‘Westworld’ Recap ‘The Riddle of the Sphinx’
Westworld Recap ‘The Riddle of the Sphinx’
Following his capture by Clementine during the assault on the fort, Bernard is dragged along until they reach a cave. Clementine dumps him there with a rifle and leaves. Bernard enters the cave to find Elsie alive. Naturally, she is scared of Bernard since the last time we saw her, he was strangling her. Bernard releases Elsie, then has one of his meltdowns. When he comes to, he remembers that the cave is an entrance to a lab. They go down and find that all the technicians have been murdered. Elsie injects more fluid into Bernard that will keep him functioning for a while longer as he tries to remember why he was in the lab before.
Meanwhile, the Man in Black is trying to find men to help him on his quest to solve Ford’s latest puzzle. He and Lawrence end up in Lawrence’s hometown, which has been overrun by Craddock and his men. The Man in Black and Lawrence are tied up. While Lawrence is tortured in front of his wife and daughter, Craddock tells the Man in Black that he has been blessed by Death. He will succeed in reaching his goal. Craddock is about to murder Lawrence’s wife when the Man in Black interferes, killing all of Craddock’s men and severely wounding the Major. The Man in Black releases Lawrence, who in turn kills Craddock. After that, Lawrence’s cousins agree to accompany them on their journey. Before they leave, Lawrence’s daughter tells the Man in Black that if he’s looking forward, he’s looking in the wrong direction.
The past three weeks have teased the corruption that is Delos, and this week, we got more insight (and questions) regarding their real intention for the park. James Delos is going about his day when William arrives. He and James have a normal conversation that William says is a test. We see the same conversation happen twice, and that’s when it’s finally revealed that James is no longer human. He is part-host and the experiment is to see if they can keep the man he was alive. Unfortunately, he keeps suffering from rapid deterioration (much like Bernard). This has been going on for years as the final interaction has William as he is now, the Man in Black. He tells James that his wife, daughter, and son are all dead (stroke, suicide, overdose, respectively) and he was a fool to think that they could unlock the secret to immortality. The Man in Black pulls the plug on the whole experiment as James goes haywire at the news. However, they don’t destroy James.
Which is what Bernard and Elsie find in a locked room in the lab. James is completely insane, cutting up his face. He attacks Elsie, but Bernard saves her. They leave the room and Elsie hits the command to terminate the host. Bernard has been having his memories slowly come back to him as they search the lab. When Bernard came to the facility before, it was because Ford asked him to. Bernard tells Elsie that he manufactured and stole a part-host coding, which means there’s someone else who is like James, but can’t recall who it was. He asks Elsie for her help in tracking them down and she reluctantly agrees. Before they leave, Bernard remembers what happened the day he came to the lab. He was the one who ordered the murder of all the technicians. The creepy white host things did Bernard’s bidding, then killed themselves.
This episode had so many twists and turns and definitely lived up to the “riddle” part of the episode title. Delos has been stealing information about the guests in the part, we learned a few weeks ago, but it also looks like they were trying to figure out a way to prolong life indefinitely. James was their test, but he could never last longer than 35 days before he started to deteriorate. His break-downs are similar to what Bernard is experiencing (since he is based in part on Arnold, this could be why), and may also be a factor in what is happening to Abernathy. I was suprised to see Elsie alive, but am glad to have her back. The second shocking moment of the episode came at the very end when the woman from last week, who barely escaped Park 6 (The Raj) and was almost killed by Indians this week, came riding up to meet the Man in Black. Turns out she is William’s daughter.
Next week’s episode is entitled ‘Akane No Mai.’
Covering superheroes, anything dark, horror, and more! Lead writer for Fan Fest
