The Westworld Season 2 Finale is full of deaths and twists and speeches and simulations.
It revealed the Forge, and the Sublime, and brought the two timelines together – watch
our Timeline video for a summary.
But what does it mean?
What are the stories of Maeve, Dolores, William and Bernard really about?
Maeve’s goal is to find and protect her host daughter . But in Episode 1, Lee says
Maeve’s relationship with her daughter isn’t “real”.
It’s “just a story”, “programmed” for the park . So Maeve’s arc explores the
realness of host love.
She hears the story of Akecheta and Kohana.
And sees Akane’s love for Sakura.
These relationships are programmed, but the hosts go beyond their code to fight for their
love – Maeve is “coded to care about no[one] but [her]self”, yet she risks her life for
her daughter . Love is not just a feeling, it’s an action – and through their struggles
and choices, the hosts make their love real.
Still, these are robots in a theme park, which creates complications.
Like, Maeve’s daughter has a new mother – so Maeve is confronted with the fakeness
of her relationship, like William was with Dolores . But Maeve isn’t disillusioned.
She only fights harder, and gets her daughter to safety in the Sublime . So Maeve’s story
is about the triumph of love over code.
But love does get Maeve killed and trapped in the park . It also drives Maeve to violence
and hypocrisy.
Maeve criticises Dolores for wanting “Revenge” , and for controlling hosts . But then Maeve
gets revenge on William , and uses her voice power to control and kill many hosts . Maeve’s
passion leads her to the same kinds of violence she’d criticised.
But maybe it’s because Maeve’s love is so bloody and complicated that it feels so
real . Dolores’ arc asks how far she’ll go to
survive – in Ep 1, Bernard says he’s “frightened of what [she] might become” . Dolores’
plan is to get the human data from the Forge to use as a “weapon” against humans in
the real world . And along the way, Dolores does terrible things . She tortures and kills
lots of humans, rips the brain from her father’s head, and reprograms her love Teddy , driving
him to suicide . While Maeve sacrifices herself for her loved ones, Dolores sacrifices her
loved ones for her war . And she argues this violence is necessary . This is “Who [she]
need[s] to be in order to survive” , and maybe she’s right – unlike Maeve, Dolores
survives and escapes the park.
But is all of her violence really necessary?
Dolores hunts and kills human civilians, she betrays and massacres Confederados , kills
Ghost Nation hosts, and in the finale, tries to delete the Sublime – and all the hosts
inside . This isn’t just about survival.
She says this is a “a reckoning” . She tells Confederados and Ghost Nation that they
don’t “deserve to make it” . She says she wants to “dominate this world” . So
Dolores isn’t just a “survivor” – she’s a conqueror bringing vengeance and judgement
on both humans and hosts.
Bernard fears she’ll “burn [the] world” and “kill … Every man, woman, and child”
. Dolores is capable of evil – but she’s also able to “change” . After Bernard
kills then brings back Dolores in Charlotte’s body, Dolores saves the Sublime.
And she brings Bernard out of the park, saying Bernard isn’t her “friend”, but that
his point of view will help them both survive . So Bernard in Episode 1 was right to be
frightened – Dolores’ fight changes her into a violent vengeful killer . But she’s
still able to question, and grow.
So maybe Dolores can keep up her fight without becoming just as bad as her enemies .
So, while the season explores how hosts can grow and change, it says that humans…
can’t.
William struggles with his human nature.
He says his violence and obsession is a “stain” . In the real world, he acts like a “good
guy” – a “Philanthropist” and “Family man” . But it’s a lie – he can’t hide
his true nature, which leads to the suicide of his wife Juliet . This season, he tries
to change . He saves Lawrence’s family, instead of killing them like usual . But as
Lawrence’s daughter says, “One good deed doesn't change” who William is . William’s
daughter Emily offers a chance to heal their relationship, and escape the park . But William
fails to face his past and open up to Emily . He rejects her, gets paranoid, and kills
her.
Again and again, William fails to change, and so he questions his free will – does
he have a choice , or can he only follow his “code”?
. Years ago, William started the Delos “project” – he built the Forge to decode the human
mind, he ran the James Delos experiment to make people immortal.
But by Season 2, he sees this project as his “greatest mistake” . Cause it takes away
the illusion of free will . It reduces people to code, traps them in loops , represents
judgement – which is William’s worst nightmare.
So his goal this season is to destroy the Forge . He wants to prove “That no system
can tell [him] who [he is].
That [he has] a … choice” . But again William fails – in the finale, he gets hurt
by Dolores, then is rescued by humans.
But after the credits, we see a copy of William who goes to the Forge and is tested by a host
of Emily.
Showrunner Lisa Joy says this is in the “far future” , and this copy of William is repeating
his whole Season 2 quest – riding with Lawrence, and killing his daughter over and over.
Apparently this loop is run by “the hosts”, who are “testing for something” that “they
have yet to find” . Maybe the hosts are trying to find human free will.
Like, if this copy of William can break out of his loop by making peace with his daughter
instead of killing her, that would show that humans are able to change.
Maybe that’s what Ford meant with his door quest – William has to “make it back out”
by escaping this loop, this prison of his own sins . But William’s been in this loop
“a long time” – maybe humans are doomed to repeat our mistakes forever.
So humans can’t change.
Hosts can.
And Bernard is caught in-between.
Cause he’s a host based on a human, Arnold.
Last season, Bernard thought he was human, but he was controlled by Ford.
He was forced to kill his lover Theresa, and to hurt Elsie . This season, Ford’s dead,
but Charlotte drags him on her quest.
He’s captured by Dolores, then dragged to Elsie.
And a copy of Ford haunts his head . Bernard is used and abused for two seasons.
But in the finale, he finally gets to make his own choice.
Bernard kills Dolores to save the Sublime , but then finds that Charlotte killed all
the hosts , and even killed Elsie, who herself couldn’t be trusted . This confirms to Bernard
what he learned in the Forge – that humans are “just algorithms designed to survive”,
and can’t change – but the hosts can . All these flashbacks of Dolores creating Bernard
show how Bernard is an improvement, an evolution of Arnold . And so Bernard creates Charlores,
as an evolution of Dolores.
This Escher sketch represents how Dolores and Bernarnold have remade each again and
again over decades . Humans are stuck in destructive loops, prisons of their sins.
But Bernard and Dolores form a loop of growth, evolution, and change.
That’s why Bernard decides that hosts should fight to survive – and so he unleashes Charlores.
This choice is guided by the voice of Ford.
But Bernard later realises that this Ford voice is actually his own inner voice , meaning
that Bernard is now finally fully conscious.
After lifetimes of being controlled by others, Bernard now “get[s] to decide who [he] want[s]
to be” . The Radiohead plays, and he steps into the real world, free .
So these are the central stories of Season 2 – but there are side-plots, and unanswered
questions.
Lee gets a redemption arc, sacrificing himself for Maeve – which might suggest that there
is hope for humans to grow and change.
Stubbs turns out to be a host – or maybe just a sympathetic human.
And Emily’s motivations remain mysterious.
She wants to reconcile with William , but she also has this Delos project map.
She talks about locking William up , and making him hurt . Maybe it was her plan to trap William
in this loop.
Ford says William’s quest “begins where you end … and ends where you began” , which
sounds like a loop – maybe Emily and Ford worked together to trap William.
Akecheta reunites with his love Kohana, except we last saw Kohana in cold storage – so
how’d she get in the Sublime?
Maybe this Kohana is a copy from Ake’s memories – which might mean Dolores is right, and
the Sublime is kind of fake.
It’s never explained why Ghost Nation captures humans . Or how Bernard in the past predicts
this flood , or how Bernard finishes Strand’s sentence in Episode 1 . And Dolores says lots
of weird shit – she claims to remember the future, and says the story ends with her and
Teddy – which it… doesn’t.
There’s lots of weird misdirection and inconsistency this season – if you wanna hear a rant on
that, watch the video linked below.
But at its heart, this is a story about love, survival, and free will.
Like last season, the message is dark.
Maeve’s arc shows that love is great, but it’ll drive you to violence and kill you.
Dolores shows that you need to be brutal to survive, and Bernard uses his newfound freedom
to continue her war.
William shows that humans can never change or escape their failures.
So behind all the twists, the deaths and exposition, Westworld Season 2 is a bleak vision of humanity
and our creations.
Thank you for watching this video, and the Timeline video, and this whole Westworld series.
It’s been a chaotic ride, and we couldn’t have done it without you.
Alt Shift X is taking a break, but when we come back we’ll hold votes on Patreon to
pick video topics.
We’re gonna do more Game of Thrones, and a new series – maybe Dune, Watchmen, The
Expanse…
Comment below if you’ve got ideas for series to cover.
The vote will open on Patreon in a couple weeks.
Shoutout to Patrons Mike Washington, Jas Purewal, Chaz Albright, Elizabeth Stevanovic, Alex
Felix, Ed Kennedy, Stine Fleming, Pebro, and Full Metal Snowflake.
Cheers.