Howdy, fellow humans who are definitely not robots who just think you’re humans, and welcome to our review of HBO’s science fiction series, Westworld. This episode continues to unravel fascinating mysteries while expertly creeping us out with subtle yet unnerving images like an overflowing glass of wine and a dozen drawings of hazmat suits under a floorboard. There will be heavy plot spoilers for episode four only. So practice your power stance, and check your abdomen for bullets from past lives, here are five thoughts on Westworld season one, episode four: “Dissonance Theory.”
1. Who’s the Boss, Really?
Of the characters who show up onscreen, Theresa is ostensibly the boss. She calls the shots, and even when Bernard and Elsie disagree with her, they follow her directions. This episode, Dr. Ford turns the tables with what has got to be one of the all-time most effectively creepy power moves in the history of creepy power moves. He invites Theresa to one of the Westworld restaurants to discuss his new narrative. Theresa had previously been practicing her boss-posture with Bernard, but she was unprepared for the utter Sir Anthony Hopkins of it all. Before I get into the utter Sir Anthony Hopkins of it all, recall, humans, that Theresa had previously (seemingly playfully) accused Bernard of practicing socializing with her the way the robots practice socializing with each other. In this episode, she literally practices with Bernard for her interaction with Dr. Ford.
At lunch, while Dr. Ford describes Theresa’s relationship with Bernard and her childhood visit to Westworld with details he has no business knowing, all the robot staff mysteriously freeze. The robot waiter freezes while pouring Theresa a glass of wine, causing it to overflow. Dr. Ford concludes by telling Theresa not to get in his way. His tone is calm, but totally menacing. Dr. Ford didn’t have to say “freeze all motor functions,” the line that typically gets robots to freeze, which means that he previously programmed the whole restaurant staff to freeze at this time just to threaten Theresa. Yikes. No one plays creepy menacing quite like Sir Anthony Hopkins.
The true boss of Westworld might be the unseen board of directors, or the shareholders. However, to exercise real power, Lin Manuel Miranda will tell you, you must be “in the room where it happens” which would make Theresa the true boss; she’s there to oversee functions and make decisions on the ground day to day. However again, we’d be remiss to dismiss the possibility that the even truer boss is the one with the robot army.
2. Logan vs. William
Logan, of some upper-crust business-centered family a la “Succession” or “Arrested Development.” has invited William, fiance to his sister, on a vacation to Westworld both to welcome him to the family, and to consider raising the family investment in Westworld. Logan has been here before, and he delights playing the lawless cowboy, casually stabbing and shooting the robots. William is uneasy about hurting the robots. He has an easier time shooting the “bad guys,” but he’s deeply disturbed when Logan shoots their robot guide to side with the “criminal” they had just captured.
We the real life human audience know that the robots are sentient, or on their way to becoming sentient, so it’s tempting to side with William, who empathizes with the innocent robots. Although, if we assume as Logan does, that the robots are actual objects, which is not an unfair assumption on Logan’s part, then William is being wildly emotional, and Logan’s impatience is understandable, even if his behavior is unkind. It’s also interesting to note that William picks and chooses the robots he humanizes. Dolores and their guide who Logan murdered deserve to live, according to William, but the “criminal” robots do not. The title of the episode, “Dissonance Theory,” refers mainly to the robots of Westworld, which I will get to later, but it also describes William’s confused relationship with them.
3. Who is the Man in Black?
We know from last episode that the Man in Black is a distinguished park guest. If any other guest massacred as many robots as he did, they’d be kindly asked to dial it back, but the Man in Black is allowed to do whatever he wants. This episode, he is approached by another guest who tells him that he admires him greatly, and that his foundation saved his sister’s life. So now we know the Man in Black is a philanthropist in the real world. In response to being approached in this way, the Man in Black threatens the other guest, telling him, “it’s my fucking vacation.” Like William, the Man in Black is completely emotionally invested in the game of Westworld; he reacts strongly when someone breaks the illusion of Westworld. Unlike William, his intensity leads him to treat the robots with unnecessary brutality instead of unnecessary empathy.
Continued below4. The Shades
Maeve is haunted by visions of Westworld employees in hazmat suits collecting the bodies of her and her co-workers after they’ve been massacred by a park guest. In a scene matching the epic creepiness of Dr. Ford threatening Theresa in broad daylight, Maeve draws a picture of her vision to hide under her floorboard, and discovers she has done this dozens of times before. Even though we the real life human audience know exactly what’s going on, Thandie Newton, the script, the music – every aspect of the show does a great job of making us feel Maeve’s horror. Later Maeve sees a (Westworld) Native American child carrying a toy of the hazmat suit. She learns Hector lived among the Native Americans, so she offers him the combination to the safe in the saloon in exchange for information. Maeve learns from Hector that these hazmat suited people are called Shades, and that they are figures of Native American lore; they were sent from hell to watch over the living.
Was this lore an ill-conceived creation by the humans of Westworld as a meta joke? Or is this an outcome of growing sentience? Earlier we saw Native American robots attack Teddy, unharmed by his bullets, while a human park guest was able to flee to safety. Either these Native American robots were actually human park guests, naturally impervious to Teddy’s bullets, or, like Neo, they’ve gained new abilities to survive bullet wounds through their awareness of “The Matrix.” We don’t know for sure, but it feels unlikely that scene was planned by the park writers, because it caused the guest to flee in horror; it didn’t feel like a story written for the benefit of the guest, even if scaring them a little is sometimes the point. We already know that the park doesn’t have as much control over the robots as they think they do; one of the robots went stray last episode, and though Logan was convinced the park sent Dolores to William, they actually thought she too had gone stray, and sent someone to bring her back before William assured them she was with him. While the nature of the Shades is a mystery only to Maeve, we the real life human audience share her desire to discover the extent to which the Westworld Native Americans understand the Shades and so-called “hell.”
5. Timelines
In this episode we see Hector breaking out of jail with the Man in Black, and robbing the saloon, uncovering the mysteries of hell with Maeve. He can’t possibly be doing both of those things at the same time, so either there are two Hectors, or the show is presenting us with scenes out of chronological order. The latter option makes more sense, because Dolores and Maeve are both experiencing confusing flashbacks. When we the real life human audience are unsure about the chronological order of events, it helps us empathize with Dolores and Maeve in their disorienting befuddlement. Since the robots don’t age, it’s impossible to know if days or years transpired between different events. We understand Maeve had a past life as a mother on a ranch that is chronologically distinct from her current life as a madame because her costume is different, and because her daughter is absent from the “present.” We might assume that characters and plot lines change within the park over the years, so that a robot in a certain costume represents a singular limited time frame, but there’s no way to know for sure.
The name of this episode is “Dissonance Theory,” the psychological stress that occurs when someone holds two or more diametrically opposing viewpoints. Dolores and Maeve experience this as they hold their programmed understanding of their own lives in one hand, and visions of their past loops in another. Maeve resolves her dissonance when she has Hector remove a bullet from her un-wounded abdomen. It’s interesting that Bernard repeatedly singles out Dolores as being closest to sentience; even though Dolores began Maeve’s journey when she unconsciously repeated the consciousness-triggering phrase “These violent delights have violent ends,” Maeve is much closer to discovering that she is a robot trapped in a theme park. It’s a good thing we’re real life humans, and not at all robots trapped in a theme park, right fellow humans? Hahaha…. ha. Until next time, the center of your maze awaits.
