'Westworld' Recap: 'The Adversary'

11/7/2016

Written by Scott Edwards

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

Elsie will not stop digging and needs to find out what is going on around the park with the uplink that she has discovered in a host and Bernard has joined the hunt. Making his way down in the building, Bernard jumps into the system where he can track the hosts, yet not be tracked himself. Finding the spot where the woodcutter was transmitting, he is also surprised to see that there are five more hosts that are off grid and with a looming issue coming his way and with the board members watching every move the park makes, he needs to find out what is happening. Stepping into the park however may not be his best chance at getting answers since Ford is ready and waiting for him.

Finding out that Dr. Ford knows too much about what is happening in the park, even when it comes to the employees, Theresa has decided to call it quits with Bernard. Yet, she will need to interact with him on a business level until she can figure out how to convince the board that the park is still stable and able to produce a massive income. But one thing she needs to have done is get her primary narrative writer back on track to continue and make changes to Ford’s new story that is leaving holes everywhere. Finding Lee lounging and drinking himself stupid, Theresa is forced to get a little harsh with the employee, but hopes it is enough to have him get back into the game. With the narrative of the park at his fingertips, Lee is fed up with what has happened to his beautiful story and would rather make it known that he should be in charge of the park and all of the writing that goes into it, in stunning fashion.

The Man in Black and Teddy are making their way through the prairie to find Wyatt and get into the maze. While chatting, The Man in Black finds out that Teddy has more information than any of his previous hosts that he has tried to get information out of. It turns out the maze is nothing more than an old wives tale, a house built to keep people confused, and while it is what the two men need to find, they are entering a part of the story where lines start to be crossed. Seeing the town of Pariah and knowing that it is full of soldiers, the men try their luck moving through a camp instead. But when things start to go sideways when Teddy is recognized, all bets are off and the two are forced to slap iron to try and escape their new confines, taking out as many of the soldiers as they can before moving on once again.

Making his way into an abandoned section of the park, Bernard is able to find the rogue hosts and is surprised to see that Dr. Ford is right there with them. Not being able to make any commands that the hosts will respond to, Bernard is beside himself seeing that his mentor is the only one who can control them. Seeing the life that Ford has made for himself inside the park, Bernard is faced with yet another decision about what to do with what is going on in the shadows of the park. Knowing that one of the characters in the uncontrolled house is Albert, Ford’s former partner, Bernard may have to find a way to get this program shut down before someone else finds out about it. But Ford is not trying to hurt anyone and being the man in power that he is, Bernard has issues trying to take this non sanctioned project to the right people, even if it is the right thing to do.

Being able to wake herself up on command, Maeve will literally die to get more information about what is going on in her home. Befriending Lutz the technician, she is able to convince him to show her around the facility and find out more about her situation. Being taken to the different levels, Maeve sees that her world is a fraud and her memories along with her actions are nothing more than programming, and she comes to the conclusion that the world can be hers. Getting access to an upgrade however, Lutz finds out that her programming has already been altered by someone else, yet he still gives the Madame what she wants and is ready to release her back into the park.

This is a beautiful episode filled with discovery for many of the characters and while I love the gun fights, they do not help to grow the characters as much as you would like. With Maeve walking the halls of the facility and seeing fellow hosts being created, activated and trained to play a part, her eyes are opened to the real world that she is part of and she wants to take advantage of the game she is playing. Bernard has his eyes opened to a project that Ford has kept hidden from the park and while seeing that his mentor cannot let go of the past, he is challenged with his own and the loss of his son. While on his ride with The Man in Black, Teddy finds out more about what happened with himself and Wyatt when all of his fellow soldiers were killed in cold blood for no reason. And Elsie has found a satellite uplink in the park that is uploading data to the parent company's satellites, yet does not understand why.

This is going to be a hard episode to top, and while they have all been great up to this point, you get a few questions answered in this one, yet at the same time many new questions come up about what is really happening in the park. I am finding the lack of trust that Ford has for everyone in the park interesting, since he challenges everyone's way of thinking when it comes to the hosts. He is living in a world of his own making and now things are starting to fall apart when he sees that his own creation is starting to kill so it cannot kill others. It's the 'Albert way' of thinking that has survived the program's changes and many updates and it paints a bleak world view of what society has become, yet in his way of thinking, death is the only way to stop the killing and the underlying programming is starting to surface in the park making it next to impossible to know which host will strike first. Now I am really excited to see what happens next, I really want to know about the Board and what they plan to do with the park, what Ford’s new narrative is really doing to the existing story and if Bernard is going to build a host and program it after his son.

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