Time is scarce this week, but I wanted to offer a quick thought on last Sunday’s ginormous twist on Westworld. A lot of fans saw the twist coming, but I think the scene revealed a lot more, and once again it seems Westworld’s biggest clues remain in its dialogue.
As predicted, Bernard is a host. He confirmed as much seconds before the big reveal when he says, “It doesn’t look like anything to me” after Theresa show’s him a sketch of a Bernard-like android. That’s what all the host say when shown images that would cause them to question their reality.
What this also means is that the three time line theory may be true, especially if Bernard was made in Arnold’s image. (You can read more about that theory in last week’s post, here.) But the scene where Bernard kills Theresa reveals another chilling possibility on the show. And the clue to this theory is in the dialogue between Theresa and Ford moments before she dies.
Theresa tells Ford: “Your time running this place, your insane little kingdom, is over. You’ve been playing God for long enough.”
He shakes his head. “I simply wanted to tell my stories. It was you people who wanted to play God with your little undertaking.”
“Do you really think the board will stand for this?”
Ford laughs. “The board will do nothing. Our arrangement is too valuable to them. They test me every now and then. I think they enjoy the sport of it. This time they sent you.” Then he flashes a devious smile. “Sadly, in order to restore things, the situation demands a blood sacrifice.”
The key, of course, is the phrase “this time they sent you,” suggesting that the board has sent others to stop Ford – and I suspect each time the messenger ended up like Theresa. I further suspect the host that Ford is building down there is a replica of Theresa. It seems like the perfect way to cover up a murder in a remote place like Westworld. But it begs the question of how many other hosts Ford has running the company?
One of them may be Charlotte Hale, the executive the board supposedly sent to stop Ford. When she’s with Theresa (after having her way with Hector), she tells Theresa that they need a “blood sacrifice” to prove their point. In context, it appears she’s talking about poor Clementine, who (before she was lobotomized) was used by Charlotte and Theresa to show that Ford’s “reveries” can make the hosts violent. Yet it’s no coincidence that Ford uses this same term – “blood sacrifice” – with Theresa.
So, is this proof that Charlotte is an android too? Part of an elaborate plan by Ford to lure Theresa to her death? Or was Hector really awake in that scene, recording everything Charlotte said? The idea, however, that Ford has other hosts disguised as humans has me leaning toward the suspicion that Charlotte is a host too.
But that’s just another theory on a show where devising theories has become part of the fun. So, who else do you think might secretly be a host on Westworld?