Series Issues: Westworld plays The Well-Tempered Clavier

Spoilers might show up at diverse times without warning.

However, the more I watch Westworld the less I want to spoil it. This is a well done mystery not only in its secrets but in its reveal. It’s like watching a well-oiled mechanical orchestra play the most complex of symphonies. Now I’m actually filled with dread that the second season won’t match the first one in its brilliance.

Enough accolades, let’s get into it. Maeve’s future was left uncertain last week. This week, that kinda fizzled out as Maeve ends up in the hands of Bernard. As it turns out, she gets off pretty easy. As soon as Bernard realizes that she’s been given access to an impressive set of skills, Maeve is quick to stop him before he wipes it all away. She then shocks him as she demonstrates he’s a host as well by stopping all his motor functions. Bernard is left to deal, once again, with the realization he’s just literally a toy of Dr. Ford.

Back on Westworld, Maeve manages to track down Hector and his gang. Apparently someone in Narrative had allowed an ending in case the odds changed and the thieves could get away with the safe. Maeve manages to intercept Hector and lets him know that they all die in a shootout for the loot. She even tells him the words that Armistice will say before she takes Hector out, except that Maeve shoots her before the loop is complete. With that, they seem to decide on an alliance consummated with sex and apparently, dying in a fire. I guess Maeve is going to wake them all up once the body work employees retrieve them again?

Teddy and the Man in Black are still prisoners of the Animaniacs – aka Wyatt’s gang of furries/cultists. Angela seems to be calling the shots and questions Teddy about what he remembers. Once again we see the scenes with Wyatt – or should I say “Wyatt” since there’s a lot of theories about this scene not being what it seems. We also get an additional scene of Wyatt bringing out a character known as “the General” and shooting him. Angela tells him something cryptic about him not being ready and how perhaps he’ll do better in the next life before stabbing him with a knife.

That same knife will be the Man in Black’s only recourse when he recovers after being knocked out. He’s been left ready to be hang, the rope thrown over a tall tree and tied to nervous horse’s saddle. Luckily, he’s able to grab the knife just as the horse breaks into a run and cut the rope to avoid being hung. One second later, he’s talking to Charlotte. Seems Mr. Black is a member of the board of Delos and Charlotte needs his vote to overthrow Ford. The Man in Black prefers to be left alone to his adventures, so he gives it to her with the condition of not being interrupted again.

Meanwhile, it seems the story of Dolores and William has reached a crossroad. They’re Prisoners of Logan and the Confederados. Logan is trying to get William to snap out of his reverie with Dolores and shows him a picture of his sister, and William’s fianceé, Juliet – which is the same picture that an age ago Dolores’ father went crazy over. Then Logan cuts Dolores open to show William her inner mechanisms. This triggers Dolores who grabs the knife and manages to cut Logan, grab a gun and fire her way out of the camp.

What we get next is cliffhangers aplenty. Logan wakes up to find out that William has killed and cut open the entire army of Confederados overnight. Dolores finds the church, and inside a secret elevator leading down to the room we’ve seen before. She remembers Arnold as the man she would talk to, a man who has the likeness of Bernard. She then goes back up to find the Man in Black. And Bernard threatens Ford using Clementine, but Ford was one step ahead. Rest in peace, Bernard Lowe. Or perhaps, not…

Highs/Lows/HolyCrapHowManyLayersAreInThisOnion?:

Yes, Bernard was built in Arnold’s likeness and the clues have been abundant. In this episode, we finally confirm that past Dolores used to talk to Arnold, and it was Arnold who let Dolores kept improving and evolving in secret.
Bernard discovers everything as Ford allows him access to his entire memories, but as it turns out “they’ve had this conversation before.” Does that mean Bernard will return, be rebuilt or he permanently decommissioned? I think Ford will want him back again eventually.
Head of Security Ashley Stubbs gets news that Elsie Hughes’ tablet is emitting a signal and goes to investigate only to be captured by the Ghost Nation who do not respond to voice commands. To make things worse, it’s a ruse as he’s been distracted while another host attacks him from his unprotected flank. Who else recognized the velociraptor maneuver from Jurassic Park? A little homage to that other Michael Crichton book-based movie.
As Hector Escaton receives the knife from Maeve, he remembers that they’ve done that before. Is somehow the rebellion of the machines going to spread in a viral fashion? Is there a parallel between Maeve and Dolores? We’ve already established, based on Maeve seeing Clementine being decommissioned, that Maeve’s rebellion happens on the present.
Dolores escapes from the Confederados’ camp with a wound. Then she gets back across the river, then somehow to the buried down. The town which appeared buried when she visited it with William, is now unburied and she no longer has the wound. If this is the future, when is she remembering this? She goes back to the distant past as her dress changes back to the blue one. Then Arnold asks her to remember and then she realizes that he’s not there because she killed him. This has been tied to the theory that Dolores is Wyatt, because Teddy saw “Wyatt” kill “the General” which could have been Arnold himself, and the whole scene was retconned in Teddy’s memory.
Another theory is that Teddy is Wyatt. Ford seems to always end Teddy’s narrative with a tragedy. When Angela is questioning Teddy about Wyatt and joining them, she said he wasn’t ready and perhaps he would be on another lifetime (and then goes all stabby). That makes me think that Angela was evaluating if Teddy is ready to change into Wyatt himself once again.
Charlotte Hale is a very ambitious member of the board. Finding the Man in Black, who also happens to be a member of said board, to get him to vote out Ford was a risky move. He doesn’t like to have his stories interrupted.
Way too many clues at this moment point to the Man in Black being William. If so, darn it, he went dark. Still, could it he be anybody else at this point?
One episode to go!