The Chekhov’s Gun Principle

Published June 28, 2018 · Updated July 6, 2022

Hey guys,

I thought the Finale would have answered my questions with the Emily and William storyline and all it did was make it even more complex.

I want to make this as plain and simple as
possible just by analyzing some inconsistencies in the “current time” Emily and William story line that led me to question if Emily is a host.

Going back to Ep. 9: Vanishing Point, Emily speaks of a Jewelry Box given to her by her mother (Juliet) with a Ballerina that spins in the MIDDLE when opened. She blames herself for pushing her mother away because she threw the jewelry box in the trash. She says the next day when she goes to retrieve it from the trash it’s gone. From Emily’s explanation, it’s clear she never see’s it again. And this is where it gets interesting. Not only does the Ballerina spin in the top right of the box – nowhere near the MIDDLE – but her mother leaves Williams profile card for her in the damn box. Simply put, if she saw the profile she had to have seen the jewelry box again I don’t think real Emily ever found the real profile card, and this is just Ford filling in the missing parts of the story.

This leads into the second reason why I think Emily could be a host. Emily says her mother left the card for her and she saw what was on it. Host Emily most likely knows what’s on the card because Ford also knew, and if she is a host, Ford would arm her with this knowledge to fully sell William on her being human. This also explains why she is holding the card when she dies (I can’t believe anyone would think this card being on Emily when she dies is any evidence at all that she was human – Ford constructed this profile for William, making a new one that looks like the original cannot be hard). So if Emily sees the card and sees what her father has become and acknowledges that her mother killed herself, it’s rather intuitive as to why. But in host Emily and Williams current story line Emily is hounding William for answers, asking why her mother killed herself. Emily already know’s why Juliet killed herself. But she continuously asks William, not to find out some new revelation, but to remind him that it was him who did this to her. Ford’s taunting him and it’s all a part of his final game for William. He is making William suffer – and the last nail in the coffin is when Emily is shot and William sees that she is holding his profile card, essentially meaning that this story host Emily was telling him was true and making William think he just killed his real daughter.

AI Logan says throughout the development of James Delos’ consciousness in the forge it always brought him back to the last time he spoke to his son. This is his Delos’ truest moment of suffering – he blames himself for the death of his son, he knows he could have done more to help him get back on his feet. It’s stated in the show many times that true suffering is what fully makes you conscious. That’s also why William’s fidelity test – where hosts are now developing his consciousness – centres around his truest moment of suffering; the murder of his “daughter” and the acceptance that he was the reason Juliet killed herself. I believe the fidelity test starts when he wakes up with his daughter looking into his eyes in Ep. 9 and plays out until he confronts Emily again in the Forge at the end of Ep. 10. Everything in Ep. 9 still happened in the current timeline but when he passes out by the door, that is where his last visit of the park actually ends.

Is it possible that these inconsistencies are just poor writing or plot holes? Yes. But are Jonah Nolan and Lisa Joy some of the best storytellers and frequent users of the Chekhov’s Gun principle? Also yes. I think with the amount of time spent on this entire sequence it will come back to answer some deeper questions in season 3.

Thanks guys, absolutely love the podcast. Listened to every episode for the past 10 weeks and it really became a part of the whole Westworld experience. Keep at it. P.s. Any ideas on what’s next for shatontv?

Alex

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