Holy crap. Excuse the language, but Westworld “Reunion” made for one hell of episode this week! “Reunion” is an episode that tries to fill in some of the blanks from the Westworld that we know and love in Season 1, to the Westworld of now, and exactly where it all started. Of course, being Westworld – you can guarantee that there are little twists, huge twists, and puzzles scattered throughout each hour. What I really loved about “Reunion” is that this the first real glimpse into the history of Westworld (the park) and reveals a deceitful agenda behind the privacy of the parks’ guests.
In usual Westworld style, we’ve got a few timelines running – a distant past behind Westworld’s development and right after the Host’s awaken/revolt. What makes this even more fun, is Jeffrey Wright in his role as Bernard/Arnold. In “Reunion” we are graced with Arnold – first creating Dolores, showing her his world, and just slightly favoring her a bit. Arnold brought Dolores to our world, multiple times in fact, in her fresh young robot days. This is a very different Dolores than we saw last week, and even more genuine than her role as the farmer’s daughter in the park.
It looks like the stars are scattered across the ground! Have you ever seen anything so full of splendor? – Dolores
Image Credit: HBO
In this pre-Westworld era, we see just how Delos gets involved with the park. Logan (and William) are hanging out at a posh bar when Logan Delos is approached by the Argos Initiative. They want to show Logan the marvels of their latest tech in a private demonstration. This is my 2nd favorite scene in “Reunion” because the representatives from Argos are Hosts themselves, as is everyone in the entire room. Logan, at first offended by the “cattle call” type of demonstration – quickly changes his tune when it is implied that one of them is not actually human. They encourage him to walk the room and try and pin-point who it is. But the surprise is on him when, with the lift of a finger, the entire room freezes. It’s a remarkable and breath-taking moment, and a beautifully shot scene. After Logan’s remarks about some of the robots being so obviously human, he can’t believe how realistic this technology is and you can practically feel his excitement about the thought of investing with them.
Happiness doesn’t always last though, and as the years go on Logan finds himself out of the picture with his father James and William taking the forefront. James is clearly unhappy with this investment and wonders why he’s wasted this money, but William (that cheeky S.O.B) pulls a Facebook 2.0. William sees this investment on a morally questionable biggest picture scale, convincing James that the parks can be used to collect personal information (possibly even more, DNA samples for example) on the guests. After all, the best time to collect someone’s information is when they don’t know they’re being watched… Another intriguing moment is when William has a conversation with Dolores. Man that guy is an ass though, he is completely cold-hearted but is also at least dumb enough to show Dolores something that he’s been building. Though we aren’t entirely sure what it is, or where it is located in the park, it’s pretty evident that Dolores remembers and believes she will be able to use this to aid her battle.
You really are just a thing. I can’t believe I fell in love with you. – William
But the days of whimsical, filled with awe Dolores are gone – because now we are back in the park and she is out for blood. She has to clue Teddy in on the whole thing, because let’s face it even he was getting a bit terrified of her in “Journey Into Night” and I didn’t think that Teddy was quite ready to handle the whole “you’re a robot here for the pleasure of others” idea. After waking Teddy up, they storm through Westworld, trying to gather an army and Dolores kills any annoying human that gets in her way. Unfortunately for everyone – Dolores and Maeve are not ready to team up quite yet. Maeve has her own plan for this newfound freedom and has no desire to play in Dolore’s war. Alas, I was highly disappointed – but let’s not kid ourselves, if the two of them teamed up this early in the season there would be no story left to tell. Dolores knows just how to build herself that army, killing and reawakening anyone who doesn’t automatically side with her. But I think that she might have a teeny superiority complex right about now, considering herself a God and the only way for other hosts to find salvation. Don’t take that the wrong way, she’s a badass and I love her, but I would not want to get in Dolores’s way right about now…
Image Credit: HBO
Now, for my favorite part of this entire series so far. Though William is a prick and I dislike him, Man In Black is an amazingly fascinating character and I love watching him run around the park – especially now that the Hosts are taking control. See, the Man In Black also knows that there is a weapon here in the park, and that he needs to get to the door and get out before things get even worse. And though he has played by the rules of the game for this long, he’s finally willing to bend the rules a bit. I absolutely love this on-going live action dungeons and dragons campaign between him and Robert Ford. After saving his buddy Lawrence, Man In Black makes a plan to gather a force of his own. Introducing Giancarlo Esposito as the new El Lazo, Man In Black and Lawrence hope to recruit El Lazo and his men to join their cause. But that isn’t how this game is meant to be played, and it’s literally as though Ford is talking through El Lazo in calling the Man In Black Out. After the Man In Black requests El Lazo to demand his men join him, all it takes is one sentence and the tables turn again. All of El Lazo’s men commit suicide, in a shocking and morbidly beautiful scene. As the smoke clears El Lazo makes one last comment before taking his own life, leaving the Man In Black and Lawrence on their own.
This game was meant for you William, but it was meant for you alone. I’ll see you in the valley beyond. – El Lazo
Wow. That is all I had at the end of the episode, Westworld takes the cake when it comes to intricate writing and ingenious plot foreshadowing on television. I have a few last takeaways from the episode that will leave me with plenty to think on before next Sunday arrives.
- Giancarlo Esposito – this cannot be his only appearance in this series. Right?! Because DAMN he was good. Maybe Dolores will come by and convince him to join forces with her, though I sense a power struggle ahead in that combination.
- What on earth was younger William building in the middle of nothing somewhere in the overall park? And with 6 parks – what are the chances that we will get to see more than just Shogun World this season? What other parks are out there? Water World? Outback World? Tropical Island World? Inquiring minds need to know!
- We kinda get a Robert Ford flashback! I need more of this to happen throughout the rest of Season 2 – especially since I thought he was the one who played favorites with some of the Hosts, but Arnold was just as guilty.
- Since free will, freedom, and rights are all heavily explored throughout this show – is Dolores really free. Or is this still just something that was programmed into her. Is this really her will and what she wants to be doing, or is there a greater purpose and she is still just a pawn on the board?
I would LOVE to hear your thoughts on “Reunion” ! Find me on social media, or leave me a comment below!
Westworld airs Sunday night’ at 9/8c on HBO and join in on the conversation by using #Westworld
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