In Westworld’s finale, the Man in Black had a big grin on his face when he witnessed the hosts becoming sentient. Did solving the maze make the Man in Black evil?
One of the biggest tropes in movies and TV is that the bad guys always wear black. Westworld played with this idea when young William (Jimmi Simpson) stood before a wall of white hats on one side and black hats on the other. Will he choose to be play the part of a hero or a villain? But his story in Westworld was not as black and white. So did the journey to solve the maze make the Man in Black evil? If you understood his motivations, you’ll see he was not the evil villain that we were lead to believe.
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Was The Man In Black Evil In Westworld?
Credit: HBO
Season 1 of HBO’s hit show Westworld, did a number on taking a look at good vs. evil. Or what it means to be good or evil. To examine if the Man in Black is evil, we need to start with some sort of definition. In Psychology Today, Steve Taylor wrote a post about what it means to be evil:
"‘Evil’ people are those who are unable to empathise with others. As a result, their own needs and desires are of paramount importance. They are selfish, self-absorbed and narcissistic. In fact, other people only have value for them to the extent that they can help them satisfy their own desires, or to which they can exploit them…They can’t sense other people’s emotions or their suffering, can’t see the world from other people’s perspective, and so have no sense of their rights. Other human beings are just objects to them, which is what makes their brutality and cruelty possible."
In his post, Taylor even admits that good and evil is fluid, meaning that we don’t just affix ourselves to one side or the other. We are capable of both. Now, if you look at the Man in Black’s development through this lens, our perception of him from the beginning of show changes at the end. Once we understood his motivations, his ethos became clearer.
The Man In Black From Evil To Good
When we are first introduced to the Man in Black, we immediately thought he was the big bad of season 1. He was dressed in all black, the hosts bullets didn’t affect him and he was dragging Dolores Abernathy (Evan Rachel Wood) into the barn. All these images shaped our perception of him being a symbol of evil.
But all this turned around when we realized the majority of the scenes were from a previous time. At this time he was busy exploring who he was by participating in every game and story. But it wasn’t enough for the the Man in Black. The scene that altered our perception was when he talked about killing Maeve’s (Thandie Newton) daughter in front of her to see if he “would feel something.” Instead, Maeve went against her programming and stabbed him. This is when he discovered that the hosts could become sentient.
The whole time we watch him solve the riddle of the maze, he’s not doing for himself. He is not like the guests who are fulfilling all of their sinful desires. Everything they do, they are doing only for themselves. Instead, the Man in Black scalps Kissy, drains Lawrence (Clifton Collins, Jr.) of his blood and follows Teddy Flood (James Marsden) all in attempts to figure out what Arnold was trying to do. Trying to solve that one final puzzle that will bring all the hosts to consciousness.
The Man In Black Is A Good Guy
No one is saying that the Man in Black is a saint. Far from it. We learned that his wife may have committed suicide and his daughter refused to talk to him because of his time spent on Westworld. But also learned that with all his money, he was a big philanthropist. Every time we think there’s something bad about the Man in Black, he counters it with something good. Just like when he drained Lawrence’s blood to save Teddy. It may have seemed sinister, but he did it for the greater good: to figure out how to make the hosts come alive.
Then there is life and death in Westworld. Sure, he shot a lot of the hosts, but so did everyone. That was the idea behind the park, to fulfill your fantasies. If it’s one thing the Man in Black did not do was kill another human being. Then look at Robert Ford. He used Bernard to kill Theresa to protect his secret about his big story during the finale. If anything, Ford exhibited more evilness than the Man in Black because he was so focused on giving consciousness to the hosts. He was willing to kill anyone who got into his way.
Just when you think you know someone in Westworld, the writers spin them in a different direction. The first half of the season allowed us to believe that the Man in Black was pure evil. Instead, he helped us understand that not every thing is black and white.
Westworld Season 2 is set to premiere in Spring 2018.
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