In Westworld Season 2 Episode 6, Maeve stands surrounded by corpses.
These are the hosts who charged her last episode – she’s apparently killed them, with her
voice power, and her swords.
Did she really have to do this?
Her voice can control hosts.
Why not just “Freeze” them, like Maeve did to Bernard last season ? Or wake them
to consciousness, like Maeve offered to Akane ? Maeve told Bernard she won’t hurt him
because that’s what humans do to hosts . But here she is, slaughtering dozens of helpless
hosts, which arguably makes her no better than the humans she’s rebelling against.
Akane mourns the death of Sakura, and Maeve remembers her own beloved daughter – it’s
a comment on the sameness of human stories and feelings across cultures, and a reflection
on the preciousness of host life.
And then Maeve kills more soldiers, cause fuck those guys.
They’re confronted by Tanaka, who’s challenged to a duel by Musashi.
Musashi uses two swords in combat, just like the real historical Miyamoto Musashi who was
famous for using two swords.
Akane asks Maeve to use her power on Tanaka, but Maeve says “We each deserve … to choose
our fate.
Even if that fate … is death”.
So Musashi beats Tanaka, and lets him commit seppuku before beheading him – allowing
Tanaka to choose death.
But does Tanaka or Musashi, or any of the Shogun hosts really have the power to choose?
Even if they’re off their scripts, their personalities are still programmed, they’re
not fully conscious, and they don’t know that their world is fake.
How can they truly choose death when they don’t know the nature of their lives?
They go to Snow Lake, and lay Sakura’s heart to rest in the place she felt at peace . Maeve
heads off to find her daughter, while Akane and Musashi stay behind.
They choose to defend their land and stay with Sakura’s spirit – even if it means
their death when Delos or other hosts come.
Would their choice be different if they knew that their “land” is a theme park, and
that Sakura is a broken robot?
As this inscription says, “everything is a dream” – this place is fake.
And maybe there’s beauty in choosing the illusion – like religious faith, love, meaning.
But if Delos restores the park, these hosts could be trapped in the same cycle of death
and abuse that Maeve fought to escape.
It seems wrong to leave them in danger and ignorance.
But maybe it’d also be wrong for Maeve wake them against their will.
It’s similar to the real-world ethics of visiting uncontacted peoples – maybe they
have the right to choose to keep traditional lifestyles . But can you choose when you don’t
know the outside world?
Hanaryo joins Maeve’s party as they exit Shogunworld through a grave tunnel.
The way this works is that undertaker hosts ‘bury’ dead hosts by chucking them in
these tunnels, where they’re taken underground to the Mesa for repairs – so Westworld handles
dead without breaking the illusion of the park.
Maeve finally reunites with her daughter.
They had lived at this homestead until about a year ago, when William killed them both.
Maeve broke down, and was reprogrammed as the Mariposa madam.
Now when she returns, she finds her daughter has a new mother.
Maeve was replaced, just like Clementine was when she was decommissioned.
This is how Westworld works – for all we know, this daughter had a dozen mothers besides
Maeve.
So how can Maeve claim her?
At the start of the season, Bernarnold said something’s “real” when it’s “irreplaceable”
. Maeve’s been replaced.
So is her relationship with her daughter “real”?
Just when things get philosophical, Ghost Nation turns up, and chases Maeve and her
daughter.
This has happened before – Maeve remembers being chased and scalped back in Season 1.
But this time, Akecheta tells Maeve to come with him, that they “are meant for the same
path” . Maeve replies that his “path leads to hell” . Last season, Maeve learned that
the Ghost Nation religion involves shades – figures of Westworld techs.
Shades are described as men “sent from hell to oversee our world” . So maybe that’s
why Maeve associates Ghost Nation with “hell”.
But isn’t Maeve woke now?
Doesn’t she know that shades are just techs, and hell’s just the Mesa, and hosts get
replaced?
Isn’t she curious about Ghost Nation?
And why is she running away instead of using her voice on the hosts?
Maeve’s meant to have maxed-out intelligence . Maybe her daughter and homestead have made
Maeve fall back to old patterns.
As a conscious host, she has to balance the programmed feelings that give her life meaning
against the complex realities that undermine meaning – just like real life.
Lee calls Delos security for help, which could save Felix, Sylvester and Lee.
But it’s a betrayal of Maeve, putting her hosts in danger.
Lee at least has the decency to look guilty.
After the time he’s spent with Maeve, he sees that hosts are people too.
William spends some quality time with his daughter Emily, aka Grace.
At first, Bill thinks she’s a host, sent by Ford . He tells her to evacuate to safety,
but she proves her worth by stopping a host ambush.
Later, she and Bill have a heart to heart.
They talk about going to the Raj once with Juliet, Emily’s mother.
But Emily and Bill have different memories of that time . Some fans take this as evidence
that William is a host, failing a fidelity test.
But maybe he’s just a bad dad who forgets stuff about his kid.
Emily says she wants to bring Bill home – to repair their relationship, and to save Bill
from dying in the park . Bill agrees, but in the morning, he leaves Emily behind to
continue his quest.
So this is classic Bill – he acts like a “good guy” and a “Family man” . But
that’s just to hide his true Westworld self . Emily is also hiding something.
She says she only came to the parks for nostalgia, and now wants to leave . But earlier, Emily
told Stubbs that she’s not looking to leave , and we saw her following this map with the
Delos research symbol.
It looks like Emily has a mission that she’s hiding from William.
She mentions being contacted by Charlotte . So maybe she’s actually working for Charlotte,
helping her secure Delos data – and if William is a robot, maybe he’s the data.
We don’t yet know what Emily really wants.
While William’s hat is black, Emily’s is a murky brown-grey.
It’s not clear whose side she’s on.
Later, William’s party’s attacked by Ghost Nation, which is like the sixth time in the
series that these guys have turned up, looked spooky, then gone.
They’ve captured some humans, and killed some hosts, they’re connected to shades,
and to the Maze, so maybe they’re awake – but we still don’t know what Ghost Nation
wants.
Stubbs returns to the Mesa Hub, having escaped from Ghost Nation.
He meets Charlotte, who has captured Peter Abernathy, because he has secret data in his
head that the Delos company wants.
Charlotte has Peter physically nailed to a chair, because Westworld never misses an opportunity
for some Jesus imagery.
Now that the Delos data’s secure, the company sends an extraction team led by Coughlin – who
in the space of fifty seconds says the words “goddamn” “ass” “shit” “fuckin'”
“fuck” “dicks” and “Jesus”.
Coughlin might be trying too hard.
And his team is probably doomed because we don’t see Coughlin in the week ahead timeline,
and his soldier Goldberg appears dead in the week ahead.
Bernard’s had flashbacks of a fight in the control room.
It looks like these humans are killed by Dolores’ hosts.
We see Teddy in Sweetwater.
Instead of picking up milk like he used to, he grabs a bullet.
Because this is the new Teddy, with his new personality.
He’s more decisive and violent – killing a human hostage.
Dolores seems concerned.
The new Teddy might be hard for her to control.
He seems resentful of the way Dolores changed him.
Maybe Teddy will rebel against Dolores’ programming , just like Dolores rebelled against
human programming.
Dolores and her hosts use the Westworld train to blast their way into the Mesa Hub – also
killing the human tech Phil.
Which seems pretty dumb, cause without Phil, they can’t easily resurrect or reprogram
hosts – no going back for new Teddy.
Dolores’ mission is to get her host father, Peter.
Bernard and Elsie also head to the Mesa Hub.
Elsie says that “the system's” “sending out” “bullshit quarantine notices” which
must refer to these message on Westworld sites, saying there’s been a “mild” “viral
outbreak”, and the parks are closed, but everything’s fine.
Earlier, the site said the board members were still celebrating at the gala.
So apparently the outside world has no idea people are being murdered by Westworld robots.
Elsie finds that the park’s being influenced by something inside the Cradle – the Cradle
is a big server where backups of host brains are stored.
Their minds are plugged in to a digital simulation of Westworld . So the Cradle’s like a Matrix
for robot brains.
To investigate, Bernard plugs himself into the Cradle.
Inside the simulation, he sees digital copies of Dolores, Teddy and Robert Ford.
It turns out that the brain Bernard made a copy of earlier was Ford’s, and now he lives
on in the Cradle – a ghost in the machine, influencing Westworld.
He says online that his “reach is limited”.
But Elsie says the Cradle’s affected systems all over the park . Through the Cradle, Ford’s
been stopping Delos from getting control, keeping his changes like the lethal guns . He’s
been affecting William’s quest, and maybe Dolores and Maeve’s stories.
Earlier this episode, Dolores played the Mariposa piano – she seemed in control.
But now we see Ford at the piano – suggesting that he’s in charge.
But Ford’s influence will likely end.
In the week ahead timeline, the Cradle is destroyed.
So unless someone puts Ford’s mind back into a body – which is possible – Ford
might die a final time.
The beginning of this episode is even more confusing than the end.
Dolores speaks with someone who seems to be Arnold – Ford’s partner who died thirty
years ago.
Arnold talks about the Escalante massacre – whether he should kill all the hosts to
try and save them from life in the park.
Then Dolores reveals that this conversation is actually a test for “fidelity” that
they’ve repeated “countless times” – like the tests on the robot clone of James Delos
in Episode 4.
So apparently, this Arnold is also some kinda clone.
But James was in a physical body.
This Arnold is probably a digital simulation – because this scene has the same narrow
aspect ratio as other scenes set inside the Cradle.
And it does make sense to run these fidelity tests digitally.
Much cheaper than physically burning and rebuilding James’ room over and over.
And presumably, you could run the software fast – do a hundred iterations of Arnold
in one day, instead of over decades, like James.
But who is making this Arnold clone in the Cradle?
And why?
And when?
This might be a flashback from decades ago, with Ford trying to recreate his friend Arnold.
But it seems like Dolores is running this.
So maybe this is happening in the future, with Dolores trying to recreate Arnold.
In a connected scene at the start of this season, digital Arnold mentions a dream of
the ocean , which seems to refer to the flooded valley of the week ahead timeline.
Maybe the Bernard on the beach in the week ahead has this digital Arnold in his head.
That would explain why Bernarnold says he killed all the hosts – he’s thinking of
the Escalante massacre thirty years ago.
So there’s lots we don’t know.
But it seems like this person is a copy of Arnold in the Cradle, probably made by Dolores
sometime in the future.
It’s is a complex mish-mash of this season’s themes – realness and replaceability, love
and relationships, identity and control.
But there is one more big Westworld mystery – how does William stay clean-shaven when
Dolores isn’t around?
How does he keep smelling fresh through these blood-splattered gun fights?
The answer is the Dollar Shave Club.
For five bucks, you can get a starter set with a nice razor handle, shave butter, cleanser,
and butt wipes – so Bill can keep his butt fresh while he’s sweating on a horse all
day.
After the first box, razors are just few bucks a month.
The Club also does soaps, skincare, haircare – all home-delivered at a low price.
So help Alt Shift X, and look your best, by signing up at dollarshaveclub.com/asx.
Thanks to the Patrons, including JeskaCheska, Stuart Velasco, Jared Jeyaretnam, Geo Morjane,
and thanks to Matt and Katie for the emails.
Cheers.