The second season of Westworld premiered this past Sunday, and fans are already hitting message boards in waves with theories about how the show’s mysteries will unravel over the next nine weeks. Speaking with Esquire Magazine, actor Jeffrey Wright (Bernard Lowe) has some advice for them: “I think, as an audience, it’s best to just surrender to it and enjoy the trip.” Easier said than done, but go on.
In the season 2 premiere, “Journey into Night,” Bernard is having trouble dealing with his memories of the events following the robot uprising led by Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) at the end of season 1. Wright explained his character’s state of mind in the first episode:
"He’s in some ways debilitated over more than one timeline. It could be that there are different ailments and different solutions. His difficulties in the aftermath of Dolores’s revolution by taking out Ford is slightly different than his state waking up on the beach when he meets the Delos first responder team. He’s having trouble on more than one timeline. In some ways, he may represent all of us as we proceed through the season."
Having trouble with the timeline (“Is this now?”) is something fans of the show have in common with Bernard, but based on the way Wright describes it, breaking up the timelines sounds as intentional in season 2 as it was in season 1. In fact, if you’re looking clues about how these timelines will resolve, Wright recommends you go back to the first very episode of the show:
"I went back and watched the pilot a couple of months ago because I was anxious to see the show—but also because, after I finished the second season, I wanted to go back and look at where we were when we had begun. There has been a huge evolution in terms of our characters as we’ve fleshed them out in more nuanced ways. But, in going back, I discovered that there are some flashing neon breadcrumbs that had been invisible to my eye in the first reading, performing, and watching of the episode. In fact, there’s a scene, which I think may be the first scene that we shot for the pilot, that speaks to the overarching scene of Season Two. And I looked at that and was like, These clever bastards."
Cue thousands of fans poring over “The Original” searching high and low for “flashing neon breadcrumbs.” You’re pretty clever yourself, Mr. Wright.
And that brings, Westworld-like, but to the thought that opened this post: maybe you’re better off just getting comfortable and enjoying the show as it happens. After all, as Wright assures us, “t the end of this second season, the justification for the use of these fractured mirror reflections will be clear.”
Nah, we’re still gonna look frantically for clues.
Westworld continues this Sunday night with Episode 202, “Reunion.”
Next: How has the Westworld intro changed between seasons 1 and 2? We break it down
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