Westworld season 2, episode 7 photo analysis
Most of the major storylines for Westworld are set to converge in “Les Écorchés” which looks like the best episode yet of the second season.
Warning: Spoilers for episodes 1-6 of the second season of Westworld will follow.
Last episode left many of Westworld‘s key players inside or about to enter the Mesa–the Delos operational headquarters and facilities. Elsie and Bernard are there to figure out what the heck is going on with the Cradle. Bernard encountered what seems to be Ford’s consciousness inside the Cradle.
Charlotte, Stubbs, and the initial team sent by Delos are also inside the Mesa with a captive Peter Abernathy. Dolores, Teddy, Angela, Clementine and their masked horde are set to storm the Mesa as well in order to retrieve Abernathy.
Team Maeve and the Man in Black’s storylines aren’t at the Mesa yet, but both groups could end up there as well, especially when taking Lee’s call for help into consideration.
Check out the Westworld episode promo as we analyze the six prereleased photos for this episode.
Ford and Bernard
Westworld delivered arguably its biggest shock yet of season 2 with the return of Robert Ford played by the brilliant Anthony Hopkins. Since this is taking place inside the Cradle, it seems like only his consciousness is still around, but that’s more than enough for now.
Ford looks as calm and confident as ever. Amidst a season of chaos, he is the embodiment of control. Bernard looks understandably perplexed. Once he calms down, Ford will likely blow everyone’s minds with what his true intentions have been all along, and what his consciousness has been up to this season beyond the occasional chat with the Man in Black.
The end of season 1 indicated his true motives were all about granting the hosts genuine autonomy, but that doesn’t explain why he made sure his consciousness would stick around.
Ford can also provide insight into Bernard’s scattered memories, especially the one where Bernard brutally manipulates the drone hosts and Delos scientists. He’s inevitably going to do more than provide Bernard with insight, though. It’ll be fascinating to see if Ford allows Bernard to make a choice for himself, or if he will continue to manipulate him in a similar vein to much of season 1.
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Continued manipulation would contradict what seemed like Ford’s ultimate motives of granting the hosts autonomy, but the way he speaks in the episode promo seems to suggest that there has been and will continue to be more of him manipulating Bernard for the sake of a grand plan.
It’s also important to take note of the greyhound seated at Ford’s feet, the same greyhound that led Bernard into the saloon where he encountered Ford at the end of the last episode. Ford had a greyhound as a boy, and in season 1 told a story about the dog that arguably acts as a metaphor for Ford’s own life.
The greyhound also existed in the park as part of the host family made in the image of Ford’s own childhood. Ford wanted to play catch with the dog and the younger host version of himself but discovered that his younger host self had murdered the greyhound.
The young Robert host even lied to Ford about this. As one of season 1’s plot points that was never fully resolved, this could definitely come back into play with the reemergence of the greyhound in the Cradle. At the very least, there’s plenty more significance to come from the animal intertwined with Ford.
Elsie
Through Bernard, audiences are receiving a vivid picture of what it’s like for one’s consciousness to be inside the Cradle. It’s a much more impersonal, data-driven perspective on the outside where Elsie is as she only experiences the Cradle through a code on a screen.
She’s already recognized that the Cradle is improvising and interfacing with other systems in the park. It’ll be intriguing to see what else she uncovers, particularly while Bernard’s consciousness is still inside and she’s unable to converse with him.
Her focused look in this picture could be the moment where she realizes that Ford’s consciousness is inside the Cradle, though Ford also seems too stealthy to allow Elsie to discover that too easily.
The memories of Bernard manipulating the drone hosts and murdering the Delos scientists already provided heavy foreshadowing that Elsie’s alliance with Bernard would not end well for her. If it suits his agenda, it’s possible that Ford’s consciousness could manipulate Bernard into physically attacking Elsie.
It already happened once before. The fact that under Ford’s control Bernard choked Elsie out but allowed her to live suggests that Ford has a greater purpose in mind for her. It remains unclear what that purpose is yet, though.
Charlotte
In the episode promo, Charlotte sees what look like multiple versions of Bernard. Ever since the season 2 premiere, it’s been clear that Charlotte has more knowledge and access to secrets than many realized.
One secret she definitely wasn’t aware of, though, is Bernard’s host identity. In the wake of the hosts’ uprising, she wouldn’t have relied on Bernard to survive or to find Peter Abernathy if she knew he was a host.
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It looks like she’ll be struggling to control her WTF face when she not only finds out that Bernard is a host, but that there are also multiple versions of him inside the Mesa.
While she was busy telling Stubbs there was a great deal he didn’t know, Charlotte is about to realize that she’s been kept in the dark about many things as well.
Season 1 established her ruthless and self-important nature. Season 2 has built on that by showing she can survive and command amidst chaos. Those traits do not bode well for the people who kept secrets about Bernard from Charlotte.
Stubbs
It’s not much of a surprise that Stubbs doesn’t look too happy here. He’s managed to survive the hosts’ uprising in which most of his coworkers were murdered, and the only thing people seem to keep telling him is that he is partly to blame for letting this happen.
Despite being a loyal and highly competent employee, he’s finding out that he was kept in the dark about many secrets, especially where the true intentions and machinations of Delos are concerned.
He may not be blatantly helping the hosts like Felix, but Stubbs still cares about them and sees them as more than disposable machines. His distaste at seeing Peter Abernathy literally nailed down proved he’s not just a mindless cog in the Delos machine.
This sympathy for the hosts may even be the reason Stubbs is still alive. If Ford programmed Ghost Nation to save certain humans, it’s probable that he had them capture Stubbs and later set him free so Stubbs could temper the likes of Charlotte and the teams Delos sends in to restore order.
Audiences already know Stubbs’ sympathy will help Bernard out when he washes up on the beach. But Stubbs’ sympathy for the hosts and his overall frustration isn’t so extreme that he’ll openly defy Delos and join the hosts as he’s clearly with the Delos team in the future timeline on the beach.
The Man in Black
There’s quite a bit going on inside the Mesa, but the Man in Black is one key character who isn’t there, at least not yet. After all, an emotional conversation wasn’t enough to make the Man in Black change his ways, he left his daughter behind and rode off with Lawrence and his cousins.
Their group was last seen being attacked by Ghost Nation hosts. Ghost Nation has actively helped humans like Stubbs and the Man in Black’s own daughter. Their way of helping humans doesn’t seem to apply to everyone, though, since they’re attacking the Man in Black.
In this picture, the Man in Black looks genuinely worried, possibly even fearful. It’s a rare look for him. Ghost Nation alone probably isn’t enough to inspire that look. His daughter is one of the only people who could make him look that way, meaning she may find herself in terrible danger this episode.
She’s proven herself to be more than capable when facing danger, but there are worse things out there than the tigers of Raj World. The Man in Black may be forced to choose between saving his daughter or keeping his quest for the Door alive.
Maeve
The background of this picture still looks like the home from Maeve’s homesteader storyline. It appears she’ll still be there, grappling with the daughter who’s been programmed to have a new mother, a team that’s crumbling in the wake of Lee’s call for help, and the arrival of Ghost Nation and their mysterious motives.
Matters could become even more complicated for Maeve as one of the early shots in the episode promo shows what looks like the outline of the Man in Black riding in front of curtains. The curtains look like part of this house in the homesteader storyline.
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Ghost Nation was the threat programmed to bring violence to the homesteader storyline. The Man in Black was the unexpected violence of that storyline when he made the choice to kill Maeve and her daughter to see if he’d feel anything about committing such a heinous crime. Through his actions, he unknowingly set Maeve on the path of finding autonomy.
Now their paths may cross as Maeve has to combat both the Man in Black and Ghost Nation, the forces that in the past threatened the narrative with her daughter. It’s logical to assume she has to overcome these past obstacles to move forward. Connecting to the last picture, maybe Maeve will even be the danger that befalls the Man in Black’s daughter, the one that inspires such fear in him.
What are you hoping to see in the next episode of Westworld? Let us know in the comments!
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