Westworld season 2, Episode 9 recap: “Vanishing Point”
Tonight’s episode of Westworld revealed the full tragic backstory of the Man in Black (Ed Harris), telling us what drove his wife Juliet (Sela Ward) to commit suicide, and what his daughter Emily (Katja Herbers) is really doing in the park. Meanwhile, Maeve (Thandie Newton) gets a final gift from Dr. Ford, Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) and Elsie part ways, and Teddy (James Marsden) chooses his own path, leaving Dolores speechless. There’s a lot to unpack. Let’s bring ourselves back online.
The sad story of William
“Vanishing Point” finally gave us a look at what William’s life was like in the real world, where’d he’d taken over the Delos corporation and started a family. He’s living large, with lots of money and people honoring him for his philanthropic endeavors, but behind closed doors, his wife is an addict and a drunk, and his daughter was considering having her involuntarily committed.
During that party, which William is very clearly not enjoying, he runs into Dr. Ford (Anthony Hopkins) at the bar. Ford passes him a memory drive filled with all the horrible deeds William has committed in Westworld as the Man in Black. And he’s been returning there for years and years, so there’s probably vile stuff we haven’t even dreamt of.
William isn’t amused. He thinks Ford is threatening to reveal the existence of Delos’ secret project — what we now know is the Forge — and tells him he’s done playing his games. He leaves, and Ford mutters a TV rejoinder. “No, William, I think perhaps one final game.”
William takes Juliet home. She is drunk, and tears into him for letting his dark vibes ruin her family slowly over time. “First my father, then my brother, and now it’s me!”
Emily walks in during the argument and defends her father. She tells Juliet she’s going to have to have her committed again, but Juliet refuses to ever go back to rehab.
William finally gets his wife upstairs, and as he’s putting her to bed, Juliet asks him to tell her one true thing. Thinking she has passed out, William lets it all hang out. He tells her that she was right: he never belonged to her, or to the real world, and that there was something dark inside him only she could see. He takes the memory disk and hides it in a book, then goes downstairs to console his daughter.
While William and Emily talk downstairs, Juliet, who heard everything William had to say, finds Ford’s disk and sees all the unspeakable things her husband did as the Man in Black. Reaching into her drawer, Juliet retrieves a music box with a pop-up ballerina — a present she’d gotten for Emily years ago — and places the disk in the box, knowing her daughter will eventually find it.
Downstairs, William and Emily notice water dripping from the ceiling. William runs upstairs and finds his wife in an overflowing bathtub, her face pale dead.
Jumping ahead in time and elsewhere in space, Emily has rescued her father from the Ghost Nation tribe and is nursing him back to health. She’s taken him to one of the many aid stations hidden throughout Westworld so humans can patch themselves up or call for help. The Man in Black realizes Emily has notified Delos of his location, and he’s not pleased about it.
At first, Emily seems genuinely worried for her father’s safety, but after much prodding from MIB, she lets him know she wants in on Delos’ top secret project. She says her uncle Logan told her all about it, and she wants her father to make her a partner. MIB doesn’t like this side of his daughter, and begins to believe she’s a host being controlled by Ford.
Emily insists that while she isn’t a host, she is willing to reveal Delos’ secret to the world, and then have William committed just like they were going to do to Juliet. She saw Ford’s disc, she reveals, the one showing all of William’s dirty deeds. This sends MIB over the edge, as he believes there’s no way she could have that information.
Once the Delos QA team arrives, they check both MIB and Emily to see that they’re human, but MIB thinks this is part of Ford’s game, grabs a gun and kills all the QA guys. Finally, as he has the gun trained on Emily, he tells her he believes she’s a host, and shoots her. As he’s about to cut her arm open to prove she’s a host, he sees the QA team scanner that reads “human.”
The Man in Black has just murdered his daughter. It’s the first of the episode’s huge shockers.
When last we see MIB, he’s riding for the Door. He slumps off his horse and pulls out his gun, pointing it at his own head. Then, remembering all the times he said he wasn’t following his own path, he removes his jacket, grabs his knife, rolls up his sleeve, and begins to cut through his skin looking for proof that he’s a host, or that he’s not one. These are dark times for William.
We don’t see what he finds. At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if the current MIB was a host created after the actual Williams died, but I hope not. If Emily really is dead, I want him to reckon with that responsibility, and with the responsibility for all the other rotten choices he’s made during his life.
How Maeve cheated death to become to the robot messiah
We didn’t get to see much of Maeve (Thandie Newton) this week, but we did learn what her role will be when it comes to helping the hosts find freedom from their narratives.
For most of “Vanishing Point,” Maeve is the unwilling test subject for that creepy Delos technician who flayed the skin from her collarbone and arm. She’s been suffering for the past weeks, and it’s a gruesome sight. As it turns out, creepy tech guy has figured out how to take Maeve’s special Jedi mind powers and upload them into other hosts. Charlotte Hale (Tessa Thompson) has him upload the code into Clementine (Angela Sarafyan), who then uses those powers to mindfuck an entire room of hosts into killing each other. Charlotte is pleased, and tells creepy tech guy to kill Maeve.
Bernard (Jeffrey Wright), recently arrived back to the Mesa with Elsie Hughes (Shannon Woodward), witnesses Hale’s little experiment with Clementine. Shouldn’t someone on the QA team notice him? Or did they already know he was back? Because we’re not in the Present Timeline where they know he’s a host yet…Whatever. Bernard sees Clementine make hosts commit murder with her mind; let’s leave it at that.
Bernard is trying to get back to Elsie in the garage, but Dr. Ford (who is still riding around in Bernard’s head, in case you forgot) has one final stop to make. Under Ford’s instructions, Bernard walks up to the room where Maeve is strapped to a table, about to be put to death. However, his access codes no longer work, so he can’t get in and set her free. However, Ford tells him he’s gotten close enough, because Maeve can read his mind and she knows Dr. Ford is there.
Manifesting himself to Maeve, Ford talks about his creations, what he imagined for them, and how they’d surprised him. He also confirms that it was he who wrote the code that was supposed to make Maeve get on the train and leave the park in the season 1 finale. Ford respects Maeve for making a decision for herself to find her child, and tells her she is truly free. Also, she’s his favorite. Aw.
He bends down and kisses Maeve’s forehead, and a Delos computer pad lights up. Maeve now has access to all permissions. Ford basically gave Maeve the key to Westworld. #ThoughtsAndPrayers4CreepyTechGuy
WTF Bernard, I thought I could trust you!
Bernard finally gets to the garage, and he and Elsie head toward the Valley Beyond/Door/Forge/Glory/you-know-what-I’m-talking-about. Along the way, they come across a bunch of dead QA guys, and Elsie stops to loot the dead for guns and ammo. While she’s doing that, Dr. Ford does his best Hannibal Lector and tells Bernard to kill Elsie because she’ll turn on him.
Bernard realizes he’s holding a gun, and knowing that Ford can take over his body at any time, he chucks it as far away as he can, climbs into the dune buggy, zip ties himself to the steering wheel, and tries and install virus protection software on himself. “Get out of my fucking head!” he actually says. Ford appears in the back seat and tells Bernard resistance is futile, and indeed, Bernard seems unable to isolate the Ford code and delete it. And since next week’s finale is titled “The Passenger”…
Elsie returns to the buggy with an armload full of guns, takes in Bernard’s whole situation, and asks him what the hell he’s been doing. Bernard doesn’t kill her, but does drive away without her, hurting her feelings but assuring her she can do as she pleases with him later.
Here’s the thing: Why would you ever trust the robot that tried to kill you once before, and has been acting super-sketchy ever since you reunited with him? Really, Elsie should have put a bullet in Bernard’s brain unit when she had a chance. Although I’m glad she didn’t, because Bernard is one of my favorite characters.
Teddy, you poor romantic bastard
Earlier in the episode, we saw Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) and Teddy (James Marsden), along with their army, battle members of the Ghost Nation tribe trying to stop Dolores from reaching the Valley Beyond. Dolores has Teddy dispatch the Ghost Nation members, but her entire army falls, leaving only her and Teddy. We also see Dolores kill the Ghost Nation warrior whose brain unit we saw removed back in the season premiere.
Dolores and Teddy continue their trek. When they come across an abandoned building, Teddy dismounts and walks through the place, stopping at the back so he can look at the mountain range beyond. He’s “just taking in the natural splendor,” which is what Dolores used to say. Teddy’s feeling wistful.
Dolores notices Teddy is acting odd, but listens anyway. He reminisces about how in love they used to be. Dolores replies that they still are, but Teddy has clearly been thinking things over. He tells her he’d do anything to protect her, despite how she forced him to change. He would even die for her. He draws his pistol, which Dolores takes as a threat…but it’s not.
Telling Dolores he can no longer protect her, Teddy puts the gun to his head and pulls the trigger. The look on Dolores’ face is one we’ve only seen once this season, when she was forced to put her own father down. And remember: with the Cradle destroyed, Teddy can’t be brought back. It’s a heartbreaking moment, and the final big shocker of the night.
Evan Rachel Wood deserves a ton of credit here, because in a season where she’s had to play a murderous robot devoid of feelings (for the most part), she’s still managed to make Dolores’ emotional life plain. Her performance in the final scene makes the episode.
This was another fantastic episode of Westworld. I can only imagine what’s in store for the season 2 finale.
Next: Watch the trailer for the Westworld season 2 finale: “The Passenger”
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