Westworld season 2, episode 4 recap: The Riddle of the Sphinx

Westworld gives us the best episode of the series to date–and a whole new slate of questions.

Hands down, this was the best episode of Westworld we have seen over the course of the last season and a half. But before we proceed, the article ahead contains spoilers for last night’s episode, so if you have not seen it, do not read further!

Since season two has begun, we have been treated to tidbits of information regarding the aftermath of last season’s events. However, last night’s episode went all in revealing William’s past and present and focused a bit on James Delos.

This episode opens with a musical ensemble as James is seen starting his day off with food and exercise. What we don’t know is that he is caught in a cycle of repeating days Black Mirror style. He gets a visitor who we soon learn is young William coming in to interview dear Mr. Delos. And what we soon learn is beyond our wildest imagination.

It appears William is attempting to achieve Delos’ goal of immortality by transferring consciousness into a host body. If this doesn’t scream Black Mirror, we don’t know what does. And while Mr. Delos may seem like he’s okay, we soon see him start to glitch and have trouble speaking. The inserted consciousness along with his host body is not able to work together to produce a functioning human host.

William visits him multiple times over the course of his life, and we begin to notice this as William ages upon every visit. It is here we start to grasp that Mr. Delos isn’t actually himself anymore–and he learns this as well when William presents him with a paper containing the conversation they have every time they meet. It’s an emotional conundrum to see Delos in this repetitive cycle of horror as he lives out every day–exactly the same.

We learn over the course of William’s visits that most of his family has died including his wife, Juliet who committed suicide, and Logan who overdosed years ago. There is a mention of his daughter–but patience, we will get to that later. On William’s last visit with Delos, he leaves him behind in a perpetual state of anguish leading all the way up to the host rebellion.

But there is something deeper to get out of the interactions between Delos and William. Not only do we discover the form Delos is in, but how deeply rooted the quest for immortality is within the company. It’s not just about creating robotic hosts, but there is something more sinister in play here. And perhaps the missing link to Bernard’s erratic behavior.

This episode finally brings back Elsie, whose fate was unknown after Bernard tried to strangle her last season. Her and Bernard cross paths once again after Clementine drags him to a cave and leaves him behind. He enters it to find Elsie locked up and annoyed and frightened to see him–naturally. But Bernard, not being the same guy that hurt her, cuts her loose.

Before they can really talk, Bernard starts to glitch and tells Elsie to take his tablet. Luckily, she is a specialist and handles his meltdown temporarily. She plans to leave him behind but is interrupted by him having a vision of his past self walking into the cave. He then realizes there is a hidden facility in the cave–and perhaps where they can get their hands on some cortical fluid.

And this is where the episode takes one of the most interesting turns we’ve seen. Through a series of recollections, Bernard remembers how to access the secret entrance of the facility. I sort of predicted that this secret facility would end up being the one we see Delos trapped in–and lo and behold, this sure was the case!

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Bernard and Elsie stumble into a blood-splattered lab filled with dead bodies–and a living drone host. While Bernard has vague memories of being in this lab prior to its current state, he can’t seem to piece it all together. Elsie comes to his rescue once again when he starts glitching and gives him the cortical fluid he’s in desperate need of.

He took part in something evil but has no idea why or what. Things get a little clearer when they find a door that leads right to Delos’ room. Everything is in shambles, including the dead body of one of the techs. Still living? Mr. Freeking Delos!

It is here that Bernard makes the connection between his memories and finding Mr. Delos. They are creating clones and he created one other–but who is it? And is this all part of Ford’s narrative? We have no idea, but we need to know!

As much as we love to hate the Man in Black, we found ourselves sympathezing with him this week. Between the news of his family, all dying, and him coming to the rescue of Lawrence and his family, he kind of left a warm, fuzzy feeling in our hearts.

In the present (or what we assume to be anyway), he is still embarking on the journey of Ford’s game, alongside Lawrence. When they had to Lawrence’s home, they come face-to-face with Craddock, who is dead-set on terrorizing the entire village, including Lawrence’s family. William comes to their rescue and lets Lawrence take Craddock down as revenge.

Ford speaks to William through Lawrence’s daughter where she cryptically tells him to not to focus forward–because it is the wrong direction. Ford is everywhere, isn’t he?

And before we wrap up this recap, we have to focus on one of the other big reveals this episode gave us–who Grace is. Last week we saw Grace being captured by the Ghost Nation, who also have Ashley Stubbs in their custody. They are dragged in front of the leader, but Grace manages to get away just as Ghost Nation vanishes.

If you were paying attention, there was a lot of alluding to William’s family throughout the episode, with subtle mentions of his daughter. It became clear that Grace serves a greater purpose in this narrative, and we were right! The episode ended with Grace riding in on a horse from a distance as William and Lawrence were riding towards her. When they finally meet, she looks to William and says, “Hi, Dad.”

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This was one of my favorite episodes thus far of the series because it unpacked so much and told us even more about Delos’ secret intentions and projects. I am still curious as to what is going on with Bernard, but based on what we have learned, could it be possible that Ford’s consciousness somehow resides inside of Bernard, and he is having a hard time accepting it? And could the glitches be a result of this, rather than because of being shot in the head?

Apart from the fact that Grace has presumably spent most of her life in the park (based on her ability to speak Lakota and maneuver through the park), what will her character bring to the overall narrative? And is this also part of Ford’s game? Time will tell, my friends.

What did you think of last night’s episode? Share your theories and comments with us!

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