Westworld: 3 Key Moments to Contemplate from Episode Two

Like the premiere, episode two of Westworld is loaded with details and mysteries. Here are three moments that we think are especially significant.

Westworld doesn’t go easy on its audience in episode two. If anything, “Chestnut” only adds complications to the dense mythology presented in the premiere. It would be impossible for even the most perceptive viewer to pick up on every nuance.

Fortunately, we’re here to help. These are three scenes, lines, and other moments worth thinking about from this week’s episode. (We also have a recap of the episode.)

In a reversal of the premiere’s opening, we transition from Westworld to the “real world” via an extreme close-up of Dolores’s eye. Dolores is sitting, fully dressed, in a basement with Bernard. He asks how many interactions she has had since they last talked and whether anyone altered her programming during that time. After she responds in the negative, he instructs her to erase the conversation from her event log.

Evan Rachel Wood and Jeffrey Wright in Westworld season 1, screenshot courtesy of HBO

Even for Westworld, this scene is a head-scratcher. What do Dolores and Bernard discuss in their “little talks”? As with the other Westworld employees, we know basically nothing about Bernard outside of his work. But there’s clearly some friction behind the scenes. Maybe Bernard suspects Ford of interfering with the robots, as we speculated last week. Although Dolores denies that any changes were made to her programming, the fly incident indicates that she’s capable of lying.

Also fishy: Dolores remembers her conversations with Bernard, despite her memory supposedly being reset at the end of every day. Maybe Bernard is the saboteur, not Ford. “There’s something different about you, about the way you think,” he says. “I find it fascinating, but others may not see it that way.” Seeing how closely he interacts with them, it wouldn’t be surprising for Bernard to sympathize with the androids in a way his colleagues don’t. If he’s responsible for the brewing rebellion, it calls into question how much control Dolores has over her actions. Has she really gained free will, or is she simply following more orders?

Westworld season 1, screenshot courtesy of HBO

As Bernard returns to his apartment for the night, we’re treated to a dizzying overhead shot of the building’s interior, a maze of escalators and banisters. The image may not be all that original, but it perfectly encapsulates the show, with its seemingly infinite layers spiraling into the unknown.

We noted in our premiere recap that Westworld contains echoes of Inception, another story that explores the nature of reality and consciousness by constructing an insulated world where people can enact their fantasies. “Chestnut” only amplifies the resemblance. The episode starts in media res, disorienting viewers and compelling us to piece the plot together like a puzzle. “Figuring out how it works,” the host Angela tells William, “is half the fun.” Also like the 2010 Christopher Nolan film, it depicts ideas as contagious, viruses transferred between individuals, and dreams as symptoms of repressed memories or emotions.

In both, the human psyche manifests itself as a physical space that can be navigated like an open-world video game, comprised of various “levels”. As you advance to deeper levels, you become more enmeshed in the virtual world and, paradoxically, get closer to discovering the essence of a person – the secrets, desires, and fears that make up their true self. In Inception, it’s fairly simple, as Cobb’s dream team exploits their target’s yearning to please his father. Westworld’s view of humanity is more ambiguous. Some characters, like Sizemore and Logan, believe that people are fundamentally violent, driven by their basest impulses. Yet, Ford contradicts them: “The guests don’t return for the obvious things we think they do – the garish things. They come back because of the subtleties, the details.” There’s always more than meets the eye.

Ed Harris and Clifton Collins Jr. in Westworld season 1, screenshot courtesy of HBO

If Westworld is a video game, then the Man in Black is its most intense player. In the premiere, he mentioned that he’s been attending the park for 30 years and, having gotten bored with what it has to offer, is looking for the next level. This leads him to the “Mexican” town where Lawrence, an outlaw he rescued from the gallows, lives. Although the ensuing standoff isn’t as thrilling as the one at the gallows, it reveals a lot about the Man in Black as a character.

The more you think about it, the less sense his philosophy makes. Even as he claims to enjoy Westworld for “all the secrets, all the little things I never noticed”, he bloviates about how “every detail adds up” here, a pleasant contrast to the disarray of the outside world. Is it possible to embrace both mystery and order? Later, he asserts that people are “most real” when they’re suffering. That would make him fake, though. Westworld’s main rule is that guests can do what they want to the hosts, but the hosts can’t harm the guests. So, at what point would the Man in Black have experienced suffering, or even the threat of it? You begin to suspect that his speeches are nothing but clichés cobbled together to hide his desperation for power.

Related Story: Westworld: 3 Key Moments to Contemplate from the Premiere

Of course, that power is an illusion too. In the middle of the shootout, we cut to the Westworld offices, where Ashley and another employee watch the shootout unfold on a tablet. The Man in Black believes he’s cheating the game, but in reality, they’re letting him win. This is still society; the rules are just different.