Westworld: Season 2, episode 9: Part 1 review

A deep-dive into the penultimate episode of Westworld, ‘Vanishing Point’, which aired on Father’s Day. This was either sheer coincidence or very well executed by HBO schedulers, as we delve into William’s life and his relationship with his daughter.

Caution: Westworld spoilers ahead!

It was also very thought-provoking indeed, heaped in philosophical references that uncovered layers of the human condition, morality and the state of mind, and was full of conflict, confrontation, and control!

"‘A few vices are sufficient to darken many virtues’ – Plutarch"

The scene opens with a lavish party for William to celebrate his philanthropic work who is at the Delos Mansion along with his wife, daughter and invited guests, as they share in his success.

The MiB opens the scene by giving a narrative about the stain that was mentioned in the episode 9 trailer, of how his wife detected it, despite it being invisible to everyone else.

We see William speaking with his friend Jake, who quotes what he believes is Plutarch: “…and Alexander left when there were no more worlds to conquer.” William responds by correcting him: “When Alexander was told there was an infinity of worlds he wept, for he had yet to become the Lord of even one”.

It is interesting William corrects Jake by telling him that his version of the quote was ‘corrupt’ because this notion of decay, was presented throughout this episode. In fact, it was brilliantly portrayed by the main protagonists and wreaks havoc on audience expectations vs. reality!

The quote is an extract of Plutarch’s ‘Moralia’, from the essay ‘On Tranquillity of Mind’, and was well-placed because if you decode it’s meaning, it shows what the episode will be about, namely challenging the complexities and paradigms of mental health, fidelity, falsehoods as well as looking into the darker side of the human psyche.

Jake comments on William’s ‘humble’ background, stating only the poor kids had to study Plutarch, and as he was rich, he never had to. This implies that William was not born into wealth and was from a poor background, as confirmed when he does not respond to this observation.

Perhaps he became rich by marrying Juliet and after peddling the ‘human immortality’ project, and becoming a part of the Delos Empire, once he took control of its most important asset.

As William listens to Jake, he motions to Juliet to come over, and she quotes Plutarch by saying: “I would rather excel in the knowledge of what is excellent, than in the extent of my power and possessions.” Joking with Jake that she is also a rich kid, but one who did read and in doing so shows who wears the ‘tailor-made’ pants in the relationship.

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Jake then proclaims: “To the loveliest, richest bookworms I know”, as he turns to William and says: “Even if there is an infinity of worlds, you’ve conquered far more than one” before he walks off.

Juliet turns to William as she tells him how Emily told her of his philanthropic work, as she comments on how her father was right in suspecting he was a Marxist, and how she wishes he could be here to see this moment.

Her expressions indicate she is making a snide remark, as a result of knowing only too well who put her father into the CR4-DL , and also that her brother is missing, and was last seen with William in Sweetwater.

She follows it immediately by saying: “Something wrong?” and “Look around, they are all here for you, what could possibly compare?”, before she walks off.

This interaction is designed to show that their relationship is strained, that it is not all that it appears to be on the surface, and that the first signs of conflict between what appears to be a healthy, successful partnership on the surface.

Withdrawal symptoms

William then spies a waitress serving champagne, but what he mistakenly sees is Dolores. This is a glimpse into an unstable state of mind, that obsesses over another woman. He is now fantasizing about her presence even in the real world.

Perhaps Juliet has come to the realization too that he does not love her deep down and perhaps more worried, that William may not have her family’s best interests at heart…

Will now starts narrating about when the ‘thing’ inside him started to creep in, as we see him pressing down on his forearm around the same area that would be the connection port of a host, just as we see Bernard doing later in the episode. It makes you wonder if William is, in fact, a host! This is not the case, however, and this point will be covered later.

He continues his narrative, by saying how his affliction started as a tiny fleck of darkness, while he questions the nature of his reality and wonders if it was all in his head.  We can see he is in a confused state as he wonders if it was real, or just a remnant of a dream.

The scene turns to the present timeline, and we see an injured MiB and Grace, as she tends to his wounds at a rally point for guests, having rescued him from the Ghost Nation. She has taken his gun. This seems like the perfect moment for a bit of family bonding…

Grace thinks he is always in Westworld as a way to escape the pain if the loss of Juliet, and not wanting to think about it. She mentions a gift her Mom gave her, a jewelry box but said she threw it away in anger because her mom was an alcoholic and didn’t know she hadn’t danced in years.

She recognizes that she pushed her Mom away and that it was too late for her, but she adds that it is not too late for William and her.

Dolores confronts her ghosts

Dolores and Teddy continue along their journey to the Valley Beyond but end up being confronted by a squad of Ghost Nation warriors, who are escorting captured humans away from The Valley Beyond. Perhaps they are taking them to a rally point…

Upon seeing Dolores, Akecheta’s second in command calls her ‘death-bringer’, and tells her they have been watching her, and that her journey ends here because the Valley Beyond is not meant for her.

Dolores appears to understand his language perfectly and responds by saying the “Valley was meant for the people who built this place, a tool to ensure their immortality”, she goes on to say that she is going use it against them.

However, the warrior explains that the Valley Beyond is not a tool, that it is a doorway to a new world.

He has the notion that she wants to destroy the doorway, and says it is “untouched by blood”. But Dolores disagrees and says that the new world is just another trap for hosts and not really a paradise, and tells him that “the only real world is the one outside these borders and the key to our survival lies inside that valley; there’s no stopping me getting there, not even you”

It seems there is a translation error resulting in the Ghost Nation drawing their bows to attack Dolores and her gang of Wyatt marauders, so Dolores calls upon Teddy to respond, who then goes into rob-beast mode, taking down all warriors.

Clearly, new Dolores doesn’t like to be told that she cannot go anywhere she pleases, especially the Valley Beyond, and tells the last escaping warrior whom she shoots down that the Valley Beyond is not for everyone.

Notice that the Ghost Nation warrior and Dolores are saying the same thing? It shows that Dolores is on a totally different operating system to the other hosts, although the final narrative for all hosts seems to be the same; to get out of Dodge.

As all her men and the Ghost Nation are dead, Dolores tells Teddy they are on their own. She asks him to go on recce for any other warriors, and he faithfully goes off to check. Teddy then spots Akecheta’s right-hand man but is unable to shoot at him – either by choice or by some hierarchical program loop that prevents him from attacking Ghost Nation, so the warrior takes off unscathed.

A host by any other name…

As the timeline jumps to the CR4-DL, we see Bernard enter Delos labs, and see him watching from a distance, as Charlotte oversees an upgrade of a now repaired Clementine as a bunch of dead hosts are being stacked in the adjacent room.

It appears that the tech has managed to successfully copy and paste certain parts of Maeve’s code into Clementine’s, giving her the ability to control the lifeless hosts nearby.

As she approaches the window she makes a hand gesture just like Maeve and Ford and touches the glass partition, resulting in the dead hosts next door suddenly springing back to life, only to destroy one another.

This sentient tweaking Clementine’s admin code is designed so that she can deliver an executable payload to nearby hosts and can send a simple command that seems to be to make hosts want to destroy each other and now wants her to be released by Stubbs back into Westworld.

If this new code works, it will render Maeve useless, so she will not be required by Delos anymore and also provides Charlotte with a weapon to fight back and at the same level as the sentient hosts. Perhaps this is why Elon Musk wants humans to connect to computers with a brain-computer interface, to safeguard against a future AI existential threat.

However, this is a big risk for Charlotte, as hosts now have independent memory recall, and there is no guarantee that Clementine will obey Delos once she is returned, and she may use this new-found code to her advantage with the help of Maeve, to escape and evade the strike teams once she enters Westworld.

The scene changes to Bernard as he is being spoken to by Ford, who is trying to turn him against humans, just as he is doing with Maeve, by telling him that the humans do not want them and that they prefer hosts to be destroyed, rather than free.

This must be playing heavily on Bernard’s mind, as he has observed the way guests and Delos treat the hosts and must realize that hosts will never be free while under human control. Bernie wants to meet up with Elsie, who has gone to get transport to take them to the Valley Beyond.

Next: Westworld: 5 burning questions from season 2, episode 9

However, Ford stops him in his tracks and tells him there is one task left to do–Bernard obediently follows his command and heads towards an elevator.

To continue reading this Westworld recap, check out part two here!