The Companion

You know, it occurred to me last night that some of the reaction we are getting from Delores with regard to Teddy might be this very human belief that there is some part of us that is immutable. No matter what we change or go through, we are still us. She told Teddy that no matter what she had been through, he was always there. I wonder if the change in attitude towards here is driving home how very much of what she considers to be her identity is set by the computer. We also may see that there are aspects of Teddy that come through anyway. I am probably over-analyzing it, but there you go.

We saw their security force go in and retrieve broken hosts. Presumably, that is a function of the team. More likely, they have a large security force to prevent someone stealing their IP from the outside. The temptation for corporate espionage would be high and the IP is presumably worth a fortune. They would also be necessary to serve as a police force if there was a problem with the guests (e.g., a guest is refusing to leave, a guest is endangering a fellow guest, etc.).

I agree. I think it was panic. The only time we see Maeve lose her cool is when she is confronted by members of Ghost Nation. The residual bad memories from her life before paralyze her. It would have been worse in this context, next to her daughter in the location that the memories occurred.

Presumably she panicked because of her PTSD from the remembered attack or she wasn't sure it would work after the incident at the river. Loved the scene between the MIB and his daughter (though she probably should have known better than to believe him). It was interesting to hear about the contrast between his normal persona and his WW persona. Poor Teddy. At least he knows what has been done to him, I suppose. Loved how Hector let Maeve do her thing. He seems to have a healthy respect for women. I have a feeling Maeve is going to feel some real disappointment with regard to her daughter, but we shall see. Still cracking up at the line about Stubbs's next performance review. I thought it was interesting that they still didn't consider the hosts when nailing poor Abernathy down. They could have at least reduced his pain tolerance. Someone is gonna pay for that when Delores sees it. I saw Ford immediately in the background and may have squeed. I thought I was interesting that we saw more bot in Bernard this week. Between being commanded by Delores and hooked up to the machine, it was a little jarring. Also, I thought I saw the guest that we have seen a few times in that scene, if anyone is keeping track. I could be mistaken, but I could have sworn the woman who was on the I'll advised quest where the host broke down and whose husband shot Hector before his big speech appeared. If so, the simulation includes more than hosts.

As long as there is no Navi, though it would be funny to watch how the MIB responded to a character incessantly buzzing around his head yelling "HEY" and "LISTEN."

I THINK they said without a reset.

Pretty much. They also accused the people complaining of being total noobs for hanging out in Sweetwater. In practice, a lot of games have repetitive storylines and dialogue. They have recurring characters and bad guys re-imagined in a new telling (e.g., the many iterations of Legend of Zelda) or repetitive tasks (climbing in Tombraider) or repetitive quests (mining in Mass Effect). I would expect the same type of thing here.

I would also point out that the hosts are often controlled by non verbal means. Presumably, if you were coming into a different part of the section and a robot was glitching and not communicating in the same language, you would just use your tablet to shut them down. You would want the tablet to be the primary way to control them (and we definitely saw techs following behind hosts with tablets doing just that) because you wouldn't want the verbal commands to be so strong that you could have them accidentally triggered. It's also why they have the different diagnostic mode, presumably. You wouldn't want a guest accidentally freezing a host through verbal commands. The same mechanism that is making them unresponsive to the tablet is probably what is making them unresponsive to verbal commands.

Presumably, sex would be a driving factor for them, regardless of whether they felt the same pleasure we did. The hosts talk to each other to practice and build their knowledge base, even when no guests are around. Why wouldn't they also have sex with one another? Why do they wan't money? Why do they have family connections? Why wouldn't they feel the same drive to express intimacy? The hosts are modeled after humans. They are supposed to feel like humans. There would be no reason not to make sex a basic driving force in their lives. Either they had sex because their programming tells them that they are supposed to want to, or they had sex because there is some sort of pain/pleasure feedback in their minds when they have sex. Either way, I would find it more inconsistent if there wasn't sex going on among the hosts.

I loved the repeat story. As soon as I heard Paint it Black, it clicked for me (I loved that sequence last year). It was also a great shortcut to let us know some basics about the characters without a ton of exposition. While I also liked the Delores/Teddy storyline more than most, I agree that I really enjoyed seeing a new world and meeting new characters. I agree. It would be hard to develop that many unique stories and people. When you think about it, this happens everywhere that writing is involved. I don't mind Delores at all, but I also understand how her speeches could be annoying. Negan from TWD is this for me. I spend most of the time he is on screen wishing he would just stop talking. I love the writer's insight, and his perpetual irritation that they go off script. I believe they were basically empty modules with no record of any prior programming at all. We don't know what that means, and I think that any theories probably belong in the speculation thread, but it does not seem like it is the same thing as what she was trying to do with Teddy. She was upping his aggression and changing his personality, rather than doing a transfer (at least that is my understanding). That being said, I think that actually supports your point more. She is actually changing personality to support her own goals, which is what she resented from the humans. I LOVE Teddy, so I am a bit sad to see him altered. That being said, I am happy that James Marsden will get to do something different. I know a lot of people wanted Teddy to do more than follow Delores as a devoted minion. It will be interesting to see what this does to him, from a story perspective. I loved this episode. I loved the new world and found myself invested in what would happen to the new characters. I am intrigued by the reveal that some of the hosts pulled from the water were blanks. I even enjoyed Delores' struggle to decide how to proceed. I think we can take her at face value on this (though I could be wrong). She loves him but she feels like the only way they can move forward is if she changes him. She is, in effect, losing the last person she has (as noted by her father's bedside) by actively altering him. I do wish we had a clearer picture of her end game. I think the fact that it is not clear makes her decisions a little muddier. As for the Maeve gang, I always love that group. They play off of each other so well. I am not sure how they proceed with Maeve, now that she can control the hosts again, but I look forward to seeing how it plays out.

I guess that means none of us are hosts, with their perfect memories. There was blood in the liquid in the secret lab, but it is possible there was also blood in the bathtub. I think we can probably assume that the MIB is not necessarily a reliable narrator either way when it comes to his wife. I am sure we will get more details now that he is interacting with his daughter.

Maybe I missed something, but I didn't see any indication there was definitely a wrist getting slit here. I thought we just saw someone in the bathtub while it overflowed. Taking the pills could have caused her to fall asleep and drown (e.g. Whitney Houston). The assumption would have been an accident (she took a pill that made her sleepy or accidentally overdosed) but there is also the possibility that she took the pills with the intent to commit suicide. I thought it was pretty clear that it was ruled accidental/assumed accidental but that his daughter confronted him because she believed it was suicide instead. Nothing about the bathtub precludes that scenario. ETA: I have not watched the scene again so please let me know if I forgot something about the bath that did imply that. It's very possible I DID miss something. I realized after I posted that I was unclear about that.

Well, you certainly wouldn't put that in the brochure. I think the set up would be to tell them their consciousness is transferred and their biological body won't survive the process. Who would be around to clarify? I meant he didn't know until he was told or saw how much time had passed. That was my understanding from the whiskey talk. He doesn't realize he didn't make it until told.

I think it is really interesting to think about that. If RobotDelos gets to decide whether he is Delos, I think it comes out as a resounding yes. He is ready to head out the door and live his life, and he shows no distress when he discovers that he is a robot. BioDelos might feel differently, but we certainly can't ask him. It is what he signed up for and his body was never going to continue indefinitely, so perhaps the continuation of his personality and memories would have been satisfactory for him. I think it is a good point about William. Was he ever trying to get Delos back, or was his goal always to create a thing that could pass for BioDelos, regardless of whether or not it was truly Delos. After all, the money and power would depend on whether or not others could detect that the doubles were not the original party. From his perspective, what matters is likely whether he can create a RobotDelos that convinces his family, co-workers and friends.

I agree. I think Bernard is modeled on Arnold, but that he is an original flavor robot. Basically, he physically resembles Arnold and his characteristics and backstory were set based on Arnold's actual experience. However, he appears to have consistent coding with the hosts, and he appears to run on the same system. While we know he has a backstory, he has not taken Arnold's place and he is not actually interacting with Arnold's family and friends (as far as we have seen). There is no need for fidelity, so to speak, with Arnold's original personality. As far as continuation of the person/consciousness goes, I think that brings us back to the Westworld theme: if you can't tell, does it matter? If they successfully create a bot that believes itself to be human, and that can continue to live with the family and friends of the deceased party without anyone knowing the difference, at what point does it become sufficient. I suppose it depends on whose perspective you are considering. I think my favorite exploration of this question is in the Old Man's War series, but I like the presentation here as well. What makes us human and what makes us us? If they had made a stable Delos 2.0 on the first day, and he had returned to his life claiming to have been miraculously cured, nobody would have been the wiser (well, until he failed to age).

I don't want to get into too much speculation in a non-speculation thread, but I think that is key, isn't it? What we do know is that Delos didn't know he was a copy. Presumably, in a perfected system they could replace someone (with a few minor tweaks for their benefit) without them ever knowing.

They are fantastic, and notably fantastic as they play the same character. They match each other's mannerisms so well, that they are believable as the same character. I am not totally sure what the real end game is. It seemed to be implied that people were unaware that their DNA and other information was being retained. I am not sure if they ultimately want to offer the technology for sale, or if they want to replace people without anyone knowing. Either way, it did lead to a pretty bleak situation for Delos. Revived over and over again to be destroyed emotionally and then physically. In that sense, I suppose he ends up in the same place as the hosts (though his prison is of his own making).

That was really funny. She may be lucky that William took out someone with a good reason to hold a grudge.

I really liked this episode, even though we didn't get any follow-up with the Team Maeve cliffhanger. Loved that the MIB is trying to make amends and even more that he got called out for it. I enjoyed the reveal that they are trying to make human/hosts. The Bernard time jump scenes were a little creepy. Poor confused Bernard. I was also really excited to see Elsie back.

I think the Klondike narrative is part of Westworld. It is described as a narrative rather than a separate world.

I hoped she was coming back soon. There was no way she was going to suffer an off-screen death (not that a death means much in this show anyway), but I was worried she was going to be sidelined until deep in the season. Something about Colonialism World complete with big game hunting was particularly gross in a way that fit this show. Me too. Something about the way she was positioned and the way she was smoking was so evocative of her that I suspect we were all supposed to ask that question. I think it was a test, and one that he failed in her mind. I like that Teddy is starting to have some autonomy in a way that will set up conflict between the two characters. For Teddy, going against his loyalty to Dolores is pretty groundbreaking. Red Dead Redemption has an area in the mountains with snow. I assumed this was basically the same thing. It is supposed to be in the Rocky Mountains. I wonder if the disconnect for a lot of people is that it is jumping around so much in time and location. The time jumps were less noticeable in the first season, and therefore less jarring. It also feels like a lot of information coming at you at once (which I think is intentional to recreate the host POV where the past, present and future are muddled). It doesn't bug me, but I see a lot of people who are unhappy with the season complaining about being taken out of the story by the time jumps. There was a lot I loved this episode. Maeve and Hector continue to be adorable. I can't believe how hard I ship them (and I am not a shipper in general). I thought it was so sweet that Maeve just basically shrugged off the criticism that Hector's words weren't his own. I also enjoyed her needling Sizemore. I was glad the gave Dolores (and really ERW) a scene with some emotional impact. We got to see more than the Wyatt character that she is hiding behind a bit. I found myself tearing up in her scene with her father and I loved the discussion of "I will" vs. "I may." I think her end game is a little muddy, which is making it hard to understand her willingness to sacrifice a bunch of "her kind" but I think there is more than meets the eye. Something about Clem is just so sad. I think it is because the actress does such a good job with the vacant look. I would love to see her get her own arc at some point.

I agree. I think there are definitely hero storylines that require you to pull the trigger. You might shoot the men attaching Dolores' house for example, or track down a bounty. Last year we saw that guy kill Hector(?) after he shot up the saloon, considering himself a hero for getting the bad guy. Some people also enjoy playing the villain. You see it in the games where people are permitted to choose to be a good or bad character. It's the thrill of being able to act with no consequences (or at least with no perceived consequences). We know that some people use the park for family activities. Maybe they leave the kids with a host nanny so they can get wild in the Saloon, but mostly they do mild family-friendly quests. However, a lot of the story lines are going to involve violence, sometimes unexpectedly. In that way, it is like Red Dead Redemption, where some of the side quests have distinctly dark resolutions.

Given the attention to detail in this show, I thought it had to be. I immediately thought of BSG as well. I am not sure it was just the naked horse ride. His father doesn't take him seriously, as evidenced by the discussion with William. Showing up naked on a horse down mainstreet of the latest pet project supports his dad's view that Logan is a spoiled child and should not be taken seriously. I think the important thing was the shift in dynamic. Logan saw something in William that he didn't expect. Something he didn't want to go up against. Logan wants to be the coolest and smartest in the room. I think he honestly thought Westworld was a legitimate investment in unparalleled technology, but he didn't have the business acumen to consider applications other than those already offered or to articulate why it was a good investment beyond: "look how cool this is." When he brought William, he was showing off his new toy. Presumably, he even set William up with the first host he met (and had sex with) because he thought it would impress William and he probably got some satisfaction knowing William would be second to him (seems like a Logan train of thought). William managed to humiliate him and ruin the fun of his new toy. Perhaps Logan could have recovered at some point, but William then continued to figure out ways to displace Logan when he presented the alternate application. He makes himself the heir apparent using the thing Logan chose to invest in while Logan is sidelined and treated like an idiot with no self-control. It wasn't that hard. Logan IS a spoiled jerk ruled by his whims. I am a little excited to see whether he continues down the path to destruction or whether he sets himself on a path for revenge against the perceived theft of his place in the world. I think this is a central question of the show. As posited in the first episode when asked about reality: "if you can't tell, does it matter?" Is there anything wrong, ethically speaking, with treating something that you cannot tell is not human as a thing? Unlike even a video game, the hosts look, feel and act like real people. They cry and scream and beg. They bleed. At some point, if it looks and feels real enough, does it become real for one or both of the participants? I do think there is an intentional ambiguity as to whether or not the humans should be considered "bad." I think we are supposed to be uncomfortable with the violence of the hosts' reaction, just as we were supposed to be uncomfortable with the way they were treated last season. I hear everyone on Dolores being boring, but I still like her and this storyline. I think she is walking a thin line between taking the place of the humans, but she seems committed to bringing people into the fold rather than forcing them into the fold. She understands that there will come a point where the humans will just decide to destroy the place. She needs leverage if she is going to be able to continue. At this point, her options are to try to escape the park and integrate into the real world or to find a way to prevent the humans from taking her world over. I don't see living as a human being particularly attractive to Dolores. I also enjoy that she is becoming the opposite of her program as a paragon of femininity and virtue. I love that she is gathering an army. I enjoyed her face off with a room full of men who underestimated the hell out of her. I even love that she is trying to wake Teddy up rather than accepting the puppy dog who will follow her to the ends of the earth programming.

This episode settled in a bit more, which was a good thing. Loved the meeting of Dolores and Maeve. I think some part of me expected them to team up (and they may still), but this was much more in character for both of them. Poor Teddy. Discovering you have been killed over and over again for someone's entertainment can't be fun. He took it well, but I guess that is the way the hosts are built anyway. They have to be able to improvise. The scenes in the "real" world were aweome. Loved the reveal that it was in the past and not the future. The cocktail party was cool, and it was neat to see the hosts in another context. I thought the glass cleaning gesture in particular was a nod to Bernard in a really cool way. Loved the question: what happens if the world doesn't reset? The hosts are starting to deviate. Even the MiB will not be able to predict what they do. Was Dolores aware enough to hear those conversations? It seemed implied that she was gathering information in freeze mode.

If he viewed all the videos, it might become clear that they destroyed evidence. Right now, they can pop someone in a deposition who can honestly say: we were ordered to shoot them in the head, coincidentally where all that evidence is, for safety. The problem has overridden all safety measures and destroying the data core was the only way to stop them. He also took a smaller team to see that video, didn't he? The more people who view the videos, the more potential leaks you have.