Episode 5, titled “Zhuangzi,” brought some clarity to what’s really happening on Westworld. Let’s just say we’ve entered the Matrix. Big *spoilers* to follow.
Michael Crichton’s Westworld was always a story about the dangers of artificial intelligence. We’ve seen the same story play out in The Terminator series and later in The Matrix. In HBO’s Westworld, episode 5 revealed what happens when the machines take control, trapping humanity in a Westworld-style park where the humans and the hosts have changed roles.
Halores’s Matrix
Halores is the god of this world, much like Ford was in Westworld. She has total control over the humans, who exist to entertain the hosts. Much like the humans in The Matrix, they are trapped in a false world of an AI’s creation. And in this case, Halores is using broadcasts from the mysterious Tower to keep humanity entirely obedient to her will.
But like The Matrix, certain humans can break free of Halores’s world. These are called outliers, humans the Tower cannot control, perhaps because they are immune to the parasite or its effects have worn off. Also, the outliers are the only humans who can see the Tower and hear its sounds, just like the homeless man could in episode 1. Episode 5 confirms he’s an outlier. Meanwhile, Frankie’s group, much like Morpheus’s crew in The Matrix, is trying to extract the outliers before the hosts can eliminate them. This suggests all the rebels may be outliers, too, likely living in some Zion-like settlement.
But the humans aren’t the only ones with outliers. We learn that some of the hosts are also questioning the nature of their reality. One of those is a new character named Hope, who, according to Clementine, is two years old and scheduled to “transcend” next week. However, Hope has totally lost it, gone on a massive murder spree, and ultimately commits suicide rather than “transcend.” Even more, she became this way after encountering a human outlier, so it appears the outliers can infect the hosts, posing a big problem for Halores’s world.
On a related note, we also may have seen what happens when one of the hosts “transcends” in the Tower. We witness a host having his pearl extracted and placed on a docking station. This suggests Halores may be sending the hosts to a Sublime-like afterlife. Or maybe she’s simply recycling them into new hosts, though that hardly seems transcendent.
Is This Even Manhattan?
It’s hard to tell if we’re seeing a futuristic New York City or something else. It’s clear that wherever this place is, it has become a Westworld-style park built for hosts instead of humans. But I also get the sense that all of humanity may be stuck here (except for the outliers who have been liberated). Does this mean the rest of the world has become a barren wasteland? If so, were those desert scenes from last week the post-apocalyptic remnants of New Jersey?
This remains a mystery. The desert where Bernard recovered Maeve was part of the “new” Westworld, which by all accounts appeared to be somewhere near the Hoover Dam. If what we believe to be Manhattan is nearby, it has to be a complete recreation. But that seems impossible, even if 30 or 40 years have passed. Whatever this really is and what happened to the rest of the world remain to be seen.
Delores’s Story Becomes Clearer
Episode 5 confirmed that Delores/Christina is living in Halores’s park, not a simulation. Even more, it’s clear she is a host, but she doesn’t realize it. Delores, as Christina, is living in a loop like the humans under Halores’s control. But her job at Olympiad has a real purpose in this new Matrix.
We learn that Olympiad exists to craft the narratives that control the humans. Christina, it turns out, is one of the writers—and maybe even the primary writer. So suddenly, Peter’s story from episode 1 makes sense. Peter was telling the truth. He was living one of Delores’s narratives. Also, the wing dedicated to him in the treatment center she visited was likely named after another Peter who shared the same narrative.
Then we have Teddy, who is playing the role of Morpheus if we’re to stick with a Matrix analogy. Teddy has already questioned the nature of his reality and discovered that he, as a host, has power over humans. Moreover, he shows Delores/Christina that she does too. And both of them can now see the Tower, just like the outlier humans. Teddy is helping Delores free herself from her false reality.
Who Is The Real Delores?
Another thing we learned from this episode is that Halores has been meeting with Christina/Delores. This suggests several things. First, Halores is the one who likely trapped Delores in the loop in which she’s been living. Second, Christina/Delores is important enough, or powerful enough, to keep track of. Seeing them together raised a question: Which one is the real Delores?
We know that Halores is a version of Delores Abernathy, but so is Christina. Yet there might be a difference depending on how Delores/Christina came to be. See, Halores’s code includes the Wyatt persona that Ford inserted in Delores at the end of Season 1. Yet if Christina was made from the original Delores’s code, one not infected by the Wyatt persona, they could be different. Or maybe Christina is the Delores who ended Season 3 caring about humanity instead of trying to destroy it.
And finally, there’s the episode’s big reveal. When Christina/Delores asks Teddy who trapped her in this loop, he answers: “You did.” As I’ve said, Westworld has always been Delores’s story, and on this point, it looks like Season 4 won’t let me down.