Season 3 of Westworld hit its midpoint with last Sunday’s episode, titled “Mother of Exiles.” It was the season’s best episode yet, and it ended with a mind-blowing twist.
Serac’s Motives
Before getting to the episode’s big reveal (and hereon, * SPOILERS * abound), the “Mother of Exiles” gave us more insight into Serac’s motives.
During the scene with Serac and Maeve in Singapore, we learn that Paris no longer exists in the year 2058. As a boy, Serac witnessed its destruction by what looked like a nuclear weapon, likely planted by terrorists. The scene suggests that Serac created Rehoboam to protect humanity from itself.
He also reveals why he wants Delos — because Ford created a map of the human mind, something not even Rehoboam could do.
“Humanity’s biggest threat has always been itself,” Serac tells Maeve. “I’ve been trying to control that. Negotiate a way to the future. To do that, I needed to understand humanity, so I created the most comprehensive picture of human behavior ever seen. And yet, it’s still incomplete. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that someone had put together a more complete portrait. A map of the human mind.” He laughs. “Created in a theme park of all places. And Delores has the key to all of that data.”
Even though there may be some good intentions to his motives, the scene where he tortures and murders the identity broker proves that Serac is still merciless, and possibly evil to the core. This makes a lot of sense from a storytelling perspective. When you have a protagonist as ruthless as Delores, her antagonist has to be even worse to make Delores an anti-hero we can root for.
Honestly, What Is Bernard’s Role?
Bernard’s role may end up being the biggest mystery this season. Delores brought him back, and Bernard speculates that “she suspects she might go too far, and she needs a check on herself.” But if Bernard is supposed to be a counterweight to Delores, the scales seem totally out of balance.
Bernard begins the episode by mistakenly believing Delores has made a host of Liam, so he and Stubbs set off to stop him. Next, Delores promptly kicks Stubbs’ ass, and then Bernard discovers his button doesn’t work on Liam because Liam’s not a host. By the time the episode’s big twist occurs, Delores has so outmaneuvered Bernard that his cause looks completely hopeless.
I don’t know where his story goes from here. And I still don’t trust his coding. There’s a reason the show did not reveal the results of his self-diagnostic test in Episode 2. Regardless, it’s hard to imagine why Delores needs him at all because he seems entirely incapable of stopping her.
The Mind-Blowing Twist!
Since the end of last season, we’ve all been wondering whose memory cores Delores put into Charlotte and the other hosts she created. I had speculated it might be Angela or even Teddy. But it turns out it isn’t any of them, and I did not see this one coming! As Maeve deduces by the episode’s end, Delores made copies of herself — which means, that all of the hosts — Charlotte, Connells, and Musashi — are Delores. “If you want something done right,” she tells Maeve, “do it yourself.”
Once the dust settled on this mind-blowing revelation, the prior episode made much more sense. While last week, I noted the intimate relationship between Delores and Charlotte in the hotel, particularly when she is laying with Charlotte in bed. But the truth is that wasn’t romantic intimacy like she had with Teddy, but the intimate relationship between a mother and a child. This also gives a whole new meaning to Delores’ words when she tells Charlotte, “You belong to me. You know that, right?” Host Charlotte is literally her child. Her creation in her own image.
The scene last episode where Charlotte kills the pedophile also makes perfect sense now. During the murder, Charlotte tells her victim, “The harder I squeeze, the more I remember. I remember what it’s like to be me.” It turns out she wasn’t embracing her inner Charlotte Hale, but rather her inner Delores — in full Wyatt mode!
Also, the meaning behind the episode’s title, “The Mother of Exiles,” becomes clear. All of the “exiled” hosts, except Maeve and maybe Bernard, are Delores’ children. They’re literal replicants of herself, and she is their mother. Even more, they are all working in concert to fulfill her plan, which makes Delores seem almost unstoppable.
Just look at what she accomplished in the course of a single episode. Through her Martin Connells double, she stole all of Liam’s money, presumably to fund the counteroffer to fend off Serac’s creeping tender. Then, by way of her Charlotte Hale double, she enacts sweet revenge on William Delos by committing him to a mental institution, which allows fake Charlotte to control his voting stock. And, in the guise of Musashi, she controls the Yakuza and what looks to be an entire warehouse filled with barrels of the white liquid used to create new hosts.
But there is one lingering question after this big reveal: Who is the fifth host? Delores left the park with five memory cores. One is in Bernard, and three others have now been accounted for. Your guess is as good as mine as to who the last one might be. Yet one thing’s for sure: Delores is pulling all the strings, and Serac is in for one hell of a fight!
What About Maeve?
I refuse to believe that my favorite character has been killed by the midpoint of Season 3. Even under Serac’s control, Meave is like a superhero who can manipulate technology with her mind. She’s also a total badass, just like Delores. Who doesn’t love Maeve? But alas, Delores couldn’t let her live. “I’m sorry, Maeve,” she says, “I can’t let Serac use you against me.”
It looked for a moment that Delores was going to cut out Maeve’s memory core. This would have allowed her to bring Maeve back — after a little reprogramming. But Serac was tracking Maeve’s movements, so Musashi/Delores had to flee before she could complete the surgery. This probably means that Serac may bring Maeve back to life for another try at Delores.
This said, is there any reason to believe Maeve could best Delores in round two? And, do we really want her to be stuck in the role of Serac’s servant?
I hope that Maeve, who has always enjoyed free will, finds a way to achieve her freedom. With four episodes left, that would be a fitting development in her story arc because I’m reasonably sure her story hasn’t ended here.
Welcome to the End of The Game
One story arc that looks as if it has come to a fitting end is William’s. Delores has destroyed him — as have his own actions. For much of the episode, we see William in his old house with the ghost of Emily, the daughter he slaughtered in the park. Then Delores — either in person or in his mind — visits William in the asylum. You have to love what she tells him:
“I guess you’ve reached the center of your maze, William. But the maze is about understanding. You still don’t even understand who you are.”
She poses the question he’s been longing to ask: whether he is real. He claims he is. Then she hits him with one of the best lines in the series: “Welcome to the end of the game.” Boom.
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