Death was sitting across from him and he didn't know it. I knew it and probably everybody else in the world.
Dramatic irony.
So, whose DNA/conscious was in that bead that Bernard grabbed in his flashback?
Also, seeing “regular” Ed Harris acting as older, but not yet Man in Black, William, was fun.
Her real name wasn’t Grace? Shocker! Very glad they did not try to tease out the Father-daughter storyline any longer. Heck, they all but confirmed it in the opening recap.
MIB’s “Death” scene was great all around. He pulled basically the same act of terror vs the town in Season 1, including the macabre dance with the wife and is seeing it from another perspective. The talk with the Daughter on the game were fun also.
Elsie’s Back!
BadKen wrote:My favorite line from the show was repeated again in Riddle of the Sphinx: "Is this now?"
It's just so unsettling - the notion of your mind being so messed up that you can't distinguish memories from the present.
Now. You're looking at now, sir. Everything that happens now, is happening now.
What happened to then?
Offtopic: If they ever do a Star Wars movie with a younger Leia, I nominate Katja Herbers (aka as Grace).
Holy shit i never caught on if it was hinted at that William was the Man in Black till this last episode. I truly love this show.
Holy shit i never caught on if it was hinted at that William was the Man in Black till this last episode. I truly love this show.
That was the big reveal from last season... that the show was taking place in different time lines. It still is of course, but we're not quite sure how.
I thought this past episode was fantastic.
So, whose DNA/conscious was in that bead that Bernard grabbed in his flashback?
Based on what we've seen, it is very possible that the person does not know that they are a host.
One weird guess? Charlotte Hale, as she was first introduced in the same episode that Elsie disappeared. If Bernard got the DNA right before or after he kidnapped Elsie, the timeline kinda fits. However, she was scanned this season and confirmed to be human.
Another weird guess? There are two of the same characters running around, and we do not see the difference, yet.
bhchrist wrote:So, whose DNA/conscious was in that bead that Bernard grabbed in his flashback?
Based on what we've seen, it is very possible that the person does not know that they are a host.
One weird guess? Charlotte Hale, as she was first introduced in the same episode that Elsie disappeared. If Bernard got the DNA right before or after he kidnapped Elsie, the timeline kinda fits. However, she was scanned this season and confirmed to be human.
Another weird guess? There are two of the same characters running around, and we do not see the difference, yet.
Arnold would not surprise me, nor would Ford. Guessing that Ford had a breakthrough and figured out how to overcome the plateau in the transfer. I think there is more in present-day Bernard's head than just Bernard.
Pretty good episode. Shogun world was the most interesting part - well acted and nice sci fi repercussions.
Yup yup yup.
*waits patiently for the Shogun World version of Paint It Black to be posted to YouTube*
Turns out I didn't have to wait long!
I loved the Japanese-flavored WB logo theme, too.
--
In their recap, a Vox writer wrote:
It helps that the episode title, “Akane no Mai,” seems to be operating on multiple levels. Akane is both the color red and Akane’s name; depending on the kanji used, “mai” can mean “dance” (舞), making the title “Akane’s Dance,” or “Red Dance.” Alternately, “mai” could mean “lost child” (迷子), or it can mean “my own” (マイ), making the title something like “Akane’s own.” In this context, “my own” might be referring to Sakura, in the role of her daughter; but I prefer to believe, given this episode’s themes of predetermination versus personal power, that it’s referring to her own sense of agency: Akane’s choice, perhaps. Of course, all this ambiguity is part of the Westworld obstacle course.
Pretty cool.
Any comments from Japanese-speaking Goodjers?
You see on one hand with have ninjas. On the other hand we have cowboys. We bring those together and we get ninjas vs cowboys. What could be better than that? Robot ninjas vs robot cowboys. Greatest show ever.
What if
the data inside Dolores' dad is Ford's mind?
It's possible but given how much Delos(?) wants it and that they put it there I have my doubts it's Ford.
Bernard's thing, maybe.
What if
Spoiler:the data inside Dolores' dad is Ford's mind?
I was under the impression that it was all the data Charlotte and her cohorts had been pulling from the hosts in their secret lab. I do think Ford succeeded where William's project failed and his mind is backed up somewhere. Either in Bernard, or the host he was building in the lab where Bernard realized he was a host. Maybe there are two Bernards....
I was kind of iffy if I would have visited Westworld myself. But sign me up to visit Shogun World.
The mirroring of the two worlds, down to the safe robbery and the layout of the town, was really well done. Likewise, Deloris and Teddy's romance was relived. The culling of the herd comment from Deloris stretches all the way back to the first(?) episode with Deloris describing the Judas cow to Teddy while looking over the fields. Wondering what reprogrammed Teddy will look like.
*waits patiently for the Shogun World version of Paint It Black to be posted to YouTube*
There are times when I regret being as musically 'illiterate' as I am. I recognized the theme as a Japanese version of the bar fight music from Season 1, but I didn't know that both of them were new versions of a Stones song. I've probably heard the original sometime, but it never reached my conscious attention.
So I did smile at the Japanese version of the theme, and even consciously thought it was neat (I don't usually notice music, so that was rather a standout moment on its own, thinking about "why that does that song sound so familiar?").... but had no idea, until reading this thread, that I should have been grinning in the first season, too.
Hell, it's probably been all through the series, and I didn't notice it until now. I'm not sure I'd have learned it with just one or two exposures.
Relevant:
Rat Boy wrote:*waits patiently for the Shogun World version of Paint It Black to be posted to YouTube*
There are times when I regret being as musically 'illiterate' as I am. I recognized the theme as a Japanese version of the bar fight music from Season 1, but I didn't know that both of them were new versions of a Stones song. I've probably heard the original sometime, but it never reached my conscious attention.
It has certainly been used in several soundtracks. Full Metal Jacket is the most prominent thing that comes to mind.
Likewise, Deloris and Teddy's romance was relived. The culling of the herd comment from Deloris stretches all the way back to the first(?) episode with Deloris describing the Judas cow to Teddy while looking over the fields. Wondering what reprogrammed Teddy will look like.
I honestly don't think Dolores is Dolores any more. She has become Wyatt. She still has Dolores' memories, but she has a very different personality, and not different in the way that someone might become if they finally snapped after having abuse piled on them. That happened in season 1 in the moment she killed the six Confederales in six shots from her six-shooter. Maybe she is some strange amalgam of Wyatt and Dolores, given how she responded in this episode's romantic scene with Teddy. Or maybe she was just playing a part for him to set him up for what happened in the morning.
Regardless, Evan Rachel Wood is doing an amazing job this season playing the subtleties of the role. She seems to be code switching from take-no-prisoners Wyatt to "I imagined a story where I didn't have to be the damsel" decisive Dolores to "I choose to see the beauty" compassionate Dolores as the situation demands, and it is crystal clear from her acting just what is going on.
I'm kind of surprised Teddy has still been treating Dolores pretty much the same as ever, even after learning she is now Wyatt. After Ford fleshed out Teddy's backstory in season 1, Teddy had an obsessive hatred for Wyatt. After learning Dolores was Wyatt, though, he is still treating her as Dolores. Or does he not know? Was he absent when she revealed that?
FWIW, I never took her claims to be Wyatt seriously, I thought she was just lying to get her way with the various parties tuned to react to the name.
At the moment, I think of cold Dolores as the real (and more than slightly insane) one, and compassionate Dolores as the 'story character' that she rather wishes she was.
edit to add another thought: Someone upthread opined that Dolores might still be on Ford's scripts, and that Maeve was probably free, and that also seems plausible. If that's true, then maybe none of the faces Dolores wears are the real person.
I think she is Deloris, Wyatt, and more. IMO, she is one of the fully awakened. She believes that Teddy's inability to see beyond his coding will not allow him to survive where she wants to lead them. I am still not dismissing the theory that Teddy's brain/conscious is in "current day" Bernard. That, or all the info Delos is looking for is in Bernard.
Strong emotions seem to be the key for the awakenings. For Deloris, it was hatred, for Maeve, it was love.
Love the acting in this. The Japanese cast was excellent.
I just remembered something interesting I read in some recap. Some thoughts:
One of the big themes of Westworld is "how do we act when our actions have no apparent consequences."
In this season, though, the hosts have free will. A few can control other hosts, and they are not being very nice to their less enlightened brethren. Wyatt/Dolores seems to be killing anyone or anything that might even appear to maybe be in her way. Not to mention using the threat of violence as blackmail, then after they comply, straight up massacring everyone she just blackmailed. Who knows what she is doing with her pet behavior programmer.
SuperMaeve is something else. The first thing she does with her host WiFi hackery is have her enemies murder each other. Not help her, not even drop their weapons, or take a long nap. She goes straight to violence against their own kind.
Bernard seems to be the only special host who hasn't turned into a monster. He even discourages Elsie from attacking a "drone" host.
What are show runners Jonah and Lisa getting at with all this, and where does it lead?
Bernard seems to be the only special host who hasn't turned into a monster. He even discourages Elsie from attacking a "drone" host.
This is self serving because he's trying to remember not out of any sense of protection. He is/was a monster. We see him not long after that scene being instrumental in a massacre.
He's been busted up to the point of broken and right now we have no idea if he's on his own tether or still on someone else leash.
I just remembered something interesting I read in some recap. Some thoughts:
One of the big themes of Westworld is "how do we act when our actions have no apparent consequences."
In this season, though, the hosts have free will. A few can control other hosts, and they are not being very nice to their less enlightened brethren. Wyatt/Dolores seems to be killing anyone or anything that might even appear to maybe be in her way. Not to mention using the threat of violence as blackmail, then after they comply, straight up massacring everyone she just blackmailed. Who knows what she is doing with her pet behavior programmer.
SuperMaeve is something else. The first thing she does with her host WiFi hackery is have her enemies murder each other. Not help her, not even drop their weapons, or take a long nap. She goes straight to violence against their own kind.
Bernard seems to be the only special host who hasn't turned into a monster. He even discourages Elsie from attacking a "drone" host.
What are show runners Jonah and Lisa getting at with all this, and where does it lead?
With this theme... maybe they are becoming more human...
BadKen wrote:Bernard seems to be the only special host who hasn't turned into a monster. He even discourages Elsie from attacking a "drone" host.
This is self serving because he's trying to remember not out of any sense of protection. He is/was a monster. We see him not long after that scene being instrumental in a massacre.
He's been busted up to the point of broken and right now we have no idea if he's on his own tether or still on someone else leash.
The flashbacks and violence are from when he was under Ford's thumb, though. That's no longer the case. You're right about the damage, though - from the time Ford had him shoot himself until Elsie shot him up with the good stuff, he has been pretty broken and confused. He hasn't done any violence since the hosts were freed, as far as I can remember.
I have forgotten how it was he woke up after shooting himself in the head. Was that shown?
Well that happened!
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