There is such a story in ancient Greek myths and legends: a human-faced sphinx named Sphinx is stationed at the gate of the ancient city of Thebes. Anyone passing by must guess her riddle, and if they guess wrong, they will be punished. eat. The riddle is "What animal walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs at night?" The answer to the riddle is precisely humans. We all know that a person needs to go through three stages: childhood, middle age and old age: when we were young, we crawl on "four legs", when we grow up, we walk on two legs, and when we are old, we become crutches. "Three legs" walked.
Judging from the answer, this riddle seems to be very simple, but many passers-by have died here. Even if they pay a huge price in their lives, it is difficult to truly understand the meaning of the word human. The episode's official title, "The Riddle of Sphinx," also seems to hint at Ford's intention and meaning in setting up the game specifically for William.
The process of cracking the game is actually William's journey of self-redemption. Although his love for Demei in the first season allows him to completely release his evil side, it is far from all William. He is still pursuing himself, just like Like he said to Teddy in season one, deep down in his heart, he still wants to be a good guy.
This episode did not enlarge the moves as I expected in the last episode, but basically filled most of the holes dug in front of me. The episode also ended by telling me to fully trust my first instincts and not my senses.
【Tips】
Lots of spoilers below! I couldn't help but put more than 30 pictures. First, because the pictures are more intuitive, I really don't want to miss the details; second, my memory is not very good, and the detailed record is also to avoid forgetting too many plots later.
If you haven't watched this episode or don't like to see this kind of interpretation with lots of pictures + plot elaboration, please close this page and don't read this article.
still lost bernard
After the night of the massacre, Bernard and Hale first escaped to the underground secret laboratory of the Delos Company, and then accidentally became a prisoner of Demei in the process of searching for Abernathy. Bernard, who originally wanted to escape, was captured by Clementine. In this episode, Clementine dragged Bernard all the way to the cave outside the laboratory. This plot should have been set up by Ford on purpose.
As soon as Bernard entered the cave, he found Elsie, one of his men who had been attacked by him in the first season. Bernard knocked Elsie unconscious at the direction of Ford.
Ford is protecting Elsie, but at the same time deliberately not letting Elsie disrupt his entire plan. You must know that Elsie is a very smart employee. When Abernathy collapsed in the first season, she quickly realize the seriousness of the problem.
Elsie instantly discovered that during the time when she was not working, the park had completely changed, and the chaos had turned into a pot of porridge: all the receptionists were free, they could do whatever they wanted in the park, Ford was dead, and Bernard was still a poor man. The receptionist in the background of the story.
Bernard is in a state of memory loss. He cannot distinguish the past from the present, nor does he know the sequence of his memories.
This episode raised questions about how many Bernards there are. Bernard seemed to see another self in front of him, and under the guidance of that self, he entered the cave and found the switch of the laboratory. I personally think that Bernard at this time is a bit like Sister Reed's state in the first season. It seems that he is revisiting the old place, and the memory fragments of the past are constantly emerging in front of him, trying to remember everything.
Bernard suffered from body convulsions and cognitive blockade. His cerebral cortex was severely damaged. If he did not replenish the cerebral cortex fluid in time, it was estimated that he would not last long. Bernard went back to the underground secret laboratory where he had previously replenished the cerebral cortex fluid, and found that it was a mess and even the bodies of the staff. Judging from the clips of Bernard's flashback, the tragedy in the laboratory was caused by himself.
Before that, Bernard seemed to have done a few more things at Ford's direction, which seemed to be aimed at sabotaging the Delos research efforts.
Bernard found that the plan on the display was similar to what he had seen at Abernathy, the database was larger than anything he had seen before, and they discovered that the Delos Company had been secretly working on a technology.
Elsie decides to promise Bernard to help him figure out the conspiracy behind the scenes. Security Captain Stubbs once praised Elsie in the first season: "The only thing that can stop these receptionists from chopping us to pieces is your line of code." Ironically, Elsie still chooses to trust the code, but the receptionist can attack humans.
The two of them accidentally discovered James Delos, the former president of Delos (William's father-in-law), in the laboratory. This James Delos is actually a combination of human and receptionist: attaching James Delos's consciousness to another A bodily goal of immortality. It's a bit like Bernard, which Ford made after his partner Arnold.
Although Bernard occasionally falls into a state of collapse, he seems to be much more stable than James Delos. After all, he was trained by Ford himself. Only Ford has mastered this technology. Ford does not seem to have his own unique skills. The secret is given to the Delo Company.
Bernard said Ford intended him to be here to create a replica of another human being, who is unknown. It's no wonder that Ford said in the first season that the dead will be brought back to life one day.
Son-in-law William and his father-in-law
The cabin of William's father-in-law in the secret laboratory existed more than 20 years ago, originally to test William's father-in-law Jim.
Remember what Jim said to William at Jim's retirement party in the second episode of the season?
He said he might not have to retire because the company's new technology could give him immortality.
Before long, he was off to experiment with new technology.
The background music at the beginning of this episode is "Play With Fire" by The Rolling Stones. The lyrics are also in line with Jim's mood. "Don't play with me" is quite a warning to William.
So don't play with me cause you're playing with fire Now you've got some diamonds And you will have some others But you 'd better watch your step girl
At this time, Jim was also very irritable, playing rock music, and completing a series of trivial tasks such as brushing his teeth, dropping eye drops, eating apples, and testing treatments.
In particular, I want to talk about the details of pouring coffee. From the coffee spilled, it can be seen that his mood is not very stable at this time.
He met his son-in-law William at the prompt of the door staff, and he couldn't wait to ask William when he could leave here.
William told Jim that the observation period will end soon, and the last step is the "baseline interview". The interviewer must be someone familiar and friendly to Jim, and a dialogue that can be used as a reference can be launched between them to capture Jim's thinking and emotions. and sense of humor.
When referring to his sense of humor, Jim quipped: "I own a biotech company, and I'm about to die of a disease that I withdrew funding for 15 years ago. A sense of humour is fine."
Jim thinks he is in an office area in one of his gardens, in Casbad, California, but the location of the entire campus doesn't seem to be in California.
William said the conversation between them was to establish a baseline for the sake of authenticity, that the initial effect didn't look very good, and they had to have the exact same conversation afterwards.
The second time the background music was replaced by the lighter-sounding Roxy Music "Do The Strand", and Jim danced to an old disco.
Although Jim performed the same process and actions as last time, it was more stable than last time, and this time he poured the coffee without spilling it.
Jim knew that the words he said were all set by the system, such as this sentence "Besides, if you want to fool the devil, you have to toast him." He said it in the last conversation, and it is still repeated this time.
It has been seven years since the last test, and Jim's condition has not improved, and he also got a bad news: his wife has died of a stroke.
His wife died of illness, and he couldn't see his daughter and granddaughter, which made Jim even more eager to go out and collapsed again.
However, Jim has survived for seven days this time, which is not a small progress. William finally asked the staff to terminate the test.
The third conversation was a year ago, and the gray-haired William looked like he was the same age as his father-in-law, and he was already unrecognizable by his father-in-law.
Jim said the phrase "William, child" over and over again, and every time his expression made people laugh, there was a feeling of MMP in his heart and a smile on his face. I had to praise the actor's acting skills here.
This is Jim's 149th resurrection. William directly told Jim that he was in a period of cognitive stagnation. It was not the rejection of the new body or the mismatch of organs, but the conscious refusal to accept reality and itself.
William also brought bad news to Jim: he was already a widow, his daughter Juliet committed suicide, and his son Logan died of drug addiction many years ago. The words that Logan and Demei said in the second episode can also be regarded as the last words of the eldest brother.
As he grew older, William gradually believed that all the research of the Delos Company was a mistake, and that human beings should not have eternal life. It turns out that the Delos Company previously recorded the experience data and DNA of tourists to enable human beings to achieve immortality.
William described his father-in-law as a ruthless wanderer who had no morals in dealing with his business and his family. "People like your memories, not you. Some people are better dead than alive." These words also stimulated Jim, causing him to fall into a state of collapse again.
Instead of ordering the test to be terminated this time, William left the staff to watch how Jim degraded over the next few days.
"The world would be better without you, and maybe it would be better without me." In fact, William is also looking back on his life and reflecting on what he had done. He realized his mistakes and wanted to correct them all.
Man in Black William Sr.
The people in black and Lawrence in the park continued to move towards the destination, the Land of Glory, and the sights they saw on the way also made old William realize that he was not the only player in the new game.
They came to a deserted town of Las Mudas, which is also the hometown of Lawrence.
In the second episode of the first season, William once brought Lawrence here. At that time, William saw his wife and daughter at Lawrence's house. Although they had been through a lot together, Lawrence had never told William that he had married.
At that time, William was so intent on finding the entrance to the maze that he even committed a massacre to kill Lawrence's relatives and wife.
William, who revisited his old place this time, has a much calmer mind and has no intention of killing, but he never thought that he would meet the major of the Southern Army who was released by Teddy in the last episode.
William was captured like this. I didn't expect that when the advanced players also stumbled, it was not the first time that he was captured. Last season, he was planted in the hands of the beautiful receptionist Angela.
Lawrence said William once said he had a daughter, but Lawrence couldn't remember exactly when William said it.
When Lawrence asked William's daughter if she would like to see her father shot and killed, William's answer is worth pondering. He is not sure what his daughter's attitude will be. The relationship between their father and daughter is actually very delicate. .
William only told Teddy about his own experience in the first season, when Lawrence was not there, it can be seen that all this is Ford's setting, in order to awaken the potential humanity in William's heart.
A year ago William thought his wife Juliet had died from taking the wrong medicine, but her daughter Emily said at the funeral that Juliet's death was a suicide and not an accident, because every day she and William were together was full of fear.
Daughter Emily is most likely to know what William has done. She said that no amount of kindness will help William. In order to trap the beast in his heart, he will never let the world and himself see his true self. In order to prove his daughter's words wrong, William came to the park to start a new story line. He killed the peasant daughter Maeve and her daughter, only to find that he was completely indifferent to the evil deeds committed.
Although William said that Lawrence was not his friend, this time he saved Lawrence and his family, and this time of kindness also made Lawrence and his relatives swear to follow William to the land of glory.
Lawrence's daughter, however, poured cold water on William, saying that William didn't know what the real game was, and left a thought-provoking clue: "A good deed doesn't change who you are. If you move forward Look, then you're looking in the wrong direction."
Ford was especially willing to let his children speak for him, and it was not the first time that Lawrence's daughter had spoken to William. It was only after William killed Lawrence's wife and relatives in the second episode of the first season that Lawrence's daughter told him the location of the maze, saying that the maze was not for him.
If looking ahead means the wrong direction, the Land of Glory is not where William should be, but all the clues seem to be pointing to the Land of Glory. However, at the end of this episode, William, who was looking forward, saw a person he didn't expect - his daughter Emily.
In the last episode, Grace appeared in the Indian campus of District 6. Although her every move is very similar to Teresa, she is actually William's daughter Emily, so sometimes you have to trust your first instinct.
In the last episode, Emily was attacked by a Bengal tiger and captured by the Indians. She could understand the Indian language and knew Stubbs, the security captain who was also captured by the Indians.
Judging from the conversation between Emily and Stubbs, the two seem to be old acquaintances. I personally feel that they are either old friends who have known each other for a long time, or the two may have been lovers.
Stubbs found that these Indians only killed the receptionist and kept all the humans together, which seemed to protect these humans, so he suggested that it would be safer to wait here for the emergency rescue team, but Emily said that she did not want to leave the park , she seems to have her own plans and conspiracies here.
Emily is also worthy of William's daughter. She has a strong desire to survive, and quickly took the opportunity to escape. Those Indians did not chase Emily. Personally, I feel that this is Ford's layout.
The Indian chief said something in Stubbs' ear: "When everyone forgets you, you really die." If everyone has forgotten you, what's the point of gaining immortality? ? Some people are alive, but already dead.
Why did the Indian chief say this to Stubbs? And what do they mean when they say "it's time"? All can only be found in the follow-up plot.
The two female protagonists, Demei and Maeve, did not appear in this episode. William, the man in black who disappeared for an entire episode in the last episode, occupies the main role in this episode. I have to say that Bernard is the real protagonist. If I remember correctly, he appears in almost every episode, and he does hide too many secrets. Japan's Shogunate World occupies a lot of space in the next episode's preview, and the Shogunate Park we've been waiting for for a long time will finally appear in the next episode.
"Westworld" Season 1 Episode 10 Plot Analysis
Westworld S02E01: Journey into the Dark
"Westworld" S02E02: It turns out that all encounters are reunions after a long absence
Westworld S02E03: Virtue and Wealth
My personal public number: Notes of Sister Jing
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