Last night, Westworld finally returned to HBO after over a year since Season 1 ended. When we last left off with the series, Dolores and the other “hosts” had begun an uprising, beginning with killing Dr. Ford. Unfortunately for the humans trapped in the park, the carnage has only just begun, and Season 2 is already so much more violent than the entirety of last season.
The premiere episode, “Journey Into Night,” certainly had some standout moments to set the stage for the story moving forward. So let’s go through the episode and talk about the five biggest moments from last night’s show…
5. Dolores is now a straight up mass murderer
It was clear something had changed with the farmer’s daughter the last time we saw her in Season 1. After killing her creator, Dolores set her sights on the Westworld board of directors. And apparently this newfound bloodlust for the host was just a sign of things to come.
By the end of “Journey Into Night,” Dolores is by far the creepiest character on Westworld. She not only hunts down human survivors, shooting them on horseback or leaving them to hang – she enjoys it. Developing a consciousness has given Dolores more freedom, but it has also made her very sinister. And from the look on Teddy’s face, even her host boyfriend is starting to get a little freaked out.
4. William is BACK and playing a new game
As luck would have it, William – formerly referred to as simply the “Man in Black” – survived the massacre of the board of directors at the end of Season 1. Perhaps finally getting what he always really wanted, the stakes are now real for William. There’s no longer any room for mistakes if the Westworld veteran wants to make his way out of the park alive.
However, it doesn’t seem William is in a rush to go. It seems that Dr. Ford has orchestrated a final test for him, suspecting he’d survive the host takeover. William is given more vague clues from a host on where he can find this door he’s looking for, and now seems to be embarking on a new mission to complete Ford’s final test for him.
3. Maeve sets out to find her “real” daughter
With most of the humans in the park executed by the uprising hosts, Lee Sizemore is one of very few survivors. He comes across Maeve who nearly executes him, but the two realize they can possibly help each other out. In return for sparing him, Lee promises to help Maeve navigate her way around the park to go wherever she needs to. Soon after, Maeve meets up with her old lover Hector, forming a rather intriguing trio.
Maeve reveals to Lee that she wants to go back home, to the place where she had a daughter in one of her previous “roles.” Lee argues that her daughter isn’t real, and just a storyline that was programmed for her. But her child is very real to Maeve, so with no other options left, Lee agrees to embark across the park to lead them there.
2. A freaking TIGER found its way into Westworld
We’ve seen a lot of strange this on this series, but the Season 2 premiere proves we still haven’t seen it all. Bernard’s group comes across the corpse of a bengal tiger resting along the water. Obviously, this isn’t a real tiger – it’s a synthetic animal created by Delos – but what is it doing in Westworld?
It is then revealed that there are at least five other parks, with this tiger evidently coming from “Park 6.” But this is still very bizarre as the animals have never crossed park borders before. Is the tiger from the teased Shogun World, or from some other yet-to-be-revealed theme park? How it managed to wind up in Westworld remains to be seen, but there’s definitely more to this story.
1. Bernard has killed hundreds of hosts
While searching for hosts in the park, Bernard leads the group to an area where hundreds of them are clustered. They come to an ocean which was not on the map and apparently not part of the park previously. Where did this large body of water suddenly come from?
As they take a look at the water, however, an even bigger question comes up. We can see that hundreds of dead hosts are floating lifelessly, all a part of a watery mass grave. It’s clear right away that somebody has been killing hosts and dumping them here, but who? Before we can even speculate, however, Bernard comes forward with the stunning revelation that he is the one who killed them all. What a cliffhanger for HBO to leave us with…
So far, the return to Westworld is becoming much more of a thrill ride than the first go-round. Find out what happens next when the show airs Sunday nights on HBO!
