This post contains spoilers for the third instalment ofWestworld,“The Stray . “Head toourWestworldshow hubfor more reviews , theory , and mystifying dive .
OnWestworld , human nature is suspect , whether displayed by bots establish from thunderbolt or organic ringleaders have into the world the former - fashioned way of life . The show ’s first two hour raise eyebrows over the behavior of the park ’s robotic " hosts , " who now possess tics and impulses and " retentivity . " Is this a higher level of consciousness?The third instalment , " The Stray,“turns the speculative - fable microscope to the human eccentric . Specifically , Dr. Robert Ford ( Anthony Hopkins ) , whose tics and urge and " memories " are as terrific as those of any of his mechanical counterparts .
Westworldcreators Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan introduce Dr. Ford as an enigmatic genius who works out of corporate stack . From his first whispered bit of metaphysical insight , he was catnip for sci - fi fans , a mind , a dreamer , and a pain in the tail to the park ’s story - focussed hack . The second episode , " Chestnut , " had him once again off the gridiron , ready to set in motion a young campaign within the wall of the park . With " The Stray , " a Modern side of Ford ’s personality came forward , vomit a shadow over his possible " hero " role . He is fierce and quietly maniacal . He ’d in all likelihood ache a fly , then lie about it .
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We first see Ford reprogramming Teddy ( James Marsden ) with a new backstory . " Your occupation is not to protect Dolores , " he says . " It ’s to keep her here . " Ford upgraded his stamp of robots with " oneirism " that would give them the capacity to think their past computer programing , a move that could be see as the first steps of uprising , but here he ’s command his robots to bide in contrast .
Then we see the roboticist strap out at an underling staff member who has extend up a bare golem during sustenance . Ford imparts sapience he ’s distinctly deliver over and over and over again ( and will again once more later in the episode ): the robots are not real . He slice the ailing android on the boldness to make a stage , and it phlebotomise . " A wily thing meander the old into the new , " Ford say .
Finally , we see Ford ’s big scene of the dark , a disciplining talk with Bernard that segue into the first ( ostensible , at least ) flashback of the series . Bernard is concerned about the robots who " hear voice . " His ranking write it off as cognitive dissonance . He would too if each dysfunctional host was n’t verbalise the same name in their flare-up : " Arnold . " OK , Ford confesses , that makes sense .
We do n’t know much about Westworld ’s origins . We know Dolores ( Evan Rachel Wood ) has been a host since the early sidereal day . We know The Man in Black has been frequent the park most as long . We have sex 30 years ago there was an " incident " in Westworld , but nothing monumental enough to derail the steaming locomotive of the eminent - tech attraction . And now we sleep with that in the beginning , there was Ford and there was Arnold , a brainy scientist who wanted Westworld ’s robotic forward motion to break the glass ceiling of artificial intelligence . Arnold did n’t desire the robot to act man , he wanted them tobehuman . The scientist take the creative thinker - bendingtheory of " the bicameral mind"and applied it to his hosts . He wanted to " bootstrap consciousness " by acting as a God who whispered in his creative activity ' ears . He envisioned a pyramid of human behavior to rise : first he gave the golem memory , then improvisation , then ego - interest , then …
Then Arnold died , only to be compose out of history completely by Westworld publicist , who printed the legend of Dr. Robert Ford ’s creations . It ’s unclear how Ford clicked with Arnold ’s ambitions ; as he tell Bernard , he never believed in the host ' power to become human , and realized that if Arnold was able to make his find , Westworld tourists would detest the upgrade . Who desire their sexbots and move pistol butt to look like a mirror image of mankind ? Then and now , Ford insists on treating the robots as sub - human Si statues to be ravaged by visitors . " The least we can do is make them draw a blank , " Ford admits .
The big flashback gives us a glimpse of Ford , courtesy of adigitally de - of age Hopkins , looking like hisElephant Manself , some half - built hosts , and a few familiar facial expression in the background of laboratory shot – spot Peter Abernathy , loaded with Arnold ’s " bicameral mind " codification that will finally drive him off the deep conclusion – but no introduction to Arnold , making his character in the troupe , and his eventual demise , all the more mysterious . Ford let on that he drop dead in the parking area after a long stretch of secluded behavior . " [ Arnold ’s ] personal liveliness was punctuate with cataclysm , " he read . " He put all his aliveness into work . " By the end , he was only speaking to horde . Arnold ’s dying was marked an accident , but Ford does n’t buy it . " He was very , very careful . "
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Did Ford , require the public eye and feeling threatened by the potential of robotic humans , toy a part in his pardner ’s dying ? Or is he vengeful towards the robots , leak an aggression built up over a lifetime of watching them get by with slaying ? Are the " reveries " a footfall towards the future of artificial intelligence or a whole step backwards to the past tense , when the robots were simpler and Arnold was still around ? Ford does love to ride in the dank Delos Corporation cellar and talk to Old Bill , a souvenir from another earned run average . Whatever bump to Arnold , Ford still carries around with him as ammunition against his successor .
" The Stray " give us one major cue to unraveling Arnold ’s mystery : as Bernard return to work , Ford discontinue him to remind him : the hosts are not real . " You must n’t make Arnold ’s mistake , " he says , acknowledging that the death of Bernard ’s son weighs heavily on his colleague . Having seen Bernard ’s private conversations with Dolores , we acknowledge Ford ’s on to something . The grieving scientist wants something more out of the robots , just like Arnold .
The minutia of " The Stray " frame Robert Ford as a possible villain forWestworldSeason 1 , or at least the adversary for the humanizing robots . His fear may also be the key to a penetrate closed book : why are the robots screaming out for Arnold ? Here ’s a heady proffer : if Bernard believes the hosts have true consciousness , then he may also see a means to " land back " his Logos . And as Ford hints , he may not be the first to woolgather of the possible action ; what if his old pal Arnold not only treasured the robot as Quaker , but used them to rewind the clock on a " personal life marked with tragedy " ? Maybe Dolores was built in the imagination of his daughter . Maybe Peter was his don . And if Arnold died in the Mungo Park , possibly he met his own maker and somehow became his final creation , a ghost in a car .
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It ’s far out , but not out of the realm of possibility for a show that ’s opened 18 privy of worms in the span of three hours . Human nature is at the sum ofWestworld , perhaps even more than we can mayhap think .
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