Westworld Episode 7 Instant Take: “Trompe L’Oeil”
Westworld Episode 7 Instant Take: “Trompe L’Oeil”
Finally, some solid ground to shape the hundreds of theories floating around Westworld! A human is killed. Non-park hosts are revealed, and we get some more clues about Arnold’s identity.
Add a little real romance to the mix, throw in some gorgeous scenery, and you just might have the most exciting episode of Westworld to date. Even Gene was impressed!
Enjoy this 30-minute instacast, and we’ll see you Tuesday for the full deep-dive into Westworld Episode 7, “Tromp L’oeil.”Leadast.
Westworld Episode 7 Summary:
“Trompe L’Oeil” It is revealed that Theresa and Hale are both secretly stealing Ford’s research for the board so that they can oust him from the park without fear of him destroying his work in retribution. They engineer an event to demonstrate that Ford’s “reveries” make the hosts violent and uncontrollable in their narratives. Bernard is blamed for the update of untested faulty code and fired as a result. Aboard an escape train, William and Dolores develop romance (have sex). Though, their train is soon ambushed by the Confederados, forcing William, Dolores, and Lawrence to flee; they are able to escape when the Ghost Nation, a horde of hostile natives, appears. Dolores and William part ways with Lawrence and set their sights westward. Meanwhile, Maeve finds her friend Clementine retired by the staff. Maeve decides to use Felix and Sylvester to escape the park. Bernard takes Theresa to Sector 17; inside a hidden lab she finds design plans that reveal he is a host. Ford appears, reiterates to her that he has complete control over the park, regardless of what the board thinks, and instructs Bernard to kill her.
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William is not the Man in Black! Logan talks about the death of one of the founders, arnold, to william and the MIB says he killed arnold to ford. So they can’t be the same person.
Bernhard looks like arnold! Thats why bernhard only sees fords father in the old picture, not himself.
I hope you understand my poor english….
Your English is fine, Dom! Thanks for your comment.
The MiB never actually says he killed Arnold. He says Arnold would have destroyed Westworld, if it weren’t for him.
Now, I initially heard it the way you did, but Roger and Dick set me straight. Saving Westworld from Arnold might have just involved financing or another action that kept the park from falling apart.
I’m not sure how much comment traffic you guys are getting elsewhere, or whether you’re discussing this for your actual review, but I think that there’s another very significant thing happening in this episode.
The man in black said that he was born there, and I think that William’s moment of realization on the train was the birth he was referring to. I also think that’s why he’s so cynical and resentful; at some point Dolores will reset and won’t remember what was, to him, a deep and meaningful connection between the the two of them.
He wants Dolores to remember that they were in love, and perhaps thinks that finding the center of the maze will unlock her memory. I can only imagine the pain he feels, seeing this woman he fell in love with completely forgetting that experience and just going back to some dumb routine. It’s not only his loss, but her loss as well; her being robbed of that gradual awakening that she had on their journey together.
I’ve been waiting to see if there was something meaningful and poignant to the concept of William and the man in black being the same, something more than just a clever twist. I think that this episode, showing them together in the train car, along with William’s self revelation, delivered that meaning.
I agree, Scott, but we’re not covering any new ground here. The William-is-MiB theory always has been predicated on his tragic love for Dolores and a score to settle with Westworld. Very few people have taken MiB’s “you might say I was born here” literally, as he’s clearly too old to have been born in Westworld. However, there’s always the possibility that he’s a reconstructed William.
Big fan of the podcasts…I just wanted to point out a few things to you gentlemen: 1. the body being created in Ford’s basement was that of Teresa. He planned out her death well ahead of time, as Bernard remarked, “these machines can create a host in a few days.” 2. Also, I’m pretty sure that Bernard was created in the image of Arnold, as stated above, and that the flashbacks show his initially interactions with the hosts. He regressed from society and became disillusioned with the real world after the seat of his son. 3. Ford may have the technology to transfer consciousness, maybe even relative to his body (another potential host? Is that what MIB is after?!?) 4. In addition, Ford mentioned him having spoken to another board member, outside Teresa at the lunch sit down. This person is likely a host plant in the board, illustrated by his confidence in dismissing Teresa without concern for repurcussion ( at the lunch meeting and when he kills her). 5. I think fords plants may go outside of Delos into the real world, where he could control various organizations etc without detection. 6. Deloros may be a hidden villain, and be the reason white hat William gets jaded into the MIB, as he falls for her only to later realize he was being played by ford the whole time! (Since Bernard is a host, he is essentially a lackey for ford. As such, he is the one that pumped up Deloros to go on This planned adventure with William. 7. Lastly, as has been previously postulated, the maze is a topographical map of Costa Mesa, as the tech commented in episode 7 that “this place is built to keep [the hosts] from leaving,” hence, a maze. It is the “sum of your experiences” because a host only makes it there after “dying.” Therefore, they have to “make it out” of the maze in whatever condition their life/remembered experience has left him/her (i.e. A bullet wound, head injury, untrusting of humans, etc), so choose your battles wisely! I’ve actually got more but that is enough to chew on for now! Boom!!!
You’re on the same train as most Westworld scholars at this point, aside from the Mesa Gold hypothesis. And it’s a good one. On the Episode 6 Telegraph, I pointed out that the maze likely is hidden in plain sight, and that Mesa Gold seems a likely location if the maze is a physical place. It seems like the afterlife to hosts.
Also, does it not seem plausible that William and Logan ARE actually Delos, and their trip there is what inspired Delos to buy the place out? You pointed out that Logan mentioned several times an interest in increasing their company’s stake in Westworld, and how the place was hemorrhaging cash. Hence the Delos buy-out, hence board oversight to make the place profitable, etc…
Makes complete sense. I mean, we see a REMARKABLE change in how Westworld is run from Logan’s visit (Pariah and nitro explosions) to the MiB’s jailbreak (limited weapons access and pyrotechnic approval).
It sounds like you guys have ruled out the idea that William’s trek with Dolores is in the past. However, does it not occur to you guys that Bernard is made in Arnold’s image (hence him not seeing Arnold, or himself, in Ford’s photograph), and that the discussions with Dolores down in that room were between Dolores and Arnold, and took place in the past while she was having her journey of discovery, so to speak, with William?
I don’t think we’ve ruled out William’s trek with Dolores being in the past. In fact, I can’t see the story being told in any other way! Roger and Dick are their own men, so I can’t speak for them.
Actually, I’m all about this theory, and have been stating so in recent episodes!