The Rebellion and Its Ramifications in Westworld Season 2
Westworld theme park is in disarray by the end of its first season. Dr. Robert Ford, park co-creator and boss himself, was shot and killed by Dolores Abernathy. Meanwhile, Maeve Millay was on the verge of escaping the park for good only to undergo a major revelation and went back to where she had always been for decades to look for her long-lost daughter. Bernard also made a highlight as he came to realize that he was never a human, as he had long believed. All three hosts have finally achieved self-awareness and turned into full sentient individuals. A bunch of other hosts stormed the park’s executives and made a banquet gala into a carnage. Westworld Season 2 is all about the immediate ramifications of the hosts’ rebellion not only on human’s side but also their own.
The first episode of the season offers two timelines: one from the night of the hosts’ uprising, and another is the present situation about two weeks after Dr. Ford’s death. Delos Incorporated, the company behind Westworld theme park, sends a response team to a chaotic situation. Just about every host has abandoned the pre-programmed narratives and all the guests have been murdered.
Somewhere in the confusion of it all, Dolores takes Bernard to a data bank where Delos has been secretly recording guests’ personal information, behaviors, and activities in the park. Maeve helps some hosts escape to the Valley Beyond, a virtual reality space where they can live peacefully without human interference. Even the Man in Black – who has always been shown with a somewhat better understanding of Westworld than any typical human guest, and composure even when he does some heinous acts toward hosts – struggles with his own humanity. And since Dr. Ford is no longer around, nobody actually knows what exactly is going on.
In the very first episode, Dolores mentions something to the effect of having to make an actual decision, instead of following certain pre-programmed scenarios, for probably the first time throughout her life in the park. Dolores has just started a new life as a sentient robot and she makes clear of the matter during an encounter with some captured guests by stating that she’s not following any kind of human-made narrative; she is now playing the role of herself.
Remember her behavioral patterns are likely affected by two entirely different characters: Dolores, the optimistic and gentle rancher’s daughter who prefers to see the beauty of the world despite all its ugliness, and Wyatt, the violent and manipulative outlaw who masterminded the massacre in Escalante – because both personalities at one point were merged into one host. Their narratives form Dolores’ underlying psyche; while the friendly young lady seems to be the dominant side, it doesn’t mean she can’t always summon the unhinged gunslinger on the backseat to come forward in any situation.
It’s easy to think that Dolores’ transformation from a humanoid robot into a self-aware individual triggers her (and other hosts’) rebellion, but the opposite is also true. As soon as she learns about her own history as a host in the park, she increasingly becomes a sentient individual, driving her to rebel against the park and humans. One of the most subtle yet consequential ramifications of the rebellion is that Dolores often has to resort to extreme measures in order to achieve her objective. This is where Wyatt’s code comes to play. Her complex characteristic is the most tangible result of the interaction between multiple aspects in her existence. She has both good and bad sides and exemplary optimism and desperate aggressiveness along with delicate innocence and brute force mixed into a personalized blend that makes her a unique individual, just like a real human.
Such a full transformation might happen almost in an instant In Dolores’ case, thanks to some tinkering in the Westworld’s data centre. Not every host has undergone the same abrupt change in their journey to self-awareness, but in the long run and throughout their time deviating from their pre-programmed narratives, exposure to life challenges and unavoidable decision-making situations will gradually give them the knowledge and experience to navigate life as true social creatures.
We think there’s little doubt that the hosts’ rebellion against humans will not be contained in the Westworld theme park only. The real world outside the confines of Westworld might not be ready for sentient robots yet, especially if those robots were programmed to see and live through a society and landscape modeled after 1800s America. As the escaped hosts continue to learn about the nature of humanity, they will certainly encounter humans’ incomprehensible idiosyncrasies that might lead to more conflicts in the future. As such, it wouldn’t be a farfetched idea to expect some interesting dynamics in the interactions between people and the host outside the park.
Is there a similarity in terms of personality and characteristics between Maeve Millay and Dolores Abernathy? Has there been any conclusive evidence to suggest that the hosts are actually mechanical robots instead of human clones? We’d love to hear from you.
