A New Playing Field

"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.

“Seems you’ve begun to question the nature of your reality.” -Delores, "Westworld"

All good things must come to an end. And for season two of "Westworld," that end came last night with the 90-minute finale "The Passenger." And boy was it a doozy. It was an episode full of big reveals and game-changing moments. And, like all good Nolan projects, there was plenty to digest as we look toward the future.

First to a couple of the big payoffs, which I'm going to go over in bullet form (SPOILERS BELOW).

*Delores (Evan Rachel Wood) and William (Ed Harris) are reunited. And it doesn't feel great. William is half crazy, cutting his arm open to be sure he's not a host (having killed his daughter just moments earlier). And Delores has become as warped and violent as William. In fact, they're interesting mirror images of each other. And yet, they're bonded by a similar goal of wanting to make it to the secret stash house in the desert. Though likely for totally different reasons. And, of course, William tries to end Delores again, but this time she gets the upper hand on him, literally taking his gun hand through a bit of trickery.

* The nature of relationship between Delores and Bernard (Jeffrey Wright). This was a big one, too, for me. We've seen Bernard/Arnold and Delores have their back-and-forths a lot. Fidelity checks. At the beginning it seemed to be Arnold building Delores. Then, later, it seemed to be Delores and Bernard, but to what end. It was fascinating when William came across Bernard (who he never met despite owning/running the park?) and learned it was really the Host version of Arnold, the man he'd long sought. He credits Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins) with building him, but that wasn't the case. Delores notes, proudly, it was her work. After all, she'd spent so much time with Arnold she was the one who knew him best. It was a small moment, but a fascinating payoff. For as much as William and Delores have been inextricably linked, Bernard and Delores are more closely yoked. Both in the park and, as we've seen, in the world that's to come.

* We finally learn about the door in the Valley Beyond. Ake (Zahn McClarnon) was, indeed, able to save a great many. Getting them into the virtual paradise Ford built to save the hosts. It was a fascinating and beautiful answer to the question. It also gave us a rich and rewarding end to Maeve's (Thandie Newton) quest to save her daughter. She didn't exactly get a happy ending (and may not have gotten an ending at all), but she was able to protect that girl and use her immense power to save a number of others. In a somewhat dark and often dour episode, that was a moment of light, as her story has often been this season.

* We found out how the valley flooded, and why. It turns out, it was Delores. And it was meant to destroy the archives (which somehow happened anyway), but not in the manner expected.

*What about Elsie (Shannon Woodward)? The biggest fear has been that a possessed Bernard ended Elise, his good-hearted colleague. Turns out, it wasn't Bernard. It was Charlotte Hale (Tessa Thompson), who didn't believe Elsie could be trusted to keep the company's secrets. That's probably right. And her death, witnessed by Bernard, was the catalyst to the ending.

*So who makes it out alive? Delores, and a few other hosts. Though not how you'd expect. Delores is now in a host version of Charlotte Hale, and she is able to both secure a hopeful future for those Host souls in paradise (which includes her dearly beloved Teddy (James Marsden)) and take a few key hosts out of the park with her. It was a clever ending that allows the story to, presumably, move in a radically different direction.

* And there was still time for a surprise. One of the most fun moments was the discovery that Stubbs (Luke Hemsworth), too, is a host hiding in plain sight. It was an exchange so quick and subtle it could have been missed, but it was a nice addition to the finale.

Big Ideas and Moving Forward:
So those were some of the payoffs, now the question is what is next? And that could be a lot of different things. It seems clear this finale was about tying up loose ends and, more than likely, re-setting the board for Season Three. Delores, Bernard and a few others are out of the park, and now likely to be engaging each other in the real world. That necessitates a shift, both in setting and in the focus on characters. And many folks got their stories tied up in a sense.

Could we got back to the park and see Maeve again? Sure. And likely at some point William, and that strange coda with his daughter (Katja Herbers) will come into play again. But I also wouldn't be surprised to see them largely absent from Season Three (whenever that arrives).

What's also unclear is where this narrative is going. With Season Two of another show, "Legion," we came to realize by the end that the hero we thought we were watching for 19 episodes wasn't really the hero at all. I get the feeling that's where we're going with Delores. She seemed like the first woke Host, and one who was the key to freedom and salvation. But we watched her lose herself to a kind of darkness much of this season, becoming more like the Host version of William. And it seems clear from her exchange with Bernard at the end that she still feels a drive to wipe out most, if not all, of humanity. That doesn't seem great.

But, then again, the finale made clear that the show has a dark view of humans and human nature. AI Logan (Ben Barnes), the program that runs the park and all its experiments, basically likened humans to rudimentary programming, implying they're mostly dark, deeply flawed, and incapable of change. This wouldn't be the first Nolan project to take a somewhat dim view of humanity. But this is still a bit dimmer than most.

And stands in contrast to perhaps the most interesting moment of the finale, when Lee Sizemore (Simon Quarterman) sacrificed himself to save Maeve. This has been a 20-episode swing for Sizemore, who began the series as a self-involved and shallow writer. Even to start this second season, he was an unwilling passenger on Maeve's journey. Yet, somehow, we saw him recognize something real and beautiful in her, and we saw it impact him.

He tried to save Maeve, and when he wasn't strong enough, it broke him, emotionally. He told her, "I don't know if you can hear me, but I never meant for any of this to happen. You don't deserve this. You deserve your daughter. To mother her, teach her to love, to be joyful and proud. I'm sorry."

And when given a second chance, he didn't hesitate to trade his life for hers. If that's not evidence of a capacity for goodness and change, then it's an odd decision to make. Or what of Elsie, and her connection to Bernard. Her death, a result of her inability to be corrupted, was a catalyst for Bernard's plan to save the hosts. Whether it's wishful thinking or not, I can't help but feel this show doesn't have quite as dark a view of humanity as it appeared on Sunday night. And I'm curious to see if we get there in a Season Three.

For now, we likely have 18 months to two years to reflect and ponder before Delores, Bernard and the rest re-enter our TV viewing lives.