‘Westworld’ Season 3 Episode 7 promo delves into Caleb's past as Dolores tasks him with leading the revolution
Throughout the course of the third season of ‘Westworld’, a lot of the major plot points have unraveled. Unlike the complicated non-linear narrative of the first two seasons, this installment has been unnervingly straightforward, with little mystery, even if complexities are aplenty. But a lingering thorn in the side of this refreshingly simplistic storytelling from Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy has been the character of Caleb, played by Aaron Paul.
Caleb, in the beginning, seemed like a depressed army veteran stuck in a dead-end job, living his loops of existence in perpetual ennui. But as the season progressed, we learned that Caleb’s life was determined by Rehoboam. He could have been capable of greatness had Rehoboam not decided he was not worth it. But episode 5 of the series brought up even more questions.
The episode revealed that Serac (Vincent Cassel) had found a way to quote-unquote edit the outliers in Rehoboam’s eyes -- men and women who did not conform to societal ideals and constructs, who had the capacity to create chaos. The episode also, through Caleb's experience of the designer drug ‘Genre’, revealed flashbacks from his past. And they seemed to suggest that Caleb may not have really been a war veteran. In fact, that was likely a memory fed to him as a backstory to control his behavior.
This is not outside the realm of possibilities when it comes to ‘Westworld’. But with even that in mind, there are a lot of questions still that remain unanswered, especially about Caleb, his past, and his true potential. And from the looks of it, episode 7 of season 3 may have the answers.
The episode is titled ‘Passed Pawn’. It refers to a pawn in the game of chess that no enemy pawn can stop from queening. Ergo, in metaphorical terms, it refers to a human being who is soon to become an unstoppable force. This, in reference to Caleb, presents a parallel with Keanu Reeves’ Neo in ‘The Matrix’ trilogy, one of the many parallels ‘Westworld’ (especially season 3) has seen with the film franchise.
The promo for episode 7 only strengthens that position, along with the notion that we will finally have more answers about Caleb. The promo video provides several visuals of Caleb’s past, without offering any context. He can be seen running in military fatigues, consuming the metallic chips that allegedly attune the human brain with Rehoboam. We can hear Caleb say, “I’m having a hard time remembering.”
The promo continues with visuals that range from what looks like black ops missions to him interacting with others from his past. But the voices in the background get more and more garbled in the course of the video as the music turns from soothing to tense.
Suddenly, the visuals switch to Maeve (Thandie Newton) running and jumping and possibly training for the final showdown. We also catch a momentary glimpse of Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) whose one arm seems to be amputated. The promo ends with Dolores telling an incredulous looking Caleb, “You spent your life believing you're a follower... Lead.”
Does this mean that Dolores intends for Caleb to be the leader of her revolution in the likely event of her death? It would seem so, for now.
The next episode of 'Westworld' airs April 26 on HBO. Perhaps we shall know then.