In Westworld season two, episode 4, ‘The Riddle of the Sphinx’, we finally have some answers! But like always more questions. Lisa Joy’s direction takes us on a wild ride to uncover one of Westworld’s biggest secrets. The episode opens with James Delos, owner of Delos Inc, and William’s father-in-law, dancing around to Rolling Stone’s Play with Fire in a fancy condo going through his morning routine. As he is finishing up his breakfast he is interrupted by what we assume is his secretary telling him he has a visitor. In walks William with a bottle of Whiskey. Delos looks happy to see him. He smiles as he says, “Well let’s get me out of here. I feel great and I am ready go out and see the world.”
William then tells him they need to talk and he needs to ask him some questions for a “base line” It’s then Delos realizes that he did in fact die from his illness and he asks how long has it been. William tells him around seven years. Delos smiles and realizes that William since he has taken over has not been pissing away his money. This is where we learn about Westworld’s dirty little secret project. Have they learned how to clone humans and transfer human consciousness so that we humans can live forever? Is this what the park was trying to retrieve and secure from Abernathy’s head in the previous episode?
All of these puzzle pieces are staring to come together. William visits Delos one last time as his older self. Where he tells Delos that the world is better off without him and possibly he himself. “No one is meant to live forever. People actually prefer the memory of you to the person you actually were.” Delos becomes more and agitated, and Williams tells him that his wife, daughter and son are all dead and that no one will come to save him. He leaves Delos in a state of rage and tells the scientist to study his breakdown. This last visit seems to happen right before the fall of the park.
Episode four not only answers all of our questions but also takes Bernard on a journey to remember what he knows. Ford even in the afterlife is determined to set Bernard on a path to remember and uncover Westworld’s dark secret. Clementine drags a hurt and delirious Bernard to a cave and leaves him there without any explanation. As he composes himself and walks into the cave he discovers Elsie lying on the ground. What?! She isn’t dead after all! But she is pissed and not having anything to do with Bernard. It’s clear that she has no idea what has been happening in the park, but after Bernard pleads with her not to shoot him and that it was Ford that made him choke her because she was getting too close to the truth, she decides to help Bernard get the cerebral fluid he needs and more importantly get the answers she wants.
They set off to figure out why Ford brought Bernard to that specific spot. The seemly boring cave turns out to be a secret passage to the secret underground Westworld. As Bernard tries to decipher what the hell has happened in the underground lab through a series of Deja Vu moments, Elsie discovers another door, and is determined to find out what is behind it. Bernard tries to stop her but she shoots the lock anyway and they find Delos’ completely destroyed test tube condo with a bleeding Delos standing in front of the mirror cutting himself. He then goes after Elsie and Bernard knocks him to the ground. He then realizes who he is and remembers the project Westworld had been working on. They had almost unlocked the ‘God Code’ but hadn’t perfected it. Instead of terminating the failing Delos clone they just let him self destruct. Elsie tries to show him mercy in the end.
It’s clear now that Westworld started out as a morality vacation get away for guests to enjoy. But William had other plans. It’s still unclear why he took a sinister turn and wanted to start cloning humans. But in this episode you can see that he is annoyed with the lack of progress that they have made over the last 30 years. At the end of the episode Ford gives The Man in Black a hint into his game. Lawrence’s daughter says to him, “ If you are looking forward that you are going in the wrong direction.” He then takes off with Lawrence back on their journey where they run into the mystery woman we saw running from a tiger in British occupied India. As she comes face to face with the Man in Black she simply says, “Hi dad.” Things are just getting crazy!
