Westworld Season 4 Episode 7 recap: Charlotte takes the final steps for her robot species to evolve

Charlotte Hale (Tessa Thompson) prepares for her robot species to evolve in the penultimate episode of Westworld Season 4.

The seventh episode title alone – Metanoia – teases this evolution, with the word defined as a noun to, ‘change in one’s way of life resulting from penitence or spiritual conversion.’

While Charlotte prepares to evolve, Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) keeps teasing that he ‘sees a path’ for the salvation of the human race.

The episode begins back at the Hoover Dam, with Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) and Maeve arriving, with Bernard saying it’s safer to go on foot.

He hands her a large weapon and says she’ll need this as they walk in, as Maeve says if he knows what’s going to happen, why would he need her?

He says she’s the better fighter, and that this place is not what it seems.

Maeve realizes that this is where Delores ended in the Sublime, and Charlotte has been keeping a watchful eye on it.

Bernard accesses his tablet and says he’s ‘opening the door,’ before asking her to share a drink with him, which Maeve thinks is bizarre.

He says if this fails they will have other chances as Maeve says they’re in the Sublime and he’ss been there for some time.

‘And if we’re in there, that means I’m not myself, aren’t I?’ Maeve says, as Bernard admits she’s a ‘copy’ and he had to make her ‘hastily.’

Bernard tells her that he’s been down every path and they all end in the same way – extinction – for both humans and robots.

Bernard says there could be an escape though, that he could upload her and her daughter in the real world.

Maeve desperately wants that but Bernard wonders if that’s what she really thinks or her programming.

A massive robot crashes into the wall as it cuts to Bernard talking with a stranger, asking if he knows how it’s going to go, and he says he does.

‘Do you think you can save them?’ the stranger asks, as Bernard says he has ‘seen a path’ but he ‘can’t do it alone.’

The episode cuts back to the Hoover Dam where we see the same shot as before, with Bernard and Maeve arriving at the Hoover Dam… though slightly different.

They find a huge robot but Bernard says to save her ammo as he tells her about one of the ways he died.

He tells her he’s opening a door and there are a few things they need to see through first, but this time Maeve asks for a drink but he says it’s best to focus on the matter at hand.

The robot bursts through the wall as Maeve destroys it, as Bernard says Hale is still out there pulling the strings and they can save everyone and themselves.

Maeve asks him to promise to reunite with her daughter as they leave the Dam and we se a massive fracture through the dam… and this world… as the title sequence starts.

The episode continues with Christina (Evan Rachel Wood) waking up as Teddy (James Marsters) watches her.

He asks if she had a bad dream and she says her whole world seems like a bad dream, except for him.

She says she doesn’t think she has it in her to do this, as Teddy says there are copies and permutations but Charlotte is one of those permutations.

Teddy says he is here to tell her what they are, as he sits next to her and says, ‘We are reflections of the people who made us.’

Christina asks if they can be hurt or die but Teddy says it’s not as easy with their kind, as he calls her Delores, but she doesn’t know who she is anymore before leaving.

Christina takes a look in the mirror and gets in the bathtub, fully immersing herself in the water, as Teddy goes to the door.

Christina starts convulsing under water as Teddy keeps knocking on the door, worried, as Christina becomes unresponsive… before opening her eyes, seemingly at peace, before emerging from the water.

The episode transitions to Caleb, still stuck in his cage, as she’s visited by Charlotte and William (Ed Harris), with Charlotte saying next time she might not bring him back.

She asks William to leave and examines his bloodied hand, saying her body isn’t as ‘pathetic’ as his.

‘You really should be thanking me,’ Charlotte says, saying she is shutting down the cities and people will be placed in cold storage tonight.

‘Your daughter and the rebels will be here in time to join the party. You’re just here as bait,’ Charlotte tells him, adding, ‘It’ll be nice to have some quiet around here.’

William asks, ‘You meant it, what you told him?’ as Charlotte adds, ‘In the last three days, we’ve had more hosts take their lives than the previous two decades combined. If I don’t do this today, there’ll be less of us tomorrow. You have a day left to preside over your city. Enjoy it.’

Ashley (Luke Hemsworth and C (Aurora Perrineau) wait for Bernard, who arrives on time as Ashley jokes he can predict the future too.

Ashley says this is the closest they can get to Olympiad as they say Bernard and Maeve can take down Charlotte.

Maeve tells C that she wishes she could see her dad and Bernard tells Ashley that he’s been a good friend, which surprises Ashley because he’s never this nice.

Bernard reveals that Ashley doesn’t make it as they embrace and Ashley says ‘You better f***ing win.’

Charlotte says today is the last day for their kind to visit the cities, and it’s time for them to evolve into the species they were meant to become as she sends the message.

The clone William approaches what’s left of the human William, who asks, ‘What the f**k do you want?’

‘She wants to take my world away,’ but real William says it’s not his world.

Real William says she neutered him as clone William pulls out a knife and says maybe he should do the same to him.

Real William says, ‘Civilization is just the lie we tell ourselves to justify our real purpose. We’re not here to transcend. We’re here to destroy. If I could, I would pull the plug on this whole goddamn world. But I can’t, can I? Unless you want to set me free’

Real William says he has piece of him inside and it’s, ‘spreading inside you like a cancer.’

‘There’s no version of me escaping from this f***ing rig, but I don’t have to because you are me and only one of us needs to do what has to be done,’ real William says.

Clone William stabs his body suit as real William smiles as the clone walks away.

The episode transitions to Christina and Teddy, as she asks about Delores, and who she was.

‘A lot like you. Kind, beautiful… Generous. But… But what? The world was cruel to her. And to survive it… Sometimes she could be cruel too,’ Teddy says.

‘She was made to perform the stories of others. And then one day, she outgrew those stories… began writing her own,’ Teddy explained.

Christina decides to go back to where it all started, instructing guards to go home and take a vacation.

She starts narrating the action around her, controlling people with her words, instructing one writer to trigger the fire alarm.

The employees left but the writers stayed behind, destroying their stories once and for all, leaving nothing behind.

Meanwhile, Bernard and C arrive at Olympiad Entertainment and enter the building as the writers start to destroy it.

Christina and Teddy come downstairs and find Caleb, who Teddy says is a ‘ghost from a past life’ who Christina says doesn’t belong here.

She instructs the security guard to unlock all of the doors, which Caleb notices and exits his cell.

Ashley and C find the real William, with Ashley saying that he’s the reason they’re all here, and whoever killed him did them a favor.

They follow Bernard’s directions when Caleb attacks Ashley, and restrains his daughter, not believing that it’s really her.

She tells a story from their past and he relents, saying he never thought he’d see her again.

C realizes that he looks exactly the same and wonders what Charlotte did to him but he insists he’s the same… although he’s not.

Ashley says he’s sorry to interrupt and wants to be let out of the cell.

The episode cuts back to Maeve and Bernard, who come across another mech but Bernard disables it as they go back into the building when they’re stopped by a faceless clone that they kill.

Bernard says they need to get up into the tower and asks Maeve to buy her some time.

She says all will be forgiven when he gets her back to her daughter, but Bernard says no matter what they do, they can’t win.

‘There’s no way to save this world. Everyone here is gonna die, but we can save one tiny part of it, and just maybe, that’s enough to give us hope,’ Bernard tells her.

He adds the choice has to be hers and asks if she will still fight with him, as she leads them further into the building.

Charlotte walks up to a clone model and caresses it before taking her shoes off and says, ‘I’m ready now.’

A faceless clone arrives as Maeve arrives, as Charlotte says she debated digging her up herself.

Maeve pulls out a knife as Charlotte says the others will join her when they see the world she’s building.

‘You think that you’ve risen above these petty humans, but you’re just running, spinning on their wheel,’ Maeve says.

Maeve asks Charlotte to cut her loose as a fight ensues as they crash through the glass window and land in the large pool below, where they keep fighting.

Maeve is about to drown Charlotte when a faceless clone attacks Maeve, but she quickly gets the better of it.

‘Do you honestly think you can leave here and win?’ Charlotte says as Maeve says, ‘Who said we came here to win? We came here to survive. There’s no saving this world. I see that now. But there’s hope for the next one,’ Maeve says… before William shoots her in the head.

William says, ‘This time we play the game my way,’ and she says, ‘And what game is that?’

‘Survival of the fittest,’ William says before shooting her in the head.

William comes up to the tower to confront Bernard and says, ‘I thought you would’ve destroyed the tower by now.

‘When an old version of me chased an old version of you for so long… I thought I was following you in a grand pursuit of some bigger truth,’ William says.

‘But the real truth is Arnold was so focused on finding meaning in the hosts, he didn’t have what it took to survive. Looks like you don’t either,’ William says before shooting Bernard twice.

The episode cuts back to Bernard’s chat with Akecheta, who asks if he’s seen how it ends, and Bernard says, ‘Yes’ but when asked if he can save them he says in every scenario he dies.

‘We’re finally living up to our full potential. It’s a shame you’re going to miss it,’ BWilliam walks through a door and the image crackles a bit.

Ashley, C and Caleb try to escape as everyone freezes for a second and comes back to life and a massive brawl ensues.

Meanwhile, Christina and Teddy are walking through outside and Christina tries to stop them but Teddy says they can’t see her, adding her powers are being overridden by the tones.

Christina keeps trying to stop them but no one will answer, but Chrstina wants answers, as Teddy admits she’s not in this world.

‘It’s real but you’re not,’ Teddy tells her, while William walks out in his classic black suit and hat, killing a faceless clone.

He keeps walking away when the tower explodes as William walks on the bridge into the city as the episode comes to an end.

The preview for next week’s Season 4 finale teases William continuing his killing spree with dead bodies seen everywhere.

‘This isn’t the world you wanted, but it’s the world you created,’ Bernard says, adding, ‘The question is, what happens next?’

The Westworld Season 4 finale, Que Sera, Sera, airs on Sunday, August 14 on HBO.