HBO's "Westworld", starring Anthony Hopkins/produced by J.J. Abrams

[JirinPanthosa]

Wow, what an episode.

Might be argued to support multiple timelines theory, but still Dolores' behavior does not make sense without reverie update.

Now, we can forever make creepy jokes with the phrase 'It doesn't look like anything to me'.

 

[DigificWriter]

Jeffrey Wright, as someone who knows what's coming, said in an interview that he is aware of the fan theories and that none of the fans are batting 100 with said theories.

 

[Kahless the Unforgettable]

Jeffrey Wright, as someone who knows what's coming, said in an interview that he is aware of the fan theories and that none of the fans are batting 100 with said theories.

"So it's all wrong and you're all stupid for listening to these dumb theories that are all wrong and will always be wrong and if they're not, you just got lucky because there's no clues, no hints, nothing!" Finished your line of thought for you, judging by your previous posts.

 

[DigificWriter]

@Kahless the Unforgettable You're not half as clever as you think you are, and arguing with you is no longer worth my time.

Moving on, Entertainment Weekly's Jeff Jensen and James Hibbard, in their new weekly "postmortem" podcast WestWorld Analysis Mode, brought up the point that the revelation of Bernard being a Host casts the "clandestine" conversations we'd seen in previous episodes between him and Dolores in a much different light and demonstrates that they were actually happening with Ford's knowledge, if not tacit approval, and may not have even been happening with Bernard's complete conscious cooperation, since they were all set in Ford's secret lab, which is a place that Bernard didn't seem to recognize on a conscious level when he and Teresa 'found' it.

They also pointed out that the revelation casts the conversation that Ford and Dolores had two episodes back in a new light as well, since said conversation becomes less about Ford 'fishing' for information that he didn't possess about what Dolores may or may not be experiencing and more about him trying to assess the extent to which what was happening to her was a threat to him personally and/or to the park as a whole based on an exact foreknowledge of what she was experiencing and what was happening to her.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Knowing now that Bernard is a host and handled his conversations with Delores in that secret facility also clears up another, perhaps minor, mystery: Why Bernard was working in that space as oppose to the main facility where everyone can see everyone. The space provided privacy and Bernard was doing work on the side for Robert.

Since Bernard was unable to locate Elise via tracking device (her comm device, something she's wearing, or something embedded in her like James Bond?) and we haven't seen a body, I'm hoping she's still alive. I'm guessing an ally of Arnold has kidnapped her and we won't see her again until the Man in Black finds Arnold in the center of the maze.

And speaking of the maze, I'm betting Delores' painting of the Grand Canyon is part of the maze map. She and William are now also heading to the center, which will lead them to meeting the Man in Black and finally end the multiple timelines theory.

They're actually going to go one step further and reveal that the audience are all Hosts.

*cue The Twilight Zone music*

 

[Beagleman]

Since this show is so good at drawing characters I feel sorry for almost everyone involved. ...as of now, almost.

 

[DigificWriter]

Since Bernard was unable to locate Elise via tracking device (her comm device, something she's wearing, or something embedded in her like James Bond?) and we haven't seen a body, I'm hoping she's still alive. I'm guessing an ally of Arnold has kidnapped her and we won't see her again until the Man in Black finds Arnold in the center of the maze.

And speaking of the maze, I'm betting Delores' painting of the Grand Canyon is part of the maze map. She and William are now also heading to the center, which will lead them to meeting the Man in Black and finally end the multiple timelines theory.

The characters' names are Elsie (E-L-S-I-E) and Dolores (D-O-L-O-R-E-S).

 

[Skipper]

They're actually going to go one step further and reveal that the audience are all Hosts.

What a bunch of nonsense! But... (quickly tapping on a tablet) have you ever
questioned the nature of your reality? Anything about these images that jumps out to you?

 

[Cyrus]

And speaking of the maze, I'm betting Delores' painting of the Grand Canyon is part of the maze map. She and William are now also heading to the center, which will lead them to meeting the Man in Black and finally end the multiple timelines theory.

Or they fail to figure out the maze, and thus creating the obsession for maze in William/MiB

 

[FPAlpha]

Pretty great episode and a fantastic twist about Bernard (played very well by Jeffrey Wright), Who else got a Lecter Vibe when Hopkins got close to her before he ordered Bernard to kill her? I guess Hopkins will never be able to shake that role.

It was also a great reveal about the relationship between Delos and Westworld and one i think will come to blows soon.. pieces are already in motion and it remains to be seen what happens.

As to the maze.. i'm getting more and more the image of the Final Five reveal from BSG where several Battlestar Galactica actors were drawn to a room at the same time and they realized they were Cylons all along. It seems to me the the MiB, Dolores and WIlliam (i'm still not subscribing to the idea that William/MiB are the same from different periods) meet at the center and look at each other with a puzzled look at the reveal (which we may or may not see in the season finale or they keep it for season 2). I think this will be the pivotal moment of the show.. it has become one of the central storylines and if they screw it up they can kiss this show goodbye.

3 more episodes until we find out.

 

[DigificWriter]

The showrunners have said that we'll know the Man in Black's identity and see/learn about when the series is set and where WestWorld the park is located by the end of the season, which Jeffrey Wright just described as a "prequel" to Season 2 and which Jimmi Simpson said won't end on a "bulls*** cliffhanger", so they have 3 episodes to give us the answers we're seeking.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

The fact that Elsie's fate was not revealed improves the odds she survived. If she was killed, nothing is gained dramatically by holding that off one more week.

The person hacking the original models, Arnold or not, must know Bernard is a host. If it was him who grabbed Elsie and did not kill her, he must have told her about Bernard and taken her off the grid.

It looks like a law/chaos conflict being set up with Ford as law and Arnold/hacker as chaos.

Edit: One other thing.

Ford has been building a canyon for his new storyline. Dolores and William now come across a canyon Dolores saw in her imagination.

Bernard, who we now know to be under Ford's control, has been hiding Dolores' aberrations so her programming would not be rolled back.

Dolores told Bernard she wants to find out who she really is. Ford and William have both gone on about how the park is about finding who you really are. Ford could have easily implanted that as her new secret directive.

Dolores is doing what Ford wants and exploring his new storyline. We just don't know what the end goal is.

Another random thought. Arnold killed Ford and made a host to replace him who believed that he killed Arnold? What characters can you think of who are free of anxiety, guilt, and doubt? Probably not I guess, just sayin'.

 

[Kahless the Unforgettable]

@Kahless the Unforgettable You're not half as clever as you think you are, and arguing with you is no longer worth my time.

Considering you haven't had much of an argument at any point in the conversation, that's not really saying much to begin with. "You're wrong!" "You just got lucky!" "The producers/actors said it's not true!" "<ignores everything else>" Those aren't arguments.

Anyway, another nice thing about this episode is that we pretty much learn why William/The Man in Black is such a regular visitor, and why he's so interested in finding the maze (much as previously suspected). It was spelled out pretty directly by William himself. The only thing left to confirm is whether they're one in the same, but at this point you have to really be doing some hardcore ostrich-head-in-the-sanding to not see that they are.

 

[DigificWriter]

You keep on saying that I've been ignoring things even as you do the same, since you didn't actually bother to refute a single thing that I meticulously laid out that disproves or casts doubt on the "multiple timelines" theory, but, like I said, I'm done arguing with you because it's a waste of my time.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

The characters' names are Elsie (E-L-S-I-E) and Dolores (D-O-L-O-R-E-S).

Yeah, I knew Elsie was spelled that way, but my dyslexia must've kicked in. I didn't even noticed I messed up both of their names. And I'm sorry if I hit a nerve, sheesh.

Ford has been building a canyon for his new storyline. Dolores and William now come across a canyon Dolores saw in her imagination.

Oh, that's a good point. Seems unlikely that there would be two large canyons in Westworld, so they must be the same, which would be more proof there's only one timeline.

 

[DigificWriter]

^ I was trying to be corrective without malice, but maybe I failed, and so I apologize.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Fair enough. I was annoyed at myself for not noticing the mistake, especially with Elsie who is my favorite human character.

 

[Kahless the Unforgettable]

Oh, that's a good point. Seems unlikely that there would be two large canyons in Westworld, so they must be the same, which would be more proof there's only one timeline.

Ford is creating a canyon. We've seen canyons in the show since the first episode. The facility itself is overlooking one.

 

[RJDiogenes]

What a bunch of nonsense! But... (quickly tapping on a tablet) have you ever
questioned the nature of your reality? Anything about these images that jumps out to you?

It doesn't look like anything to me.

 

[Skipper]

It doesn't look like anything to me.

(satisfied nodding) Good good, now we can back to discuss about this documentar... ehm, this absolutely fictional tv show...