Aaron Paul's Caleb does his best impression of Kenny from Maeve (Thandiwe Newton), Caleb tried valiantly to prevent Charlotte Hale (Tessa Thompson) taking over the world, but her soldiers ruthlessly gunned him down. Rather than letting her worst enemy rot, Hale put Caleb through Delos' immortality procedure, transferring his consciousness into an artificial host body. Unfortunately for both parties, that process remains woefully unstable, and by the time Westworld season 4 picks up 23 years after humanity's fall, almost 300 failed Calebs have ed.
Westworld season 4, episode 6 (appropriately titled "Fidelity") finds Caleb #278 launching an escape attempt from his cell at Delos HQ. Sneaking through the air ducts like a robotic Solid Snake, Caleb eludes Hale's security and successfully sends a radio message to his adult daughter. Even though Caleb gets dragged back to his cage eventually, ing Frankie with a heartwarming message represents a small but significant victory.
As you'd expect from Westworld, Caleb's escape attempt is far from straightforward, incorporating multiple versions of Aaron Paul's character, an almighty Hale twist, and even a tease for Caleb's future. Here's Westworld season 4's trippy escape sequence explained.
Why Hale Let Caleb Escape In Westworld Season 4
Caleb's Westworld escape begins with a syringe cylinder hidden inside the over-sized hourglass Charlotte Hale carelessly left in his cell. The drug knocks Caleb out and makes him appear dead. This tricks the drone-host on guard duty into incinerating Caleb's cell, creating an opportunity to slip into the building's underbelly via the waste hatch. Viewers are left to ponder who planted that initial syringe throughout "Fidelity" and, inevitably, the culprit is revealed as Hale herself. Westworld's villain wanted Caleb to escape, putting up just enough of a chase to look believable, but ultimately allowing him to send Frankie the radio message. Notice how Hale subtly lets Caleb know Frankie is alive, planting the impetus to escape in his mind.
The reason Hale facilitates Caleb's escape is the same reason she kept him alive in the first place - his ability to fight back. Investigating the Golden Age theme park in Westworld season 4, episode 3, Caleb became infected by Delos' fly parasite, but managed to resist Hale's mental control. Other parasite-proof rebels have appeared over the 23 years since - Caleb's daughter among them - and Hale is convinced these "outliers" are infecting her hosts with a virus that makes them take their own lives. In truth, hosts are destroying themselves because meeting outliers triggers some internal crisis where hosts recognize the humans they torment are sentient creatures. Hale remains convinced this is some pesky resistance tactic, and that Caleb, the original outlier, has answers. She assumes that letting Caleb Frankie and listening to his message will divulge the information she needs.
How Many Times Does Caleb Die During His Escape?
Westworld season 4's great escape is structured much like playing a video game. Caleb reaches a certain point before dying, but learns from his mistakes to progress further every time. The major difference in Westworld is that Caleb doesn't actually the level, and relies on hints from the versions who went before him.
Caleb #278 begins his adventure when a badly injured older model in the next cell (who must've been caught during his own escape) tells his successor to check the giant hourglass. Previous Calebs without a nearby cellmate must've spent hours looking for a way to break free before finding the metal syringe cylinder, and the badly injured Caleb says, "I only know what I told me," confirming at least one other model went ahead of him.
Once the drone-host is tricked into activating the incinerator, Caleb struggles to open the escape hatch, but a hastily-etched arrow suggests sliding the vent backwards, allowing Caleb #278 to escape the inferno. This trick must've taken previous Calebs a while to deduce, since the floor underneath is carpeted by ash and bone. It's hard to say how many bodies are mixed into the soot without being a cremation expert, but certainly double figures. Whichever Aaron Paul clone figured out how to open the vent must've also etched the arrow to help the next guy move quicker.
Caleb's next obstacle is a drone-host on guard duty, and whereas earlier escapees must've wandered around aimlessly at this stage, Caleb is guided by his own ashen, bloody hand prints. After dispatching the drone and accessing the ventilation shaft, Caleb finds a version of himself collapsed in the tunnel, alive but unable to move. Another two Calebs died making the leap from air vent to floor, and this is as far as any prior version reached. The only way Caleb #278 continues forward is by using the host in the vent as a crash mat. Finally, he reaches the roof's communications array and sends Frankie a message.
In the 23 years Delos has ruled the world, 278 Calebs have been made. It's unlikely all of these were used for Hale's fake escape ruse, since hosts taking their own lives is a relatively new phenomenon. Older Caleb models probably degraded naturally or failed their fidelity test. Nevertheless, Westworld season 4, episode 6 leaves no doubt that Caleb's escape attempt burned through lives like Sonic the Hedgehog during an underwater level. At least two were grievously injured and captured. The thick puddle of ashes could comprise up to 30 different corpses who burned in the cell, and the bones prove at least one must've opened the hatch too late. Another three perish falling from the air duct, and we can probably assume a generous handful of Calebs were caught by the drone and never seen again. That gives a rough estimate of 40-50 variants who attempted escape before one actually succeeded.
Is Caleb Still Active In Westworld Season 4?
When Caleb's message to Frankie is filled exclusively with fatherly love and 23-years-late apologies, a deeply disappointed Charlotte Hale appears from the shadows, baffled as to why Caleb hasn't spilled the secrets of humanity's plan to make hosts kill themselves. Disappointment turns to rage when #278 explains there is no infection, and Hale responds by slaughtering every remaining Caleb in her possession. Weirdly, she then prints another one: Caleb #279. Why? And what does this mean for Caleb's Westworld season 4 future?
By the end of "Fidelity," it's not clear whether Hale actually believes Caleb's explanation, or whether she still blames human outliers for the spate of host deaths. Either way, Caleb remains of great interest to her. Studying his consciousness could reveal why some humans are immune to Delos' control parasite, and when Caleb #278 awakened at the end of Westworld season 4, episode 4, Hale expressed a desire to find out why Dolores and Maeve both valued him so highly. Hale hasn't yet gleaned the data she desires, so Caleb is given a 279th bite of the cherry. This time, of course, there'll be no staged breakout attempt - just more immortality fidelity tests and interrogations.
Westworld puts a suspiciously heavy emphasis upon Caleb #279, and unlike the others, audiences actually witness his creation in the episode's final moments. The pomp and circumstance around this particular build implies a deeper importance. Could #279 finally the fidelity test as a genuine, faultless, immortal version of Caleb Nichols? Or could this Caleb break free for real and become the very last in a long conveyor belt?
Although Caleb's jailbreak was orchestrated by his jailer, Hale's ploy could backfire spectacularly. Caleb #278 was the first to successfully send a message to Frankie. Just as his predecessors forged the path to that outcome, the message Caleb sent may help Caleb #279 by inspiring Frankie to liberate her father for real. Hale has constantly underestimated human emotion, and by letting Caleb's message reach Frankie's ears, Delos' destruction might now be assured in Westworld.