Westworld Woman Crush Wednesday: Elsie Hughes aka Delos’ brilliant programmer
By Ariba Bhuvad
This week’s Westworld Woman Crush Wednesday is celebrating Delos’ resident programmer and genius–Elsie Hughes!
Westworld gave us a gem when it introduced Elsie Hughes back in the pilot episode of the series. Elsie is the programmer for the Delos theme park and was better known as Bernard’s assistant in season 1. She specifically works in the Behavior Lab and Diagnostics and knows the ins and outs of how to manipulate and work with the nuances of the host personalities.
Very quickly, Elsie became a fan favorite and we adored her for her wits, impulsive behavior, and for always being the smartest person in the room. When season 1 ended, fans were left in the dark about Elsie’s fate who Bernard thought he strangled to death. In the penultimate episode, her signal is found in Sector 20 but the season ends without us knowing what happened to her.
Two years and four episodes into season 2, we finally learned of Elsie’s whereabouts. So she would not interrupt Ford’s plans, Bernard had tied her up in a cave in Sector 22. Not only did fans rejoice over her return, but we were reminded why we fell in love with her in the first place.
She is always ready to kick ass and saves the day time and time again with her ability to solve any complications that come her way. Upon her return in season 2, she saves Bernard’s life after she discovers that he’s a host and that without cortical fluid, he would cease to exist.
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In the season 2 finale, she dares to go up against Charlotte Hale and while it results in her untimely death, she went down guns ablazing. Given that Westworld likes to constantly toy with us, we are crossing our fingers for her character to somehow return in season 3.
However, she is human (or at least that’s what we’ve always assumed) and it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibilities that she may have actually died.
Elsie Hughes is one of our favorite female characters of the series, and while her time on the series was too short, she will always be remembered as the badass problem solver and the genius behind the host programming.
What are your favorite Elsie moments from Westworld? Share with us below or on our Twitter, @BeyondWestworld.