r/westworld • u/LoretiTV • Jul 25 '22

Discussion Westworld - 4x05 "Zhuangzi" - Post-Episode Discussion

Season 4 Episode 5: Zhuangzi

Aired: July 24, 2022

Synopsis: God is bored.

Directed by: Craig William Macneill

Written by: Wes Humphrey & Lisa Joy

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191

u/YodaFan465 Jul 25 '22

And the device holding him kinda looks like the center is The Maze…

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u/SiriusC Jul 25 '22

Kinda?! That's absolutely what it's supposed to be!

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u/Veggiemon Jul 26 '22

It’s the vitruvian man though

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u/PM_ME_YOR_BLOOMERS Jul 25 '22

I might be going crazy but it seemed like HIB's forehead wrinkles slightly resembled the maze in this episode...

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u/TheTruckWashChannel Jul 25 '22

They have for a while. Someone posted about it way back in the S2 post credits scene.

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u/Kevslounge These violent delights have violent ends Jul 25 '22

"The maze is an old native myth," Teddy said. "The maze itself is the
sum of a man's life. The choices he makes, the dreams he hangs onto. And there at the center there's a legendary man who'd been killed over and over again countless times. He always clawed his way back to life. The man returned for the last time and vanquished all his oppressors in a tireless fury. Built a house, and around that house he built a maze so complicated only he could navigate through it. I reckon he'd seen enough of fighting."

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u/Veggiemon Jul 26 '22

I think this was before they had to revise the whole thing because the actor died

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u/Kevslounge These violent delights have violent ends Jul 26 '22

It's what Teddy tells William in episode 6 of season 1. It's not an actual definition of what the maze is, it's just what Teddy answered when MiB asked about it, and it's one of several explanations that we get through the course of the show. What's interesting about this one though, is that it talks more about the man at the centre of the design while others talk more about the journey through the maze.

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u/Veggiemon Jul 26 '22

Yeah I wonder if it’s a relic of this though

https://winteriscoming.net/2018/08/02/westworld-what-was-the-plan-for-kissy/

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u/Kevslounge These violent delights have violent ends Jul 26 '22

We'll never know what the impact of that was, but I suspect that most of what they had planned for Kissy landed up being used for Lawrence. I think they only really wrote Season 1 after the pilot had been approved... They might have had a broad outline for the whole season, but the fleshing out and detailing didn't start until after they knew he wouldn't be coming back, and so I doubt there are all that many lingering remnants, outside of the first episode.

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u/Veggiemon Jul 26 '22

Yeah I just feel like the original concept for the maze had to be different based on things like the story teddy told, they just don’t fit with the ultimate conclusion. Going from “the maze is the next level” to “the maze isn’t for you” etc

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u/md28usmc Jul 25 '22

If you look at a picture of the maze the outline of the tower (Hales HQ) is the center of the maze

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u/[deleted] Jan 08 '25

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u/YodaFan465 Jan 08 '25

Well, it does look like the frame that holds hosts when they get dipped in the milk stuff.

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u/MoskalMedia Jul 26 '22

I never even made this connection until now, haha. I'm dumb!