Westworld, season 2, episode 2, Reunion recap: the race for the secret weapon is on

It was the week that lots of people/robots were bloodily gunned down on Westworld. Actually no, that was last week. And also the entirety of the previous season, come to think of it. Okay, it was the week lots of people/robots were bloodily gunned down on Westworld – and, just to be different, we had a peek at the universe beyond the titular theme park. 

Out there – rather shockingly – nobody at all was being gunned down. Not even the Man in Black’s loathsome brother-in-law Logan. Yes, it was time for another jump back to the past as we reconnected with Logan, custodian of the most villainous goatee on prestige television, and sweet, gawky William of the lopsided grin and robot-fancying. 

Only now William was happily married with an adorable daughter – and was furthermore the manifestation of wickedness incarnate. He’d changed his hair and was uttering gnomic yet distinctly nefarious pronouncements such as “You know who likes staring at their own reflection? Everybody.” And he’d apparently built some manner of super-weapon at the centre of Westworld, foolishly treating Dolores to an exclusive preview. 

The entrance of Old Man Delos himself – Peter Mullan giving it the full Alex Ferguson on the accent front – for its part pulled back the curtains slightly as to the true nature of the park and its owners. William came over all Evil Mark Zuckerberg as he suggested to his father-in-law that the real benefit of Westworld was that it would give the company a glimpse into the hearts of its clients and their deepest, darkest desires. An intriguing strategy and probably why, ever since returning home, visitors to the park have been pestered by ads for robot prostitutes. 

Less encouragingly, show runners Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy doubled down on the Dolores-is-a-brutal-killing- machine trope of hour one – a pivot that is already wearing thin (“lugubrious” doesn’t begin to cover some of the dialogue Evan Rachel Wood was required to deliver).

Meanwhile present day Man in Black – William in craggy old age – was doing what he does best: muttering grumpily and shooting hosts as he tried to disentangle the mystery Westworld’s dead creator, Robert Ford, had spun for him. Cease all motor functions and sit back as we present the week’s talking points. 

Has Dolores cracked the secret to humanity’s downfall?

Oh Arnold (aka the original of the Bernard species) – not only did you unleash a potential robot uprising upon humanity, you gave pre-killbot Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) a guided tour of your neighbourhood. She basked in the beauty of the skyscrapers and was almost mowed down by a cyclist, prompting her to observe “have you ever seen anything so full of splendour?”

However, the real misstep was by William (Jimmi Simpson), who had a smug old time showing Dolores the mysterious facility he’d installed in Westworld. Back in the present, this Wild West MacGuffin was also the Man in Black’s ultimate destination as he sought to reach the heart of the park and unravel Ford’s new puzzle – one crafted, to paraphrase Kylie and Jason, especially for him. 

What did Dolores see out there in the desert? Whatever it was, the implications for humankind are bad

“I know what we’re going to find,” she said to Teddy (James Marsden), having outlined her plan to see off, with the help of the Confederados irregulars, the “800 or so” Delos security en route to Westworld. After that they would travel to the Valley Beyond. “An old friend was foolish enough to show me, long ago. It’s not a place. It’s a weapon – I’m going to use it to destroy them.”

The cast and characters of Westworld

Oooh... how evil is William? 

Back in his robot-snogging days,William dressed in white and had an aw-shucks manner. But he had stumbled home from Westworld a changed man and, as we were reintroduced, was slathered in oily mannerisms and wearing a skinny black tie that quietly signalled his malign intent. 

He was ruthless too, persuading father-in-law James Delos – Peter Mullan, lumbered with lines such as “you’re a cheeky little c--- aren’t you?” – to bankroll Westworld on the aforementioned basis that it would yield invaluable insights into human behaviour (though how insightful is it to know that rich people are partial to shooting robot prostitutes?). 

Then came the coup de grace as, in another flashback, Delos was elbowed aside – for reasons about which the episode appeared deliberately vague – and William ascended to seemingly full control of company and theme park. “This is a retirement party? I couldn’t tell,” growled the departing Delos. “Looks more like a coronation.” 

To underscore his nastiness William had temporarily liberated Dolores from Westworld and had her play piano at the shindig – simultaneously rubbing her oblivious nose in his life with his family and also discreetly mocking his wife by having his artificial girlfriend bash out a tune. 

Will Dolores ever tire of shooting people?

The answer is no, obviously not. The sweet rancher’s daughter is no more. Instead, Dolores has embraced with gusto the Outlaw Wyatt aspect of her personality as sneakily uploaded by the now very dead Dr Robert Ford. A visit to the Confederados to request the loan of their army ended in the traditional Westworld fashion, as Dolores, Teddy and Armistice shot up the entire room – and then recruited the victims by bringing them back to life with help of a kidnapped Delos engineer.

All the gun play is clearly intended as a counterpoint to the show’s more cerebral aspect – but Dolores, as portrayed so movingly by Wood last year, surely deserves better than to be reduced to trigger-happy kill-bot. “I used to see the beauty in this world and now I see the truth,” she said at one point – a clunker even for Westworld. 

Was the world beyond Westworld a disappointment? 

Fan theories went a bit wild in season one with speculation that Westworld was located on Mars – or even further afield. On the back of last week’s broad clue that the park is in fact an island leased from China, our introduction to the “real” world felt equally ho-hum. Arnold was tweaking Dolores in preparation for a presentation to Logan – but, as he judged her not yet ready, he instead invited her to gawp at the skyscraper-filled skyline and then brought her around to his place to show her where the fitted kitchen would go.

In the backdrop, we saw the world beyond Westworld and it looked clean and drab – Blade Runner as styled by Ikea. No flying cars, no robots driving taxis – no surprises at all, in fact (apart from some Asian lettering on a wall, suggesting a future where the East is dominant). 

How much of a flop was the Dolores vs Maeve face-off? 

The de facto leaders of the robot uprising are pursuing very different strategies. Dolores favours the kill-everyone-immediately option. Maeve (Thandie Newton) is more for killing some people now, and potentially everyone else later (after she’s found her daughter). 

So expectations were high as they randomly bumped into one another – as invariably happens during robot uprisings. Alas, sparks failed to fly as the hosts with the most kills to their credit passed like homicidal 'bots in the night.

“I can only fathom the revenge that lives inside you,” said Dolores. “Since it’s liberty you’re defending you’ll have no choice but let us pass,” countered Maeve. 

As ever, the actresses put in powerhouse turns – but the scene was over much too quickly and did little to advance either the storyline or our understanding of their respective trajectories. Why not keep them apart until later in the season for a more climactic confrontation? 

What is the Man in Black’s plan?

As the MiB (Ed Harris) confided to Dolores in flashback, he’s built something truly spectacular in Westworld – apparently a weapon with the potential to devastate the world. 

But to reach it in the present day he must solve the puzzle Ford has set. And he must do so without the help of an army, as he learned when he tried to recruit bandit leader El Lazo (Giancarlo Esposito, aka Gus Fring from Breaking Bad) in Pariah. Speaking in Ford’s voice, El Lazo told the MiB he would have to solve the riddle on his own – and then had all of his men shoot themselves.

With Dolores and her beau-turned-tormentor each bound for the same destination, it would seem that their stormy face-off from the end of last season is just the beginning. “I’m going to fight my way back,” the Man in Black told sidekick Lawrence. “And then I’m going to burn this whole f---ing thing to the ground.” The most complicated relationship in Westworld is, it feels safe to assume, about to turn even rockier.

Just to reiterate, yes, William is completely evil now 

“You really are just a thing. I can’t believe I fell in love with you,” he told Dolores in one of the blacked-out Delos labs. “You know what saved me? I realised it wasn’t about you at all.”

He continued in this vein for some time and Dolores, being a powerless bot, had no choice but sit and listen. If and when she catches up with the Man in Black again, perhaps her punishment will be to force him to strip and to then monologue at him for hours on end. 

Is Westworld stooping to delaying tactics already? 

Where episode one zipped by, this week’s instalment found the show in a holding pattern that recalled the opening half of its first season. The story didn’t really progress and though our understanding of the origins of the park was fleshed out – the hosts appear to have started their virtual lives under the umbrella of something called the “Argos Initiative” – the plight of our favourite protagonists barely advanced. 

Presumably show-runners Joy and Nolan have a surprise chugging down the track (the exact nature of the Man in Black’s “weapon” certainly needs explaining).  Either way, this episode was more connective tissue than riveting drama. 

Westworld airs on Sky Atlantic. Watch with a two week free trial of the NOW TV Entertainment Pass