Major spoilers are lurking below for the penultimate episode of Westworld Season 2, so be sure to watch before reading on.
Westworld Season 2 has dug into the lives (and "lives") of its many main characters and settings to give viewers extremely interesting and complicated backstories spanning decades and miles. Among other things, "Vanishing Point" gave Ed Harris' Man in Black some important exposition tied to a major fan-theory, while Maeve's future went from hopeless to hopeful. And expectedly, Westworld's pathos did not suddenly escape the deep and dark chasms that its narrative frequently inhabits, unleashing two of the most shocking tragedies of the show thus far, all while setting up some big showdowns for the finale. Let's wallow in the madness below, shall we?
R.I.P. Emily, Probably
As the father and daughter awaited a rescue team, Emily finally had a real sit-down with William to go over the details behind Juliet's final hours. Much of it was spent on roughly equal ground between the characters, but the Man in Black later suffered a mental glitch and reverted back to suspecting that Emily was actually a host planted by Robert Ford. He'd been questioning her throughout their conversation, so it wasn't completely out of left field, but the left-field moment came when the Man in Black shot Emily in cold blood after murdering the entire rescue team. He eventually realized the extreme error of his demented ways, seemingly too late to do anything. Because this is Westworld, it's entirely possible that Emily could have survived the ordeal, but for now, I can only assume the worst.
R.I.P. Teddy, Definitely
Westworld viewers have known since the premiere that Teddy would be dead and water-clogged before Season 2 ended, but no details were known. As it happened, Dolores' temporarily brilliant move to max out Teddy's dominative traits led to his downfall. With all of his memories now intact (and with a bit of a mental block that we'll discuss later), the host went back to different moments of his existence, and in a total Teddy-like manner, found the innate good in much of it. Teddy came to the conclusion that even though humankind deserves to be destroyed for how it has treated its creations, he and Dolores wouldn't be better off by matching humans beat-for-beat in the "depraved violence" department. And so, before they could finally reach the Valley Beyond (officially known as the Forge), Teddy shot himself in front of his lover, whose rage-filled screams closed out the episode.
William Might Be A Host, For Real
During William and Emily's emotionally brusque conversation, viewers learned that the family matriarch Juliet shared the same addictive behavior that doomed her brother Logan and her father. However, the cause of her death-by-overdose could be laid at her husband's feet. A quick peek at the despicableness on his Delos profile, combined with William's confession about his "other world" obsession, sent Juliet over the edge. As dark and haunting as her death was, Westworld skewed it further by presenting it all through the lens that William might actually be a host, and that simulations could be playing into some of these scenes and memories. Juliet's repeated questions about things being real immediately tipped a (black) hat to that long-held fan theory, and it upped the potential with William choosing to bypass suicide and look inside himself for answers. Particularly the arm part of himself.
Head to the next page for the rest of the big reveals Westworld had to offer.
Maeve Appears Safe, And Other Hosts Have Powers
Thankfully for anyone worried that Maeve was getting decommissioned, it appears her distinction as Ford's favorite host may have saved her. Ford left Maeve a very important message: don't let the humans take her off the grid. (Okay, so Ford was probably lying, but still.) And so she was able to alter her own programming again for another fighting chance at finding some form of victory here. But her bewitching powers are definitely not Maeve-exclusive, as we learned that Martin Sensmeier's Ghost Nation host Wanathon is also capable of making others do his bidding when necessary, as he stopped Teddy from shooting him. But considering he didn't stop the gunfight ahead of time, it's apparently a talent he doesn't use willy nilly. On the flip side, Charlotte Hale & Co. have figured out how to give Clementine the ability to control other hosts' behavior, which will absolutely be used to try and take Dolores down. Duels! Duels! Duels!
R.I.P. Ford Inside Of Bernard's Head, Probably
Anthony Hopkins' Robert Ford initially returned to Westworld not as a human or a host, per se, but as a digital overlord mostly intent on furthering his goals, with Bernard as his loyal surrogate. Except Bernard's loyalty was stretched to its snapping point after Ford again suggested that Elsie get "taken care of." (And when his human form did reappear for the "Vanishing Point" flashback, his conversation with William further painted Ford in an antagonistic light.) No longer wanting to share his headspace with his maker, Bernard plugged in and deleted Ford from his programming (probably) before once again forcing Elsie to wait by herself with danger lurking around every tumbleweed. Bernard is now on his way to the Forge to either stop of help Dolores from either using or destroying all the data stored inside. It's all still kind of fuzzy.
With only one episode left to connect together this season's multiple timelines, wide-spanning mysteries and a ton of dead hosts, Westworld airs Sunday nights on HBO at 9:00 p.m. ET. To see what other shows will be around when the intense drama goes on hiatus, head to our summer premiere schedule.
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