Every episode of Westworld season 2 ranked worst to first

5. Episode 207, “Les Écorchés”

The back half of season 2 was chockfull of fantastic episodes, with “Les Écorchés” being no exception. Right at the start, we see Charlotte Hale and her team discover that Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) is actually a host. Then Dr. Ford explains how the Cradle and the Forge work and why they exist. To top it all off, Dolores and her gang ram the Mesa with a speeding train and blow up all their backups. It’s an eventful hour.

Elsewhere, Lawrence is killed and Maeve gets shot and taken back to the Mesa, and the Man in Black suffers multiple bullet wounds without being killed…it’s almost like he’s a host or something.

Dolores blowing up the cradle is key, because now, if a host dies, they die for good. The game has stakes. Except before that, Dolores took her father’s control unit, which has a lot of proprietary Delos code in it, and will eventually use it to create new hosts in the outside world.

Confused yet? That’s an ongoing problem in season 2. Regardless, this episode is entertaining from top to bottom.

4. Episode 209, “Vanishing Point”

“Vanishing Point” is a pivotal episode. We finally meet Juliet (Sela Ward), the Man in Black’s wife, and learn what drove her to take her own life. This is hugely important to understanding the Man in Black — it’s his cornerstone moment when he is rebuilt as a host — his relationship with his daughter Grace, and why he takes the drastic steps he steps.

And by “drastic steps,” we mean who shoots and kills Grace, thinking she’s a host. The Man in Black is irredeemable, but it’s great that he arrives at the point of no return in the same episode where he gets fleshed out as a character.

The theme of suicide runs through this episode, as Teddy also takes his own life. The Man in Black and his family are the stars of this hour, but seeing Dolores’ decision to augment Teddy double back on her is still heartbreaking.