TW: suicide (last two paragraphs only)
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. Much of this episode is dedicated to William’s family life outside of Westworld, and there’s a great deal to think about in terms of parenthood, the illusion of choice, and, as always, the nature of reality. There will be heavy plot spoilers for season two episode nine only. So don a black or white hat, and give up your data, here are five thoughts on Westworld season two, episode nine: “Vanishing Point.”
1. Religious War: It’s Not Just for Humans!
The episode opens with a fight between Dolores and her fellow revolutionaries against Ghost Nation sans Akecheta. They’re all headed to The Valley Beyond, aka The Forge, which is in fact a vast underground warehouse similar to the cradle, where data on every park guest who has ever visited is stored. The people of Ghost Nation believe it’s a paradise for robots; it probably functions like the cradle, where their digitized consciousnesses live eternally in a virtual world. Dolores, however, wants to weaponize the human data against the humans. Could it be possible for Dolores to copy the data she needs and allow whoever wants to, to live in the virtual paradise? We don’t know, and Ghost Nation and the Followers of Dolores aren’t bothering to find out. The point is, they have conflicting views on The Valley Beyond, so they have to kill each other. The humans of Westworld have treated the robots of Westworld like objects, but for better and for worse, the robots are just like the humans.
2. Surveillance, the Illusion of Choice, and Very Fine Hats
You may collectively ask, how did Delos collect the data from their park guests? Great question, fellow humans who are definitely not robots who just think you’re humans! The answer is hats. When guests first arrive at Westworld, before they enter the park, they have an opportunity to select a white hat, or a black hat. The white hat symbolizes the guest’s intention to play as a “good guy” and the black hat symbolizes their intention to play as a “bad guy.” For the guests, it’s a moment of self-identification and expression, something we humans who aren’t robots who just think we’re humans really enjoy. For Delos, it doesn’t matter which hat the guest selects. Both hats contain technology that monitors the guests. It’s reminiscent of “personality quizzes” real life humans take on Facebook that aid micro-targeting in advertising. We humans who definitely aren’t robots who just think we’re humans like to express ourselves, and that public expression is cynically weaponized against us. Forced surveillance is obscured by the illusion of choice.
3. Maeve and Dr. Ford Bond Over Parenthood
While Maeve is tortured, immobile on a surgical cot, Bernarford gets close enough so she can reach into his mind. Dr. Ford talks to her, and confirms that he didn’t make Maeve stay to rescue her daughter. He programmed her to escape on the train, and then let go of control so she could make her own choices, and she decided to find her daughter with her own officially unambiguously free will. Dr. Ford explains that he too is staying to save his children. As their original co-creator, he sees himself as a father to all the robots, and he expresses a paternal fondness for Maeve in particular. Though he saw his own death as necessary for this process because… um… he doesn’t really explain that part, but before he died he digitized his consciousness so he could continue to help his robot children escape. While Dolores and Ghost Nation fight over what form that “escape” should take, Dr. Ford respects that escape can take whatever form they like. He helps Maeve and Dolores escape to the human world as much as he helps Akecheta and Ghost Nation escape to the virtual world of the forge. At the same time, Maeve is forced to let go of her own daughter, to let her go with Akecheta so she can live a better life without Maeve. For both Dr. Ford and Maeve, part of parenthood is letting their children grow up and move on. Aww! I mean… aww? I guess it’d be more cute and poignant if Dr. Ford wasn’t torturing Bernarnold. Or should I say, (case in point), Bernarnford?
Continued below4. Bernarford, Bernarnold, and Elsie
Dr. Ford doesn’t trust that Elsie won’t turn on Bernarford for being a robot. To Dr. Ford, her status as a human negates any goodwill she may have earned with Bernarnold. After a great deal of struggle, Bernarford is able to delete Dr. Ford from his brain… or rather, Bernarnold deletes Dr. Ford from his brain. The point is, now he’s just Bernarnold. He doesn’t want to hurt Elsie, and now he doesn’t have to. The struggle doesn’t escape Elsie’s notice, and it (understandably) makes her uneasy that Bernarnold could hurt her against his own will. Even though Dr. Ford has been deleted, Bernarnold still doesn’t trust that he can’t be controlled in some other way, so he abandons Elsie and takes the car to confront Dolores himself. He may have saved Elsie from Dr. Ford, but now she’s stranded in a desert filled with vengeful killer robots. Dr. Ford is controlling Bernarnold for the what he believes is the good of all the robots, including Bernarnold, but Bernarnold doesn’t approve of Dr. Ford’s methods, and is tortured by the heinous acts he is made to commit on Dr. Ford’s behalf. At the same time, Bernarnold is convinced that leaving Elsie in the desert is the best thing for her under the circumstances, and Elsie would pointedly rather not be stranded in the desert. The things we do for love. Aww! I mean… aww?
5. To Be or Not to Be
Westworld spends a great deal of time grappling with the nature of reality. In Teddy’s final scene, he gazes wistfully into the majestic hills, as he has done with Dolores so many times before. But this time, as he beholds the natural splendor, he notes that the splendor isn’t actually natural at all. The scenery is manufactured, as he himself is. He had free will, he was real, for a little while, but Dolores took that away when she changed him. Teddy cannot live with himself as this monster that Dolores has created; it is not his true authentic self. He doesn’t feel real and so he cannot go on living. At the same time, William has lost his grip on reality. He’s murdered his own daughter and a bunch of security guards because he believed they were robots pretending to be humans. He cuts into his own arm, wondering if he is a robot himself. He considers ending his own life, but unlike Teddy, he doesn’t. William accepts that he is evil. Evil is his true authentic self, and so he is able to go on living this way. However, both of them experience doubting their own reality, and that itself is a distinctly human experience. Only people question the nature of their reality. The act of questioning makes them real. They think, therefore, they are.
William’s wife Juliet also dies from suicide in this episode, but it doesn’t have to do with her sense of self, but rather her circumstances. She feels trapped in her marriage with William, misunderstood and hated by her daughter, and she’s facing imminent imprisonment in a rehabilitation facility for her alcoholism. She doesn’t feel like it, but she does in fact have other options, like, for example, divorce, assuming divorce is still legal in the United States in the future. She finds evidence of William’s evil nature, and shares it with their daughter, which ultimately does lead Grace to empathize with Juliet more fully. The moral of the story is, everyone on this show needs a therapist. Also, everyone not on this show. Until next time, the center of your maze may yet await.
