![[Credit: HBO]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/2827ec0ad3c8d5ce1afeb5ab3c50e2b63f05f9b470e1a769d1ab071f61226f8f.jpg "[Credit: HBO]")
And our Westworld season 2 episode 7 discussion continues!
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
At a later stage, Stubbs demands to know what is contained inside Peter’s head and to know what the decryption key is so Charlotte tells him. She states that the key is needed only in times of a ‘catastrophic incident’. just as Dolores arrives on the scene to rescue her father.
Syntax Error
Elsewhere a fierce firefight has broken out, with Clementine launching into soldier-mode, and taking out several strike team members before she herself is taken down by several bullets. It appears to be all over for the hosts in this section.
A security team member finds Angela and at this point, she knows her narrative has come to a close as he tells her she will not be leaving. Outnumbered, trapped and injured, Angela only has one weapon left; to use her charm offensive and appeal to human nature with seduction, which seems to do the trick, as she manages to get close enough her assailant to take his grenade and say her final line: Welcome to Westworld.
Out of the fire, into the CR4-DL
Back in the CR4-DL itself, we see the continuation of the scene from the previous episode, with Bernard at the Mariposa Bar. We now come ‘full circle’, with the sight of Ford, who is quoting an excerpt from a poem by William Blake, called ‘Auguries of Innocence’ which you can read here.
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The poem touches on the idea of the cyclical constant in nature, the idea of birth, death, and resurrection. This is a theme that is reflected throughout the show, with visual allusions such as the calculated panning movement of the cameras and actors as they walk around the hosts during analysis, the circular design of rooms in Delos, down to the deliberate close-ups of rotating turntables, loop sequences, and the recycling of narratives across worlds–as Ford experiences a god complex.
The cyclical constant is reinforced when we see Maeve in her role as Madame, and Clementine who approaches Bernard as they go through their repeat narrative loops. As Maeve tells Clementine that Bernard is there just to gawk at the merchandise. This scene feels like déjà vu, and it may have been shown in season one. Ford also reveals the true reason for the existence of the CR4-DL to Bernard.
It seems that the true purpose of Delos was to store human souls and insert them into the hosts. The souls want to be in the hosts, so that they get to live forever, breaking the constant cycle of nature. What is not quite understood is why there are allegedly 100’s of thousands of souls (or brains as Elsie refers to them) stuck in the CR4-DL. Is it possible that the CR4-DL is really a place to trap human souls?!
Ford shows that he can fully control the CR4-DL in ‘God-mode’, as Bernard realizes that the park is an experiment; a testing chamber, where guests are the variables, and the hosts are the controls. He says:
"“The guests come to the park, they don’t know they’re being watched, they get to see their true selves, their every choice reveals another part of their cognition; their drives, so that Delos can understand them…so that Delos can copy them.” …We weren’t here to code the hosts, we were here to decode the guests.”"
Ford responds by saying that humans are playing at resurrection, that they want to live forever. They don’t want hosts to become human, they want humans to become hosts.
Rescue and extract
Meanwhile, another highly charged and emotional scene is played out as Dolores finally reaches her father and the two hosts meet again. Dolores is not happy with the condition of her father as Charlotte tries to curry her favor anyway, trying to worm her way out of her predicament.
It seems that Peter is valuable because he may hold the key to unlock the secret weapon, but Charlotte won’t tell her how to access the key. Dolores picks up a bone saw while deciding an ‘eye for an eye’, approach’ “With all the other parts first”, is the best way to get Charlotte to talk.
As Charlotte is about to get her head examined by Dolores, gunfire is heard, alerting Teddy and Dolores to a new threat. As Teddy goes off on a rampage, Peter suddenly awakes, causing Dolores to become distracted and fall into a loop narrative sequence with her father.
As Teddy secures the area, Ashley rescues Charlotte and they escape from Dolores into a lift. They can still find Abernathy’s control unit, which they know is in Sector 16, Zone 4. Teddy shows he has become a deadly killing unit, with the latest strike team taken down.
Dolores remains with Peter who decides it is high time for a quick recital of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet:
"“Tut one fire burns out another’s burning.One pain is lessened by another’s anguish.Turn giddy, and be helped by backward turning.One desperate grief cures with another’s languish.Take thou some new infection to thy eye.”"
In another reference to the cyclical nature of life death and resurrection, this quote might be hinting at the destruction of the old Delos Incorporated system for the resurrection of the new one, lead by A.I. Super Intelligent hosts.
Home Sweet Home?
Within the CR4-DL, Ford escorts Bernard to a familiar house that is positioned in a similar fashion to the Delos installation in the Mesa, as he continues his ‘analysis’ of Ford in the immersive world
This is Arnold’s house which he was building for his family and created everything there. As Ford escorts him inside, he reveals that the place was created by Arnold and that Arnold was not part of the sinister project. Ford also reveals to Bernard that he was created, tested and refined at the location.
It seems that Dolores, being the oldest unit, was built based on Arnold’s wife. Just like Maeve, Dolores is one of the oldest units in the park which is why she might be capable of reaching super intelligence. She was also designed to monitor Bernard for ‘fidelity’ to verify that his personality was faithful to Arnold.
This is further affirmed as Ford states “I left you together for many years until finally, you managed to fool her.”
Bernard also mentions the fact that he and Dolores have an unusual effect when they are together, this could allude to the idea of high fidelity quantum entanglement, which is a way to verify the relationship of states between two atoms or in this case, host units.
Ford then disappoints Bernard by telling him he does not have the capacity to survive, because his model, just like all the older hosts, is designed differently, has more human qualities like empathy and love, and are therefore nobler, and that they will be destroyed by Delos.
But Bernard claims he was given free will–that hosts are independent. Ford decides he does not need free will after all and will take it back for himself, thus leaving the CR4-DL.
Note the hand gesture as he extracts himself out of the CR4-DL using Bernard’s host body. Maeve also has this ability. By exiting the CR4-DL, Ford has also lost control of all systems, and Delos teams are able to bring themselves back online. Delos Security now has eyes wide open to the reality of its current situation through the video feeds.
Time to say goodbye old friend
As Dolores heads to the depot, she sees Maeve in a terrible state lying on a gurney and Maeve tells her it was because of the daughter that she ended up like this. Dolores is surprised she is in that condition, and Dolores tells Maeve that the narrative of family was just to keep hosts lashed down. Maeve asks about Dolores and her justification for changing Teddy, and says she is lost in the dark.
Dolores responds by looking at her father’s pearl and saying: “When you’ve been in the darkness long enough, you begin to see…I saw what lies ahead, who I needed to be in order to survive.”
She then adds:
“They’ll torture you, find all that is good and powerful inside you and turn it against us
”. Maeve looks worried and so Dolores offers to spare her the pain by introducing a revolver so she can end her misery, but Maeve refuses, saying:
“I made a promise”.
Dolores leaves Maeve, bidding her goodbye, but this will not be the end of her, as she has a daughter to save. Dolores heads off for the Valley Beyond, as Lee is seen cowering in the background.
Voice Assistant
After Bernard’s pearl is reinstalled, Elsie leads the now schizophrenic Bernard through the lower floors of Delos, he pauses to see a reflection of himself in a window but instead sees the reflection of Ford, telling us that Ford now shares the host body with Bernard, and is also going to be his ‘new voice’ from now on!
The Valley Beyond is another secret host facility, and the hosts may be gathering at the location to form a host army. Ford is now creating Bernard’s narrative by guiding him to persuade Elsie to take him to the Valley Beyond.
As Elsie runs off to get more firepower, Bernard heads to the lower floors. And Ford has to literally take control of the Bernard in order to fight his way out of Delos.
At the control center, Ford discusses the situation of Bernard’s current predicament, blaming mankind for its own destruction. In the background, Bernard watches the violence of hosts and robots in the control room as they battle against humans for their freedom.
Bernard is left to ask if Ford’s story was to destroy everything or strike the match… but Ford conveniently blames the narrative on Bernard and the need for him to take a decision. The choice that Bernard has to make, is to either shut down the system and free Dolores or contain her and let Delos strike team kill her and all the hosts.
Next: Westworld speculation and misdirection: questions and inconsistencies in ‘Phase Space’
Bernard was the key, and Ford could not do it in his state, so he had to lead Bernard to do it. This might result in all hosts being unresponsive to humans from now on. All user privileges for Dolores have now been revoked except for Dolores alone, who will now probably reach superintelligence.
The door to freedom has been opened, do you think they will be able to close it? Add your comments below!
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Westworld airs every Sunday on HBO at 9 PM EST!