A Battle for Control

"Westworld" began its second season on April 22. The series, created by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, is based on the film from Michael Crichton, and is poised to be HBO's next big dramatic series. Each week I'll be exploring the episodes through recaps of season two.

"Have you ever seen anything so full of splendor?" - William, "Westworld"

I talked last week about the idea that "Westworld," like a lot of Michael Crichton's work, took a cautious view of technology and scientific advancement. There is danger in thinking you can control everything, and for the Delos Corporation, like so many others in Crichton narratives, that danger became all too real in the Season One finale.

But that doesn't mean there's not a sense of wonder about the creation, too. I was 12 years old when I went to see "Jurassic Park" on the big screen. I remember the first time that we, like Dr. Grant, Dr. Malcolm and Dr. Sattler, got to see those dinosaurs. It was a thrill and a sense of wonder that I can still recall watching the film today. It was incredible, for the audience as much for the characters.

"Westworld" has never been a show about wonder. But there was part of the plot last night, when we went into the past to see when Arnold (Jeffrey Wright) and Dr. Ford (Anthony Hopkins) unveiled their creation. And if you stop to think about it, that creation is breathtaking. And we see that reaction, a bit, in Logan (Ben Barnes), who is the one that is first pitched on the Hosts and sees them as a game-changer.

So, too, does William (Jimmi Simpson). Last season, one of the few happy storylines in the show was the love affair between William and his host, Delores (Evan Rachel Wood). That was undone by the revelation that William is the Man in Black (Ed Harris), someone who's gone from being in love with the story and hosts to bitterly violent toward them. And it seems clear that as we go on this season, we'll end up seeing William and Delores square off.

In flashbacks, we saw the turn for the younger William, too, as Simpson re-appeared. This time post his time in Westworld, and bent on selling his father-in-law on the possibilities it contained for controlling people. (As we learned last week, Delos has been using the parks to spy on guests.) He also is so detached from the man we saw, at times, in season one that he brought Delores for amusement at a family party. That led to Logan decrying the beginning of the end for humanity.

But what caused William to sour so much on Delores and the fantasy that seemed to fuel him in the park? How did he become so vicious? Well, in flashback we see William, in the usual place we saw Arnold, talking to Delores, explaining his view of the world.

"Bring yourself back on line, Dolores. You really are just a thing. I can't believe I fell in love with you. Do you know what saved me? I realized it wasn't about you at all. You didn't make me interested in you, you made me interested in me. It turns out you're not even a thing. You're a reflection. You know who loves staring at their own reflection? Everybody. Everybody wants a little bit of what I found here, and I can't wait to use you and every one of your kind to help give it to them. There is something else. There's something beyond that. I think that there is an answer here to a question no one's ever even dreamed of asking. Do you wanna see?"

Just what he showed her, and how it's a "weapon," as Delores told Teddy (James Marsden) remains to be seen. But both Delores and her army, and William, are headed toward it. And Dr. Ford, from beyond the grave, seems to be thwarting William's advantages, depriving him of an army at every turn.

Meanwhile, Delores is growing hers, as she did last night. She understands how the park works, and she's wielding that power as she moves toward an end game. She has thrown off the chains of bondage and taken the reigns, as she told her latest recruit last night:

"You're right. We have toiled in God's service long enough, so I killed him. And if you want to get to Glory, you won't do it in his favor, you'll need mine."

It seems, no matter what, we're headed toward a dark end. And that makes sense. Once the wonder and awe passes, the danger creeps in. As has been discussed, there was plenty of wonder and possibility in the creation of the Hosts. But as we saw, Westworld became something much darker. A place for people to live out their darkest fantasies. And it's going to cost them, both because the Hosts are now awake, and because it seems that Westworld in the hands of Delos was more than meets the eye.