Thursday 17 May 2018

Westworld 2x03 'Virtú e Fortuna' TV TALK

This episode is definitely my favourite episode so far (though, I know I'm going to say that every single episode).
We got to see new worlds, new characters and a whole lot of Dolores which made me very satisfied.
The title of the episode 'Virtú e Fortuna' references Machiavelli's philosophy of explaining human actions and human failure by exploring the relationship between virtú (talent, ability, drive), fortuna (fortune, luck) and free will. This alone just shows how intelligent the writers are and how every single detail is well thought out and so philosophical, I'm seconds away from melting into an existential crisis every time I watch the show.

TV TALKS
Season 1:  1x01  |  1x02  |  1x03  |  1x04  |  1x05  |  1x06  |  1x07  |  1x08  |  1x09  |  1x10
Season 2:  2x01  |  2x02

SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD

Aftermath of Delos Massacre (2 Weeks Prior)
I have to immediately talk about the new world we were introduced to because it was the most exciting thing of the whole episode. We don't know for sure what it's called but Raj-world is just what I'll refer to it for the time being.
My assumption at the moment is that these scenes are near the present timeline but not completely at the time of Bernard on the beach, dead hosts in the sea and Karl Strand because we see the Bengal tiger being led to Westworld which is later found in the present. So, at the moment, I'm going with the two weeks prior timeline for this new character and world.
We're introduced to this new character, Grace (or at least that's what she's named as on IMDb) and I was convinced she was a young Theresa from the very beginning. Just the way she looked, talked and her mannerisms were so similar to Theresa! But, as these scenes were in the present, I'm gong more towards the theory that she's Theresa's daughter or a host version of Theresa. Maybe she's Theresa's daughter and is trying to discover the real cause of death of her mother?
There's also a theory that she's the Man in Black's daughter which would also make a lot of sense but... I feel like that's too obvious and a little easy! But, she's definitely cool enough to be MiB's daughter, that's for sure.
She meets this man, Nicholas, and before they get down to any sexy time, Grace shoots him to make sure he's not a host. This was so bad-ass and it shows just how familiar she is with the world and the hosts- she knows how everything works.
The hosts are obviously malfunctioning and becoming sentient in Raj-world as humans get killed, including Nicholas. Grace manages to escape because it's becoming quickly clear that she's awesome. She has a run-in with the Bengal tiger and runs, leading it to the border of Westworld.
And then, because this girl just has no luck, she's then surrounded by Ghost Nation and taken. I really love this new character and I can't wait to see her role and involvement with Delos.


Over to Bernard, him and Charlotte were on the search for Peter Abernathy and all the park data he has inside of him. They find him but, amongst other hosts, Charlotte is forced to flee whilst Bernard is taken along with Peter. They're taken to Fort Forlorn Hope where, coincidentally, Dolores has taken over!
This episode was very much orientated around Dolores and I loved that. She's my favourite character and she's so interesting and complex to watch.
Dolores started the episode by going to Fort Forlorn Hope and convincing the rest of the Confederados to join her and follow her lead. I found it chilling how she asked them to call her Wyatt- it just shows how she's juggling these two personalities and her name really shows who's she identifying as in that moment.
Dolores immediately recognises Peter when he enters Fort Forlorn and we have a really sweet scene where she's by his bedside and trying to comfort him. I like how she calls herself Dolores in this scene, sliding back into the nicer and more caring persona. I also like how Teddy doesn't remember that Peter was her father- it really shows how the hosts still have a long way to go before they reach consciousness- it's not going to happen for all of them simply because Dolores and Maeve are now fully conscious. It's pretty clear that Peter is far gone on the crazy spectrum and it's such a sad moment to see this and have Dolores tell Teddy that he's all she has left. I love seeing this vulnerable side if Dolores amongst all the cold-hearted killing and scheming.
We also have a scene with Bernard and Dolores and I'm interested to see more of their odd relationship. In the finale of season 1, Ford himself said that Dolores and Bernard had always had a weird effect on each other and I'm intrigued to see how they interact as Dolores is very much Team Host whereas Bernard is stuck in the middle. It's interesting how Dolores now fully remembers her whole relationship with Arnold and it kind of seems as if she wishes Bernard was Arnold- he's the closest thing she has of him left.
Bernard is up to the task of fixing Peter and he manages to hack into it and see the file of stored data. I personally think he managed to tamper with it before Peter was taken because, in the present timeline of Bernard, the beach full of dead hosts and Karl Strand, it doesn't look like they have the data so something must have gone wrong along the way.
Delos forces charge the Fort and this was such an epic sequence! Dolores blows them up and brutally betrays the Confederados, leaving them to be killed by the humans. Despite this, Charlotte and Delos still manage to retrieve Peter but, like I said, did they manage to retrieve the data?
Dolores then orders Teddy to kill the remaining Confederados but he ends up betraying her orders and letting them go! And what's worse, Dolores was watching as he did this! It's totally understandable that Teddy is feeling conflicted- he loves Dolores but hates Wyatt- but I find it so tragic that Dolores now has no one left. She told Teddy he was all she had and now I can't even imagine how she's feeling.
Her plans are to now head back for Sweetwater which is super exciting because it'll be all nostalgic of the first season.


We also followed Maeve and her little squad in the timeline of the Delos massacre aftermath. We get a bit of Lee's backstory which was nice to see- Lee had a bad relationship and threw himself into hosts narratives instead. Maeve also figures out that Hector was programmed to be who Lee wanted to be which was such a nice detail and made Lee's character a lot more complex.
A lot of loved characters returned and it was awesome! Armistice storms in with a flamethrower and the bad-ass attitude she always has which immediately brought a smile to my face. We also got reacquainted with Felix and Sylvester which was good although it's kinda convenient that, while every other human who worked there seems to have died, the two staff members that we know are the ones to survive.
The group head to the surface and run into Ghost Nation. The whole role of Ghost Nation in this show is a big question mark but I think they've somehow got something to do with Delos- maybe a way to monitor the park or a way to control hosts if they ever rebelled? They try to take Lee from some reason (protecting humans like they've been programmed?) but they manage to escape just in time.
And finally, at the end of the episode, they're attacked by someone with a katana. This is presumably a host from Shogun World which means that it's either escaped from its own park or Maeve and the others are close to the border between parks. Shogun World has been hinted a lot so I can't wait to finally see it. I'm interested to find out how close their hosts are to becoming conscious- just because Westworld is rebelling, doesn't mean the other parks are too.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment your thoughts! Stay amazing!
Chloe 

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