Lowe has an interesting fascination with Dolores that leans towards trying to guide or influence her, this time by showing her Alice Through the Looking Glass and having her read a poignant passage from an already poignant selection of book. Last time he guided her toward a buried gun, and as she starts her new day in Westworld, the gun triggers (ha) a memory of the Man in Black that should have been wiped but perhaps it remained for a reason.

William and Logan are still hanging out and William gets a taste of action when he rescues Clementine from an escaped outlaw. Again there are two kinds of people in Westworld, and he parts ways with his soon to be brother-in-law to feed his newfound interest in the story of the park.

Teddy finally gets to be the one doing the shooting, along with his bounty hunter partner, and we get to see a little more into his background and relationship with Dolores. He has an odd moment with Maeve, who remembers seeing his bullet riddled corpse among the other dead hosts during her short escape into the complex. Dr. Ford is a little tired of Teddy always meeting the same fate, regardless of heroism, and sees to expanding his storyline.

Ford’s grand new vision for Westworld has Theresa worked up because it’s messing with the existing storylines, and Lowe sends Elsie along with Stubbs to find a stray host, instead of delving into why one of the hosts in the first episode went on a killing spree. Lowe talks to Dr. Ford himself regarding the hosts’ anomalous behavior, and gets an insight into an uncredited partner/founder of Westworld, whose obsession with true host consciousness parallels Lowe’s interest in Dolores, which in turn is rooted in the loss of his son.

Somewhat panicked by Ford’s casual insights into his mind, Lowe has perhaps his final secret meeting with Dolores and sends her back out into the park but it may be too late. She’s remembering past cycles and acting against her script and programming, and escapes the farmhouse shootout where she normally meets her end.

Stubbs and Elsie find the missing host, whose interest in wood carvings and constellations has Elsie confused. When Stubbs tries to retrieve the host’s head for security reasons, the host fights back...so he could take his own head off.

Between this and Dolores staggering into William and Logan’s campsite, the park’s few bugs have quickly become much larger pests.

Now, whether or not Dr. Ford intends on this happening, or knows and doesn’t care, or Lowe’s meddling with Dolores is his way of giving at least one of the hosts agency, remains to be seen. I think Ford has a massive guilt complex and it may have to do with this Arnold partner or something else in his past, but I think he wants to be punished for whatever happened between then and present day Westworld. His talk with Lowe I think was also meant to convey his disconnect with the hosts, as they are part of his creepy museum/office. There has been a loss of humanity in Ford, whereas Arnold perhaps died chasing it.

Bernard Lowe says something profound to his ex-wife regarding their son, that the pain of his loss is all he has left of him. Whatever he couldn’t control in his life or his family’s, perhaps he can guide Dolores to safety or at least to empower her to change her story. Why it’s her, I can only guess. Perhaps she’s the most “innocent” character who is always at the mercy of the nastier hosts and lustier guests.

Another interesting thing was how much Arnold wanted the hosts to be fully conscious. Ford was right in not wanting the top of that pyramid of intelligence he drew being reached, in the capacity of a theme park, but don’t they have an obligation to their creations to make them as whole as possible? How far past the Turing Test should they go, or in the real world, should we go? When you interact with NPCs in a game, part of the depth of the game is the dialogue choices. I am downright sick of the same voice lines in Whiterun (in the Skyrim video game) but was endlessly entertained by what characters had to say in the Fallout games. It can make or break immersion, and if we seek an authentic experience in Westworld, wouldn’t giving the hosts true awareness and intelligence serve that end? Of course there is the small problem of them not wanting to play the game anymore…

And what the fuck is going on with Teddy? That guy can’t catch a break. Ford was a real dick to him, casually telling him he’s just cannon fodder and Dolores is ultimately unprotectable and unobtainable, but then I thought he was at least going to get a better storyline that realizes his honorable heroism, but nope! Poor bastard gets bushwacked and probably dismembered by cowboy demon cultists, even with all that fancy pistol work. Some guys have all the luck, while some guys have all the pain...