This week’s episode was a bit slower, which makes sense after the last two stellar episodes. With that in mind, and with it being Memorial Day Weekend (so hopefully you have better and more fun things to do than surfing the internet) I’ll try to keep this one shorter. But I’ve tried that before and it didn’t quite go as planned. Better luck to me this time.
We open again on the Dolores and Arnold (we think it’s Arnold instead of Bernard) scene where Arnold tells Dolores he’s sometimes afraid of her. But this time we get a some more information. We learn that it is in fact Bernard and that it is actually Dolores leading this conversation. It’s a close mirror scene to the earlier William/MiB scenes with Delos from a couple weeks ago. Similar to most of this show, it’s unclear when exactly in the timeline this scene is taking place, and I don’t even think I could hazard a guess I would feel confident in.
Elsie and Bernard
At HQ, Elsie discovers that QA has been trying to hack into the system so they can take back control of the hosts and the park. But each attempt was blocked by the Cradle, which is only supposed to serve as a backup for the park’s narratives. But Elsie can’t view the source code, as the Cradle can’t be accessed remotely; it can only be done in person.
Elsie and Bernard make their way to the Cradle, where Bernard gets another donut hole of consciousness memory. And this time, we seemingly get our answer as to who it was for. Bernard hooks himself directly into the Cradle. He finds himself on the Westworld train, on its way into the park. When he arrives in Sweetwater, the scene is reminiscent of the simpler (i.e. safer and non-murderous) times from early in the series. Entering the Mariposa, who should he find waiting but none other than Ford himself. So now we know Ford’s consciousness lived on, but is there (or will there be) a body to go along with it? And is this even confirmation of whose consciousness Ford had Bernard download? Or could Ford have previously downloaded his and had Bernard do it for someone else (MiB perhaps?)?
Dolores
Dolores is prepping for their train ride into HQ to rescue her father. She’s talking to New Teddy, who is already putting the new version of himself on full display. As he tells Dolores, “The man who rode that train was built weak and born to fail. You fixed him.” He makes a more obvious statement soon after. When a Delos employee can’t tell them where exactly Abernathy can be found, he unflinchingly executes him, shooting him in the head. Dolores sees this and, although she doesn’t say anything, the look on her face says she might not be in love with this “improved” version of Mr. Flood.
As the train approaches the Mesa, there’s one last act of preparation. Teddy locks Phil the technician in the front car and detaches it from theirs, sending it careening straight for HQ. Clearly this will not be a stealth mission.
Man in Black and Emily
Old Man William is continuing his journey towards “The Door,” only now he has his daughter Emily in tow. Or does he? He does, but at first he assumes she’s just another host that Robert made to mess with him. I liked that scene for a couple reasons. One, it was fun to see one of the characters essentially do what we as fans do every week. Theorize about any and all possibilities for what is actually happening. They can sometimes be just as clueless as the rest of us. The second reason is it shows Ford’s mind games might be working; he’s getting in MiB’s head. He’s questioning everything that seems out of the ordinary to him. Could this budding paranoia play a larger role as we head towards the season’s climax?
At the campfire that night, the two get a little bit of father-daughter bonding time. MiB expresses his surprise at her appearance. Emily says she received the “gauntlet invite” (Does this phrasing have any particular significance? Or is it just how she decided to say it?) from Charlotte Hale. She hadn’t been back to the park in years but decided to make a return to The Raj, which was her favorite park as a kid. We get a little insight into the home life, as she says, “I spent so many years buying your good guy act. She (her mother) was the only one who saw through that, and she paid for it. But I shouldn’t have said her death was your fault. You don’t get to make that your final score. Instead you’re gonna come home with me.” She won’t let him “do this to her, go out in some bullshit blaze of glory.”
The Man in Black appears to accept this, as she tells him fighting through this mess and getting out alive would be “a good start” for him evening up their “score.” Unfortunately for Emily, when she wakes up the next morning, he’s gone, along with the rest of the group, save for one. Looks like old habits die hard.
Maeve
Maeve and the rest of the group arrive at Snow Lake, which is also the location of an entrance back into HQ and ultimately back into the Westworld park. Musashi and Akane decide to stay behind in Snow Lake, so we bid adieu to our awesome new friends. Here’s hoping it’s not the last we’ll see of them.
The group finally arrives at the place they’ve been searching for for so long: Maeve’s old zone where’s hoping to find her daughter waiting for her. And in a moment Maeve and fans alike have long been waiting for, she does indeed find her daughter. And in a twist viewers likely saw coming, Maeve finds the girl’s new mom as well. The look on Maeve’s face is one of devastation and it was heartbreaking to watch.
But she doesn’t have much time to dwell on this new revelation, as a few members of Ghost Nation come riding in. They soon surround the new mom while Maeve takes her daughter’s hand and makes a run for it. One of the Ghost Nation members soon catches up to her, but has a more peaceful intent this time around. He urges Maeve, “Come with us. We are meant for the same path.” But as has been one of the themes of this episode, Maeve is of the belief that “We each deserve to choose our own fate.” So logically she screams back, “Your path is made for Hell!” and then running off with her daughter.
Hale and Stubbs
These two are also in HQ, where they have brought Peter Abernathy. Now that they have this most-important host, Hale can finally get Delos to send out the QA team. The team arrives and immediately starts taking over, trying to get the park back. They still can’t get back control of the narratives, but they do have one small success: the big 3-D map comes back online. Remember the section of the train Dolores and her crew detached? It’s headed towards HQ, and it’s coming fast.
