Post by Melifeather on May 21, 2018 17:03:39 GMT
Wow. Wowee, wow, wow, wow! By far my favorite episode this season! My eyes were watering from staring without blinking and my jaw was hanging open! Shogun-World is much more exciting than Westworld! We also briefly checked in with Bernard in the "present" and learned there was a big fire at a location called "the cradle," which I'm sure we'll revisit in a later episode. We also saw a little more of Dolores and Teddy, but the only thing promising is her continuing frustration with Teddy. The idea that she has real feelings for him is a bit muddled. The sex scene was apparently her "good-bye" to the old Teddy before his reprogramming. Seeing his personality get inverted should be interesting. For a moment I thought she was going to burn Teddy like the way her father sacrificed some cattle due to "blue-tongue", so the reprogramming seems like an after thought even if a more promising way to go.
Maeve's gang experienced a bit of deja vu when brought into the Shogun town as captives and watched agape while their Japanese copycats replayed the brothel-robbery complete with a dragon tattooed "dopplebot" of Armistice while a period-appropriate rendition of “Paint It Black.” plays in the background. Lee Sizemore sheepishly defends the copied storyline by saying, "You try writing 300 stories in two weeks!" Lee watches while his storylines unfold and then is dismayed when everyone goes off script, “Shogun’s army never comes into town!” And later “Shit, ninjas!” The whole Shogun hosts are truly as Lee described, “the true aficionados of artful gore.” Lee may be a tool, but he is fun to watch. His lines are funny and we learn a lot about the "worlds". He's is a very close second-favorite character after Maeve. Dolores/Wyatt's story looks pretty dull by comparison.
Maeve's doppelbot is a Geisha madam named Akane who shares Maeve's physical skills, smarts and maternal instincts, this time for a young geisha named Sakura. When the local Shogun demands to purchase Sakura we understand that the awakening must have reached this world too, because instead of following her script, Akane kills the messenger and refuses to give up Sakura.
I was impressed with how authentic the show presented this Japanese world complete with sub-titles, and was equally impressed with Maeve's apparent fluent and fluid speech. Wait, Maeve knows Japanese??? Lee clued her in to use it when he told her that the reason why no one was obeying her commands was because she wasn't using the correct language.
Later that night, the house is attacked by ninjas. Maeve uses her voice commands to turn some of the ninjas against each other. AHH! Maeve is being strangled to death! Oh wait! Maeve can communicate and control using ESP??? This is new! It freaks everyone out including (me and) the warriors, who call her a witch as they retreat. She devises a plan to rescue Sakura who has been taken by the warriors by having Hector, Armistice, and their doppelbots captured while she, Akane, Sizemore, Lutz and Sylvester escape out the back - or as Sylvester so Sylvesterly puts it, “Captured by samurai cop killers. Fuck me!” Her plan is to have them infiltrate the Shogun's camp by posing as the Chinese emissary and his entourage. Sizemore isn't into the plan and wants them to run off to a nearby outpost and leave Akane to her own devices arguing that none of this is real anyway, but Maeve pushes back berating him for "coming up with things for us to love and then being mad when we do." She argues that love has to be real, because she's programmed to care for no one but herself, yet here she is risking her life for Akane and Sakura.
When they reach the Shogun's camp it seems their plan is working, until they discover he recognizes Maeve as "the witch" from the battle, and has either burned or cut off the ears of his lieutenants so she can't influence them. Maeve and Sizemore see that the Shogun is leaking cortical fluid (as Bernard did) and conclude that he must not be awake like Maeve, but "broken". He tells Akane she can have Sakura back if she dances for him instead (of Sakura).
While they're getting ready for the dance, Sakura reveals that the Shogun has mutilated her, and she's afraid. Akane gives her the same speech about the "shining water" that Maeve gave to clients in Season 1. Maeve even completes the last line, then implores Akane to come with them, but the geisha resists.
When it comes time for the big dance the Shogun kills Sakura on the stage and tells Akane that she can have her. Maeve has flashbacks of when she is killed by the ghost warriors when she was programmed with her daughter in the "prairie-settler" setting. Akane composes herself and dances anyway, and our suspicions are confirmed that it was in order to get close enough to the Shogun to kill him - right in the eye with a hair-chopstick! His lieutenants grab Akane and Maeve, and are about to execute them when Maeve uses her new powers to make them kill each other instead. Her powers terrify Sizemore, but they don't have time to ask questions, because a legion of soldiers are closing in. Maeve isn't concerned. She simply goes all Michonne and says, “I told you, I found a new voice. Now we use it.”
Maeve's gang experienced a bit of deja vu when brought into the Shogun town as captives and watched agape while their Japanese copycats replayed the brothel-robbery complete with a dragon tattooed "dopplebot" of Armistice while a period-appropriate rendition of “Paint It Black.” plays in the background. Lee Sizemore sheepishly defends the copied storyline by saying, "You try writing 300 stories in two weeks!" Lee watches while his storylines unfold and then is dismayed when everyone goes off script, “Shogun’s army never comes into town!” And later “Shit, ninjas!” The whole Shogun hosts are truly as Lee described, “the true aficionados of artful gore.” Lee may be a tool, but he is fun to watch. His lines are funny and we learn a lot about the "worlds". He's is a very close second-favorite character after Maeve. Dolores/Wyatt's story looks pretty dull by comparison.
Maeve's doppelbot is a Geisha madam named Akane who shares Maeve's physical skills, smarts and maternal instincts, this time for a young geisha named Sakura. When the local Shogun demands to purchase Sakura we understand that the awakening must have reached this world too, because instead of following her script, Akane kills the messenger and refuses to give up Sakura.
I was impressed with how authentic the show presented this Japanese world complete with sub-titles, and was equally impressed with Maeve's apparent fluent and fluid speech. Wait, Maeve knows Japanese??? Lee clued her in to use it when he told her that the reason why no one was obeying her commands was because she wasn't using the correct language.
Later that night, the house is attacked by ninjas. Maeve uses her voice commands to turn some of the ninjas against each other. AHH! Maeve is being strangled to death! Oh wait! Maeve can communicate and control using ESP??? This is new! It freaks everyone out including (me and) the warriors, who call her a witch as they retreat. She devises a plan to rescue Sakura who has been taken by the warriors by having Hector, Armistice, and their doppelbots captured while she, Akane, Sizemore, Lutz and Sylvester escape out the back - or as Sylvester so Sylvesterly puts it, “Captured by samurai cop killers. Fuck me!” Her plan is to have them infiltrate the Shogun's camp by posing as the Chinese emissary and his entourage. Sizemore isn't into the plan and wants them to run off to a nearby outpost and leave Akane to her own devices arguing that none of this is real anyway, but Maeve pushes back berating him for "coming up with things for us to love and then being mad when we do." She argues that love has to be real, because she's programmed to care for no one but herself, yet here she is risking her life for Akane and Sakura.
When they reach the Shogun's camp it seems their plan is working, until they discover he recognizes Maeve as "the witch" from the battle, and has either burned or cut off the ears of his lieutenants so she can't influence them. Maeve and Sizemore see that the Shogun is leaking cortical fluid (as Bernard did) and conclude that he must not be awake like Maeve, but "broken". He tells Akane she can have Sakura back if she dances for him instead (of Sakura).
While they're getting ready for the dance, Sakura reveals that the Shogun has mutilated her, and she's afraid. Akane gives her the same speech about the "shining water" that Maeve gave to clients in Season 1. Maeve even completes the last line, then implores Akane to come with them, but the geisha resists.
When it comes time for the big dance the Shogun kills Sakura on the stage and tells Akane that she can have her. Maeve has flashbacks of when she is killed by the ghost warriors when she was programmed with her daughter in the "prairie-settler" setting. Akane composes herself and dances anyway, and our suspicions are confirmed that it was in order to get close enough to the Shogun to kill him - right in the eye with a hair-chopstick! His lieutenants grab Akane and Maeve, and are about to execute them when Maeve uses her new powers to make them kill each other instead. Her powers terrify Sizemore, but they don't have time to ask questions, because a legion of soldiers are closing in. Maeve isn't concerned. She simply goes all Michonne and says, “I told you, I found a new voice. Now we use it.”