What’s going on in Shogun World and the Raj at the end of Westworld season 2?
Westworld season 2 opened new doors and showed what was beyond Westworld by introducing Shogun World and the Raj. Compared to Westworld, both parks were at once starkly different and yet eerily similar.
The Raj was only featured in the opening minutes of “Virtù e Fortuna” while Shogun World played a prominent role in both “Akane No Mai” and “Phase Space.” Despite diving into these rich new worlds, the show returned its focus to Westworld in the final batch of episodes. The current state of affairs is clear in Westworld by the end of the season but remains unclear for the Raj and Shogun World.
With no official confirmation on what’s happening in these parks at the end of the season, let’s speculate on the most likely possibilities using evidence from the show.
All the hosts are dead (for now)
After watching Charlotte Hale shoot Elsie in cold blood in the season 2 finale “The Passenger“, Bernard says to himself, “I’m sorry. I should have listened. And now all the hosts are gone.”
Shortly after this, when Bernard thinks he’s speaking with Ford’s consciousness–but in reality is communicating with his inner voice–Ford says, “Here you are…the last of your kind.”
That Bernard is at that moment the only living host seems true for the hosts of Westworld. At that moment, many of the hosts still living at the beginning of”The Passenger” had passed over into the Valley Beyond through the Door such as Akecheta and Maeve’s daughter. Others like Maeve herself were killed by Delos security or through the “virus” spread by Clementine. That left only Dolores and Bernard, and Bernard had killed Dolores.
The problem with Bernard thinking he’s the last of the hosts at that point is that it doesn’t account for the hosts in Shogun World, the Raj, and the other parks. It is possible that Delos wiped out the surviving hosts in the other parks. It seems unlikely, though, given how depleted their manpower and resources were at that stage, during which Karl Strand and his Delos team still hadn’t arrived.
Free from Delos
While Westworld may be under Delos control at the end of the season, Shogun World, the Raj, and the other parks may remain free.
One advantage Delos had in Westworld that they didn’t have in the other parks was that almost all the hosts were concentrated in one area. With the surviving hosts grouped together as they attempted to pass through the Door into the Valley Beyond, Delos was able to wipe them out in one fell swoop, barring those who made it through the Door.
With surviving hosts spread out in Shogun World and the Raj, it would be much more difficult to terminate them all at once.
Westworld was “ground zero” for the host uprising. That plus the fact that the Forge was in Westworld made it more of a priority for Delos to retake control of than the other parks.
It is most likely that Delos still needs to reclaim control of Shogun World and the Raj and all other parks as well. It will be intriguing to see if this becomes a plot point in season 3, especially in Shogun World where audiences became attached to established characters like Akane and Musashi.
Perhaps Maeve will team up with her Shogun World friends again after she is inevitably revived by Felix and Sylvester.
What are your thoughts on the other parks in Westworld? Share your thoughts below!