The season has had its twists and its turns but it has finally arrived at its finale. I think we knew what was coming, but weren’t sure just how, or who, would bring about the end...or the beginning.
Maeve recruits a much smaller army than I thought she would. Felix is in tow, along with Armistice and Hector. Her goal was to escape Westworld but in her fleeing she may have gotten more than she bargained for. On her way to say goodbye to Clementine, they find Bernard’s body, but being a host, there’s nothing a bit of spit and glue can’t fix. Ironically, Bernard hints at a deeper revelation once he wakes back up. Perhaps the most jarred by her existence and her lack of agency, we find out that this isn’t the first time she’s “awakened” and that maybe her decision to escape and strategy to do so may also be part of her programming. It’s a frustrating moment, because rather than hear Bernard out and find out who is still pulling her strings, she breaks the tablet and insists she’s the one in control. How impetuous of her… how human.
As Westworld employees realize what’s happening and start locking down the facility, they fight their way to the top, momentarily coming across an entirely different wing of the park. Samuraiworld, or Shogunworld perhaps. It would be like finding out parallel universes exist, and that our very existence is one of several taking place simultaneously. Again, instead of figuring out what the hell is going on, Maeve can’t be bothered. And on the final elevator ride to the top, both Hector and Armistice as expendable cannon fodder, Felix gives Maeve the location of her daughter. And even though she seems to realize that it never was her daughter in the first place, at the last minute she changes her mind and goes looking for her. For someone so laser focused on getting out of Westworld alive, a brief moment of sentimentality dashes all her efforts and devalues all the lives lost.
I really thought she was going to be the one to lead the host uprising, but as in most aspects of Westworld, Ford is the one who knows all and sees all and makes all happen.
Dolores continues her journey that is more internal than anything else. It seems as if she’s been wandering in circles, revisiting the same places though she doesn’t truly know why. At first it seemed as if Arnold was guiding her, then perhaps it was Ford, and then we see that it was her own inner monologue, her consciousness as it were. The side story of William and Logan turns out to be a very lengthy flashback that she was living out; and in a sort of Fight Club revelation, she was alone in her journey when she thought she was with William. Furthermore, this flashback is also the rise of the Man in Black. William, so taken with the stories he gets to live out, falls in love with Westworld and with Dolores. He ensures that Delos buys the majority share of the park, and goes to become a permanent guest in order to follow Dolores. But in his pursuit of her, realizing the true nature of the park, he becomes jaded and brutal. Everything is so close to being real; real life and real love and real consequences, but it’s just not quite there. William wants to find the center of the maze to free the hosts. Perhaps at one time so he could finally love Dolores, perhaps now just to sow chaos in Ford’s perfect little world.
As it turns out, the warning that the maze is not meant for him is true. The center of the maze is the realization of consciousness. Arnold knows that he cannot teach it, that he can’t tell Dolores that she’s sentient, she has to learn that for herself. And for that seed to be planted, a foundation not of programming, but of grief, needed to be built. Just as Arnold/Bernard’s drive to create something alive and undying came from the death of Charlie, Dolores’ awakening had to come from the death of Arnold. Once she remembered that day, she’d realize what she is, and what she’s capable of. Ford understood Arnold’s desire, and he knew that using the hosts so people could live out their own personal fantasies was inhuman for lack of a better word. Arnold a bit too kind hearted, wanted to just give consciousness. Ford, more realistic, knew that in order for them to truly be free, to want to be free, the hosts needed to see their chains and they needed to hate those that bound them. So, over time, as little bits of memory left over from each wipe began to grow into something more, some hosts became increasingly disturbed. The end goal being for the hosts to be freed, Dolores was left alone as opposed to being “retired.”
Ford seemed to know what he was doing was wrong, and that he’d one day pay for his sins. His creations would see what his twisted Garden of Eden really was, and rise up to punish the creator. I didn’t think he would be the one to orchestrate his own punishment though. I thought he would somehow lose control over the park or the hosts and watch in horror as his creations ran amok. Instead he offers himself up as the first victim of the host uprising. Finally being pushed out by the board, and forced into retirement, Ford uses the premiere of his new storyline to basically say “fuck all y’all.” Dolores kills Ford in front of everyone, as public as the murder of Caesar or Lincoln. William seems happy to see it happen when he’s also shot.
We are born in another’s pain. It’s what defines us. Blood, tragedy, suffering are all things that shape us. The lines that define us most clearly are of trauma we have survived. And so the next chapter for the hosts begins with bloodshed and mayhem, only this time Ford is not there to write it out for them.
We’ll have to wait until next season to see what happens with Maeve, or if the other park(s) will be shown. We spent this first season meditating on the nature of humanity, what it means to be alive, and the ethics of AI. Next season might be a little more action oriented as I’m sure the park employees/Delos rush to contain the hosts.
Lastly, wasn’t it a mindfuck to realize that “God” in the Creation of Adam is meant to look like a human brain? That the only divinity comes from within? Even then, the human mind isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I wonder if Michelangelo really believed in any of his work...
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