Harriet SugarcookieIn episode 4 “Dissonance Theory” Dolores joins William and Logan on their bounty hunt. The Man in Black looks for the next step towards the maze. Dr. Ford and Theresa clash heads about the park. Maeve and Hector discover something interesting. Episode 3 recap can be found here.
Delores and Benard having their talks seems to be the common opening scene in Westworld. In this episode she reveals even more of her self awareness to Bernard by talking about her grief. She tells Bernard “This pain? Their loss. It’s all I have left of them” which echoes his own view on the loss of his son from the previous episode.
Bernard explains to Delores that she needs to find The Maze because it will set her free. We now know that the Man in Black isn’t the only person to know about The Maze. It also hints that The Maze might help robots with self awareness, and creating true artificial intelligence.
Maeve and the memories
The next scene moves us back into Westworld and we watch as Maeve remembers a guest shooting up the saloon before. She remembers being shot and also her clean-up back in the lab. The images of the lab men in their suits disturbs her and she draws a picture of a man in lab gear. Hiding the picture under the floor boards she finds similar drawings already there.
It’s interesting to watch Maeve remember the lab workers, even though she doesn’t understand it. This episode reminds me a lot of the film Memento, interesting because Jonathan Nolan, one of the creators of Westworld, is related to the director of Memento. Maeve probably isn’t going to start tattooing herself though.
The story takes another interesting turn when Maeve sees a Native Indian girl carrying a wooden doll of the lab workers, matching her own drawings of them. It seems she’s not the only one that remembers. Hector informs her that some believe them to be Gods, and that there is a whole religion built on it. It begs the question, are the hosts programmed to be able to create their own religion or is a development they’ve made by themselves? Religion is after all one of the defining points of humans.
Maeve and Hector’s interaction at the end of the episode is one of the best parts. The two have a good chemistry. The dangerous outlaw and the mistress of the saloon. The ending scene where they find a bullet left inside Maeve’s stomach is well played and sets up the next episode perfectly.
The Man in Black and The Maze
Whilst the Man in Black’s story doesn’t really progress in this episode, his scenes are by far some of the most fun. His back and forth with Lawerence is amusing. His prison breakout is cleverly and nonchalantly done. He still has an air of being evil, but as an audience we can’t help but enjoy riding along with him.
It’s also a nice break from the rest of the series. His scenes this episode are the most cowboy-ish. We also find a tiny hint at his background. Another guest comes up to him in the evening in admiration. He’s clearly someone important in the real world. Probably someone important, respected, and dare I say it? A good guy.
Watching the Man in Black this episode also made me see more appeal in the park. He’s enjoying the hunt for The Maze. I can see how guests can get hooked on the game. We’ve not really followed any guests “playing” in Westworld.
After his deeds, he finds the next clue. Wyatt. It seems that Teddy’s backstory from last episode is more important than we thought. Who is Wyatt and does he hold the key?
Logan, William and Delores are out on a bounty hunt, when Logan finds an “easter egg” that deviates from their original narrative. It seems they are also heading slowly towards the Maze as well. Will their path cross with the Man in Black?
Ford and his powers
Ford has powers. I repeat, Ford has powers. God like powers. He shows off his capabilities when met with opposition from Cullen. Using only one finger, he pauses all the hosts in the area. He shows knowledge of her personal tryst with Bernard, and he even knows about the trip she took to Westworld when she was 7.
His plans for the new story lines looks big. He’s changing huge areas of landscape. He’s throwing the rest of the park’s storylines into chaos. Dr Ford has plans, and the more we find out about him the more we question if they’re good plans or bad plans. The gentle grandfather figure might in fact be a wolf in sheep’s clothing.