Westworld Season 1 Episode 7 Review

Westworld (2016-)
Season 1 (2016)

Westworld - Season 1 Episode 7 - Trompe L'Oeil

Created by: Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy Nolan, Michael Crichton (1973 movie written by)
Starring:  Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden, Thandie Newton, Jeffrey Wright, Jimmi Simpson, Rodrigo Santoro
Rating: TV-MA 

Plot: 
A futuristic theme park recreates the wild west for visitors, but bliss doesn't last forever.

Verdict
What a crazy reveal! This episode brings almost everything into question. This is the kind of episode that is usually a season finale. With that in mind, what is this show going to do for the actual finale?
Watch it.

Review
Westworld is a western theme parked stocked with androids, this show calls them hosts, that fully recreate the experience for visitors. The creator wants to make the most lifelike experience possible, continuing to perfect the core program even after thirty years. A recent software update has introduced a glitch. Read my previous episode reviews.

 A trompe l'oeil is a visual trick to make a painting or other artwork appear three dimensional, to appear real.

Episode seven opens with Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) dreaming about his deceased son Charlie. While he told Ford (Anthony Hopkins) he didn't like the idea of unregistered hosts, the thought of making his son a host has to have crossed his mind. Maybe that's the difference between he and Ford. Bernard knows where to draw the line. This thought I had at the beginning of the episode is completely turned upside down by the end of the episode.

Bernard is running a diagnostic on a host, checking to see if it's self aware. One of his employees tells him they are almost through the backlog and that Elsie (Shannon Woodward) started leave today. In episode six, Elsie was exploring a repeater and discovered something big that may relate to Arnold. Then somebody or something grabbed her from behind. Elsie on leave has to be a sham, but that means whoever got her has the power to alter things like that. Bernard should be freaking out at this news. He tries to locate Elsie to no avail.

Bernard and Theresa have a terse conversation where she disparages his employees and he assures her they are done second guessing her.

Always best to check hosts thoroughly.

The new staff member handling transitions, Charlotte (Tessa Thompson) introduced in episode six, is having "fun" with a host just before Theresa meets with her. It's the same host Bernard was diagnosing in the first scene that was priority request for management. Charlotte is rather blasé about it, while Theresa is uncomfortable. I get it, we're not supposed to like Charlotte.

Charlotte tells Theresa that her company sees the park as a research project. They want the raw data from the park, and they know that Ford has it under lock and key. Charlotte's employers want to demonstrate how unsafe the park is by staging an accident.

Always bring a gun to a Clementine fight.

Theresa and Charlotte have a presentation for Ford and Bernard. They wake up Clementine and demonstrate that the reverie code allows hosts to remember, causing violence. Clementine can't be shut down and security is forced to shoot her. Theresa explains that hosts form grudges, not wiping properly. Obviously this is staged.
Charlotte is painted as the villain and rightly so, but it's just so blatant. Theresa has no problem throwing Bernard under the bus and blaming him for the faulty code. Ford does nothing to protect or help Bernard who gets fired on the spot by Charlotte. It was Ford's code. Theresa is surprised Bernard is fired, but does nothing to stop it.

I don't think I missed it in previous episodes, but this one indicates that the Westworld offices are hidden in and behind the mountains of the park.

Maeve has plans.

Maeve (Thandie Newton) repeats another day, yet we can see she's putting on a charade. She's fully aware it's a repetitive simulation. It could be she's too smart now. Her intelligence is off the charts.
When techs pause the simulation to get a host, Maeve prepares to attack, afraid they found her out, but the techs are after Clementine.
Maeve gets shot to return to Felix so she can find Clementine. She witnesses Clementine's lobotomy by Sylvester as Theresa watches.

Bernard interrupts Theresa to tell her he saw right through the charade and that if he saw it Ford did. It's obvious the code was manipulated. As he says, "If your team was any good, they would be working for me."
Bernard does think there is a link to memory and improvisation. He takes Theresa to sector 17 where Ford keeps his unregistered hosts. This may seems strange that Bernard is helping her, but just wait. The house happens to be on top of a remote diagnostics lab where Ford is making his own hosts.

He's interested in more than just stories about cowboys.

Theresa sees a door and Bernard comments, "What door?" In that moment I knew Bernard was a host. In the lab Theresa discovers the plans for the Bernard host. Bernard mechanically states, "I don't see anything." Of course at that same moment Ford appears.
This brings up some big questions about Ford. How big is this conspiracy? How many hosts does he have implanted throughout the park and the administration?
Ford informs Theresa that while the board tests him every so often, she will not be the one to stop him. He built all of the park. There is nothing he doesn't know. Is Ford's big story just a story or is there more to it?

Bernard did appear uncharacteristically robotic once it was revealed he was a host. I get it's for effect, but it doesn't feel true.

Maeve wants out and wants help. Mave threatens to kill Felix and Sylvester if they don't help her. She reminds them she's died hundreds of times. She's great at it.

Welcome to Ghost Nation. The locals are friendly, really.

 William (Jimmi Simpson), Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood), and Lawrence (Clifton Collins Jr) travel by train through Ghost Nation. William is fascinated with Dolores, and she's just trying to figure her life out while compelled to follow the maze.
William admits to Dolores that he's engaged. It's clear he has an emotional attachment and sees her as more than a host. Little does he know, she is more than a host. He will help her find the place she seeks, but he can't stay. He's obligated to return. William's future brother in law Logan stated in episode four that his family wants to buy a stake in the park. Is he part of the same company for which Charlotte works?
William and Dolores share a moment that he doesn't seem to regret.
He muses that the park doesn't pander to your base self, it reveals your true self.

Dolores has found her dream.

Their train is then ambushed. They manage to escape the confederados, but are now on horseback in Ghost Nation land where Lawrence stated earlier they wouldn't last more than an hour outside of the train.
William and Dolores part ways with Lawrence, finding a land that Dolores had only dreamed about. This has to be a pathway to the maze. Did Arnold hard code certain hosts to return? If so what triggers it.