Spoiler alert: this blog is published after Westworld airs on HBO in the US on Sunday night. Do not read unless you have watched episode four, which airs in the UK on Sky Atlantic on Tuesday at 9pm.
I’m on the run, I’m prison bound
A jailbreak is always fun to watch, especially when achieved with nothing more than an exploding cigar. In this week’s episode, the Gunslinger is the unflappable provocateur and his stogie has a bit of dynamite in it, which makes it ideal for blowing out prison doors but less than perfect for smoking.
The breakout comes about as the result of an understanding between the Gunslinger and a young woman with a big tattoo. She is the deputy of renowned charmer and android outlaw Hector Escaton, who happens to be in jail. The tattoo, meanwhile, is a snake which starts at her bum and finishes on her face with a mouth that looks like it’s about to bite her on the nose. The story behind this tattoo contains a secret, and it’s a secret the Gunslinger is interested in. So, in return for the truth behind the body art, he volunteers to spring Escaton from jail.
In what I found to be the most enjoyable sequence of the series so far, the Gunslinger deploys his explosive smokes to spectacular effect. The first blows the door on his cell. The second is sparked by an unwitting lawman and it quite literally blows his mind. From there, the Gunslinger and Hector happily blast their way out of the building before mowing down an entire firing squad to liberate our man-in-black’s dear pal (he loves him so much he keeps him in a noose), Lawrence Pedro Maria Gonzales.
With the task complete, the Gunslinger returns for his information. And it is as we might have feared: the head on the snake represents Wyatt, the big bad, a villain intent on slaughtering everything in his path. The Gunslinger believes Wyatt is the next step on his hunt to find Westworld’s secret, the ultimate easter egg left hidden by the park’s deceased creator Arnold. But Wyatt also happens to be at the centre of the mysterious plan laid by Arnold’s surviving partner, Ford. It’s like a tug of love between two divorced parents. Perhaps Wyatt is in shared custody.
Leaving Hector to reunite with his criminal pals (and return to his loop), the Gunslinger and Lawrence head off on the trail. They know they’re going in the right direction when they find poor Teddy, apparently the only man/bot ever to have survived an encounter with Wyatt, strapped to a tree. Teddy is barely clinging on to life and begs the Gunslinger to let him die. “Please put me out of my misery,” he pleads. “Looks like misery is all you’ve got,” the Gunslinger replies, before cutting him down. Looks like the posse has extended to three.
I should have known it was a one-horse town
Meanwhile, in the back of house, Ford is continuing on his own merry way, becoming creepier and creepier with each passing scene. His new narrative is throwing the entire park out of kilter, with hosts being killed and thrown off their loops. In fact, one might be inclined to ask whether the whole Wyatt thing isn’t just a massive distraction from whatever he’s doing elsewhere in the park, what with his hordes of labourers and his massive dystopian Terminator-style machines.
As is his wont, Ford attempts to reassure bad ass management executive Theresa that his plans are nothing to worry about. He does so by scaring the very bejeezus out of her. Deciding it would be worth his while to find the very table she sat at as a child guest at the park (if she wasn’t, you know, a child robot), he takes her there once more for lunch. It’s a nice surrounding, until Ford suddenly freezes all the hosts in the vicinity. It’s an act that shows his limitless power within Westworld, but also stains the tablecloth as a wine waiter gets frozen mid-pour.
While Ford is keen to tell Theresa that he has never once messed up a plan or narrative, he lets her know that any authorisation he might have goes way over her head. He also drops in a quick diss of old pal Arnold for good measure, suggesting that it was his bleak view of humanity that inspired the park’s random and egregious sex and violence. Ok Ford mate, we believe you, yes we do.
The wheel of fortune keeps turning round
Elsewhere in his chat with Theresa, Ford mentions Bernard, the man everyone reckons is a bot now because a) you never see him sleep and b) he’s really boring. He tells Theresa, who is having a not altogether romantic affair with her colleague: “I do hope you will be careful with Bernard – he has a sensitive disposition.” This is the sort of paternal affection you would expect from someone who created Bernard in a break between devising misanthropic plotlines.
But whatever Bernard’s backstory, his own actions are complementing Ford’s. In his latest clandestine interaction with Dolores, Bernard – who only last week was reluctant to mess with her any more – encourages her to play “the maze”, a game that will lead her to a secret. This is surely the same game the Gunslinger is playing and the one that will lead to Wyatt/Arnold/Ford. Meanwhile, his usual protectiveness when it comes to malfunctioning hosts is not apparent when Theresa demands that last week’s escapee be inspected by corporate. He also tells Elsie she’s off-beam with her Orion’s Belt scratched in wood theory. Is that all it seems? I wonder.
My luck is up, my chips are down
I enjoyed this week’s episode. I have decided to give up on trying to hold the show to a coherent plot or dramatic world – life’s too short – but I appreciated the introduction of some snappy dialogue and satisfying interaction between characters. The Gunslinger and Lawrence, Hector and Maeve, their scenes together were distinctive and enjoyable. Maeve’s kicker on finding a hidden bullet in her belly – “I’m not crazy and none of this matters” – was a great way to end the episode.
Notes from the prairie
We got a bit of back story on two main characters that hint at a potential bigger picture outside the park. Massive scumbag Logan reveals that his family, which white-hat William is marrying into, have some financial involvement in Westworld. “This is why the company need to bump our stake in this,” he says for a reason I couldn’t quite understand but which suggests the family have some expertise in running such businesses.
Meanwhile, the Gunslinger turns out to be some kind of white hat in real life. Guests who are hanging with the Escaton gang stop the man in black to thank him. “Your foundation literally saved my sister’s...”, they say, unable to get the final words out as the Gunslinger hits them with both barrels. “One more word and I’ll cut your fucking throat,” he says. “This is my fucking vacation.”
Further evidence that memories are breaking out among any number of hosts comes from the appearance of the “shades” – characters from another world who walk between the worlds of the living and the dead, according to Hector, or more prosaically are park employees in haz-chem suits. Maeve has been seeing them in her dreams for some time.
Questions for next week
Can humans kill humans in Westworld? And if not, why not?
What is Bernard’s game with Dolores?
What is Ford building?
Will someone please smack Logan in the chops?
