Spoiler: show
So many confirmations, so much progress, all so little time.
The biggest one, of course, being that Bernard was modeled after Arnold, and it was Arnold speaking to Dolores all those times shown previously. Except -- and here's the knife twist -- at least some of those conversations were in Dolores's fractured mind, because it turns out Ford didn't kill Arnold. Dolores did! Assuming her little Arnold hallucination was telling the truth, and not "the truth from a certain point of view" or something.
And the multiple timelines theory, while maddeningly still not confirmed outright, is so obvious that it seems like we're probably not meant to be fooled. For starters, that crumpled old photo Dolores's father dug up in the pilot was a brand new one of Logan's sister that he passed on to William as motivation to let go of Dolores. And then William edges toward full blackhat by massacring that entire camp and holding Logan at knifepoint until he agrees to help him find Dolores -- much as he would forcibly enlist Lawrence on his crusade thirty years later.
Regarding Dolores, she finally enters that church, and we find out it's the entrance to the old facilities -- and that she's been down there multiple times before, confirming in and of itself that we have been seeing multiple timelines at least for her. We see that lab in three different states: thriving and staffed by Ford and Arnold, empty and dusty, and a decrepit, rotten mess of abandoned dreams. AND THEN, when she comes out in what we presume to be the present, she comes face-to-face with the Man In Black, whom she at first assumes is William. Given that we see her seemingly heal from Logan's disembowelment but she's still in the same clothes, this is a solid sign that she's an unreliable narrator whose memories are running together.
Watching Internet peoples raging the hell out at the very thought of multiple timelines and trying to insist that it doesn't make sense, particularly regarding William being MIB, is endlessly entertaining.
And regarding the Man In Black, we learn via a walk-in interruption from Charlotte (aka Tessa Thompson's irritating cartoon corporate stooge) that he's a higher-up on the Delos board, and that he single-handedly kept the park running for years before Delos bought it out. Not as game-changing a reveal as we've previously had -- I guessed some of it beforehand -- but it's a nice bit of development and clarification.
The biggest one, of course, being that Bernard was modeled after Arnold, and it was Arnold speaking to Dolores all those times shown previously. Except -- and here's the knife twist -- at least some of those conversations were in Dolores's fractured mind, because it turns out Ford didn't kill Arnold. Dolores did! Assuming her little Arnold hallucination was telling the truth, and not "the truth from a certain point of view" or something.
And the multiple timelines theory, while maddeningly still not confirmed outright, is so obvious that it seems like we're probably not meant to be fooled. For starters, that crumpled old photo Dolores's father dug up in the pilot was a brand new one of Logan's sister that he passed on to William as motivation to let go of Dolores. And then William edges toward full blackhat by massacring that entire camp and holding Logan at knifepoint until he agrees to help him find Dolores -- much as he would forcibly enlist Lawrence on his crusade thirty years later.
Regarding Dolores, she finally enters that church, and we find out it's the entrance to the old facilities -- and that she's been down there multiple times before, confirming in and of itself that we have been seeing multiple timelines at least for her. We see that lab in three different states: thriving and staffed by Ford and Arnold, empty and dusty, and a decrepit, rotten mess of abandoned dreams. AND THEN, when she comes out in what we presume to be the present, she comes face-to-face with the Man In Black, whom she at first assumes is William. Given that we see her seemingly heal from Logan's disembowelment but she's still in the same clothes, this is a solid sign that she's an unreliable narrator whose memories are running together.
Watching Internet peoples raging the hell out at the very thought of multiple timelines and trying to insist that it doesn't make sense, particularly regarding William being MIB, is endlessly entertaining.
And regarding the Man In Black, we learn via a walk-in interruption from Charlotte (aka Tessa Thompson's irritating cartoon corporate stooge) that he's a higher-up on the Delos board, and that he single-handedly kept the park running for years before Delos bought it out. Not as game-changing a reveal as we've previously had -- I guessed some of it beforehand -- but it's a nice bit of development and clarification.
And the reveals aside, the actual content of the episode:
Spoiler: show
For however many logical leaps we need to justify how it began, Thandie Newton is continuously making Maeve one of the best parts of the show. Her opening discussion with Bernard, defiance of his examination attempt, and initiation of his later conflict with Ford was just delightful and engaging as all get-out. By now, she's more of a direct antagonist than MIB has been, and this is how you properly develop a sympathetic antagonist. I really hope her uprising doesn't see her killed or otherwise written out of the show. I need her around for subsequent seasons.
For once, William and Dolores's storyline didn't drag out and waste time on teases and vagueness. I already talked about the juiciest material on Dolores's side, but her performance from the disembowelment all the way through to the end has won her back a lot of my admiration that's been gradually ebbing away. And as for William's side, the show managed to do the impossible: it made Logan... human. Sympathetic, even. Even after he viciously gutted Dolores in front of William to make him see her as a robot, his subsequent comforting and interaction with William (prior to the latter going postal in the middle of the night) puts it all in perspective, and we can briefly see that for how terribly he treats the hosts, he's not a recklessly terrible Ramsay Bolton wannabe who deserves a slow death; in his shoes, it would be really ridiculous and off-putting to see William get attached to one of the hosts when he's about to be married to Logan's sister. So seeing him freak out over William's slaughter and manic hostage-taking, while satisfying, also makes one kind of feel for him.
MIB's storyline didn't make much progress, other than him finally meeting Dolores again at the end, but it was still pretty fun to see him unnerved by Wyatt's cult and subsequently struggling with the horse-hanging "game" (which... higher stakes at the edges of the park and everything, I know, but that would absolutely kill anyone who failed at it, no question). And Charlotte's interruption gave him an interesting new shade, as we see his almost childish insistence on getting immersed again and not being interrupted. As a gamer, I can empathize.
But the unquestionable centerpiece was Bernard's confrontation with Ford, and his trip through his memories leading up to the Arnold revelation. Here, we see the depths of the lie his life was: his conversations with his wife were just an altered perception of Ford, and it's implied that some of his romantic escapades with Theresa were also fake (though that could just be a visual metaphor). I almost teared up when he changed his memory of his son's death and denounced him as a lie mid-embrace, and his reaction to the suspense tightening up to the storm of revelations had me at the edge of my seat. Given that I've already predicted Ford's death, I genuinely thought for a second that Bernard's order to Clementine would result in some bloody splatters on the wall. But alas, it was not to be -- after all of that, Ford still came out on top, revealing that they'd already had this confrontation over and over again for years, and he only bothered with it this last time in the hopes that giving him full memory access would drive him to be his partner again. It seems he's written that off for good, though, and established himself as the ultimate villain in the process.
Since the chance of Arnold being alive is slim to none, I hope that isn't the last we see of Jeffrey Wright. I'm normally a big proponent of killing off major characters, and the forced "suicide" scene was extremely well done and would be a perfectly fitting send-off for the character. However, if he hadn't already established himself, this episode confirmed that it would not be the same show without Wright involved in some way. He's turned in such a stellar performance that he'd be just as missed as Thandie Newton. I have to imagine someone will find him, or Ford will make another Arnold replica, but the way that scene was done leaves me unsure of anything.
For once, William and Dolores's storyline didn't drag out and waste time on teases and vagueness. I already talked about the juiciest material on Dolores's side, but her performance from the disembowelment all the way through to the end has won her back a lot of my admiration that's been gradually ebbing away. And as for William's side, the show managed to do the impossible: it made Logan... human. Sympathetic, even. Even after he viciously gutted Dolores in front of William to make him see her as a robot, his subsequent comforting and interaction with William (prior to the latter going postal in the middle of the night) puts it all in perspective, and we can briefly see that for how terribly he treats the hosts, he's not a recklessly terrible Ramsay Bolton wannabe who deserves a slow death; in his shoes, it would be really ridiculous and off-putting to see William get attached to one of the hosts when he's about to be married to Logan's sister. So seeing him freak out over William's slaughter and manic hostage-taking, while satisfying, also makes one kind of feel for him.
MIB's storyline didn't make much progress, other than him finally meeting Dolores again at the end, but it was still pretty fun to see him unnerved by Wyatt's cult and subsequently struggling with the horse-hanging "game" (which... higher stakes at the edges of the park and everything, I know, but that would absolutely kill anyone who failed at it, no question). And Charlotte's interruption gave him an interesting new shade, as we see his almost childish insistence on getting immersed again and not being interrupted. As a gamer, I can empathize.
But the unquestionable centerpiece was Bernard's confrontation with Ford, and his trip through his memories leading up to the Arnold revelation. Here, we see the depths of the lie his life was: his conversations with his wife were just an altered perception of Ford, and it's implied that some of his romantic escapades with Theresa were also fake (though that could just be a visual metaphor). I almost teared up when he changed his memory of his son's death and denounced him as a lie mid-embrace, and his reaction to the suspense tightening up to the storm of revelations had me at the edge of my seat. Given that I've already predicted Ford's death, I genuinely thought for a second that Bernard's order to Clementine would result in some bloody splatters on the wall. But alas, it was not to be -- after all of that, Ford still came out on top, revealing that they'd already had this confrontation over and over again for years, and he only bothered with it this last time in the hopes that giving him full memory access would drive him to be his partner again. It seems he's written that off for good, though, and established himself as the ultimate villain in the process.
Since the chance of Arnold being alive is slim to none, I hope that isn't the last we see of Jeffrey Wright. I'm normally a big proponent of killing off major characters, and the forced "suicide" scene was extremely well done and would be a perfectly fitting send-off for the character. However, if he hadn't already established himself, this episode confirmed that it would not be the same show without Wright involved in some way. He's turned in such a stellar performance that he'd be just as missed as Thandie Newton. I have to imagine someone will find him, or Ford will make another Arnold replica, but the way that scene was done leaves me unsure of anything.
Again, that was a damn good episode. It almost felt like a finale in a lot of places, so I can't wait to see what's in store for us next week.