This recap/review of Westworld is written with the expectation that everyone who reads this and comments below will have seen the episode already. Thus, if you've yet to see the episode in question, DO NOT GO ANY FURTHER. SPOILERS!
EPISODE: Season 1, Episode 9: The Well-Tempered Clavier
PLOT: Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) forces Ford (Anthony Hopkins) to restore his memories, while Maeve (Thandie Newton) solidifies her allegiance with Hector (Rodrigo Santoro).
REVIEW: So Bernard is Arnold, or, kinda. Or at least, he was. After an episode that largely focused around Bernard forcing Ford into showing him his deleted memories, we learn that Bernard is a copy of Arnold, the man who co-founded the park with Ford. As usual with HBO shows, where the penultimate episodes tend to be massive, there’s a lot going-on here, with a devastating ending that supposed to leave you chomping at the bit for the finale.
To that end, we see Bernard kill himself at Ford’s command, with the latter only having allowed the former the allusion of holding him captive with the lobotomized Clementine (Angela Sarafyan). But that’s not the only monkey wrench thrown in to gum up the works. A moment of sadism from Logan (Ben Barnes) reveals to Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) that she’s a robot, prompting her to run away. She flashes back to her creation, but then, is confronted by The Man in Black (Ed Harris), seemingly doing away with the theory that the show takes place in two separate periods, or does it? How will this be explained?
Otherwise, Jimmi Simpson‘s William is shown to have a violent streak, slaughtering the hosts guarding Logan, and threatening his former brother-in-law with a knife. What’s going on here? Like Bernard, James Marsden‘s Teddy also learns more about his past, flashing back to when he was used as a killer in Ford’s more violent stories, giving him a connection to Maeve. As for the latter, she’s mostly off-screen, using her time to win-over Hector, who’s now her ally. Importantly, we also learn Charlotte (Tessa Thompson) answers, in a way, to Harris’s The Man in Black, being aware he’s on the loose in the park, despite mostly being off the grid.
Suffice to say, there was a whole lot going-on. While I’m more confused than ever, I can’t argue that “Westworld” isn’t one heck of a head-trip, and the finale should be interesting although I doubt it will provide much closure. With it being renewed recently, HBO is not going to give us fans much of a relief, I suspect, when the season ends. Hopefully some questions, specifically what William and Logan’s role is, and why Ford is so keen on the Wyatt storyline, will be revealed. As always, we’ll see.