Westworld: ‘Phase Space’ Part 1 in-depth review
By Art Intel
A review of Westworld Season 2, Episode 6 in 3 parts: Part 1
Spoilers ahead for Westworld season 2, episode 6, “Phase Space”!
Ready Teddy! Derailing the narrative
As the scene switches to Sweetwater, Teddy is now reconnecting to his previous loops after collecting the bullet off the ground – thanks to a newfound awareness, helped along by Dolores’ revolutionary ability to ’jailbreak’ her boyfriend-unit and upload her own set of expectations.
This is something that will no doubt happen with robot boyfriends of tomorrow, because trying to change most men’s ways doesn’t seem to be work out as well as expected and they can’t be reprogrammed!!
Notice the same malfunctioning twitch now appears in Teddy’s hand, just the same as Bernard, suggesting that Teddy may be in need of a cool drink of cortical fluid after his ‘lobotomy’ and is now very unstable. The irritating sound off flies accompanying the bullet does not go unnoticed, reminding us of Dolores’ plan to burn the place down.
Teddy arrives on the scene without any recollection of his hack and there is a noticeable change in him as he says “The days wasting, I thought you wanted to ride before sun-up.”
Dolores gets up from the piano all excited with her new man and replies: “I was just fueling the furnace now; we’ll be gone before long.”
Teddy replies by saying “Let’s get on with it”, and she is happy to see her new Teddy, even reinforcing him by reminding him of the thousands of times he stepped off the train, and that he re-spawned there every time the humans killed him. We can see he is now awakened as he coldly replies: “The man that rode that train was ‘built weak.. and born to fail”
He tells Delores she fixed him, but then goes on to say: “Now forget about it” as if to tell her not to ‘notice any change at all’, as the train whistle sounds in the background advising of its imminent departure”
The scene changes to the Sweetwater platform and Dolores’ gang holding a couple of frightened techies that were taken hostage, but the interrogation of her dad’s whereabouts is leading to nowhere and quickly turns sour.
All Aboard – well, not everybody
Teddy takes this moment to really send the message home that he is no longer the ‘soft cuddly Teddy host’ everyone once knew. Triggered by the sound of flies, which no doubt symbolizes Teddy’s ‘buggy’ software and the impending death and pestilence for all humans, Teddy has become a cold-blooded heartless killer.
He no longer has patience for human ineptitude, as he focuses in on his unfortunate target being interrogated and dispatches him, saying “We’ll find him”. Dolores’ ‘Wait what?’ expression says it all, as she turns to Angela who responds with a confident smile, and has no shock or sympathy for the loss of human life.
This could be a very important moment in the plot, as we see that Dolores still has an empathy program even as she becomes sentient, suggesting a glimmer of hope for humanity as she is not really hell-bent on mindless killing, and could be open to a peaceful relationship with humanity.
Peter Abernathy – Nailed It!
Back in Delos, Head of Security Ashley Stubbs teams up with Charlotte Hale and has Peter Abernathy in his custody. Peter is still wriggling about in his ‘playing hard to get’ loop but is quickly ‘secured’ in a seat to prevent losing him again.
This act will do nothing to mend robot-human relations at all, and Dolores may not be so empathetic once she sees the state of her father, but will she get there in time?…
Interestingly, while Peter is being secured, Ashley shows a dislike to the way Peter is being treated, intervening at one point to ask, “Is that really necessary?”
Next: 5 major takeaways from Westworld season 2, episode 6
This dilemma of conscience we see unfolding is a real-world issue that humanity will face, once Westworld-like robots walk among us. Some people will just accept the robots and treat them ethically, while others will respond more like Charlotte’s character, who considers the hosts as expendable psychos.
Charlotte also mentions that Peter is a host of ‘immense value’, even more so than the lives of humans, so he must be carrying a wealth of information and would be the ticket out of Delos for Charlotte. Unfortunately, nothing is revealed as to what is stored inside his head or what it’s use or purpose might be.
Read ahead for part two of this Westworld recap!
Westworld airs every Sunday on HBO at 9 PM EST!