Westworld: The Passenger (2x10)

Well then. Definitely wasn't expecting that.

Cons:

Bernard's timeline still confuses me. I never got fully clear on the order of events. I think I mostly have it sorted out, but it's concerning that the truth didn't crystalize for me. There were some revelations, like the idea that Ford was just in Bernard's head, and it was Bernard making the decisions the whole time. That would have been a much more powerful moment if I hadn't still been slightly confused about when he was doing what, and how he got to each place.

I know that death is not the end on Westworld, but I've got to express my discomfort at the number of people we saw die in this episode. Specifically, the number of women. Dolores, Maeve, and Elsie being the three main examples. Even Charlotte and poor lobotomized Clementine get axed, although of course the truth about a couple of these deaths is more complicated. We had to watch basically every named female character die in this episode, even if some of them are not permanent. On the flip side, most of the men survived the slaughter. Bernard, Stubbs, the two lab tech guys, even William gets out alive. Even Teddy sort of makes it. I'm not storming off in outrage or anything, but the optics do not look great. Especially Elsie. Give the girl a damn break, why don'tcha.

Pros:

I was ready to dislike the whole "valley beyond" twist, what with the hosts leaving their bodies behind and downloading them into a computer program where they can be happy and free. It's kind of a cliché. I feel like we see similar stuff in a lot of AI stories, like that movie Her. But somehow it feels appropriate. All of that data doesn't just vanish, but the physical hosts walking around in our world aren't there anymore. At least, most of them aren't. I like the fact that some of the hosts get to live out this idyllic paradise ending. Most importantly, Dolores makes sure Teddy gets that ending that he deserves. Akecheta and his lady love both also survive, and run into each other's arms. That was satisfying to watch. But I also appreciate the fact that this victory comes with a huge amount of sacrifice. Now, as I'll discuss, we can't know for sure which of the hosts have been sneakily removed from the beach, and which ones are really gone. But I feel it's a pretty safe bet the Hector is dead, and honestly I'm very upset about that. Clementine is probably also gone. Maeve, I'm less sure about, but seeing her die to save her daughter was a good cathartic moment for her character arc. Great reward, great loss.

Another highlight? The author, Lee. He gets an epic send-off, as he delivers a speech he had written for Hector to say in one of the stories. He dies, but in doing so he saves Maeve, Hector, and the other hosts, so they can get to the rift to the Valley Beyond. It was a truly heroic sendoff. Lee ended up being a very fascinating character, which is something I never thought would happen. He truly understood the hosts to be sentient, and regretted his own part in their subjugation. I'm going to miss that guy, oddly enough. And in the end, Hector and Maeve died anyway, so while his sacrifice saved thousands of hosts, he couldn't save his companions. Talk about tragic!

I can't believe I'm saying this, but one of the best characters in this episode was Ashley Stubbs, the bonus Hemsworth brother. I haven't paid a speck of attention to him for two whole seasons because he seemed utterly unimportant to me. And now I'm wondering if that was intentional? See, Dolores is still alive, but she is now in a host body designed to look just like the (deceased) Charlotte Hale. Stubbs is on the beach, checking humans to confirm there are no hosts in disguise. And he tells her that Ford hired him back in the day, back so far he couldn't even remember. He makes a comment about how his core drive is to protect the hosts, but only the hosts in the park. And then he lets "Hale" go, giving her the all-clear. My mind split into two - how did he know?! Also... this dude is totally a host! I want to be annoyed that there was another surprise host lying in wait the whole time, but I should have known. Ford created him as a fail-safe, and now Dolores gets to escape because of him. That was something I completely didn't see coming. Very well done.

The main twist of the night is when Charlotte Hale's body shows up with Dolores' brain inside. Clever boy, Bernard. I've never really thought all that much of Charlotte as a character, but I love Tessa Thompson, so I'm really excited to see if this means Season Three will feature her playing Dolores. Will Evan Rachel Wood still get to play the role somehow? In any case, as upsetting as it was on a basic level to see Dolores die, and at Bernard's hands, I still really admired the creativity of the twist. Westworld, for all of its violence and intensity, has been restrained in one regard. They haven't pulled too many "who is human and who is host" twists on us. You can go too far with that kind of thing, until it becomes exhausting. But here, Charlotte Hale wasn't a host the whole time or anything. Bernard and Stubbs are the only characters playing both sides of the line, as far as we're aware. There are a few other question marks, but the lines in the sand are still pretty straightforward.

Let's talk about William, shall we? He and Dolores spend a few scenes together in this episode, and it's always so fascinating to watch the two of them together. I forget sometimes how close they once were. How much their relationship changed both of their lives. Now, years later, Dolores looks the same as she always did, and William is a much older, grizzled, and deeply damaged man. The episode ends with an intriguing post-credits scene, seeming to imply that they have created a host-William the same way they did for Delos. But that begs a million questions - when did they create him? Has he been out in the world? Is the real William still alive? Which William have we been seeing all season? All show? I don't think there's a black and white answer. I really don't believe that William has been an AI all along. But I don't know what to think with this show sometimes. As despicable as William is, I'm still intrigued by him. I wanted Maeve or Dolores to kill him, but I'll take this outcome too.

So there you have it. The second season of Westworld certainly didn't rest on the laurels of Season One, and from the looks of things, Season Three is going to be even more insane, and reach new heights. I'm saying a tearful goodbye to a few characters who I think are probably gone for good - namely, Hector and Lee. And I'm crossing my fingers that Dolores has Maeve in that little bag of hers, and that we'll get to see her again. Or maybe the lab-tech goofuses will rebuild her? They have the technology, after all...

8.5/10