Westworld – William Character Analysis

Have a Theory? Share It Now!

I’ve been listening to the podcast since Westword season 2 and when that ended I surprisingly missed your voices and jumped on the Shat on Movies bandwagon even though I’ve only seen about 40% of the movies (mostly the horror or 90’s films). I also loved your reviews on the final season of GoT and the Watchmen miniseries.

When trying to figure out what to write about for this telegraph, I found myself gravitating towards William, which I found kind of funny considering it was the part of the episode I cared least about. I couldn’t help but ruminate over that final statement William made while wearing the AR goggles– “I am the good guy.” For me, it was THE wtf moment of the episode because up until that point, it felt like the antithesis of who he was as a character. I think from this we have to ask a few questions… How does the show support this conclusion? And how will this manifest in the last two episodes? In what I would argue is the first noticeable shift, we have William in the psychiatric facility hallucinating Dolores. He asks her, “Am I me?” This is the moment William starts to self-actualize, just like Dolores when she starts to experience her reveries. The next shift is when William comes to the conclusion that “…if you can’t tell, does it matter?” in reference to the nature vs nurture question of his reality. I believe it is at this moment he is finally able to acknowledge the futility of measuring an abstract quality of real-ness* (ie. hosts vs humans). When he proclaims to be the “good guy” in the therapy session from hell, I think the show is clueing us in on who he’ll be saving from damnation. Dolores tells Bernarnold that in order for them to survive she needs both of them, that he has his own part to play, and where do he and Stubs end up? While yes, Dolores unequivocally hates William, I’m with Gene in that I think she also knows William’s predilection with the hosts and disdain for humanity, and is in someway banking on it as part of her master plan to destroy humanity. I think in the unfolding Dolores vs. Serac plotline taking center stage is that neither will end up with what they want and we’ll end up with some sort of compromise between the two ideologies. Maybe this is the integral function William will play in the final two episodes. I don’t think he’ll want to destroy humanity but maybe he’ll be part of a solution for how humans and hosts can coexist. Maybe that’s just the optimist in me, who knows?

Thanks for keeping me sane with all the content and for the addition of Ash! I have no definitive favorite, that honor fluctuates often, but Gene has held that placement most often, probably due to his journalism degree/SJW status.

-James G. from NYC (by way of Tampa, FL)

(By the way, if you, the hosts, want to have some sort of reference for who sent this email, I’m @GurleyJ on twitch/insta and @Puddlesharks on twitter.)

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