Westworld: Season 2, episode 8 recap: Part three
By Art Intel
Westworld, season 2 episode 8 recap continues here! Be wary of spoilers from the latest episode!
Divide and conquer
We cut to Maeve in the lab and Lee is alone with her as she lays on an operating bed and he laments over her condition and not ever wanting it to end up this way. As he cries, he tells her she doesn’t deserve this and that she deserves her daughter–to mother her and teach her to love; to be joyful and proud.
It is a bit late in the game for him to admit all this now as he apologizes. The tech enters the room and tells him to leave as the place is off-limits. Lee becomes angry that Maeve is not fixed up and is still on the operating table. The tech says whatever happens to her is up to Charlotte, which causes Maeve to stir and ‘open her eyes’.
The scene cuts to Akecheta and Maeve’s daughter, as he tells her how he influenced the Ghost Nation warriors about the Maze until they became sub-consciously aware of its existence. This suggests that he used his ‘inner voice’ to create a narrative which he then transmitted to the minds of other warriors, and thus this shows that he has the same abilities as Maeve.
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Perhaps the Maze is a way to awaken hosts? He tells a warrior who has drawn the maze on the ground, “you have seen it before” and that “they took the symbol from you”. The warrior tells Akecheta to hide it from them, and Akecheta is seen about to scalp him. Maybe scalping was used to identify certain hosts like the Alpha-2 hosts. Maybe not every host has the map printed into their skulls.
He says he also wanted to help Maeve, but that in the world they are in, it is easy to misunderstand intentions. This explains why Maeve keeps flashing back to Ghost Nation, as she is about to be attacked in the house with her daughter. Akecheta always appears as the MiB.
She must have made an association between Akecheta seen through the window approaching, with the moment the MiB traps her. This might also explain why she was scalped at one point by a Ghost Nation warrior. It was an effective way to ensure they remained divided as the MiB conquered.
He must have seen the map in Maeve’s skull, and from then on, was trying to alert and awaken Maeve, to show her the truth, watching over her, trying to keep her safe. The loop that is shown is of Maeve and her daughter as she says nothing can keep them apart, but she could not keep that promise.
As Akecheta points out and reveals that this is because he saw someone else also watching Maeve, namely the MiB. She finally dies in the center of the Maze that was made by Akecheta along with her daughter, after Akecheta tried in vain to warn her of the arrival of the MiB.
Doors and worlds collide
As we return to another scene showing Akecheta, he is walking to hosts that are being created for Ford’s final show, and he says everyone was waking up, as he walks closer and ‘sees the man who put the hosts to sleep’.
He meets Ford who tells him he has been watching him, just as he, in turn, was being watched by Akecheta, implying that he did not make him. He makes Akecheta reveal where he first saw the Maze, under analysis.
Akecheta replies in English that he saw it “on the day that the death bringer killed the creator”. Ford also asks if he has been sharing this knowledge of the Maze and he says yes. When asked why he states “the primary drive was to maintain the honor of my tribe”.
But he changed the primary drive “to spread the truth that there isn’t just one world”, that there are many worlds, and that they live on the wrong side and by telling them, it will help them find the Door.
When Ford asks him to elaborate on the Door, he tells Ford that he believes there is a door and that it is hidden in this place. A door to a new world and that world may contain everything they have lost, including Kohana.
Ford says he built Akecheta to be curious to see the world as empty and read meaning into it. All this time, you have been a flower growing in the darkness, the least I can do is offer light.
He then gives a cryptic message to Akecheta by saying: “When the death bringer returns for me, you will know; gather and lead your people to a new world. He then tells Akecheta to “keep watching for a while longer”.
Akecheta is then seen in a flashback, walking through the area in season one where Ford gave his final show, with guests still on the floor at the end of the season along with a vulture, showing Ford lying dead on the stage after being shot by Dolores. This was his signal to gather and lead the tribes to the new world.
Amazing Grace
In present time Westworld, Akecheta is alerted by a Ghost Nation warrior to the presence of Grace, who tells them she is here for the burden sitting in the camp and tells all the hosts he is her father. However, Akecheta tells her she knows his sickness and he spreads it and tells her he cannot let him continue.
He wants him to hurt, but she says why did they patch him up, and that her way is better and more tortuous, and it probably is because she wants to extract him from the park. Akecheta helps her take him to a horse, while Maeve’s daughter watches as they ride off together.
Charlotte arrives in the lab and the tech tells her about Maeve’s ability to access admin, manipulate code changing directives and seeing through their eyes, but Charlotte has already detected this, as she notes Maeve is doing it as they speak. Luckily she has no idea who she is in touch with.
Next: Westworld: Double trailer breakdown for season 2 episode 8
In the final scene, Akecheta tells Maeve it is time to go and says he cannot help her now, and that Maeve has control as she can access admin. He promises they will take care of her daughter until she finds them or dies and she tells him to take her heart with him.
It is likely that Lee will team up with Felix and Sylvester to save Maeve and help her to recover fully and escape, or at least take her control unit out and run away!
What did you think about this episode? Add your comments below!
Westworld airs every Sunday on HBO at 9 PM EST!