Yo, this last episode The Riddle of the Sphinx gave us one of the best Westworld episodes to date. And that’s saying some shit. The two experts who done visited the park since Delos took over, Brittany and William, had to weigh in on this and give their best bars to the maze. All the spoilers ahead.
William: I’m gonna tell you like a Yung William told me. This host control sentient life ain’t loyal. I wasn’t ready fam. I was not fucking ready. Like, I have so many thoughts and not nearly enough neuro-pathways to fire them down. Where do we start, yo? Watching the maturation of possibly TV’s best villain as William in Black? Or Bernard Eternal Darkness of the Spotless Mind?
Brittany: But look, the thing about William is how we’ve watched the villain be constructed but now I think we’re simultaneously seeing his creation & his destruction. Like that change of heart he had last episode was genuine. Like we saw his grinch heart grow half a size, and crack that Man in Black shell. When he met with Delos for the last time, this dude clearly thought he ran outta fucks 10 years back and suddenly that salted earth is bearing fruit. Some little fuck sprouts done popped up, and now he’s gotta deal.
William: But also…an asshole. ‘Cuz he didn’t terminate that shit and let Host Papa Delos devolve into madness (I guess in the AI world, they call that shit redundancy). Which got that tech murked in the process. All that said, I am having the time of my life watching Jimmie Simpson and Ed Harris crush this character from both ends. That juxtaposition of Yung William being like “well, not yet, we need to observe a little longer,” and Old Ass William being like, “Nah…we not doing this shit no mo,” was so damn good. So damn good. We haven’t even gotten to William in Black going Red Dead Redemption in the town and saving Lawrence yet. So much shit going on in that scene, including the flashback with the rain dropping off the roof. My gawd.
Brittany: I remember there was talk last season about Jimmie Simpson not coming back which would’ve been a travesty because he is putting in ALL the work as Yung William. Just the shift between the two times he came to check on Papa Delos’ copy was great. Like watching the gradual degradation of his emotional investment in anything is beautiful. I think what we’re seeing though is that William doesn’t become a monster because he doesn’t care, he becomes one because he cares too much. Like the tears in his eyes the first time Papa Delos glitched out & his genuine disappointment the next time show his heart is kicking. And that last time, the way he hits dude with the everything you’ve ever loved is gone and you and I should be too feels like an emotionally-fueled reaction. He’s pissed at everything, and this is before he and Dolores beat the shit out of each other at that church.
William: Yo, you said something to me earlier: Why ayebody an unreliable narrator doe? William been pushing that “Juliet overdosed and my daughter found her” lie for a bit now. Come to find out that she killed herself and it looks like he found her, man listen. Also, that real subtle line in the church when Lawrence assumes he wouldn’t want his daughter to watch him get gunned down in front of her and William in Black is like…sheeiiit, you’d be surprised. And also when Yung William refers to her as “capable,” her showing up at the end was perfection.
Brittany: It really was. I mean, she beat a robot tiger and swam all the way from Colonizer World to Westworld and that takes some guts. But yeah, between the hosts being constantly reprogrammed and everybody human only telling half-truths I don’t know what the fuck to believe.
The only truth I know is that ANYBODY can be a host now. Like shit is real & some of y’all ain’t.
William: For real. I think we’re all Felix from season one like, wait…am I real? How would I know? Let’s also talk about the return of Elsie. She did not disappoint. She don’t give a fuck, fam. She ready to burn it all down, one lab termination at a time. It feels good to get back the only character that was good at their job as an employee of Delos Inc.
Brittany: She was literally the only person actually working, but she gotta chill. She don’t have the survival skills to be running headlong into situations. Like Papa Delos almost took her out even though she had a shotgun pointed at him. That’s no good.
William: Nah, it wasn’t. She gotta just stay behind Bernard so his special ops combat training can kick in. Your boy was like a Winter Soldier once he heard the magic phrase or some shit.
But yo, can we talk about Ford becoming the literal hivemind? This dude is seriously Ultron, just poppin up in every gotdamn host.
Brittany: He was the whole time, though. Remember it was Lawrence’s daughter who told William in Black that the maze wasn’t meant for him. Maybe that’s what Bernard made in the lab: Ford’s hive mind. And notice how William didn’t shoot Lawrence’s daughter like he did Little Lord Robbie Ford.
William: Yeah, but it looks like William in Black done had it with Ford’s Cortana soundin’ ass. I know Anthony Hopkins and the show has confirmed that he won’t be back, but god, I want a flashback with Yung William and Ford so bad. Like, it can’t just be the investor shit. Like, something has happened before. Had to have for this kind of resentment between those two. Not only that, but William in Black is trying to burn this shit down while Delos the company is trying to recover data. Is William in Black no longer in control of the company? Is there a coup? I feel like I need more on how the tribes are aligning on this shit.
Brittany: Remember the data mining was how William sold Papa Delos on funding Westworld and back in Season 1 Charlotte tried to get Willie’s vote to fire Ford. Plus, he was still in charge of the Papa Delos Project not too long ago because that technician hadn’t been dead long enough to decompose. So he’s still got clout, even if it’s not free reign. I think William may be just tired of Ford’s ass. Like he just hates his smugness. I know I did in Season 1. I wonder if Juliet and Emily/Grace found out William was in love with Dolores, and made his heel-turn because she made eyes at other men.
William: Yeah, that’s a mystery. We got that scene this season when William basically absolved himself of falling in love with D-Block with that “you’re really just a machine” monologue, but *something* happened. The fact that she killed herself, that Papa Host Delos is like “WHAT DID YOU DO?!” and he doesn’t answer, and the fact he hasn’t been honest about it. He had to have done some wild shit to set that in motion.
Brittany: AND when Little Emily tried to chat up Dolores while she was playing piano at the retirement party…the way her momma snatched that girl away…something was there.
William:Yeah. Yo…we didn’t even get to D-Block’s story (who I’m not really digging as much) or Maeve (who still da gawd, but her story is dragging a bit too), but we got a whole season for that. Last thoughts / predictions /deepest fears concerning William, Bernard or the maze?
Brittany: Yeah, Dolores on my shit list since she teamed up with the Confederados…. Okay so 1) I like that Lawrence and William seem to have developed a genuine friendship-kinda something (kinda) over the years. 2) I think everybody is a host and there is no outside world or it’s a wasteland. 3) I think Bernard’s goal is to destroy the park and William’s is to destroy himself or let himself be destroyed.
William: Does Maeve ever find her daughter? Or if she does, what’s the twist?
Brittany: That kid can’t still be active in the park and if she is then she’s been “given” to someone else which’ll fuck Maeve up.
William: That would fuck me up too, honestly. Maeve done came too far. Last question: Does Charlotte survive this season?
Brittany: Look, Charlotte done survived this long so I thing the only thing taking her out is something that takes EVERYBODY out.
William: So true.
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