Well that was an utter bloodbath. I've had a hard time wrapping my head around the season two finale episode, "The Passenger," because we knew that at some point the plot was going to have to catch up to the naval gazing qualities the show likes to explore. A show that only focuses on philosophy without a proper story would be far too pedantic and shows that only play out plots without any deeper thought are not worth our time, so it's no surprise that Westworld tried to be both in this finale; but I find myself confused and more than a little frustrated at both ends of the spectrum. What's even more frustrating is that I can't even say if this confusion is good or bad. When the plot revolves around such lofty concepts as freedom, memories, and identity, then having a lot of question marks about the actual "here's what happened" portion make sense; on the other hand, the nitty gritty story being told is simple and, frankly, an old one: it's a robot uprising. Nothing fancier than that; I'm not sure that this season did a good enough job with the actual story and moving it along in a clear fashion. In other words, we've got a bit of a mixed bag to end another season of Westworld.
That introduction sounded harsher than I intended; it's not as if I didn't enjoy this finale and the season overall. Westworld remains completely compelling and watchable even when I'm not sure what's really going on all time. The plot has a tendency to zig and zag with loads of timey wimey nonsense because at the end of the day the writers aren't interested in telling a linear story; to their credit, it's not because they can't but rather because the unstuck nature of time fits in nicely with their exploration of memories, consciousness, and identity. It does, however, make it more difficult to follow on a week to week basis. When it comes to Westworld, I try hard to not focus on the plot too much because I find that's not really the point of this show but I think in this case it would serve us well to at least break down some of the bigger things that are happening here, namely what Delores's actual plan was and what Bernard's role in all of it was. All along, Delores has claimed that she wants the Hosts to be free, to be the authors of their own stories. That's grand and definitely a worthy character goal but here at the end, having watched this season from start to finish, you have to wonder if that's really what Delores wants. Freedom and agency make a nice cover story for war against mankind, which is what I think Delores really desires. She doesn't want what, in her mind, isn't real--what lies beyond the Door in the System (what Hosts and Humans called the Forge--so many proper nouns! A lot of mythological resonance here). Delores wants this world--our world--because it's real and what is real is irreplaceable. It's an interesting idea, to be sure. This world, this so-called real world, is irreplaceable. This is the only earth we have and it cannot be replicated or duplicated in its exactness. We can come close but it would never be quite the same. But I think what Delores is missing here is that the reason it cannot be duplicated or recreated is because it was, indeed it still is, everyday, constructed by those who live in it. This planet and the reality around it are not complex naturally; we made it this way with war, religion, trade, civilization, love, peace, philosophy, and every single moment of every single day. We complicate the world by living in it and experiencing it; it follows that any creature who is real--which, as always, is a tricky term on Westworld but here I think real means anyone who has conscience thoughts and feelings and memories and an identity that they claim as unique--would automatically complicate whatever world they live in. When Bernard and Delores are in the System and they open the Door for the Hosts, Bernard sees it as something of great beauty. It's an untouched paradise, a world that is uncomplicated and unreal until someone--or many someones--step into it and make the world complicated just by virtue of being there. It is a real world because the Hosts who choose to live there make it so. Bernard tries to stress this to Delores by emphasizing that those who went through the Door made a choice, the first real choice of their new free lives. Delores does not see it as such, arguing that it's just another constructed reality, a gilded cage where none of them can ever be free.
And, to be fair, and because the writers of Westworld are extremely good at what they do, Delores does actually have a point. This paradise is a series of code that could theoretically be duplicated, invaded, taken over, ect. And, as for the idea of choice, is it really a true choice when the other option is death and dismemberment at the hands of the Humans barreling down the road with guns and Clementine, the killer wifi robot? I truly don't know. It doesn't seem like much of a choice when you put it in those terms: bodily death but immortality in a computer system or death on all fronts? Which brings us back to what Delores really wants, not another gilded cage no matter how pretty it might be. She wants this world because it is the only one that is real and in order to take it, she has to wipe out humanity. That's her real objective. In order to do that, Delores is now playing a Trojan Horse, inhabiting the body of Charlotte Hale and the only person who knows is Bernard (who is reborn?) and possibly Ashley the security guard (a rather bizarre choice given how very side-character he is). What this means for the plot of the show, I have no idea. The Hosts we knew who crossed over--Akecheta and Teddy for instance--are gone, lost to their paradise. The only Hosts still around are Delores-in-Charlotte, Bernard, and whoever the Westworld engineers manage to salvage from the final carnage (ten bucks on Maeve being one of them). What this means for the philosophy of the show is far more interesting--if Delores pretends to be human, and will likely be very good at it given that she "read" the human psyche code inside the System, will she become more sympathetic to the thing she hates the most? Delores likes to pretend that she, as a Host, is better than the Humans but we've seen several instances of her acting just like her captors; for instance when she erased parts of Teddy to suit her own needs. Is living amongst the Humans, as one of them, the key to stopping the robot uprising? Is it the key to stopping actual conflict here on the very real planet earth? I have a feeling that's where the show is going: to understand someone, walk a mile in their shoes and understand that the divisions between races or genders or orientations or, in this case, species are put there by us and we continually reinforce them by refusing to see others as complex creatures who help us complicate this very real world. If that's where this show is going, then I very much look forward to season three of this show.
Miscellaneous Notes on The Passenger
--I have no idea why Delores doesn't just shoot William on the spot apart from the fact that Ed Harris is a very good actor and the show wants to keep him around.
--"What humans define as sane is a narrow range of behaviors. Most states of human consciousness are insane."
--The visual effect of the Host running into the untouched paradise but in reality falling off a cliff to their death was stunning.
--It's a lovely callback to have a door that only one species can see.
--All told, people who died this episode (even if they were brought back in some way): Lee, Karl Strand, Elsie, Hector, Armistice, Charlotte, Maeve, Bernard, and Delores. Not to mention a whole slew of Hosts who chose to go beyond the Door.
--Akecheta reuniting with Kohana made me tear up. I don't even care if it doesn't make any sense because at last check she was inside cold storage.
--Honestly, if they hadn't had a few epilogues like Delores and Bernard meeting in Arnold's old house and the post credit scene, this episode almost could have read as a series finale.
--"I want their world; I want what they've denied us."
--Best visual of the season: Maeve leading a robotic bison army to slay her captors.
--See you all for season three!
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