The Westworld second season finale starts with Bernard asking the same question that viewers all over the world have been asking for two seasons straight, “Is this now?”
In this Westworld episode, Bernard is in the middle of a fidelity test conducted by Dolores in her denim dress. When the episode first aired it was likely to assume that this was a look at Dolores configuring Bernard the very first time that Ford attempted to duplicate Arnold.
Ford had recently revealed that Dolores helped in fleshing out Bernard as she knew Arnold well. Dolores’ infamous dress dates the scene and makes it seem as if this happened before the Wyatt program took over and she started walking around with a white sleeveless shirt with a bullet belt. But what if this wasn’t a scene from the past? What if this scene actually takes place at the end of this episode?
At the end of the “The Passenger,” Dolores escapes Westworld in a Charlotte Hale host and takes several control units with her that includes Bernard. She then reconstructs Bernards body in Arnold’s old home and configures Bernard the same way she did when he was first created.
At the very end of the finale, Dolores is back in her infamous denim dress having a similar conversation with Bernard, that also starts off with Bernard asking is this now. So, it’s possible that the beginning of this episode is from Bernard and Dolores in the present real world.
Dolores answers Bernard’s initial question with the following:
"This is a Test.One we’ve done countless times before.You’re almost the man I remember.But there are flaws.A word, a gesture…tiny fracture that grows into a chasm.But I wonder.All these tiny imperfections in each copy.Mistakes.Maybe we should change you.After all, you didn’t make it, did you?"
What’s interesting about Dolores’ reflection is that she knows that Bernard is not quite ready because there are mistakes but she is considering keeping him as is. This is their 11,927th attempt, and Dolores is probably just tired, but what she seems to find appealing is who Bernard would become should she leave the imperfections.
Now, what if Dolores did leave a tiny flaw? Would Bernard still be the same? If Dolores changes Bernard during the fidelity process, then the Bernard we’ve come to know in the first two seasons could be a thing of the past. This new Bernard could be a person drastically different, or maybe he would appear to be precisely the same with the differences humming right beneath the surface.
Bernard is virtuous and honest, and these attributes could block his success in dealing with untrustworthy people. Robert Ford stuck around after his death to guide Bernard just because he knew Bernard’s innocence could lead to a quick end. But what if Bernard had the added benefit of a drop of aggressiveness? He could be the homely character we’ve come to love but with a lot more moxie.
There’s no way to know when this scene took place. Even if this is Dolores calibrating the new Bernard, she could have just been talking out loud with no intention of following through. In which case, she would have completed testing and released a copy of Bernard much like the one that we’ve seen before.
But wouldn’t it be interesting if Dolores fudged Bernard’s test to create a whole new opponent for season 3? What do you think? Tell us below in the comments or on our Twitter, @BeyondWestworld.