Westworld Season 4 Episode 1 Ending Recap: Teddy Flood Returns

When Westworld’s title wasn’t figurative, James Marsden (X-Men, Sonic the Hedgehog) appeared among the main cast as a park host named Teddy Floods.

While Teddy is a handsome cowboy in the stereotypical Hollywood mold, his narrative loop brings him back together with old flame Dolores Abernathy in a sweet love story.

Teddy’s vicious delights meet a violent end in Westworld Season 2, and he doesn’t appear in Season 3 at all. However, it turns out that wasn’t the last we had seen of Teddy.

James Marsden’s Teddy Flood returns from the dead in Westworld Season 4 Episode 1!

Marsden’s return had been announced in advance, so the show wastes little time in bringing back the character in the Season 4 premiere itself. However, the question remains—how was this possible?

Dolores is introduced once again as Christina, but she lives a much different life from what she did before. Westworld does not explain when or where these scenes take place, but all evidence points to Christina’s reality as being a secret Westworld park of some kind.

A clue to this might be her stalker who goes by the name of Peter and believes Evan Rachel Wood’s character ruined his life somehow and is very anxious about her.

Christina is threatened by Peter, but a stranger steps in and beats the stalker to a pulp. Although viewers do not see Teddy’s face (and Dolores herself cannot see it either), his chiseled jaw is finally revealed at the end of the finale of Westworld Season 4.

Teddy longingly gazes up at his ex-girlfriend from the street below on his homecoming, a moment of both romance and curiosity in equal measure. How did the cowboy of Westworld come back from the brink of death? How did Teddy return from his apparent death and what does Teddy’s reappearance mean for Westworld season 4’s future?

A host body can be woven into anyone’s likeness, as Westworld has repeatedly shown. Even though Teddy may look like James Marsden in Season 4, it’s not guaranteed he has the pearl inside, especially considering Westworld Seasons 1-3 are replete with examples of hosts posing as fellow robots.

The Westworld Season 4 premiere, however, gives two very big clues that Teddy is whom audiences have come to know and love. In addition to loitering outside Dolores’ apartment in the same “love-struck puppy” pose, we can safely assume Teddy was the mysterious vigilante who saved Dolores from her stalker.

Teddy’s preoccupation with Dolores strongly suggests it’s the real thing, not a shoddy copy. The brutal way he defended Dolores also suggests that he might be the same Teddy we knew back in Season 2.

There are various theories as to how he could have survived. Maybe he had left the Valley Beyond. It is also possible that there are more than one Teddys in Season 4—one in the sublime and one watching over Christina.

Season 4’s William-bot proves how closely hosts can replicate specific humans, which has always been the true goal of Westworld. Teddy and Christina might both be recreations of their original deceased selves.

A wild twist is never out of the question in Westworld’s madcap universe. While Teddy seems to have Dolores’ best interests at heart in Westworld Season 4, the HBO series has yet to reveal who remade her as “Christina” and why they imprisoned her there. There might be a larger, more sinister plot behind Teddy’s surprise return—exploitation of Christina’s love as part of a larger, more sinister story.

Whatever might be the case, Westworld Season 4 seems to have a lot of surprises in store for its viewers.

About Westworld

Westworld is an American science fiction-thriller media franchise that began with the 1973 film Westworld, written and directed by Michael Crichton. It was followed by the sequel film Futureworld (1976).

In 2016 a new television series based on the original film debuted on HBO; the critically acclaimed series has broadcast three seasons, with a fourth currently streaming on HBO Max.

The series follows a dystopian world within the limits of Wild-West-themed amusement parks open to the elite to enjoy and are populated with human-like androids created for their enjoyment. But things take a dangerous turn when the robots malfunction and start killing the park’s patrons.

The TV Series follows the same universe as the films and features a star cast including Evan Rachel Wood, Thandiwe Newton, Tessa Thompson, Jeffrey Wright, James Marsden, Simon Quarterman, and Aaron Paul.

Source: HBO