Winners And Losers From Westworld Season 2, Episode 6: 'Phase Space'
By Henry McKenna
CAUTION: This analysis of Westworld’s “Phase Space” contains spoilers.
Westworld has given viewers another huge question to answer.
For much of the series, the question has been: When are we? Now, the final moments of “Phase Space” invited a new question: Where are we? Ford has created a virtual world where host and human consciousness (when downloaded and uploaded properly) can exist. Applying that idea to the thought that artificial intelligence isn’t bound to being in one place at one time (like in the movie, “Her”), we could have already seen scenes taking place in this virtual world without knowing.
Yup, the show-runners are screwing with us again.
That should challenge viewers in the coming episodes as they try to determine what’s what in the homestretch of season two. Now, onto the winners and losers from the episode.
Winners
Ford: As so many have suspected, he’s not quite dead yet. But he’s not really alive yet either. Ford appears to exist in Westworld’s computer. Bernard seems to have helped him get there by taking Ford’s recorded consciousness, and uploaded to this space, so that Ford could preserve himself. Is he content living in that space? Or does he have ambitions to move back to the material world? It wasn’t possible for James Delos, as we saw two episodes ago. But for Ford? Maybe. Either way, Ford seems to have continued to play puppet master from inside the park’s computer systems by encouraging improvisation. And clearly, he intends to arm Dolores with The Weapon, which likely runs counter to Ford’s vision for the park. (Funny thought: You know when you have to replace your phone and your backup didn’t quite sync to your latest text messages and contacts. You’re missing the phone number of your latest acquaintance and the newest Bieber single you just bought. What if Ford is dealing with that same problem?)
Musashi: Excellent work in the duel. Stealing the sword right off Tanaka’s belt? Who would of thought of that move?
Lee Sizemore: He waited a bit longer than he probably should have, but Sizemore finally called for help. I can’t really blame him for waiting. He’s worked with these hosts for years, but has never seen them like this. Maeve is an anomaly, and it would make sense Sizemore would want to observe her for a long as safely possible. But with Ghost Nation showing up, Sizemore wanted out. What’s interesting was seeing Felix deciding he wanted to keep rolling with the hosts.
Dolores: The Teddy we knew and loved is dead. The new guy is a ruthless brute. He’s sort of still Teddy — but with some Dolorian modifications. If Dolores is the king of the chessboard, Teddy is her new queen. Team Dolores has only gotten stronger, and they’re headed straight for the park’s edges. And perhaps she’ll find The Weapon on her way out of the park.
The Weapon: What is this thing? Immortality, the personal genetic information of the world’s elite or none of the above. To our knowledge, no one has harnessed its power yet — right?
Losers
Maeve: “We each deserve to choose our fate, even if that fate is death,” she said. Im sorry, what!? Hypocrisy thy name is Maeve. Moments after making two samurai kill each other, she said she wants every host to die how they want (so she lets Tanaka and Musashi duel). Nonsense. Then when she finally finds her daughter, Maeve realizes she has been replaced. That gets at my qualm with this storyline. Maeve’s daughter is now someone else’s daughter, which begs the question as to why Maeve feels so strong about the child in the first place. So we’ll have to watch some unrequited, maternal robot love?
Teddy: Sad to see you go, buddy.
MiB: Whether Grace is real or not, he’s in trouble. If Ford cared about stopping William so much that he was willing to create a host of his daughter, then Ford will continue to face tough tests to complete the destruction of the weapon. If Grace is real, then he’s blowing a great opportunity to begin to patch things up with the only human who seems to care for him. Lose-lose.
Grace: Ditched, emotionally and physically. That said, we thought MiB was the most capable park-navigator. Grace might be better. She recognized the honey pot (a tipped over wagon), which was a trap for MiB and his men. As William noted, she has made her way from The Raj to Westworld unscathed. It’s easy to imagine she’ll catch up to her dad shortly.
The Mall Cops: When the Scottish military man arrives, he sort of clears up the incompetence of park security. Why are the park cops so bad at containing the murderous hosts? Why do they drive dune buggies with no windows into battle? Why do they storm a fort by walking through an open field on foot? Well, the park cops are basically mall cops. They’re not great at what they do. These new special forces have arrived, and that spells trouble for the hosts. The question that still remains: why wouldn’t Delos send help until Abernathy was secured? He’s the value of the park — I get it. But it’s strange to think they see no value in the rest of the park or the humans who are stranded there.