In her quest to free herself from Westworld, Maeve seeks to recruit Hector, who seems game enough, even going so far as to dying horribly in a fire with her to reach “Hell,” as it were. She doesn’t manipulate him into this decision though she has the power to. Similarly, she puts a bug in Bernard’s ear about getting to the bottom of who he really is. Unfortunately this leads to his undoing.
He forces Ford to “unlock” his entire memory and he has a few revelations about himself, and his origin. “Cornerstones” are the foundation on which each host bases their personality, and everything about them radiates from that experience. For Bernard it was the death of his son, but knowing and facing the fact that it’s not real helps him move on and let go of his injected grief. It also looks like he murdered Elsie too, in addition to Theresa. He’s basically Ford’s henchman when needed, his assistant and in a creepy way, his colleague. Bernard is an exact copy of Arnold, but designed specifically to Ford’s liking. Whatever drove Arnold off the deep end doesn’t bother Bernard but he retains whatever intellect Arnold had when it came to designing Westworld.
Confronted with all this hard information, Bernard wants to free himself and all the other hosts that exhibited sentience. In typical Ford fashion, he tries to tell Bernard that human consciousness isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. If anything it’s a burden and a curse and being “human” is not something to aspire to. Bernard still wants out and now that he knows just how casually cruel Ford is, and how he’s manipulated Bernard’s existence as he sees fit, all so he could have his pal Arnold back, he tries to kill Ford.
It’s an unfortunate misstep, because Ford is the house and the house always wins. There’s nothing he is not in control of, even Bernard. He forces Bernard to kill himself, and it’s strange that though he’s already lost Arnold once, he’s got no problem letting him go once again.
Come to find out, Arnold originally died at the hands of Dolores, who is herself on a quest to find answers about her existence. After escaping Logan and his drunken Confederados, she finds the abandoned town from her flashbacks and inside the church there is some old vestige of Westworld’s production facilities. There she remembers her talks with Arnold, but now that we know she was his murderer, does this mean she’s found the maze? On her way out of the church, she once again encounters the Man in Black.
His hijinks with Teddy and Wyatt continue but once Teddy gets killed (AGAIN), Angela and her death cult buddies leave him to hang. Charlotte pays him a visit and it seems he has a part in the smuggling of information out of Westworld, and is also on the ever mysterious board that Ford is always tussling with. His interests are of course still mostly in the maze, so he sends Charlotte away so he can continue his quest. How the church and Dolores fit into all this remains to be seen, but I’m sure she’s really tired of running into him.
And Elsie might not be dead? Stubbs goes to investigate but comes across the Ghost Nation, who don’t seem to listen to commands...
Written by A Play On Nerds contributor, Jerry Herrera - Lover of horror, sci fi, and fantasy in that order. Semi-permanent Disneyland resident. I'm at least one of the droids you're looking for. Twitter: @FrankenJerry - Instagram: @GeraldoPedro