BWW Recap: Massive Fan Theory Confirmed on Action-Packed WESTWORLD

Only two more episodes of WESTWORLD left and the jam-packed show only intensifies with each week! This week Thandie Newton once again flexes her incredible acting muscles as Maeve truly begins taking control of her own narrative, some of our most asked questions begin to get answered, and the show confirms one of the most talked about theories surrounding it since the season started airing.

In this weeks episode, 'Trace Decay', it becomes clear what our tangential lines of focus are; hosts that are self aware or on the path towards BECOMING so. In what feels like a closer concept to the first few episodes, self-awareness, or at least the concept of cognition outside of their set loop, is spreading like a disease and more and more hosts are catching it.

The Man in Black is still on his journey towards Wyatt and the maze with Teddy and he cannot stop belittling Teddy and his lack of recognition for what he is. He consistently tries to explain to Teddy what the real picture is, that he is programed to be a loser in the game that is his life by mercy of the man who invented said game. His constant monologuing at Teddy about the true nature of his reality seems to be starting to rub off, or at least it's starting to spark Teddy's, perhaps inevitable, awakening as he "remembers" another time when he heard the Man in Black utter the word "loser," that night he died defending Dolores.

The two continue on and find a group of hosts slaughtered by Wyatt, or at least they all appear to be so. One of which is alive, in retrospect not by accident, and she is the same blond host that greeted William on his first trip to Westworld and showed him the ropes. "It's you," the Man in Black reminisces looking at her. "I figured they retired you." This scene alone confirms the multiple timeline theory that has been driving the internet insane since the series began. Now we know for sure the THE TIMELINE with William that we are watching, his first time in the park, is set before the current (and most modern) timeline with the Man in Black. This scene made it clear that this host is old (which we knew from the flashbacks of the very first days of the park) and that this is her most recent narrative. We know that the Man in Black has to be in the present as he has scenes with an older Ford and thus William's timeline and interaction with this host would have been in the past. The Man in Black also recalls her fondly which too supports the notion that these aren't just random separate timelines, but an origin story of sorts for the Man in Black suggesting that this deplorable man is who William eventually becomes.

It's a storyline that is both troubling and not necessarily satisfying but is starting to become so. We finally start to see pieces in Simpson's performance as William that could hint at him heading down a darker path, or at the very least a path that would eventually with time and wear line up with the Harris' the Man in Black, and the preview for next week certainly lends more ammo for that gun, but it would be a shame to lose Jimmy Simpson and a character like William from the show in the future. He's our one grounding point in humanity. Everyone else is so incredibly corrupt or so grey they become more than murky, and we do need to have hope in the world that there are good people. We need to feel for both sides of the inevitable war to come or else it's too black and white for a story that has been so brilliant and promised never to be so. We do of course have other humans we care about and empathize with (Felix and Stubbs) and Westworld certainly never allows for any of its characters to be just plain good or bad, not to mention it would be an interesting concept to strictly follow the hosts perspective from here on out, but there was something so incredibly refreshing in William and Simpson's take on a romantic lead. Simpson doesn't portray William in anyway as traditionally masculine, he doesn't subscribe to the toxic notion of violence or psychical toughness equalling power and there's something so beautifully human in him. He is so far away from what Hollywood would define as a romantic lead, as the show itself parallels him with James Marsden's gunslinging Teddy who would normally be our male protagonist in this quasi-western and it is that difference and the brilliant and refreshing casting of a talent like Simpson who too doesn't conscribe to Hollywood's standards in any shape or form with his career that would feel so wasted and leave a taste of disappointment in our mouth should it be washed away by the end of this season.

Teddy continues down his path of awakening when one of Wyatt's men attack and as the Man in Black starts to drag him off and struggle with him, Teddy remembers another time he's seen the Man in Black do this, that same night he started unlocking in his memories before, when he dragged Dolores off to THE SHED as Teddy lied there, helpless. Teddy then punches the Man in Black, still not able to kill him as we see later, but able to relish in hurting him. He ties him up, threatening to kill him slowly and pressing him for information to help make sense of what he's remembering. "You took her, you hurt her," he recalls, hitting him once more and revealing why he is the embodiment of a Western romantic hero. The Man in Black pushes back however. "I'm a good guy Teddy," he explains, telling him that outside of the park, he's a righteous man and only gives in to his less virtuous thoughts and feelings when he's inside of Westworld. He goes on to explain he has a life outside the park with a wife, a daughter and a successful business, however that came to a stop when his wife killed herself, according to his daughter, having taken the "wrong" pills and drowned in the bath. His daughter said she had killed herself because of him and her fear that he could blow up on her at any moment, knowing the man that he becomes in the park despite never actually seeing it. That concept could further illustrate the theory that William is on the path to BECOMING the Man in Black if perhaps after what is sure to be a traumatizing and life altering "vacation" truly changes him forever. It all adds up if William is forced to leave the park and the life he committed to with Dolores, marries Logan's sister and takes over the company, buying Westworld out because despite being out of the park, his mind and heart will never leave it. It's not that far fetched to understand a wife's pain and feelings of disconnect and depression if her husband is never there and his one true love is a robot that sparked a never ending obsession with Westworld.

The Man in Black was clearly shaken by his wife's death and does something that seems just so un-William like for the sake of testing his feelings. Every time he does something passed the point of black hat and entering on the point of depravity, it's incredibly hard to find any line that would realistically lead William to that point of disconnect with the hosts. He wanted to prove his wife's notions about him wrong, her thought that he was truly a monster, so he came back to Westworld to test how truly depraved he could be. He sought out Maeve in her past loop as a simple homesteader and mother and killed both her and her daughter just to see how he would feel. However, Maeve being Maeve refused to die, defended herself, and ran off with her daughter, only making it a few steps but that pure instinctual and gutturally emotional clinging to life and as only the living can do. It was that concept of life, that possibility of the hosts being more than just programed pieces, that revealed the maze to the Man in Black, the deeper game that he seeks beyond all the charted out narratives where there are real STAKES and real meaning. Teddy, listening to all this horrified, tries to kill the Man in Black but is unable to, still restricted by his programming, and then, in a shocking twists, is stabbed by the female host they came upon, as Wyatt's men surround them, claiming that Wyatt "will need [Teddy] soon."

With the revelation this episode that the multiple timeline theory is definitely true, and further evidence that Dolores is recalling two pasts, one from the beginning of the park's inception and one with William, while retracing her steps in the present day on her own, there's a lot more weight to every little thing that happens between the two this episode. We start to see the small moments that flicker across Williams face that set up his possibly transition from a white hat to the man who is literally defined by his black hat and perhaps the notion of the multiple TIMELINES isn't as retractive as we might have originally thought, given the concept that Dolores is simply recalling all of as she's on the same path, but this time on her own. If she is indeed going on this journey again but this time by herself, it is rather empowering and beautiful and a continuation of the show's theme of reclaiming one's own narrative as her arc this season focuses on her finally reaching that moment of awareness on her own.

Dolores and William find bodies littered on the shore with arrows from the Ghost Nation who killed them. William insists that they leave, claiming they'll be circling back eventually, but Dolores finds one person still alive, a young boy. He asks for water and William hesitates, knowing that this is just a host and not the host he has formed a connection to and that he's practically dead. William is starting to form a disconnect with the other hosts in his connection with Dolores. As she becomes more alive to him, the other hosts become less so, merely obstacles in their way to freedom. Dolores insists however and the boy tells them they were an ambush group set up to catch them from the train as a new recruit, clearly Logan, told them about it. Dolores' key characteristic of compassion once again rears its head as she fights to save the boy, but William claims he is too far gone and tried to kill them, further illustrating his increasing us vs. them mentality. Dolores refuses to relent, claiming that he didn't know any better at his age and goes to fetch him more water. It is here we see the first clear distinction between her three timelines. We see her flashback to her own body dead in the water (further in the past), then we see her alone on the beach (present), and finally back to where she started with William on the beach with the boy (more recent past). The boy, just like all innocence, could not be saved and ends up dying in front of them.

The two continue on their journey and Dolores leads William to a town, or so we think. It's the buried version of the church town narrative that we see Ford resurrecting, another good element to track what is now quite a clear timeline. The town is still buried when William is in it, clearly this narrative taking place after the church's original usage was retired, and it's being dragged up again in the future for Ford's new narrative. Dolores enters the space and the town is there, clearly having reached the newly resurrected version of it in the present day. She then recalls a time, (perhaps thirty years ago?) when the park was beginning, the hosts were being taught how to act, and we see them rehearsing dancing, spotting both Maeve and the blond host too. Dolores then runs into Lawrences daughter who asks her if she found what she was looking for, as she then begins to flash back to a massacre of the hosts that she had seemingly committed. She brings the gun to her head and we're brought back into the nearer past with William who stops her from mirroring the same suicide then and there, the town once again buried under the sand. "When are we?" Dolores cries out, questioning everything as her mind gets just as worked up as much of the audiences' are bound to regarding all of these timelines. She tries to ground herself in William but can't, fighting what she thinks she should be doing for Arnold, claiming he "wants [her] to remember." but William pushes back, trying to protect her and perhaps pushing her off the path she was intent on going and thus causing her to need to retrace her steps all those years later. "Whoever Arnold is he isn't here right now. I am, and i'm gonna get you out of here," he promises, steering away from her future.

The two walk on and William seems a little out of sorts and desperate, claiming they need to get Dolores back to Sweet Water because he thinks her malfunctioning is due to her distance from her narrative. The two never make it safely to Sweet Water though, as they come upon Logan and his party and are definitely in for a rude awakening.

As awakening is definitely a key theme this episode, we see the real shakeup of the system begin to happen as we open with a scene both familiar and distinctly flipped from what we normally see. It's an analysis mode scene which we are used to but this time the tables are turned and Bernard is the one being analyzed by Ford. He's attempting to cope with all that he's feeling, going through the existential crisis that he joked about with Elsie, trying to make sense of what he's feeling, what he has known, and what he knows now. Bernard tries to fight back against Ford and the violence he forced him to commit but despite all of his anger, despite all of his pain, he's unable to act against his creator. "Arnold came to feel the way you did," Ford recalls. "He couldn't stop me either." The Arnold and Bernard parallels are high this week, perhaps also hinting that another fan theory that Bernard is a host version of Arnold, but the parallels work thematically, illustrating Ford's motivation of control. Ford tells Bernard to clean up the mess and Bernard does so, erasing any footprints that would connect them with Theresa, in exchange for the peace of mind that Ford promised. Ford then talks to a self aware Bernard and Bernard questions him about the difference between them. Ford confirms that there really isn't any, that humanity and consciousness is all perception. Just before erasing his memory, Bernard questions Ford once more, asking him if he ever made him hurt someone like this before. Ford denies it but Bernard suddenly recalls another struggle with Elsie. We don't know for sure if he killed her but it's not looking great for everyone's favorite Behavior techie.

In a conference with Ford and Hale, Stubbs reveals they found Theresa's body in the same place they found the stray in Python Pass. She was trying to transmit information out of the park, tripped and fell to her death. This whole scene is a beauty of acting gymnastics as Hopkins' Ford who reeks of eeriness and power constantly tries to give Thompson's Hale an out while threatening her. He's basically saying here's your branch to grab onto before I cut it for you.

Hale, clearly perturbed, goes to take matters into her own hands as she seeks out Lee Sizemore who is working on a cannibal narrative that Ford relegated him too to distract him. She offers him a job to write a narrative for a retired host, Dolores' original father, to cover him to get on a train without notice as she plans to basically use him as a walking and talking usb drive for the information they were able to obtain.

Hale isn't the only one who senses something is off as Stubbs goes to talk to Bernard and offer his condolences, Theresa and Bernard's relationship clearly not as secret as they thought, only to find Bernard distant, claiming he "barely knew her." Stubbs also tries to reach out to him about Elsie but he also gives another unsatisfactory answer about her leave.

As Westworld begins to unravel backstage as well, Maeve develops into a tornado that is about to come through to blow it all down. Back at the Mariposa, a new host has taken Clementines place and her identity. They didn't even change her name. Maeve is clearly disturbed by this but is miles away, back on that field with her daughter. Felix explains that the reason why she keeps flashing back so clearly and why she feels like she's in two places at the same time is because hosts' memories are clearer, almost tangible. Maeve starts to question why it was she was even reassigned but resists. "No it doesn't matter. every relationship I remember... my daughter, Clementine... it's all a story created by you to keep me here but that's not going to work any longer. I'm getting out."

We also learn just how high the security is in Westworld should a host ever get out; they have an explosive in their spine ready to detonate should they step outside the building. One thinks Hale and Sizemore do not know this relative information and their plan might literally blow up in their faces. Maeve is determined and with her intelligent off the charts, we believe she can pull it off. "Time to write my own fing story," she states, refusing to be a pawn in their game any longer.

After searching, Maeve finds out that she needs to get to Behavior during the shift change in order to make the tweaks and adjustments she needs to form her army and get out of there. Felix and Sylvester agree to help, Sylvester only doing so to conceal his hidden plan of erasing her memory once they get up there. They get up there and shut her down to do the necessary programing. Felix, however, doesn't wipe her and in fact, does the opposite. He does exactly what she told him to do and Maeve wakes up, turning on Sylvester and slitting his throat, her core code changed dramatically. She can now truly humans, the one rule that was waiting to be broken to send the world into utter chaos. She then has Felix patch him up, should they need him in the future, and prepares to "recruit her army."

Her targets are Hector and Armistice, so once that force comes together, they will be an incredibly badass, unstoppable, and absolutely beautiful trio. As the heist takes place once again, we get to see it from a third differing perspective, as this time Maeve has all the control. She has developed the ability to command the other hosts, a power both exciting and scary. Maeve changes the narrative, directing the action with her commands, promising what her updates might entail in the future.

Later or the next night, Maeve is gearing up to leave once and for all when the new Clementine and her memories get in her way. They start to overlap and she recalls that day when the Man in Black came to her and killed her daughter, mirroring the action with Clementine and accidentally slitting her throat. She runs, trying to escape the town and commanding other hosts to defend her or distract the law. Control finally steps in, sending an authorized team to retrieve her as she's not responding to any and all of their commands. We see this happened once before, as clearly Maeve has always been on the path towards enlightenment, as Arnold's originals all were. When she and her daughter were brought in after their "death" via the Man in Black, she is in hysterics, fighting and screaming for her child, refusing to respond to anything. That is, until Ford plays a piece of music that works just the same, presumably another old code from Arnold. He then directs her to sit, as they will erase her pain, eras the memories, but she fights back, pledging "This pain is all i have left of her," a line we've heard a few times already but Ford doesn't listen, erasing her memory all the same. Still, just as we've seen, Maeve is a fighter and underneath all of her code, she finds it in herself to pick up a scalpel and stab herself, once again fighting for THE RESISTANCE against their oppressive commanders and controllers. The men in suits finally come for Maeve, as we wait to see next week whether she went willingly and how she's going to fly under the raider to return back to the park to retrieve her army.

This episode of Westworld gave us everything, the shocks, the emotion, and the beautifully crafted storytelling we've been loving all season. As theories start to get confirmed or destroyed, most of the hesitation and worry about the show heading in the theorized directions are being put to rest as the showrunnners prove their ability to intricately and deftly weave a story in a way that only true craftsman know how to.

Photo Credit: HBO

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