"Paul Levinson's It's Real Life is a page-turning exploration into that multiverse known as rock and roll. But it is much more than a marvelous adventure narrated by a master storyteller...it is also an exquisite meditation on the very nature of alternate history." -- Jack Dann, The Fiction Writer's Guide to Alternate History

Sunday, June 17, 2018

Westworld 2.9: Fathers



It's a measure of how good an episode I'm reviewing is, that more than one apt title for the review springs to mind.   That was eminently the case with Westworld 2.9 tonight, which tied at least a few powerful loose ends, while introducing others.   All in all, it stands as one of the top two or three episodes of the entire two-season series so far.

I entitled this review "Fathers," because, well it's Father's Day, and fathers probably played the predominate role in tonight's trenchant story.   William aka The Man in Black and his daughter are one of two father-daughter stories, in this case, game-changing.  Its resolution reveals that The Man in Black is a psycho - not because he derives so much pleasure from killing, which we already knew, and which attracted him to Westworld in the first place, and increasingly - but because he's obsessed with Ford to the point of seeing him in anyone and everyone who challenges him in Westworld (and possibility in the real world, beyond, as well - assuming the first time we see him talking to Ford in the real world was a psychotic illusion).   He kills Emily thinking she's just another manifestation of Ford, and discovers she was really his daughter (at least, that's what I think the digital card which he finds on her - with his "profile" - reveals).

The second father-daughter relationship is Ford and Maeve.  We learn that Ford intended her to leave Westworld, and (presumably) programmed her to do that, but she did something unpredictable and returned to find her daughter.   This reveals a lot, including (again, I think, it's tough to be sure in this complex narrative) that Maeve's daughter was just part of her program.   The outcome of Ford's conversation with Maeve, where he also tells her she's his favorite creation, is that he inspires her to regain control and fight.

So William kills his daughter and Ford (already dead) encourages his daughter, a sentient AI-creation, to live.  Of course, all the hosts are Ford's children, and, as we've already seen, our heroes of both genders are increasingly finding their ways to full or fuller self-awareness and control over their lives.  And that's what happens to Teddy - which we've seen the story building up to all this season.  His taking his own life was his way of expressing his independence as a living, sentient being - in this case, from the android he loves, Dolores.

The one big question I have after seeing this outstanding episode - and which, I suspect, won't be answered in the season finale next week - is what is Ford's true opinion of Dolores, if Maeve is his favorite.  I could see he might not have that high an opinion of her, seeing as how she killed him - but that raises the question of what does this Ford who is in every host's head (including Bernard's, who is also struggling to be real, aka independent) know?  Or, when does this Ford come from?   Or, maybe it doesn't matter, because whenever he was put into the hosts' heads, he can and does learn from what they're seeing.

William wasn't wrong about Ford's near ubiquity - he just (likely) went too far.

By the way, the other main contenders for the title of this review were "Ineffable Immortality" (because that's what The Man in Black is after, and which he may try to do for this daughter) and "Paths to Freedom" (because that's what everyone in their own way is striving for in this story).

And I'll see you here next week after the Season 2 finale.





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