With this week’s episode of Westworld, episode 3 of season 1, we’ve been given new glimpses and insights as to the feud and the war that is going on inside and outside of Westworld. We see the war between the two halves of Machiavelli’s The Prince even more pronounced and more well defined than ever before. But first, let’s talk through the revelations of this week’s episode. It goes without saying that everything about this post is spoiler filled for those who haven’t seen episode 3. You’ve been warned.
Episode 3 Revelations
This week we are finally getting our new story line from Dr. Ford. The story line features a new character named Wyatt that was a military officer who apparently went rogue and said that he had heard from God. Teddy used to report to Wyatt, and he is the only one that has ever survived an encounter with the man. The most important bit for Teddy is that we learn that Teddy never had a backstory before. His only job was to keep Dolores on script. So when Teddy goes off in search of Wyatt it is a personal vendetta he has to undertake in order to clear his conscience. It is the only thing now remaining for Teddy to do in order to take Dolores south and leave all this and live a life alone with Dolores which is what she wants above all else.
Another thread involves the Delos technician Elsie and the security Stubbs head into the park in order to find an aberrant woodcutter that has gone off script and is missing. The two of them find the woodcutter’s counterparts, but more importantly, they find a map that the cutter had been carving in the figurines he had made. Eventually Elsie and Stubbs track the woodcutter down, and he is stuck in a crevasse. Stubbs begins cutting his head off (to retrieve something from his brain, his blackbox?) when the woodcutter wakes back up and begins attacking Stubbs and Elsie. And just before the woodcutter bludgeons Elsie with a boulder he smashes his own head in.
But possibly one of the most interesting discussions in episode 3 definitely involved Dr. Ford and Bernard. Bernard mentioned that some of the aberrant hosts were talking to someone, and they were all talking to the same someone named Arnold. Dr. Ford mentioned that Arnold was his partner during the original development of Westworld. They spent 3 years just creating and developing the hosts and delving into making them more and more life like.
Arnold though, was attempting to create consciousness within the hosts. Arnold had had a difficult life marked by tragedy, and so he had begun to pour more and more of his life into these hosts. He saw, theoretically, consciousness as a pyramid. It began with
- Memory
- Improvisation
- Self Interest
- And something else…
Arnold wasn’t sure what that final component should be. But he guessed that it involved something to do with the Bicameral Mind. If you want to learn more about the Bicameral Mind you can do so here. Basically the thought is that the mind is split in two, one side speaks and the other section acts. (Yes, I know, I just butchered the theory… read it yourself, create your own synopsis, comment below, and I’ll add it here. Promise.) So Bicameralism… big deal. But mainly, the take away here is that Arnold was actively trying to create free-thinking and conscious minds within the hosts. And the voice of the mind within the Bicameral theory was the voice of the gods. But Arnold had an accident. He died in the park. Delos called it an accident. But Arnold was a very careful individual, so Dr. Ford was obviously doubtful that it was actually an accident. (We’ll talk more about this below.)
But the biggest leap forward was in Dolores’ loop. Bernard gives Dolores a book – oh, not a very important book at all – just Alice in Wonderland. And Bernard asks Dolores to read the following quote:
“‘Dear, dear! How queer everything is to-day! And yesterday things went on just as usual. I wonder if I’ve been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I’m not the same, the next question is, Who in the world am I?”
And we see immediately that regularly Bernard has been giving Dolores many different books to read. And all of them deal with change says Dolores. But what is Bernard doing? And why? He is conflicted about switching off her consciousness and flipping her back to the original Dolores she was intended to be. But when Bernard talks with his wife (that is his wife, yes? ex-wife?) they discuss their son Charlie, and his untimely death. And when Bernard’s wife asks him, “Do you wish you could ever forget?” Bernard responds with the most Machiavellian response of all “This pain is all I have left of him.” Why Machiavelli? We’ll get to that. Trust me.
Soon after, we see that Teddy is off tracking down Wyatt, and now Dolores is off on her own. She not only is becoming sentient, but she is also getting her memory back, memory of a million loops in the park. Loops that tell her what is about to happen next. Which basically makes her a super hero, a super hero with the ability to evade and to outwit the hosts that are stuck in this loop. Right? In the valley of the blind, a one eyed man is king.
And finally, we see that Teddy has ended up tracking Wyatt down. And all of the sudden Westworld has gone fullon LOST on us. Because either Wyatt has learned how to invoke demons and hellspawn, or the hosts have gotten all kinds of supernatural on us all.
New Things We Learned in Westworld Episode 3
There were so many big things that happened this week… and yet, they may have not hit your radar. But the most important question discussed at length would be:
IS BLISSFUL IGNORANCE BETTER THAN THE TRUTH?
This seems like a simple truth, but it actually isn’t. Is it better to be fat dumb and happy, sitting on your couch, plugged into your hologram virtual reality set, than it is to wander outside and see the pain, and the suffering going on all around you? Is it better to be buried in riches and ignorant of the pain just outside your door? Or is it better to go out, immerse yourself in the chaos and suffering than it is to avoid it?
Before you decide for yourself, flip back through your leisure time for the past month, and tell me what you generally did in actuality? The obvious, and morally right, answer is of course to know the truth. And yet, we all live lives that deny the pain that is all around us in the world. And that is what we are seeing Bernard sort of deal with as he determines whether or not he should flip Dolores back to what she was before, an unwitting, and ignorant robot that is unaware of how she is beaten, raped, broken, each and every day. Right?
But more importantly than all of that, I am now clear that Dr. Ford is God and Bernard is the Devil. Or actually Bernard is God and Dr. Ford is the devil. One or the other. Not exactly sure exactly how it goes. But I’m sure I’m right on one of those two points. And some people are making much ado about the fact that they think Bernard is an Android… and I don’t think it much matters either way. If Bernard is an Android fighting for consciousness amongst his brethren, then that brings one hero spin to the tail. If he is human, than he is the benevolent demi-god that has breathed life into us Androids and truly is the god figure of this show.
Current Westworld Theories
So many theories for this show are created and abandoned ad hoc that I can’t even keep straight all the theories I’ve thrown at you all so far. But personally, as of right now, I definitely see this show as a fullon war and struggle between Dr. Ford and Benjamin. Remember back in LOST when the two brothers, Jacob & the Man in Black (Oh, I know, it wasn’t the first time that thought crossed my mind), were pitted against each other in order to make it off the island? Well, I believe something similar is happening here. Robert Ford is battling with Bernard Lowe for all that is good and holy. Androids are simply stand ins for humans. Humans are stand ins for gods. And the struggle between the gods and the humans is just a picture of the struggle that humans have been trying to understand for millennia.
I also believe that Delos will become the real battleground. That as the new adventure that Ford has created for the guest starts to speak of the supernatural, they will find ways to expand the battle out into the real world. That the discussion of right and wrong, good and evil will take place in both the westworld backlot as well as throughout the Delos office spaces, etc. I do believe that the Man in Black will turn out to be the savior of the Androids as he searches for the deeper experiences and the deeper truths of the park. The Man in Black will become the one man that is really able to step in and intervene and save the androids. I believe he will also mobilize the shelved hosts and bring them to fight a final struggle against the Delos corporation.
Westworld Season 1 Episode 3 Conclusions
It was an awesome episode that spells the beginning of the end of Westworld I do believe. Dolores is seeing the loops and the memories for what they are. She is navigating them and saving herself by using her memory of each one. I also am looking forward to learning more about the new storyline that Dr. Ford has created for the visitors of Westword, because I believe that ultimately it will be a supernatural hunt of some sort or another. See you all next time with Episode 4!
| Interested in reading all of my Westworld episode recaps so far? You got it: |
| Episode 1 – The Original |
| Episode 2 – Chestnut |
| Episode 3 – The Stray |
| Episode 4 – Dissonance Theory |
| Episode 5 – Contrapasso |
| Episode 6 – The Adversary |
| Episode 7 – Trompe L’Oeil |
| Episode 8 – Trace Decay |
| Episode 9 – The Well-Tempered Clavier |
| Episode 10 – The Bicameral Mind |
| Complete Season Decontruction |