Westworld writer and co-creator Jonathan Nolan, like his older brother
Christopher, clearly has a thing for layers within layers. Since their film Inception, directed and
co-written by Christopher Nolan and co-written by Jonathan, it's become almost
a running joke about the duo's mind-bending film about dreams-within-a-dream:
Does this even make sense? And does anyone really care if it does or not?
Those are definitely the questions that began to
flood my mind watching Episode 9 of Westworld last night, the second episode post-revelation that Bernard was a
Host all along, information that perhaps devastatingly undercut his motivations
in interrogating Dolores. If Bernard himself is doing Ford's bidding, then why
is Ford bothering to question Dolores in the first place? That revelation left
a gaping hole in the show, not to mention the increasing number of
inconsistencies when it comes to Will and the Man in Black traipsing through
Westworld in increasing amounts of danger without any of the park's security
forces being concerned for their well-being (Are there laws in the future?
Would it matter if they suddenly died in the park? And if Dolores is acting all
renegade and crazy, why hasn't anyone other than Will noticed or tried to stop
her?).
Indeed, there were a number of issues I had with Westworld going
into this episode, and although I can't say that what we learned in this one
turned my doubts about the show's direction around, it did offer some
intriguing possibilities for the season finale. The centerpiece of this episode
was Bernard's showdown with Ford, which involved him having the lobotomized
Clementine hold Ford at gunpoint while he goes back through his memories, both
real and programmed. Unfortunately, little is revealed that we didn't already
know: His son dying, his relationship with (And murder of) Theresa, and finally, his first
moment of awakening, where Ford greets him. Bernard's goal was to recover his
memory of meeting Arnold, the elusive partner of Ford who we learned had been
murdered in the park many years ago. Turns out Bernard is some version of
Arnold, post-murder: Ford had programmed him as a replacement for his dearly
deceased partner in order to keep a hold on running the park. Intriguing as
this may be, it immediately shows the problem created when we learned Bernard
is a Host; that we really can't trust what anyone says. Sure, Ford claims
Bernard is a Host-replacement for Arnold, but when he shows Bernard a photo, we
see Ford, Bernard, and an unidentified third man. Does Bernard look like
Arnold, or is he simply a new body that holds some sort of simulated
"Arnold brain?" Is the unidentified guy Arnold, or is it the guy who
looks like Bernard? In the end, Ford goes on a convoluted speech about how him
being held at gunpoint was really something he had planned for Bernard to do
all along, hoping that Bernard would come around to having his memory wiped
once again and rejoin Ford's efforts in completing his new narrative. Bernard
refuses, so Ford has Bernard shoot himself in the head with Clementine's gun.
Tragic...But wait, can't these Hosts just be repaired on a whim?
That brings us to Maeve, the renegade Host
hell-bent on freeing herself by blackmailing two gullible Westworld technicians
by turning her intelligence and cunning settings up to 11. In Episode 9 she
interrupts a narrative involving her dashing outlaw lover (Another
inconsistency, considering there are no actual paying customers around to
experience the narrative playing out. I guess those techs just really love
fixing those Hosts over and over!), revealing to him the true nature of his
reality. She claims she can free them both, which for some reason involves them
going into a tent and screwing while Maeve kicks over a lantern, setting the
tent ablaze. Apparently, they want to be all crispy deep fried when they wake
in the real world and escape.
Meanwhile, Dolores has some plans of her own
regarding getting out of Westworld, and Will has fallen head over heels for
her. It's too bad then that his soon to be brother-in-law Logan, back in action
as some sort of Confederate general, learns of Will's desire to see Dolores out
of the park and intervenes. Will, perhaps not acting entirely rationally, kills the entire
Confederate camp serial killer style, and forces Logan to help him find
Dolores. But she's already gone, off to the center of the Maze, which appears
to be a small church. There she enter a confession booth, only to be taken down
to an abandoned hallway full of offline Hosts, finally entering the
interrogation room, and when Bernard enters the room, she greets him as Arnold and claims that she killed him (Cue gasps!).
The intertwining storylines within the episode
makes for compelling viewing, but there all still a lot of unanswered questions
that one would hope to see answered by Episode 10. And on a side note, is that
church really the center of the Maze!? That would be a huge letdown considering
the sizable build-up we've had so far. It looks like we'll have more
information in the 10th episode, as 9 ended with the Man in Black waltzing through the church doors, greeting a justifiably horrified Dolores.
This is a good setup for finally learning about Arnold's intentions for Westworld, which appears to be the Man in Black's motivation for finding the center of the Maze. Bernard reveals that Arnold wrote much of his code (Although how could Arnold have written the code for a future version of himself? Did he know Dolores was going to kill him?), as well as significant amounts of code for all the other Hosts as well. The Maze and this additional code have been linked regarding Arnold's higher purpose for Westworld. But whatever that purpose is, Ford is taking great lengths to see it stopped.
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