After an exhausting finale, which tied up plenty of loose ends before throwing open some entirely new questions, season two is all over. Join WIRED's Andy Vandervell and Matt Reynolds for a dive into the season's final episode and a look forward to our hopes and fears about season three.
If your thirsting for more things Westworld, then check out WIRED's interview with the show's co-creator Lisa Joy. As well as dropping some hints about what's coming up in season three, Joy went in-depth on the show's philosophy and explained why we shouldn't write Dolores off as a cold-hearted killer.
Be warned, this article contains significant spoilers for all episodes of Westworld.
Bernard made it out of the park, but only just
Matt Reynolds: Well that 90 minutes was more tense than an England match without Harry Kane, am I right?
Now that's all my football knowledge out of the way, let's talk about this finale. Andy, do you think that was the ending that season two deserved?
Andy Vandervell: Deserved is a loaded term, Matt, but I enjoyed it immensely. There were one or two issues with the logic, particularly around Maeve, but it was a satisfying conclusion, especially in how it completed Bernard's arc throughout the season. In many ways, the whole season has been about him.
MR: Yeah, Bernard has been on quite the journey this season, struggling with his own emotions and memories, and eventually overcoming the influence of Ford and finding his own inner voice. And then he's killed by Dolores and later rebuilt in Arnold's home back on the mainland. In those closing scenes Dolores explains that she knows Bernard opposes her, but she keeps him alive anyway because she thinks that it might provide a kind of insurance for her own existence.
This looks like it'll be a major part of season three, but what do you reckon is the logic behind Dolores' decision? The way I see it, Dolores is thinking that if she gets erased, she – or someone else – might need to access Bernard's memories to rebuild her from what remains in his mind. Does that make sense?
AV: That adds up, but I think there's a less practical angle here as well. She infers that, were she human, she wouldn't have revived him, presumably because she feels humans prefer the path of least resistance and would rather avoid an obstacle than confront it. By bringing him back, she's making a statement. She is different. His opposition helps define her. She needs it.
MR: And in a way, Bernard represents everything that Dolores has tried to overcome. He was willingly subservient to humans while Dolores views hosts as deserving much more from life. While Bernard bumbled his way through this season, Dolores has had her eyes on the prize the whole way.
And she did it, becoming the first host to leave Westworld of their own volition. And, as we get a glimpse into her bag when she's taking the boat to the mainland, she's brought along with her the pearls of five hosts. Assuming one of them is Bernard, who do you think the other four are?
Season three doesn't look like it'll be kind to William
AV: Well we saw from the Bernard scene that there are now what we assume are two versions of Dolores: one in the body of Charlotte Hale and one in her original body. That leaves two more. In the post-credit scene we have William being tested by his daughter, both of whom would have to be hosts, but the timeline for this unknown. It's reasonable to assume, I think, that the scene was set further into the future, but there's no way of knowing for sure.
MR: I have a theory on this. I think it's safe to assume that the Emily we see in the post-credit scene is a host, since she was well and truly killed off in the penultimate episode. But William is still alive at the end of the finale, so is it possible that Emily is actually conducting a fidelity test on a human William?
It'd be a particularly cruel kind of torture for William, who has always longed for a world where the stakes are a little more real. And it'd also be a fitting retribution for the fate of James Delos – Emily's grandfather – who William took a perverse pleasure in fidelity testing endlessly.
AV: I had no idea you could be so devious, Matt. I like it. It all comes down to timing, I suppose. When is that post-credit scene happening? If it' shortly after the events of season two, then that fits. That would mean one of the 'books' Dolores read, which contained the profiles of people who visited the park, was about Emily, allowing Dolores to recreate her.
But the finale didn't get everything right...
MR: Yeah, that's a huge question that I'm guessing will become clear with the next season. It looks like they might be in some version of Westworld that's in really bad shape, so it'll be interesting to find out how the park fell into such disrepair – if that's where it is.
You mentioned Maeve a little while ago and I think we do need to talk about her role in this finale. What did you think of the way she sacrificed herself, fending off Clementine's mind-altering ability to influence other hosts and give her daughter a chance to dive into The Forge?
AV: Mostly, I was confused. The problem with superpowers is you need to outline what they are, how they work and when they don't work. This was the bit of the episode I didn't like, though the idea of a portal to a world the hosts can be 'free' was neat.
MR: I thought it was sweet that Dolores ended up putting Teddy in there as well. She clearly still cares for him, and would rather put him in a place where he can be happy than drag him into the real world against his will.
Talking of bits of the episode that didn't quite work. Lee Sizemore killing himself by running into Delos' guns. I get that Sizemore is meant to have changed and this represents him finally acting in a unselfish and courageous way, but for me it just seemed pretty unnecessary – I'm not sure it slowed the Delos troops down that much, since they had their own car and everything.
Read more: A spoiler-packed explanation of the Westworld season two finale by co-creator Lisa Joy
AV: It did smack of "this character has served his purpose now". Maybe, if as Lisa joy hinted Maeve will be back, he'll get resurrected as a host. That would be fun.
MR: I definitely think that a Westworld without Maeve would be a more boring place, so I'm all for it.
Before we wrap up the recap for another season, I'd like to hear your thoughts on season three. What are you hoping for from the season? Is there anything from season two you'd like to see a little less of?
AV: I'd like to learn more about Delos the company. I feel like there's a lot more to this conglomerate (I think it's safe to call it that) than we've seen and it feels important. What about you?
MR: Yeah, that's a good one. Despite being the DNA-swiping force behind all this action, we've never really found out much about how Delos works or what its motivations are at the highest level.
I'm ready to get out of those parks and get into the real world. I'm really interested to find out how Dolores manages in the outside world, and how her plan to find hosts somewhere they can live without human meddling will work out. Will she be satisfied passing herself off as a human and trying to carve a space for her kind that way? Something tells me that's not going to be the case, and there's plenty more destruction and chaos round the corner.
Anyway, I guess we'll find that all out in a year or two when the show returns for a third season. See you then!
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
