What I’m Watching: Westworld

Westworld: Season 2, Episode 7 “Les Écorchés” (B+)

I don’t think there’s a point at which I’ll be able to put everything we’ve seen this season in chronological order, with new developments related to Bernard and Charlotte being presented simultaneously while they obviously occur at different times. That pales in comparison, however, to the major conclusion that Bernard verbalized in his conversation with Ford, which built upon what we saw of Delos previously saying the exact same words over and over again in each iteration. The notion that the stories, anchored by that musical intro with the same dialogue each day, are the same for the sake of capturing the behavior of the guests rather than the hosts is mesmerizing, and that careful analysis stands in stark contrast to the orchestrated chaos that Ford seems to be championing, deeming it a necessary step of the evolution of the hosts. Dolores gets it completely, unconcerned with inaccessible backups because she sees them as a hindrance to their development rather than a crucial fallback, and she was ready to drill right into Charlotte to show her what it’s like to be experimented on. She wanted to put Maeve down, but this new world needs both of them in order to truly become what Ford seems to believe it should as he appears in Bernard’s head and forces him to do his bidding even after he’s been killed. After she was nearly dismembered, Charlotte is now back on top, ready to find the key and, thanks to Bernard, possibly have a leg up in this worsening conflict.