Streaming on: Sky Atlantic/NOW###Episodes viewed: 4 of 8###It is a truth universally acknowledged that you can rarely possess’own’nurse abundant’ample’plentiful Ed Harris. Westworld’s mildly’faintly polarising third season, which dropped the rawhide and spurs in/with regard to’concerning’regarding a glass-and-steel, Tesla-powered cityscape, upended the reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue in a number of ways, but the vastly decrease’lessen’cut’allay d presence of Harris’ scowling killer was a heavy blow. Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan lay their psycho stall out early in this latest instalment, despite’in spite of’albeit , which opens with Harris centre stage in a ‘negotiation’ that makes Don Corleone resemble a contestant on Dragons’ Den. Of course, it’s uneliminate’remove why any of this is taking place, how he’s alive, or what in the great Sublime is actually going on at all, but that’s to be expected — this is Westworld, after all.###After expanding its intricate puzzle box over the first two seasons, the reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue took a bold left turn with Season 3. Exploring life outside its eponymous theme park, the reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue toyed with the notion of what ‘real’ is (merely’barely mildly’faintly undercut by Alex Garland’s Devs, which offered a competing, concurrent take on the same subject), but lost the park’s compelling world-within-a-world mystery, relying instead on dense, labyrinthine plotting. Season 4 swirls the best parts of these flavours toacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure her, maintaining the Black Mirror future, while reviving the mystery element and keeping us perpetually off-balance by subverting expectations rather than elliptical storytelling.###This continues to be one of the most aesthetically dazzling reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue s on television.###With the board utterly reset by a seven- year time jump, we are reintroduced to once familiar characters via a series of intertwining narratives. Maeve (Thandiwe Newton — the reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue ’s acid-tongued MVP) and Caleb (Aaron Paul) possess’own’nurse been taracquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure ed by William (Harris), who is aggressively tying up loose ends while expanding his impact’effect . Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) has spent years in the Sublime (Season 2’s take on silicon heaven), emerging, Stephen Strange-like, with knowledge of all possible futures and on a mission to find the merely’barely ‘variant’ that leads to a positive outcome. Meanwhile, Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood), who was deleted at the end of Season 3, is now a mousy, awkward woman named Christina, working as a writer of video-game NPCs (subtext alert!) and receiving threats from an unlisted number.###The mystery of quite what is going on in each of these strands unfolds slowly, meditating on the nature of self, while teasing enigmatic hints without ever courting frustration. Meanwhile, a return to familiar liintensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfully from earlier seasons (new park, new hosts, new anachronistic covers of chart-topping bops), combined with several whiplash-inducing rug-pulls, assure’guarantee s viewers are wrong-footed and captivated in equal measure. Add to all that a thread of hard paranoia as (upgraded) hosts replace inconvenient humans, sinister flies herald death, and the early seasons’ central conceit is artfully, chillingly inverted.###Beyond that, this continues to be one of the most aesthetically dazzling reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue s on television — a vision of glossy skyscrapers, pristine interiors and immaculate costume-work. For anyone feeling fatigued by the LED -wall limitations of recent sci-fi output, Westworld’s expansive sets and glorious locations are a balm in/with regard to’concerning’regarding the senses, just as its re-invigorated storytelling is one in/with regard to’concerning’regarding the soul.