BWW Recap: There's 'No More Pretending' on WESTWORLD

"Contrapasso," the title of Episode 5 of WESTWORLD refers to the concept in Dante's Inferno that every sinner should see an equally fitting punishment for their crime as the one they had committed. As guests continually exercise their id and indulge in depravity, and the hosts who are victims of said indulgence start gaining consciousness and pushing back, they may find their own ring of hell at the end of their vacation. Everyone this week faces their demons and sees justice, in whatever form that maybe. For the more unsavory workers and guests of Westworld and their instinctually detached approach to the hosts from a more voyeuristic perspective, they will find an equally fitting end to their equally horrifying "sins". For those with purer intentions and good hearts, they will battle against the sin exercising all around them and tempting them in to struggle in the search for a haven. "Contrapasso" is all about ones actions and the due retribution they will face, allowing the characters to reach a beautiful climax as the world and the balance starts shifting for them, be it in the positive or negative light.

The episode, for once, doesn't open with Dolores in an analysis session, further characterizing the structural shift happening within the storyline. As loops break and characters step away from what they are either programmed or expected to be, so does the show's structure. Instead we open on Ford (Anthony Hopkins) having another meeting with one of the original hosts of the park that he had talked with in the pilot, Old Bill (Michael Wincott). He recalls a dog he had in his childhood that had chased a cat down to kill it. The dog eventually caught it, and much to the horror of those in the park, killed the cat. Ford sadly looks back on it all, saying "That dog had spent his whole life trying to catch that thing, now it had no idea what to do." It's obviously parallel to what is happening with the hosts and Ford himself. They are all on endless and fruitless journeys. The hosts are on an endless loop that they can't break, but as some of them start to leap out and actually reach towards what they want, what will they do when they get it? Ford is very much the same way. He has worked his whole life to create Westworld, only to find it slipping away from him.

The Man in Black(Ed Harris) continues on his journey with Lawrence (Clifton Collins Jr.) and Teddy (James Marsden) dragging along. Teddy is worse for wear, however, after being strung up for death on a tree so they decide to stop. The little boy host that Ford was talking to previously comes up to them and asks them if they need help. The Man in Black sends him to fetch them some more water as he dumps the water Lawrence had gathered earlier, telling Lawrence that he was wrong earlier when he quoted Dolores and said that "There's a path for everyone. Your path leads you back to me." It wasn't to him that Lawrence's path led him, but rather to Teddy. The Man in Black slits Lawrence's throat and hangs him upside down, draining his blood into a bag to make a transfusion for Teddy. Teddy eventually wakes up and clearly the transfusion worked to some extent. The Man in Black shows his skill, knowledge, and experience here. He knows how the hosts function and how they are made up. Their bodies are virtually human, almost all flesh and bone except for some wetware, and blood transfusions apparently work (presumably they are all universal donors). The Man in Black knows these hosts and knows Westworld; it's what makes him such an interesting and terrifying adversary. As he explains to Teddy that he must come with him on his journey, he hooks him in by telling him Wyatt took Dolores. He knows the hosts and their narratives inside out, able to manipulate their narratives in a way that most couldn't even comprehend. He enables a host like Teddy to go past his perimeters or programed instinct by overriding all of that with his programmed feelings and underlying objectives. We also get a little bit of an inside look at the Man in Black's deeper connection with the hosts. He clearly doesn't humanize them in the same way William does, openly killing them if he has to to get to the maze, but he also blames their suffering on Ford and the people behind the park, insisting that the hosts were beautiful before they were humanized. "Your humanity is cost effective. So is your suffering," he tells Teddy who looks like he's on death's door. They had claimed the switch from artificial makeup to real FLESH AND BONE was for the integrity of the park but it was actually for the integrity of their pocket. As the hosts suffer, they do so in the name of THE PROFIT of their creators and controllers and for that purpose alone.

Ford comes head to head with this ideology and threat as he meets the Man in Black and Teddy at a saloon they stop off in, interrogating the Man in Black about his intentions. The Man in Black reacts to Ford with a great deal of resentment, telling Teddy that Ford is the man responsible for all of his joy, but also all of his pain. Ford, who approaches his creations with such a clinical distance, wants to know what is it the Man in Black is looking for in the maze, clearly searching for an answer. The Man in Black simply tells him he wants to know the meaning of Westworld, a purpose behind all the depravity. Ford smiles, saying that all he had to do was ask should he want to know the moral of the story, but the Man in Black pushes back, insisting that it isn't his story he's interested in hearing, but rather Arnold's. All roads point back to Arnold and it's safe to say after this episode that there must have been more than some complication between the two creators, rather more like a competing resentment. Ford seems to take solace in the memories, but a fear and panic seems to rise in him during this episode at the mention of his old partner and friend. The Man in Black grows angry and asks Ford what would happen should he open him up, taking out his knife, but Teddy responds with his ultra good samaritan reflex, protecting his creator just as Ford has programmed the hosts to do. Ford departs, allowing the Man in Black to continue down this path of discovery, and walks away, flicking the piano on with one twitch of his finger, clearly in control of more than just the hosts on a fundamental level. Ford is clearly intwined with the park on every degree and if we see anyone try and take that from him, we might see hosts thrown into the line of fire to forcibly protect their creator. Ford is forced to come face to face this week with the Man in Black who represents his reckoning, or rather it's source in the form of Arnold reaching out through the hosts. As the Man searches for a meaning behind Westworld that Ford wishes to distinguish, the creations he has detached himself from are beginning to push back.

All Ford and Westworld have come to know is seeming to also be unraveling from the inside out as Elsie (Shannon Woodward) discovers a laser based satellite uplink implanted in Maurice, the host that almost killed her. Someone has been using the hosts to smuggle data out of the park and now it's not just Ford's creations fighting back that he has to worry about, but the integrity of all that he's worked for. Westworld is seeing splintering on every level, as a company, as everyone starts to really have their own agenda. Behavior with Elsie and Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) are looking into something that it seems as if QA are possibly trying to cover up. Livestock, who we met again this week and got a closer look at are sexually assaulting the hosts while they sleep and stealing corporate property to do their own experiments.

The two livestock workers that we meet, giving us a closer view into another faction of the behind the scenes happenings at Westworld are the same workers we saw working on Maeve when she woke up and ran off. One of them, Felix Lutz (Leonardo Nam), is still jumpy from the incident and the other, Sylvester (Ptolemy Slocum), is disinterested and childish, calling the hosts "f puppets". Maeve reappears again and again to cleaned up during reset, clearly dying off at a much more frequent rate to Felix's dismay. He shakes it all of though, focusing on a side project as he tries to revive a bird with a coding tablet stolen from Behavior. Sylvester strictly advises him to get rid of it when he sees the stolen property, claiming that he's reaching to high above his station and that they certainly wont promote him for stealing, but Felix persists and eventually succeeds. He cheers in delight as it seems like he has created life in the small creature, eventually struck by horror to find it has landed on the finger of a very awake Maeve. "Hello, Felix. It's time you and I had a chat," Maeve teases. Clearly tables are being turned as Maeve has bigger plans. These men, who are in a position called livestock which automatically associates detachment and cruelty for the the "animals" which in this case are the hosts being raised for slaughter again and again, are now going to be forced to come face to face with the animals they are consistently cleaning and repackaging like products on a conveyer belt and see that they might have a conscience. It is there turn to be used.

Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood), William (Jimmi Simpson), and Logan (Ben Barnes) are on route with Slim Miller (James Landry Hébert) to the most incredible set piece of Parriah, a town further out in the park, far beyond the realms of Sweet Water that functions almost like the Vegas of Westworld, with less laws, limits, and control. Here the narratives are bigger and the STAKES are higher, the most elaborate and exciting playing field for a player like Logan. Dolores's world begins to unravel as she breaks out of the town that she had been denied leave from, heading towards a path so far away from all that she had known. Logan brings up Arnold, who gets a lot of mention this week. He doesn't know his name but refers to the story of his death, claiming that he almost took Westworld down with him. There's a huge air of mystery around Arnold with Logan's lawyers coming up empty on research, without so much as even a picture. Logan's company is considering buying Westworld out he says, staring hungrily at the carnage all around him and his prospectives. They then see the Confederados, who Dolores informs are ex-confederate soldiers who never surrendered after the war, turning themselves into a mercenary group. Logan is looking for danger, hungry for the biggest "game" in the park, which at this level, means all out war.

Dolores keeps flashing back to the town with the church in it, continually cropping up in her mind, and William comes up to her asking her if she is alright for the second time in the episode, clearly concerned for her wellbeing as he thought he heard her talking to someone earlier. Dolores begins to tell him about choices that have been opening up to her now that she sees them, insisting you could change your whole life with choice, something she never actually had. William asks her if that is what she wants, to change her life, and she assures him it is. William agrees, completely invested in what she is saying and gets caught up, describing the escapism Westworld allows that could never happen in the "real world." Dolores asks what he means by using the words "real world" and William is taken aback, as the hosts aren't supposed to notice these things. They are strictly programmed to move away or gloss over anything that would divert them, their loop, their purpose, or their understanding. She insists that something has changed and that "the whole world is calling to me in a way that it hasn't before." William grabs her hand reassuringly, clearly connecting with her.

Logan calls him over, calling him Billy again, which we know he hates, and says they could go to a brothel while they have to wait for El Lazo to hold audience with them. William dismisses this, saying that Dolores wouldn't like it but Logan is aghast, saying Dolores is just a doll and it doesn't matter what she thinks. This is the second time people have referred to the hosts as objects to be played with, both Logan and the Livestock employee, clearly indicating an outlook that will soon come crashing down in Contrapasso. William is starting to get the picture though, insisting that he thinks she really understands, but Logan, who is too far on this power trip that Westworld allows him, can't even listen to him. For a man like Logan, he can't even comprehend the idea that these people who he treats as toys and playthings could have a conscience, or else that would prevent him from thinking so fondly on his own.

Dolores sees herself, or a look alike in the parade, perhaps recalling another time she might have been in the parade. She attempts to follow her lookalike but her memories cloud her mind. "Rest in a deep and dreamless slumber," a voice tells her, and she crashes, the very opposite of what happens to Maeve when she wakes herself up.

We next see her during an analysis session with Ford and it is here that it is ever clear that the narrative isn't so straightforward. By the elements of montage, one would simply think that A (Dolores hears the phrase) + B (Dolores passes out) = C (Ford extracted her for analysis), but despite the structure's implication, this might not all actually follow each other. There are many theories that it could be even more "timey-wimey" (to steal from Doctor Who) than we might even initially think. However, there is clearly some indicative non sequential narration going on here that is being broken down with these analysis' that are clearly not happening at the moments they are inserted into the story, as it's clear Ford isn't picking her up in the night. One theory is that these moments are so far apart that William and Logan's journey is actually taking place quite a while before the rest of the narratives, with many people guessing that either William or Logan could be the younger versions of the Man in Black. There is some credence to this theory, the most concrete being discrepancies between the logos when William and Logan arrive versus all the other times we see it presented, such as when Sizemore was doing his narrative presentation. This episode we had some more parallels that either, with more information, completely destroy this timeline or support it, as the Man in Black told Ford that he had saved Westworld, essentially. We know the Man in Black runs a big business and that he also is experiences guest privilege. This week, Logan begins to start talking about Arnold with William, not buy name, but says that the park is hemorrhaging and that the company might buy them out. Perhaps that makes Logan the savior of a past Westworld that was in trouble of going under, or perhaps William saves it from falling into Logan's hands. Or perhaps this is all pretty much linear and there are simply multiple powers and hands vying for control of the incredibly successful park.

Ford tells Dolores during their analysis that dreams are more than she thinks, that they mean "everything." They represent who we could be, a notion Ford is incredibly insistent upon. To him, Westworld replicates that dream and gives guests the taste for who they could be. For the hosts, Westworld is a nightmare and the real world that plagues their dreams are the tinges of hope of a world greater than theirs where they are not bound and controlled. Ford chastises Dolores, asking her if she sees herself breaking out of her "modest little loop" and "taking on a bigger role." Dolores denies all of this, even though we see her do this very thing during the episode. Dolores, and really all of thee hosts, which are mostly female POV's for us (with purpose and reason) are on pathways to break out of the confines of what they are told they have to be, paralleling women's real life journeys, as well as the confines female characters are stuffed into in the industry. Dolores is the perfect example of breaking down that mold and pushing past archetype, especially as she's situated in a western. In westerns, Dolores represents the typical patriarchal formula; the farm girl who is the damsel in distress; a sidepiece who waits for her hero to save her before the train comes to run her over. That's the narrative they've put her in. However, unlike in classic Westerns, we are seeing it from her perspective. She's a character and she doesn't want to be that damsel in distress. In doing so, the creators have not only made the genre of Westerns accessible for a female audience who never found a home in them before, but also breaks the stereotypical and patriarchal mold that plagues them and many modern narratives that derive from the classics today.

Ford continues on, ever so clinical. His father, as many parents are want to do, told him that "the world owed [him] nothing." Ford, playing God, decided to defy that, making his "own world." Ford continues to push Dolores back into the past however, as he insists that she must remember something, searching for an answer that he was also looking for with the Man in Black. Arnold keeps cropping up and Ford seems almost afraid of him. He insists that Arnold and the past are there, underneath all of her updates, perfectly preserved, despite her insistence otherwise. He does't begrudge her her forgetfulness though, as his once instance of humanity towards the hosts is his allowing them to forget. Ford then reveals that Dolores, like those two hosts that went rouge earlier on, hears Arnold's voice. He asks her if Arnold is speaking to her AGAIN and she denies it. Ford grabs her hand, squeezing tight, hurting her, searching for the truth in pure paranoia. He wants to know if she has made contact with his co-creator but when he is shut down, he painfully reflects. He asks her what the last thing Arnold said to her was and she said that she was going to help him. "To do what?" he poses. "To destroy this place," she professes. Arnold had clearly been effected by playing God in a way that Ford never has. He wants to destroy the cruelty and depravity in Westworld and was going to use the hosts to do it. "If you did take on that bigger role for yourself, would you have been the hero or the villain?" Ford asks her. It is true, that, as we later see this episode, Dolores isn't the timid farm girl programmed to never use a gun, but she is still herself, and her instincts are always for preservation and goodness. However, perhaps Ford wasn't talking in the hosts' narrative sense but in the bigger picture. After all, to the hosts and people like William, she would don the title hero, but to the people who have put her through all she has went through, including Ford, she might be the villainous punishment of their contrapasso. Ford tries to reach her, almost connect to her, by saying he talks to her because she is the last connection he has to the past, to Arnold, but pulls away again. She asks him if they are old friends and he replies "No, I wouldn't say friends," ominously indicated that perhaps we are seeing the start of the greater game. When Ford leaves her, Dolores reveals she has been explicitly lying to him, a feat that seemed unimaginable giving the amount of control Ford has over his creations, but Dolores is different. Dolores is the leader of change; Arnold's chosen host. "He doesn't know. I didn't tell him anything" she says to an empty room; to Arnold.

Back in Parriah, the trio reach El Lazo, who is finally ready to entreat with them and it is revealed he is actually Lawrence. If the TIMELINES are sequential, then perhaps the delay in their meeting was because Lawrence needed to be repaired before going back on the floor. If they are not, it is a little piece of convenient parallel narration by the writers to make the possibility of less liner TIMELINES that much more questionable.

El Lazo is quick to deny Logan what he wants, an introduction to the Confederados, as Logan's arrogance doesn't seem to work on the tougher hosts in the outskirts of the park. Dolores steps in however, perhaps realizing that they need Lawrence, or at the very least, to complete this quest, in order to get her to where she needs to go. Everyone has a purpose here. She convinces El Lazo and he agrees that they can aid Slim in robbing a group of union soldiers of the nitroglycerin they are carrying in their wagon to obtain it for the Confederados. William doesn't look happy about it, but concedes to allow Logan his black hat adventure, and Dolores seems unnerved but insistent that they push through it. First, however, El Lazo says that she needs a change of clothes. Thus, we say goodbye to the blue dress damsel her MAKERS had forced her to be and here we get a pants wearing, gunslinger with a cowboy hat. It is important to note, however, that Dolores, despite her many layers and strengths, anchors herself in kindness and compassion. She never revels in the violence, and much like we see with William, only does it out of self defense, preservation, or protection for loved ones. There is no joy in it and it is what the show runners are doing so brilliantly. We have an array of female characters who are so incredibly different but strong in their own way. Dolores isn't BECOMING like Armistice who is on a path of fury and bloodstained revenge, and the show never paints that out to be the only possibility of strength. Dolores is incredibly strong but that strength comes from her vulnerability, emotionality, and compassion.

William promises her that they will stick to the plan and simply relieve the men of their wagon and will not harm them, but all goes wrong of course with Logan aboard. He gets insulted by one of the men who, just when they seem to have everything under control, pushes back. Logan, of course, begins to loose control over his temper and everything goes haywire. Gunfire starts to go off, one man killing Slim. Logan is being tacked and William is surrounded, but tries to resist pulling his trigger. He can't hold on much longer, however, as he sees a gun raised towards Dolores. Unlike William, she can die and he knows this. William shoots to kill in an effort to prevent them from killing her and then turns around, killing them all as a preventative measure. He's incredibly bothered by this massacre, but Logan cheers him on, happy that he thinks William is finally finding joy in the park's inciting violence.

They make the trade and the captain of the Confederados takes Logan under his wing, as El Lazo invites them for a night of celebration in the brothel. Logan and William's relationship finally comes to a head this week as the Confederado captain invites them to join him and his men on the front lines. William takes Logan aside, who is excited by the invitation to the quest he's been waiting for. William says that he wont go with them. Enough is enough for William and after seeing the kind of men the Confederados are and seeing the kind of man Logan is, William refuses to put up with it anymore. Logan chides him, insisting he only feels bad for killing because he can't "call [himself] a hero," and that he will never be a "threat to anyone." William pushes back, insisting that he has always earned his place and has worked hard to become the EVP of their company, despite what Logan says. William erupts, throwing Logan against he wall in anger, but he relents, falling back on what Logan said, as he cannot bring himself to actually cause harm.

Meanwhile, Dolores has wandered off and runs into a fortune teller where she picks a card that has a picture of the maze on it. The fortune teller then turns into her own image and insists she must follow the maze. Dolores starts imagining herself quite literally "unraveling," as she pulls a string down her arm that begins to open her up, but looks again to see it's not actually there and she is alone. She runs out, hysterical and in a panic, accidentally stumbling upon El Lazo who, it turns out, is conning the Confederados and stealing the nitroglycerin by funneling it into Slim's dead body.

She immediately finds William, insisting that they need to leave or they will be killed. "Together, I know we can find a way out," she promises. "There's a voice inside of me, telling me what I have to do. And it's telling me I need you." They kiss and their world is forever changed and their paths intertwined, both breaking out of their "loop" forever. Earlier she covered up what has been going on inside of her when William asks, but here she confesses all, entwining their journey and suggesting that his path is supposed to meet her own. Denying the narrative written for her that she has been telling this whole time, where her dream always existed between her and Teddy, she breaks free of that story and all that comes with it. William also breaks free, as they run out of the brothel to find Logan being beat up by the Confederados who have found out they've been conned. Logan begs for help but William finally stops being a follower, leading his own life and making a choice. "No more pretending," he tells Dolores, grabbing her hand as they run, leaving Logan behind.

They run head first into the captain of the Confederados and his gang and they get hold of William, who panics for Dolores, screaming at her to run. In the blink of an eye, all of the Confederados go down in gunfire, as William looks up to find Dolores has shot them all down. "You said people come here to change the story of their lives," she says in the most powerful line of the episode. "I imagined a story where I didn't have to be the damsel." The two run to the train which Dolores insists is their only way out of their to find Lawrence, who backs down as they outgun him. They will all ride forward on this explosive train together. Dolores looks down to see the maze is printed on the coffin and speaks out to THE VOICE inside her head, ominously promising "I'm coming."

This episode of Westworld was a beautifully narrated rollercoaster as everyone faced their demons and sins; their contropasso. Those that have done wrong are starting to get their comeuppance and those that have had wrong done to them are beginning to fight and break free. In what is a beautiful tale of agency, we begin to see the bigger picture of the season's arc as Dolores and Maeve both reject the confines they have been subjected to and the lives and roles they were forced to inhabit. Next week will only kick it up a notch, as Dolores and William ride the train towards the final level of Westworld that could unravel it all; the ultimate contrapasso.

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