Westworld Season 2, Episode 5, "Akane no Mai," finally brought viewers where we’ve wanted to go since the finale of Season 1: Shogun World. The show certainly took its time getting here, but in the end it was worth it.
Just as we’d hoped, Shogun World is another Delos park, but this time filled with ninjas, samurai, geisha, and all the other trappings of feudal Japanese culture. Of course, these things are sensationalized and turned into a theme park for rich jerks, and the show pulled it off perfectly–right down to Sizemore "plagiarizing" his own storylines from Westworld.
Here’s everything we learned about Shogun World and the rest of the Delos-verse in Westworld Season 2, Episode 5, "Akane no Mai."
1. "Akane no Mai" translates to "Dance of Akane."
That one’s self-explanatory if you’ve watched the episode.
2. The soggy hosts had their memories wiped.
Or something–"Like they’re virgin. Like they never held data to begin with." And their backups were all destroyed. Wonder what this has to do with the larger Delos plot?
3. Shogun World is considered more hardcore than Westworld.
It was designed for guests who consider the standard Westworld experience "too tame."
4. Shogun World is based on Japan’s Edo period.
Also known as the Tokugawa period (thanks to the Tokugawa shogunate), the Edo period took place in Japan between 1603 and 1868.
5. All the hosts can speak Japanese.
And dozens of other languages. They have hidden "comm skills" buried in their code, according to Sizemore.
6. Sizemore "plagiarized" his own storylines between parks.
Watching the Westworld heist play out in a different setting with slightly different versions of characters like Hector, Maeve, and Armistice was a lot of fun.
7. The butterfly provides another link.
Hector and Armistice spy the butterfly outside Shogun World’s saloon, and quickly make the connection to Westworld’s Mariposa saloon in Sweetwater. "Mariposa" is the Spanish word for butterfly.
8. Dolores has a plan involving the Sweetwater train.
"They’ve taken my daddy. So we’re going to get him back."
9. Shogun World’s hosts are a little more prickly when it comes to guests’ behavior.
"The narrative bones of this place are just like Westworld," Sizemore says. "Hospitality is foreplay to a new quest. But in this world, if you don’t hear them out, you’ve dishonored them. Sometimes homicidally so."
10. Encountering your "doppel-bot" can have adverse effects.
Including heightened aggression, feedback loops, and whatever was going on here between Armistice and her double.
11. Maeve sees her daughter in Akane and Sakura’s relationship.
Which is why she deep down wants to help her.
12. Maeve has previously unheard of powers.
She can sense other hosts and even command them with her mind. She’s basically a superhero.
13. Delos security has visited Shogun World already.
It didn’t go well for them.
14. Other hosts are malfunctioning like Bernard.
The Shogun himself is leaking cortical fluid. Isn’t it weird this never came up in Season 1?
15. Teddy f***s.
Wouldn’t have thought he had it in him.
16. Not every host wants to be awakened.
Is this what Dolores means when she says they don’t all "deserve" to make it to The Valley Beyond? Wonder what she’d think of Akane.
17. Dolores really has become the villain.
If you thought her arc this episode was about her regaining some feeling, you were dead wrong. Dolores is straight up heartless. Now Teddy will never be the same.
18. Akane’s dance song is a version of Wu-Tang’s "C.R.E.A.M."
From the 1993 album Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). Listen to it again here.
19. Maeve is super badass now.
Can’t wait to see her use that "new voice" some more.
Source: GameSpot
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