter, we’ve likely already guessed what’s only revealed in the second – that the piece of paper William hands him is a transcript of the conversation they’ve just had, that he’s a robot, that the real daddy Delos succumbed to his unspecified complaint long, long ago.

Of course, ‘real’ is questionable. That’s the point. Robo-Delos is, very explicitly, meant to be a perfect carbon copy, much as Bernard is of Arnold. And robo-Delos himself, having had the terrifying reality of his existence revealed to him, takes it cheerfully on the chin and is eager to get back to running his company, but sadly, he too has an unspecified complaint – that stuttery, seizure-y way the hosts tend to get. In robo-Delos’s case, it’s simply old age – that they can’t keep him running as a full sentient being indefinitely. And, by the time Man in Black-era William’s coming to visit, he’s come to think that maybe they shouldn’t.

I’ve leant fairly heavy on comparisons between Dolores and the Man in Black over the past couple of weeks, but it seems that may have been understating the case. If you’ll remember, Dolores teamed up with the Confederados and then immediately betrayed them. This time, having run into the surviving Confederados, the Man in Black genuinely finds himself unable to stomach their moustache-twirling villainy and their grandiose delusions about being pals with death.

Having killed them all,Lawrence’s daughter – one of those intensely creepy child robots who seem to have Ford speaking directly through them – calls him out on thinking one good deed makes up for the general way he is. He responds with some of that classic growling, grumbling about how he’s only interested in playing the game properly. And then, after spending a good chunk of the episode dealing with the unique family matters that crop up when talking to a robot version of your father-in-law, he runs into the woman from Rajworld, who turns out to be – record scratch – his daughter???

She is at least an adult, so at least this family reunion won’t prompt any kind of Three Men And A Baby-esque wacky hijinks where the Man in Black just blunders around looking exasperated. Still, getting a glimpse into his home life is likely to puncture his image somewhat – most obviously, it’ll probably shed some light on exactly why his wife topped herself. The issue in narrative terms is that this may serve to reduce him from mysterious, charismatic bad guy to just a standard bad guy. It’s an inescapable effect of getting to know a villain too well, but isn’t necessarily the best drama.

Speaking of quality TV drama though, it turns out Elsie isn’t dead! Rather than murdering her, it turns out Bernard just choked her out, then chained her up in a cave in the middle of nowhere with some protein bars. And if the not-really-dead reveal isn’t quality drama enough for you, yep, it’s Bernard who finds her. The looks on their faces! (As facial expressions go, it’s Clementine who leads Bernard there, and she probably takes the prize for looking creepily robotic – yes, even above those weird children.)

The Westworld concept was always in the Grand Theft Auto mould, and there was a particularly on-the-nose moment a few weeks ago when the Man in Black – already given to calling it a game – literally used a healing item. Now, Bernard gets them out of a tricky spot by finding an Easter egg that opens a hidden door. At this point, the only thing missing is a points system and optional DLC, although the latter will probably be provided for when Rajworld and Samuraiworld invade Westworld in earnest.

Bernard, of course, has the advantage of having a limited walkthrough, in the form of jarringly cut flashbacks to having been in these places before. This is illustrated in a limited way when he somehow instinctively knows that the red door they find through a room full of corpses is nothing but trouble. Elsie, however, isn’t put off by this, but to be fair she probably wants to stretch her legs after however long it’s been in that cave.

Through the obviously scary door is a familiar looking observation unit. And while he’s smashed everything in his tastefully decorated cell, the last iteration of robo-Delos – the one the Man in Black left to go crazy – is still just about going, and surprisingly lucid for all that he’s been cutting up his own face. He gives some of the pseudo-philosophical rambles you’d expect from pretty much any given malfunctioning host before they put him out of his misery.

Afterward, Elsie asks if he was a host or a human, and Bernard says he was both. This feels like it was meant to be on-the-nose, driving after the dead horse that yes, the hosts are as sentient as you or me. However, delivered to Bernard – who’s been having to live passing as human for a while now – the question feels unspeakably rude. Still, their adventure with robo-Delos has rekindled a bit of trust, and Elsie demands he doesn’t lie to her any more. Cue flashbacks of Bernard being responsible for all those corpses around them, and him not mentioning a word of it.

So, chalk up another massacre we’ll presumably find out Bernard had some reason to commit. The one he copped to in the first episode of this season, that kind of made sense in the context of the hosts revolting. This one, though, has the feel of dirty corporate tricks about it. And since we already know Westworld is a testing ground for stealing DNA and personal information, and now for recipes for immortality, god only knows what this one was to cover up.

Read all our Westworld reviews here