Alone in the Darkness

"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.

"What is a person but a collection of choices? Where do those choices come from? Do I have a choice? Were any of these choices ever truly mine to begin with?" - William, "Westworld"

In his novel "Anna Karenina" Leo Tolstoy wrote, “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” I thought about that last night as "Westworld" put the focus on William (Ed Harris) and his family during its penultimate episode. William was a successful business man, admired by the community who seemingly had it all with a beautiful wife (Sela Ward) and a strong daughter (Katja Herbers). But below the surface, things were darker; William was darker.

Last night's episode, "Vanishing Point," showed how William lost his wife. She took her own life, but not until she finally got him to make an admission about who he really is. We hear a piece of it to open the episode, but it's not until later that we hear it all.

"No one else sees it, this thing in me. Even I didn't see it at first. Then one day it was there. A stain I never noticed before, a tiny flip of darkness invisible to everyone, but I could see nothing else til finally, I realized the darkness wasn't a mark from something I'd done or a regrettable decision I'd made. I was shedding my skin. The darkness is what was underneath. It was mine all along. And I decided how much of it I let into the world. I tried to do right. I was faithful, generous, kind; at least in this world. That has to count for something. I built a wall and tried to protect you and Emily. But you saw right through it, didn't you. You're the only one. And for that I am truly sorry. Because everything you feel is true. I don't belong to you or this world. I belong to another world. I always have."

William was one thing to the world, and he fooled nearly everyone, but not his wife. And after his admission, and her finally seeing what was hidden on his profile, she realized the monster within and couldn't cope. Turns out it was that same information that had sent Grace to the park in search of her father.

In the add for the new movie "Searching," I was struck by an idea put forth that "We are what we try to hide." For William, that means he is the darkness. Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins) knew this, and helped push William to a breaking point. And his tenuous hold on reality is such that he couldn't even fully recognize Grace as his daughter until it was too late. (SPOILER) In the most shocking, or rather one of two most shocking moments, of the episode, William killed Grace, believing her to be another Ford-inspired Host. When he learned the truth, it only further broke his grip on reality.

And so now he's headed toward the Valley Beyond, determined to destroy it and end everything. Or so he claimed. But he's not the only one headed that way.

Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) is seemingly headed there, trying to rid himself of Ford's influence. But what has Ford been pushing him to do? And what is he pushing Maeve (Thandie Newton) to do? Those are questions that will presumably be answered to some extent in the finale.

And we'll likely get the showdown we've been waiting for as Delores (Evan Rachel Wood) also gets to the Valley Beyond. And, like William, she's alone. Frightened at the monster she's become, and the monster she's trying to turn him into, Teddy (James Marsden) did the only thing he could to stop the madness last night as he shot himself in the head. This wasn't a complete surprise, as we saw Teddy floating among the hosts in the water in the premier. But it was shocking to see him, finally, turn on Delores, and the realization she'd destroyed her father, Teddy and everyone else seemed to be sinking in as the episode drew to a close.

But will it stop Delores' mission? Doubtful. Either way, hopefully we'll get some answers in the finale next Sunday night.