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| Maeve and Bernard |
Before I get you through this review, I would want to first establish my admiration for the show. This show is one of the best things to happen in the year of 2016. I must admit that I was quite late diving into this new and immensely promising sea created by HBO while others who went through multiple episodes of the show already were enjoying swimming in it. It was in fact the mind behind the show Mr Jonathan Nolan which caught my attention and the fact that he co-wrote many of the movies directed by his legendary brother Mr Christopher Nolan I was able to put my trust on the show and hence I decided to give its pilot episode a watch. I wasn’t disappointed. The episode convinced me enough to invest my time in whatever the show offers next.
The episode The Well Tempered Clavier comes
with big reveals and answers to some major fan theories which were speculated
thank to the internet. If you could recall from the last episode, both Maeve
and we the audience were convinced that the she needed an army to escape the
facility and into the real world where people didn’t play god. Little did we
know that she was going to plant the seed of revolution in the synthetic mind
of Bernard first. In the opening sequence you can see that Maeve is able to
hack Bernard and is able to push him towards his path of self awareness which
ultimately leads to his demise in the very climax of the episode. Yes, Bernard
is dead.
Continuing her streak of delivering
powerful performances, Thandie Newton who plays Maeve has again done an amazing
job in portraying a charismatic character. One of the best scenes in the
episode, apart from the secret unravelling ending was one which was shared
between Maeve and Hectar (played by Santoro Rodrigo) where she makes him
realize that his nature of reality was false and that he has always been a pawn
just like others for the amusement of the real beings. Not only she managed to
change his perception of the reality but also she convinced him to join forces
with her in her quest for freedom from the gods who wore suits. This scene
alone deserved a standing ovation considering how beautiful it was directed and
how perfect the screenplay was. The suicidal lovemaking at the end of the scene
was something very creative and pleasant to watch.
Coming to the big reveal of the episode. Yes,
Arnold is Bernard. Bernard is actually the host version of Arnold. While the
way the episode was leading us to the reveal was engaging but it wasn’t much
that big of a reveal. This is because it was already popular in theory thanks
to the internet. If I could highlight one big flaw in the show, then that would
definitely be how predictable the show has become at this point. Two major fan
theories have been proved correct till now. There is nothing wrong in placing hints
but makers have given too much away for the fans to work it out.
Well even though one can sense various possibilities
in the show it still manages to be engaging and entertaining. The Season finale
is due next week and I still wish I haven’t had enough for one season. My
rating for this episode is 9.5 out of 10. I would have given it 10 if Arnold
were someone whom the fans never saw it coming.
