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‘Westworld’ Recap ‘Phase Space’

Westworld Recap ‘Phase Space’

A lot happened during last week’s episode of Westworld, so this week slows down the pace a bit. The final fifteen minutes, however, are incredibly intense as Bernard, Dolores, and Maeve head toward their goal. The Man in Black, now with his daughter Grace, continues his quest to solve Ford’s puzzle. Grace tries to talk him away from Westworld. She doesn’t like him, but is giving him the opportunity to make amends. If he goes with her to the beach and leaves, that will forge the path toward forgiveness. Unfortunately, her father is too far gone. He abandons her the next morning.

Dolores, Teddy, Clementine, and Angela take the train out of Sweetwater. The new-and-improved Teddy shoots a technician who refuses to tell them any information about the park. What’s interesting about that scene is that Dolores seems surprised, and a little scared, by his rash decision. Perhaps she was just taken aback by how effective his reprogramming was. As they hurtle toward the park’s edge on the train, Charlotte and Ashley call for Delos backup. They finally respond since Abernathy is in their custody. They are able to get the map back up when they spot the train, which goes through a tunnel at the map’s edge and explodes.

Following the slaughter of the Shogun camp, Maeve leads her team to the rescue of Hector, Musashi, Armistace, and Hanaryo. After an intense fight between Musashi and his rival, the company head off to a shrine to put to rest the spirit of Sakura. After the ceremony, Akane and Musashi decide to stay behind, believing that their place is in Shogun World. Maeve respects their decision. The others follow her out of Shogun World and back to Westworld. Then, the moment we have all been waiting for happens. Maeve is finally reunited with her daughter, but of course it’s not how Maeve hoped it would be. A new mother has taken Maeve’s place, and shortly after her arrival, the Ghost Nation appears. Maeve grabs her daughter and runs. Lee uses the phone he picked off a dead soldier last week to call for help.

'Westworld' Recap 'Phase Space'
Pictured (L-R): Jasmyn Rae, Thandie Newton–Photo: John P. Johnson/HBO

Meanwhile, Bernard and Elsie head to the Cradle, where they’ll be able to access the master code and figure out what has been going on. While looking at the code, Elsie notices that the Cradle has been adapting. She can see that messages are being sent, but she doesn’t know who is doing the sending. Bernard decides to go into the Cradle itself, which involves removing his sphere and temporarily shutting down his body. Once inside, Bernard finds himself in Sweetwater, where the Hosts are acting as they normally do. Suddenly, a dog runs across the street. Bernard follows it into a saloon and finds a familiar face waiting for him. Robert Ford is back.

What is actually going on in Westworld? Delos is trying to retrieve 35 years’ worth of information, but to what end? I think the answer lies in Bernard and James. The opening scene of the episode confirmed what I believed at the end of ‘The Riddle of the Sphinx.’ Bernard is more of a reincarnated Arnold than we thought. His conversation with Dolores was a test of his fidelity, which was a key word used during the testing of James by William. Without Delos’ knowledge, Ford also figured out how to bring back the consciousness through a Host, but we don’t know which iteration of Bernard we’re on. James’ Host kept failing, and who’s to say Bernard hasn’t too? In fact, he’s been exhibiting some of the same signs of degradation as James. So the next question is how is Ford in the Cradle? The answer could be the sphere that Bernard took from the lab. That could have been Ford’s consciousness, which is why Bernard went to drastic measures to ensure he got away with it. Ford must’ve known his story-line would result in his death, so he made sure he had a back-up. Will he try and resurrect himself? Was Bernard/Arnold just his test subject for immortality? Could Ford’s return be the endgame for the Man in Black’s quest? The end of this episode definitely gives rise to many new possibilities.

'Westworld' Recap 'Phase Space'
Pictured: Anthony Hopkins–Photo courtesy of HBO

Next week’s episode is entitled ‘Les Ecorches.’