Alright, we are clearly right at the end of the season now, as all the dominoes are falling into place, sadly, a little predictably, but at least in a somewhat entertaining measure. Most of the big theories were proven correct tonight, with one big one still lingering, but with enough hints that to let us know that we are most likely correct with said theory, and it will probably be revealed in the finale.
The meat of the episode had to do with the Bernard, Ford and Delores story, as they were all intertwined, though it should be mentioned that Bernard’s story was set in motion by Maeve. After her capture last week, she instantly recognizes that Bernard is a host (could not tell for sure, but it almost seemed like she recognized him as Arnold as well from memory, but I could be mistaken), and after she orders him to put her back in the park, she tells him to seek out the truth about himself. He does so immediately, using a reprogrammed Clementine to threaten Ford with, making his maker open up all of his memories in an attempt to see any past conversations with Arnold, who Bernard wants to “meet.” In doing so, we get flashes back to Delores, who has fled Logan and William after yet another confrontation, and headed back to the church, which oddly enough is no longer buried in sand. Through her and Bernard’s memories we see that the church is where the malfunctioning hosts were kept with Arnold’s “consciousness” delusions, and that a secret elevator through the confessional led to facilities below the building, which is where Arnold did most of his tinkering. There, we learn that Ford was actually the man who created Bernard, not Arnold, as Ford built him in the image of Arnold after Arnold was killed by Delores, much as everyone suspected, a fact that is confirmed by finally seeing that photograph of Ford and Arnold, who does indeed look exactly like Bernard. Delores remembers meeting with Bernard in the basement room and him no longer being able to help her, and admitting that she “killed” him (which means all those Bernard and Delores basement scenes were actually flashbacks to Arnold and Delores), which sends her fleeing upstairs, where we think William is going to meet her at the doors of the church. Only instead she is met by the Man in Black. I know, you might think this ruins the multiple timelines theory, but it does not. Let me finish the Bernard story, then we’ll get back to Delores. Bernard, now remembers everything and realizes he is just Ford’s way to recreate and work with Arnold after the man’s death, and Ford admits that Bernard’s brilliance is a big way that he has been able to maintain control over the park all these years, and he reveals that he even has failsafes built into malfunctioning hosts like Clementine, meaning Bernard never really was able to threaten Ford, but Ford was hoping Bernard would choose to go back into his “loop” and not rebel. Since Bernard chose sentience and to fight Ford though, Ford has no choice but to dispose of him, so he orders his old friend to shoot himself in the head, and walks sadly away.
As for Delores and William, that story starts with Logan chiding William for falling into the park’s stories so deeply, and reminding his soon to be brother-in-law that Delores is not real and that he has a fiance back home by showing him a picture of his sister, the same picture Abernathy found earlier in the season that makes him glitch out (William being the MIB hint #1, as the picture was aged and lost in the dirt when Abernathy found it). Logan hammers the Delores being fake point home by stabbing her in the gut and revealing her mechanical innards, the biggest clue of the night of how far in the past the William and Logan story is, as hosts in the present do not have mechanical parts still, they are more human than that. Following her abuse, Delores escapes the encampment while William pretends to make up with Logan, who proceeds to drink heavily and pass out. When he awakens, every Confederado under his command has been slaughtered by William, who brandishes a familiar looking knife and threatens Logan, telling his “friend” that he is going to help him find and help Delores now, as William has finally learned how to properly play the game (MIB hint #2 of the episode), and when Logan calls him “Billy” William exclaims “Don’t call me Billy.” (MIB hint #3). Delores as stated above makes her way to the church, and this is where things get tricky. #1, the church in both the past and the present seems to have been dug out of the sand for this to work, which is acceptable with all of the construction Ford has been doing in the present. But here is what I think is happening, Delores keeps changing clothes as she is walking around that church, and we are meant to think it is her mind flashing back and forth with her memories. And while true, I also think it is the show flashing back and forth between “present” Delores (during the Ford, Bernard and MIB storyline) and “past” Delores (during the William and Logan storyline) both of whom have come back to the church and done the exact same thing, same loop if you will. That’s why when she leaves the basement the MIB is there waiting for her, that is in the present, I have a feeling we will see in the past William opening those doors and greeting her, which will also be another link between the MIB and William. As for Delores’ story in the present, I think the last time we saw “present” Delores was after she killed the outlaw in the barn and fled the farm, I think up till now she has been flashing back to the William and Logan story.
As for Maeve, she tracks down Hector and recruits him into her rebellion, and then sets about killing the both of them to bring them back to the main facilities so they can “steal from the Gods” for the finale, a plan which I am intrigued by but feel like it is doomed to fail since it is only the season 1 finale. As for the MIB himself, he and Teddy are still held by Wyatt’s people, only the woman almost seems to change Teddy’s memories of his first encounter with Wyatt, and it feels like the show is almost hinting that Teddy and Wyatt might be the same person, or that Teddy was violent long before Wyatt. I am not sure, but it ends as it always does with Teddy dying. The MIB is knocked out after getting a hint about the maze, and wakes up with a noose around his neck with the rope tied to a skittish horse, a trap he just barely escapes before Charlotte arrives on the scene, chiding the man for not taking up golf. Hating having the story interrupted, the MIB demands to know what she wants, points out that Ford most likely killed Cullen, and offers his support to Charlotte if she and the board decide to get rid of Ford, despite the fact that, in her words, the MIB was the man that stood up for Ford all those years ago (potentially William is MIB hint #4). The MIB heads off to find the church having heard another Maze hint, a church that he potentially knows about because he was there before with Delores all those years ago (potentially MIB hint #5), and we last see him facing Delores as she flees the basement of the church after realizing yet again that she killed Arnold.
WORLD OF THEORIES:
Is there a chance that Delores killing spree, (ending with her killing Arnold) happened AFTER her adventure with Logan and William? As in she gets stabbed by Logan, runs back to the church, sees the crazy people, goes crazy herself at “finding the maze” and kills everyone, including her maker? And that’s when William finds her?- Very doubtful that Bernard is actually dead, everything has been about him and Arnold, and as they always say with TV, until we see a body, the character is not truly dead
- I am sticking to my “Logan is gonna die soon” theory. Although now I wonder if maybe his death is tied into the Maze, Delores and the death of Arnold, and why the MIB stood up for Ford with the Board of Directors all those years ago. Maybe Delores killed Logan justifiably and Arnold was a mistake?
- I suspect Maeve is too powerful and may not survive the season, she is like a red-herring for the season, meant to make us thing the robots are already rebelling, but Ford will end her fairly quickly to set things almost back to Status Quo for Season 2, so we can have another build up – just a theory, but she is definitely way too powerful
- I really hope that Teddy is not Wyatt, would be very dumb at this point especially since we have seen Wyatt in so many flashbacks. I am wondering if the whole Wyatt storyline (and Ford’s whole crazy new storyline) is all just set-up for Season 2
A little disappointed that SO many secrets came out this episodes, and played out almost exactly like people have been theorizing for so long. Of course, rampant fan theories and people who would not stop spoiling the show also did not help the matter (no matter how much I tried to avoid them), and I suspect for anyone who did manage to avoid the theorists and spoilers and come in fresh it was probably an amazing episode with a great twist. For me though, it just confirmed what a lot of people had already been speculating, and while fun, I hope the finale holds more actual surprises, which I suspect it will. See you back here next week!
Nick is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles, who belongs to the privileged few who enjoyed the ending to ‘Lost.’ For more of Nick’s thoughts and articles, follow him on Twitter (@starfro67)
