Westworld, S1 Ep6 – The Adversary

Maeve gets a major upgrade in this episode of Westworld as she takes control of her own story, after learning more about the nature of the hosts and the park. We get to see a darker side of Teddy, much to the Man in Black’s amusement. And Arnold continues to be an inexplicably influential force in the park and the mystery around him deepens.

Maeve’s journey is by far the most fascinating to watch as her expressions range from wonder to fear to horror and then to determination. Felix gives her (and effectively, us the viewers) a tour of the different levels of Westworld, from where the hosts are being manufactured, robotic animals are being created, and hosts are being programmed with various emotions and storylines.

Maeve blackmails Felix’ companion to upgrade her intelligence levels, and at the end of the episode this takes place, so we probably can expect that she will be playing a crucial role in the imminent uprising of the hosts. And with Dolores somewhere out there also taking charge of her story, the ladies are proving to be the most proactive characters in this narrative and I love it.

We learn more behind-the-scenes intrigue as we find out that Theresa may have been sending messages to an unknown party outside the park. And that arrogant writer jerk, Lee Sizemore, who chats up a hot girl who turns out to be a powerful board member. Elsie from the programming department was intrepid enough to unearth some important evidence but she really should never have gone to that dark, deserted area all by herself. It was a horror movie cliché waiting to happen. Hopefully, she didn’t succumb to too terrible a fate. But then again, this is a really dark show.

In the meantime, Bernard met the robot version of Robert Ford’s family who, according to the latter, were created by Arnold himself. But these hosts answer to Ford alone, and they seem to be even more dangerous that the hosts gaining consciousness. The little boy just went and killed his dog, after all. Robert Ford just gets more sinister and mysterious as the show progresses, and you no longer wonder so much why he and Arnold had a falling out. What is his endgame anyway? And what is up with the new story line he is building?

But really, who is Arnold? Is he really dead? Has he left some kind of virtual version of himself? What is he even trying to do?

So many questions, as usual. More and more crazy Westworld theories are spreading around the Internet, but we are no closer to the truth. And it’s gotten to the point that a lot of the fun of watching Westworld comes from trying to figure out what is even going on. But the writers continue to keep their cards close to their chest and I suspect that we won’t get any answers until later in the season. Until then, it’s still a pretty exciting ride. And I can’t wait to see what happens next.