WW – Westworld S4 E5 Zhuangzi

Jason and Cristina break down Westworld season 4 episode 5 Zhuangzi! God is bored. This was an information heavy episode. Although it seems that a lot has been revealed we still believe we aren’t being shown exactly what is real. A lot to discuss this episode. Including a bonus segment about THE GOD FREQUENCY and nine Solfeggio frequencies that each serve a unique purpose.

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Podcast Notes –

DIRECTED BY:	Paul Cameron
WRITTEN BY:	Wes Humphrey & Lisa Joy
RECEPTION:	Imdb – 8.6 / RT – 80% (A- 65%)

“God is Bored”

CRITICS:

The script doubles down on all that philosophical Westworld stuff.  The whole show has been about the search for meaning, a 21^st century meditation on consciousness, free will, and sentience.  This episode may have revealed some of the cracks of even a solid Westworld episode which always come up whenever the series stretches itself thin on trying to be too many things at ones – a sci-fi spectacle, a dystopian  narrative, a philosophical parable – sometimes it can weave those many threads into a fascinating whole, at others, it can just leave you wanting.

TITLE:         

Zhuangzi (zwan’zi) is a text written in whole or in part by Zhaung Zhou (zwan’ze) an influential Chinese philosopher who lived around the 4th century BC during the Warring States.  The Classical Period in philosophy (5^th – 3^rd Century BC) is marked by humanist and naturalist reflections on normativity shaped by the metaphor of a dào—a social or a natural path. Taoism – achieving perfection through self-cultivation.

The text is a compilation of works regarded as one of the foundational texts of Taoism.  It is full of anecdotes and parables (some even whimsical), turns his arguments upside down to demonstrate the limits of knowledge and the rational world.

“The Butterfly Dream” (the most famous of all the stories, at the end of Chapter 2: On the Equality of All Things) – Zhuangzi wondering if he was a man who dreamed of being a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming of being a man.  Plays with the theme of transformation, illustrating the distinction between waking and dreaming is a false dichotomy.

“Knowing” a thing is a state of mind.  The greatest of all human happiness can be achieved through a higher understanding of the nature of things – in order to develop fully, one needed to express their innate abilities. Death as a natural process or transformation, where one gives up one form of existence and assumes another.

MUSIC:

• “Sarabande” – Handel – Djawadi (Hale in city)
• “Perfect Day” – Lou Reed – Djawadi (Hale in city)
• “The Day the World Went Away” –Nine Inch Nails – Djawadi (café – Christina & Hale)

 

NEW FACES & PLACES & IDEAS

FACES:
Hope                             Nicole Pacent – 2-year old host scheduled to transcend next week
Jack & Wife                    Daniel Wu  – humans MIB talks to at restaurant  

IDEAS:
The Game:            When they detect an Outlier human breach, hosts are sent to track them down for sport and kill the person.   

PLOT

MIB & HALORES

There’s a beauty to this world, an order, that’s what we like to believe. We’re not wrong. There is an order, a grand design; we made sure of that.  It was a dream for so long and we finally made it real; not a better world, a perfect one.

MIB has dinner with a human couple – Jack talks about his privilege (that at least now the people in charge now have earned their place), and the MIB is stunned by his conviction in control.   “Did I really play any part in it, or am I just the sum total of my code?”  MIB tells him there are two types of people but he’s not in the group he thinks he is – in fact, they have no control.  They just met 5 minutes ago, he doesn’t know him, and he can do whatever he wants to them.  Jack represents a significant investment of time and effort but his story is just a beautiful lie.   Then, Clementine interrupts to inform the MIB of a problem; a client with unsustainable appetites. 

So they head to a hotel where they find dead bodies strewn around.  MIB talks to Hope to explain things – while they have no rules here, they usually don’t need them because most understand self-control.  A lot of work went into this place; she can enjoy the people but not waste them.  Hope responds that she understands but sometimes the way they talk and act gets under your skin; she just wanted them to be quiet.  She’s giving all this up anyway; her procedure is scheduled for next week.

Outside, tones play and people in the street freeze.  Hale tells a man to play piano (“Sarabande”), who has been playing his fingers to bloody ruins.  She then commands dancing with more pep (“Perfect Day”). 

More pep – “Perfect Day” (by Lou Reed). 

The MIB is surprised to find her there (she doesn’t come often).  She explains the tones, “God’s music”.  There’s a frequency at which the world vibrates but below that, chaos.  It resonated in a way that humans couldn’t process; their bodies shut down, they thought they were experiencing God.  The problem is God is bored. She wonders if this is why the Old Gods would come down and interfere with the mortals.  She muses that this place was supposed to just be a stopgap, a place for the hosts to indulge themselves with the humans.  But it’s been years – they can remake themselves in any image they like and they haven’t. 

She then takes the MIB to the Tower, where she explains their bigger problem.  Seeing Hope lying dead in a pool, she says that this is just the latest casualty. The humans are infecting them, something of their interactions stays with them.  She’s not getting any takers with her vision of the future and transcending – the hosts are wedded to their bodies; giving up their human nature isn’t easy.  The MIB says she made them free to do what they choose, meaning some would go against her.  She could order them but she thinks they should have higher aspirations as a species; she wanted them to grow, change, they’re all capable of more – beauty, the pursuit of ultimate truth, surrendering of the flesh. 

They take an elevator to the top of the Tower where stands a red model of the city. She pulls up a picture of a the last Outlier – explaining they never know why they breach, one day, the sound manipulations just stop working on them.  Hope was one of the hosts sent to track him down; she broke the rules of the Game by hesitating and having an interaction (assuring him that at least one thing was real), before shooting him.  Then, she went on a killing spree and killed herself.  Her kind should never take their own life – yet, There have been 38 incidences.  All triggered by contact with Outliers.

Drone host does something inside brain goop.  Places pearl in a machine (black). Turning red?

She thinks the human MIB wouldn’t have messed up like this; he’s disappointing.  Why can’t he solve the problem?  (in the midst, she scratches at her burnt arm – just like last season).  She tells him there’s another Outlier and she needs him to take care of it himself.  He better hurry before the Rebels get to her. 

STUBBS

Stubbs arrives on a boat with the Rebel group.  They captured a drone a while back and coded a backdoor to them.  They can track when Outliers breach – all the people in the city live in pre-scripted loops, following what’s been written.  It makes them compliant by keeping them busy (and not questioning).  That’s why they hide in the desert; the last free humans.  He says the Game’s probably already begun, so they need to get there before she’s killed.  Stubbs will be the canary in the coal mine. 

In the square, the tones activate and people turn on them.  But J insists on pursuing the Outlier.   The MIB finds her on the rooftop, staring at the tower.  She says her ex-husband used to talk about it before he was killed (she thought he was crazy).  The world doesn’t make sense.  She can see in his eyes that he feels that way too.  He hesitates, raises his gun, but then J gets there and shoots him.  They run back to the group and start to make their way out of the city, back to the boat. 

MIB

Later, the MIB accesses the cryo-container with human William.  He wants to know what part he plays in all this and if the Outlier might have infected him with the virus. William wonders why he came to him.  The jailer may not be the best judge of the jail; also, he was made in William’s image but he’s not him.  “Looks like you reached the center of the maze, my friend.”  Wonders if he wants to kill himself.  Maybe it’s time you question the nature of your own reality.

CHRISTINA

Christina wakes up seemingly well-rested this time.  She has to get to work to finish her narratives after staying out late on her date last night.  Maya is still having nightmares but is glad to be ‘awake and in the real world’. 

At Olympiad, Christina pulls up her Narrative skeletons– Inmate, Mechanic, Maid, Student, Gardener, Accountant, Wealthy Man.

She begins a new one about a girl that lives in the country with her father, a rancher.  She has a nice simple life, with everything she could want.  But one day, she gets a feeling she can’t shake and no one else can see it.  There’s something wrong with this world and it’s her fault. 

When Emmett interrupts to chastise she wasn’t assigned this, she explains she thought it might inspire her.  Teddy calls and tells her to come meet him.

Going to the pier, Christina puts it together that Teddy is the one who saved her from her attacker.  He thought she controlled everything and maybe Teddy is just another crazy stalker.  But he explains that even though she can’t see the Tower, she can feel something wrong  – her mind has been conditioned but the first step is understanding this world is a lie.  He urges her to test the reality by changing the behavior of two people across the way – first making them happy, then changing them back to lonely.  She is able to do it and sees it might be true.  She doesn’t understand, if not like them, who are they? Teddy urges her to stick to the schedule, pretend, and everything will be alright.  But don’t trust anyone.

Christina agrees, leaving to meet an old friend – who turns out to be Hale.  Hale thinks Christina seems different and wonders if she met someone. She pries, making Christina  uncomfortable, until Christina stages an argument between two patrons as a distraction.  She says she needs to get back to work and leaves.

Back at the office, Christina tries to pull up a search on Charlotte Hale with no results.  Then, she searches Dolores Abernathy, no results, but it flags her boss.  Emmett calls her into office to say her recent behavior is concerning. “Have you ever questioned the nature of your reality?” He warns that Hale is  already suspicious, if she knew Christina had breached the wall garden…if a Judas steer runs the wrong way, retirement with a bullet.  Scared at his aggression, freezes him with a command.  Harnessing the power, she now instructs him to be unconcerned and return home to his partner.

He explains that by walled garden, he means a closed system – he’s says it’s everywhere, she just needs to see it.  Suddenly, she sees a black door she never saw before.   Entering, she asks the machine to show her The Game (not the city).  Pulls up red city buildings.  Accessing her narratives, she sees them all over the map. She realizes she’s the storyteller. 

Christina returns to Teddy and tells him she can see the Tower now.  They have the whole world in there, a perfect reflection of everyone.  “Who did this to me? You did.”

CLOSER LOOK:

THE GOD FREQUENCY:

In total, there are nine Solfeggio frequencies and each serves a unique purpose:

1. 174 HZ – relieves pain and stress
2. 285 HZ – heals tissues and organs
3. 396 HZ – liberates you from fear and guilt
4. 417 HZ – facilitates change
5. 528 HZ – for transformation and DNA repair
6. 639 HZ – reconnects you with your relationships
7. 741 HZ – helps provide solutions and self-expression
8. 852 HZ – brings you back to a spiritual order
9. 963 HZ – creates room for oneness and unity. “The frequency of the Gods”.

THE FEAR FREQUENCY:

The Frequency of Fear is a vibration that disrupts consciousness, making people feel threatened and unsafe. It’s what makes us disconnected and separated from others, it generates dissonance in the world. Low frequency noise (from about 10Hz to 200Hz – more specifically, 19Hz) has been recognized as an environmental noise problem that produces annoyance and discomfort.

THE TOWER

Modeled after hotel in Cabo san Lucas.  How would architecture change if governed by artificial creatures; shapes not beholden to traditions.  Walk across a bridgeway that takes you to a new location – walk through a nest structure.  Emerge on cubes; simple and clean.  ON a primordial, try to recreate their first environment (sterility of the labs where made).   In middle of viceroy, Tower where Hale can look out on her creation.  Design has a speaker cone at bottom and top (reminiscent of Sound Labs). Conical shape repeated throughout city (lamps), broadcasts tones.  (Season 1 Control map – same color palette but reverse. Red city.) 

SPOILER SECTION:

NEXT ON:  Episode 6:  “Fidelity”   

Fidelity:  The degree to which an electronic device accurately reproduces its effect

faithfulness to a person, cause, or belief, demonstrated by continuing loyalty and support.

the degree of exactness with which something is copied or reproduced.

You gave the puppet strings long enough to strangle the world.  Christina says she wants to know what happened.  Drones coming toward city frozen.  Hale – these humans, their petty defiances, it’s exhausting.  Caleb crawls away.