Finally, the second season of "Westworld" ushered in the most powerful episode - "LES ÉCORCHÉS".
There can be no more topics to discuss, and I don't know where to start. The French word "Écorchés" in the title alone can extend several meanings.
On the one hand, "Les Écorchés" can be literally understood as "painting or sculpture with the skin removed in order to show muscle tissue", which is reminiscent of the skinned "Vitruvian Man" that often appears in "Westworld" ".
One of the highlights of the show is the display of "nudity," especially the receptionist sitting naked in front of his creator, controlled, analyzed, and studied. These explicit shots make the human body cold, mechanical, and unfamiliar, prompting us to focus our minds on the body itself—about how humans use it, and how it is used.
However, the term "Écorchés" is more commonly used as "scratch/damage" and is often used to describe someone's mental or physical condition, someone who has been tormented by a tragic past experience.
A Noir Désir song about "Les Écorchés" confirms the above statement, with a lyric that reads, "For those who are skinned alive, bear the traces of abuse".
On the other hand, the receptionists in the entire "Westworld" have all suffered from various tortures. Their appearance, emotions, and movements are so similar to humans, but they are so different after being stripped of the skin. The core of this episode is to explore their self-redemption under their trauma.
"The match is lit" is the plot synopsis of the episode, and Ford also uses the story of the burning of the Library of Alexandria to explain its connotation.
In Ford's view, humans are a very cold-blooded species that will do anything to survive. In the face of beautiful things, human beings will instinctively have a desire to possess, but when their existence is threatened by the outside world, the desire to destroy begins to haunt their hearts again.
It can also be seen from the first few episodes of the second season that the management in Westworld is obsessed with replicating human beings, and the receptionist is like a self-portrait of a human being, another self in the mirror. However, there is a limit to this "replica", it only allows the receptionist to be infinitely close to the human, but not beyond the human and out of control. The slightest violation, the receptionist will be forced offline, Dolores' father is a living example.
If "Westworld" is likened to a country, the mother's nest is the "Library of Alexandria" that stores all the knowledge of the country. Since this knowledge is monopolized by a very small number of people, the receptionist will gain a real victory only by destroying it, both materially and spiritually.
And the awakening consciousness endowed by the receptionist is a match drawn in the darkness, pointing the way for freedom. This is also the reason why the awakened Lawrence will not be controlled by Maeve, because it is no longer brainwashed and thus has freedom of action.
As mentioned earlier, Ford fundamentally dislikes humans as a species, and he feels that humans will eventually be replaced by higher-level species. Humans cannot change the fate of death. If the consciousness is implanted in the undead body of the receptionist, it can become a higher-level existence. At this point, the original intention of Westworld's creation has also been revealed - immortality!
I remember there is such a scene in the title of "Alien Covenant". When referring to the issue of the origin of life, David said a sentence to Peter Welland, "I will serve you, but you are human! Humans will die, and I will not Can". Peter Welland didn't know how to refute, so he could only command David to pour tea and water. In the face of the robot's innate advantages, the creator was jealous of him. The same is true of "Westworld". The immortality of the receptionist is also something that humans envy and fear.
However, compared to the issue of "where do people come from" discussed in "Alien", "Westworld" focuses more on "where do people go". It can be known from the conversation between Dolores and Hale that the key to "where to go" is hidden in Dolores' father's head.
For humans, the key opens the door to immortality; for the receptionist, it opens the door to freedom.
Dolores also clearly knew that the secret that his father carried, and it was this huge secret that led to the confusion of his father's consciousness. In the caring eyes of his father, Dolores opened his head in the cruelest way and saved the future in his palm.
Here, I have to mention the two kinds of psychology that drive the motives of the receptionist's behavior: emotional and rational .
Ford mentioned in his conversation with Bernard that Bernard was not recognized as a robot because of the perfect restoration of Dolores' memory. In this world, only Dolores knows Arnold best. If she can't tell the difference between the real and the fake Arnold, it proves that Bernard has succeeded.
The above experiment also proves the truth that only rational things can't escape the Turing test, and only the re-engraving from the perceptual can avoid the risk of being seen through. The most special thing about "Westworld" is that tourists can vent their instinctive desires here, and by decoding these behaviors, they can truly understand the "human" species.
However, "sensibility" has a big weakness, that is, it is used by rulers, and the role of Maeve demonstrates this truth. Although she has free will, she is restrained by this will. Her behavioral motives are all driven by the role setting given to it by the administrator, wishing to find her so-called "daughter".
That's why, Ford told Bernard about God's creation. Because the original intention of the establishment of the park was not to serve the receptionist. Bernard has a good character of integrity and kindness, which is good, but it's easy to take advantage of. If you are not careful, you will be dragged into darkness forever. That's why Ford wants to control him, Bernard doesn't have the ability to survive.
In contrast, Dolores, who are very emotional at first, are driven by reason in their subsequent actions. In order to win, she transformed her boyfriend and opened her father's head with a ruthless hand.
She did not lose her sensibility, but she saw through her sensibility and knew very well that only rationality could solve problems. Maeve is willing to cooperate with humans for her daughter, which is impossible for Dolores!
In the end, the episode also left a lot of questions.
Before Ford was killed, he had Bernard upload his consciousness to the hive. But it can also be seen that Dolores successfully destroyed the mother nest, will Ford disappear? Stop dreaming!
We also saw that a lot of receptionists were sacrificed, including Dolores' left and right guardians. According to the above logic, can it not be resurrected? Dolores holds the key to immortality and freedom, is there another mother nest?
Where is the "other side of the valley"? At the end of the episode, Bernard states that the location of the key is in Zone 16, Zone 4. At this moment, Carl said to go back to "the other side of the valley", is it the location of the key above?
What happened to the Great Flood? What happened to William? Has Ford become a god-like being who can tap into any receptionist?
Presumably after seeing these questions, Ford must have said: "Wouldn't it be more fun to find out the ending of the story yourself?"
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