'Westworld' Recap: 'Trompe L'Oeil'

Written by Scott Edwards

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

Riding on the train with gang leader Lawrence, William and Dolores have made it further into the game than most. Not knowing what to expect, William is taking this trip to help out his new friend and help her find out what her life really means, yet Dolores has no idea what she will find. Passing through the Ghost Nation, the train is sealed up so no scalps can be taken from anyone aboard, and feeling secure, William comes clean to Dolores about what this adventure really means to him. Letting his guard down for a moment, the park has opened up a new aspect to his life that has never been apparent before, and William is ready to take the next step in securing his place in the old west.

With one of the Delos board members in the building, Theresa is beckoned to Charlotte’s room for a brief discussion of what has been happening in the park. Knowing that the flawed update has caused issues, Charlotte is ready to prove to everybody that the park is no longer safe and in doing so, she will be able to get Dr. Ford to step down. Going along with what her boss has planned, Theresa has Clementine pulled from the saloon and brought into a holding cell. With all eyes on the flawed host, Clementine is forced to exhibit her lack of constraint that the update has caused in her and around the park and she is set to be retired permanently. But the host is not the only one on the hot seat, since her flawed programming has been cleared by Bernard’s group and now he is forced to supply answers to what is going on.

Not knowing about the plan to submarine his work, Bernard is trying to see if any of the other hosts are having issues with memory and is coming up short in his investigation. Needing to talk to Elsie about what she has found, he is shocked to hear that she is not in the building.  Being summoned to a review with Theresa, Bernard gets to see a demonstration that is blamed on him, yet he knows that it has nothing to do with his programming. Finding himself fired, Bernard still has work to do and is able to get a few minutes with his past lover. Telling Theresa what he has been able to find around the park, he takes her to Ford’s hidden shack and the two discover a host facility that albeit slow when it comes to manufacturing, can bring forth new, off the grid hosts, in a matter of days. Wanting to find out what Ford is up to, Theresa stumbles upon a few blue prints that will change her outlook on the genius forever.

---

After seeing her best friend Clementine taken away, Maeve is desperate to know what is happening in her world.  Being able to get sent back down to Felix for yet another bullet removal, she is ready to discover what else is happening in the facility. Even with the top brass present in the facility, Felix takes her on the tour once again, but this time she sees a host being retired once and for all. Seeing that death is real, Maeve will need to move faster to find a way to get herself out of the park before her secrets are discovered. Needing to find someone to take the lead, Maeve cannot depend on the humans, but she has plenty of little helpers in the park that will suit her needs just fine.

The struggle for power continues in the park as Ford is being faced with yet another issue, that humans are trying to take his park away from him. Watching as Clementine shows a lack of restraint and outright disobeys every command to stop, he is smart enough to know that it is not the programming at play here, this is all a sham to try and get him out of the way. Not even batting an eye when his closest friend in the park is dismissed by Ms. Hale, he has something else on his mind and is ready to make yet another change to the narrative. Having Bernard lead Theresa to his off-site work shop, Ford is happy to show what he has been able to do without the help of the Delos Company and Theresa finds out his nasty secret, that a blood sacrifice is needed to keep the park running at full efficiency once again. 

I don’t know if eye opening is the proper term for this episode, but it does leave you feeling miffed about what is happening in the park. The biggest bombshell has been exposed as Ford reveals that his best and trusted friend Bernard is another host that has had his back for many years. But more than that is coming to light as we continue to find out the importance of the narrative and what Arnold was really responsible for in the park. At this point, I am dying to know more about Arnold and what made him go off the deep end when creating the hosts and what secrets he had planned for the park before he died. William finally opens up to temptation and it is not all about killing for him, but experiencing love in a way that he never has before. Vowing to stay at Dolores’s side until she is able to complete the maze, he may find that he is more than all in for an adventure that will surely change his life in several more ways. And seeing Maeve getting ready to escape the confines of the park, this is my favorite storyline right now, as she knows exactly what she is and will not be retired before her time is up. With new programming and no constraints to keep her from harming a human, there will be more than one sacrifice made to the park gods before everything is said and done. 

---