Question For The Telegraph

Published May 8, 2018 · Updated July 6, 2022

Hey guys,

I’ve never written but am an avid fan of SoTV. Despite my not being remotely prepared to buy into either the body-swaps or the Arnold-as-AI theories due to what I perceive as, to date, a critical lack of evidence, I think you guys have been on your game like never before thus far this season. I really can’t wait for each new pod.

For what I imagine will be the first of many emails, I have a question more than a theory, but one that I hope you will find sufficiently interesting to spend a little time on this week. After watching Episode 3 a second time, I noticed what I think is a major problem with the dual present-day timelines we’ve all been banking on. For the sake of clarity if not accuracy, I’ll call them the 11-days-ago Timeline and the Karl Strand Timeline. Here in Episode 3, when Strand, Bernard, and Stubbs enter the tunnel (IS that the Mesa?) and encounter Charlotte, she asks Bernard if he knows where Peter Abernathy is. Then we (apparently) flash back via Bernard to where the first timeline picks up, with the two of them on the hillside, about to encounter Abernathy in the custody of Rebus and the milk man. Events in the past carry on from there and right through the battle at the Fort, which ends with Charlotte and a driver taking off with Abernathy captured.

I know we’ve seen a LOT of evidence to support the two timelines post-gala as well as evidence that the Strand Timeline is the most present-day one, but what do you guys think about this seemingly glaring contradiction? Yes, Charlotte says in the KS Timeline that Abernathy keeps slipping away from them, but she has also initiated park-wide and Mesa-wide sweeps for him, as if she has NO idea where to look. Yes, he could have escaped the dune buggy, but Charlotte simply doesn’t sound like she’s speaking from the point of view of someone who had already had Abernathy in hand. Perhaps this is a red herring and a whole lot happens with our dear Peter between then and now, but something increasingly feels off about the timelines. Could Bernard be in a Season-One-Dolores-type loop where he’s been retracing steps and experiencing things like the fort and/or Strand multiple times? Is there any way we could simply have the two timelines backwards? I’m of the inclination, stated by you guys a number of times, that it’s simply too early to decipher all this, but I’m wondering where you stand at the moment on the omnipresent Westworld conundrum of timeline fluidity.

Thanks for many hours of joy and conspiracy, and keep up the EXcellent work.

Best,
Karl D

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