Westworld episode 1 of season 4 premiered on HBO on 26th June. Episode 1 is extremely complex and filled with a lot of hidden details, easter eggs and references to the prior seasons. There’s also a tonne of theories that I have for what’s going on and how that character at the end has managed to come back.
Westworld episode 1 opens much in the same way that the third season did. In that we watched an extremely rich man being tormented by Delores until he did what she wanted him to. We discovered that he was an abusive wife-beater and here, though the circumstances aren’t beat for beat, they do share some similarities.
The Cartel & the Man in Black
We join a Cartel leader who took over the Hoover Dam with the rest of his gang. As with most Westworld openings, we start with them getting ready which is when they head out to meet none other than the Man in Black.
The Cartel Senior talks about how much of a nice guy William is and as we learned in the previous seasons, he actually was. It was only when he got to the park that the darker side of him came out and he turned unrecognisable. He’d set up several charitable foundations in the real world which guests even thanked him for but he was such an evil guy his wife even ended her own life when she saw what he’d been up to.
He arrives in the same vessel that Serac used to travel in when he’d hover above humanity judging and deciding the fates of all.
If you cast your mind back to the ending of the last season we had a post-credits scene in which he arrived at a Delos Headquarters in Dubai. Here he was seemingly killed by a replica of himself which the version that arrives seems to be.
In previous seasons you’ll remember that William lost some of his fingers and at the end of season 3 he wore a glove that covered this wound. As this version gets off the drone we can see that he doesn’t have a glove but he has all his fingers, showing that this is indeed a host.
I actually binged all the three seasons in the lead-up to season 4 episode 1, and though we don’t get any answers as to who exactly that doppelgänger was I do have my theories. William had been testing a way to immortalise people in host bodies by copying their minds. This was seen through James Delos but unfortunately, he didn’t make it past the fidelity phase which was put in place to see if they truly replicated someone and could be released.
I have a theory that this copy might have been William’s version of that and unlike James, he passed this crucial part.
When asked if he has seen the Dam before, he responds with this very important line:
“Once the I was a kid with my parents. Hasn’t changed a bit.”
This sticks out because these clone bodies retained the memories of the person they were duplicates of. The entirety of Westworld was set up with implants in the hats that scanned someone’s brain and this made a copy of them. This was later used by Rehoboam to map out the world and plot courses for humanity. However, it also duplicated their entire brains and having his childhood memories could further point to this. The Hale copy in Season 2 and 3 didn’t because she was just Delores whereas this seems like it might be a genuine copy of William.
Returning Characters
Either way, another thing that we saw at the end of the third season was a lab full of hosts being built and this could explain why there are several returning characters in this entry, most notably Teddy. He ended up ending himself in Season 2 and he was completely absent from season 3. However, he’s back now along with several other older hosts so potentially Charlores ended up resurrecting him with William as her number 2. This could be used as a way to manipulate the original Delores and we even see him saving her at the end of the episode.
In the park, her side quest was started by her dropping a can which was then picked up by someone and this then started the loop with them. This is actually used later on in the episode with the mysterious character she meets. Potentially it’s all set up as a way to manipulate her by Hale but we’ll discuss this later on.
William’s plan
Now at the Dam, we get some hints about the plan that’s going on. William wishes to buy it to obtain the data banks and information that was stolen by what I believe was the original Hale. This contained the aforementioned copies of everyone’s brain who visited the park along with the data on how the hosts were created and so on.
This isn’t confirmed in the entry but William does refer to the person who stole them as being a she and that she is dead. In Season 3 we discovered Hale was working alongside Serac and she of course died in the park and was copied by Delores. Due to Hale’s death, the data can’t be opened or decrypted and he says that he just wants it kept there. There’s also another thing that it clearly houses judging by the trailers but I’ll talk about this later in the video in case you don’t want future parts of the season spoiled.
This scene also gives us a rough timeline with William mentioning that the Data was stolen 8 years ago. 7 Years is mentioned several times as being when Season 3 happened so this gives us a rough timeline of the events.
There’s also a pattern on the floor that looks like it’s somewhat based on the Maze which has some significance in the entry.
The Cartel turns him down to which he gives a warning:
“Sell me this lump of concrete today… or you give it to me for nothing tomorrow.”
Fly symbolism
The boss then returns home to find a swarm of flies which of course bears a lot of symbolism. Flies have popped up throughout the seasons and it was upon one landing on Delores father that the park slowly started to fall apart.
These flies represent a fault in the programming as the hosts were not programmed to swat them away and thus they caused issues.
Delores swatted one away at the end of the first episode and she remained in her loop.
Flies also bear symbolism in dreams, namely one breaking free of the confines that one finds themselves in. Though we don’t know exactly what’s going on here, the cartel boss collapses and he wakes up almost as if it’s from a dream…ey told you there was symbolism.
What do you mean it’s a reach?!
Similar to how the hosts went wild and attacked their masters he does too though there’s clearly something off with him. I don’t believe that he’s a host and yet somehow William has managed to programme him to not only kill them but also himself.
From here we cut to the titles, this time we see new graphics of the tower which several characters discuss in the entry and it’s also what the lampposts are modelled after. The host in this opening is also important on a symbolic level – keep using that word cos it’s Westworld and its high-brow entertainment.
Normally in the titles, it lowers into the fluid whereas here it rises out showing the quote-unquote rise of the machines.
There are also several clips of people stuck inside cylinders, circular…almost loop-like…because it’s symbolic.
Delores
Now from here, we cut to Delores waking up. This is the iconography that’s popped up at several points throughout the series and we of course had it appear with the character in the first episode. Maeve also did it when she took focus later on in the season and in Season 3 we got a shot similar to this when she escaped the simulation. There was then Caleb who also did it in the series and it’s often set up as a way to introduce us to either a character or a new version of them. This scene is shot extremely similar to her entrance in the first episode with her getting out of bed and going through the house. However, this time she’s in the real world and living in an apartment with her roommate.
She’s changed her hair colour and her name to Christina which Evan Rachel Wood has described as being a completely different kind of Delores from what’s come before. She’s much more vulnerable and whereas the prior version was ready to kill everyone due to Wyatt being a part of her personality, here she’s sort of a damsel in distress.
We get a subtle nod to the park when her roommate asks her whether she prefers white or black shoes and this was of course mirrored in the hat choice that happened in the park.
She has several missed calls and this is thought to potentially be a bot which, wouldn’t be the first time a character was revealed to be one ey, Bernard, ay, having that.
Now she also has this strange earring that we later see her boss also wearing.
At the end of the episode, we see this allows her to log and record stories and she ends up taking it off showing that she’s no longer tied to her job.
As Delores exits her apartment we also see the word Ware House behind a tree which is a nice little play on how she and the other hosts of course came from one. Delores is also wearing a similar colour coat to the dress that she had on in the park. As for the world, it seems much happier now that everyone has escaped their loops, however, we see with Caleb that people very much wonder whether things have actually changed. There’s the automated driverless car that we saw pop up in the last season and she passes a homeless man who mentions the tower.
He asks if people can see it, possibly meaning that filters have been put on people so that it’s invisible. We saw in Season 3 how this was done in the case of Caleb so that he believed he was assassinating certain targets that were foreign enemies when really they were American citizens.
Interestingly, Delores is now a Video Game story author and she works at Olympiad Entertainment. This idea of Video Games and storylines is layered throughout this episode and we even get a cover of Video Games by Lana Del Rey.
Now the word Olympiad actually derives from the Olympic Games and it means the four-year interval between them. Olympus was also the home of the Gods and if it’s true that Delores is writing the stories of people in the real world then she would very much be classed as one.
Interestingly the episode is called Augeries and this has ties to both Omens and Prophecies. Delores could very much be seen as being able to read into this as she can potentially predict people’s stories and how things will go.
The video game company just wants sex and violence, much like the park, but Delores just wants to sit about writing stories that are allegories for her and her father Abernathy. Delores was at her happiest when she stood on the porch with him waiting for Teddy to return. She brings up how she’s much better at writing stories for NPCs, which is because she was one whereas the guests were the players. We learn she wrote a previous story about someone who lost everything and this ended in bloodshed in which everyone died. Again riffing on clear metaphors of characters in the park.
Maeve on the run
We cut to the wilderness to find Maeve hiding out. Should’ve just done a Delores and dyed your hair and then no one would’ve recognised you, but we see her living this solitary lifestyle on the run. She begins to meditate and sees flashes of her daughter as well as the maze. We also see cuts of Hector and his death and I think he’ll probably be brought back as a way to manipulate her along with Clementine.
Her favourite saying about the new world is also dropped in:
“This is the new world. And in the new world, you can be whoever the f**k you want.”
Now she and Caleb ended up taking down Serac and his forces after they inserted Delores’ mind into Rehoboam. This could explain why she carries the foresight to be able to write people’s stories as that machine of course used an algorithm to predict them.
We discover that she and Caleb travelled out to the original Rehoboam that was shown early on in Season 3 and that they destroyed it. Caleb was badly injured at it and these shots were reminiscent of his friend dying in the previous season.
Stop, it’s theory time.
Now they obviously show that he seemingly dies in this scene right, but that tension is immediately stripped away in the next one with Caleb’s return.
It was weird that they did this and I have a theory that this might actually be Caleb’s death and that they could’ve put his mind into a host like what Halores did with William. However, those cheeky buggers at Westworld know we like our theory time. So they might have done this on purpose to make us guess that he’s dead due to the similarities to the third season and also our need to pick apart every single thing in the world…the Westworld if you will.
Anyway, that’s the end of theory time!
Now Maeve ends up causing a blackout in the town which alerts William and co to her location. She of course had advanced enough to the point where she could control machines and this is actually how she escaped Serac overpowering her in Season 3.
Caleb’s whereabouts
Cut to Caleb still working construction like he was in the third season. Whereas in that he had a robot buddy though, here he’s got another human because we discover all the machines were scrapped. Guess it’s difficult to trust them after ones just tried to murder everyone and there’s lip service paid to the seventh anniversary.
They won their freedom but he’s stuck in the same job, not advancing at all and basically still doing the same loop.
This is shown by the shot of him sitting on the edge of the skyscraper which mirrors the one from the first season in which he sat on the girder. This was of course a nod to the picture of the workmen on it titled Lunch Atop a Skyscraper.
He goes to meet his daughter, yeah he’d have to have had before he became a host if we’re right with the theory time.
He’s training her to shoot against her mother’s wishes. On the wall at his home, we see a parody of the Banksy painting with a machine controlling a human who’s controlling a drone. This is symbolic because Rehoboam controlled humanity and they controlled the hosts.
There’s also my brain my choice, which is of course a play on the saying my body my choice. ‘Brain’ is crossed out because it used to be a machine that would control the destiny of humanity.
More on Maeve
Maeve travels out to Woody’s Goodies which is a real shop so – I learn something every day.
After learning her quote-unquote friends are in town she decides not to bury the hatchet and heads out to take them on.
They are led by Colonel Brigham who you might recognise as being from the second season. He was a high-ranking member of the Confederados and again this shows that William is adapting hosts from the park.
Maeve ends up sending in the truck with a can of propane in the back which she shoots to make it explode. This was something that we saw being used as a tactic in the park when William and Delores sent in a dead man on the back of a horse filled with explosives that they then shot and blew up.
She ends up scanning Brigham’s memories and as we learned in Season 1, a host’s memory is perfect. This is why Delores had such vivid flashbacks to the point that she couldn’t tell what was real and what wasn’t and Maeve scans through his data logs. We see William and also a mysterious man at a mansion. Tried slowly the footage down to see who this is but I can’t quite make them out.
Later on, Maeve talks about William being interested in a Senator in California so potentially this could be who that is.
Delores returns and gets called out by Maya to prepare her for a date. She hears a noise outside and spots a picture of the Maze, likely left behind by Teddy.
The date is a bit bleh, a bit like one of those where you’re bored and just going through the motions, and she refutes the point that the background characters in her game are just cannon fodder. Obviously referring to the game and not only is she disappointed with the date she’s also disappointed with reality. Delores wanted to do nothing but escape the park and be free but she’s realised life ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Her date mentions tabs at several points and we saw these in the third season being common drugs that could change one’s mind-state such as the one that made Caleb hallucinate movie soundtracks.
After she leaves she gets a phone call from Peter, who also mentions the tower. This could be sending out signals from what may be Delores or it could be Hale. Remember that they both came from the same code and thus people could end up getting the pair confused.
If Halores ended up building a tower that sends out signals showing people their plans mapped out by Rehoboam it could send them insane. He states he lost his job and wife and that she made him and the other things. He says they’re part of a game and she may be writing stories that get picked up by the tower, heard by those involved and then these make them slowly go insane.
No idea what’s going on with it mate but eh, wouldn’t be Westworld if I did and I hope the stuff so far will make you forgive me.
Delores is saved by Teddy and mirroring her attack we also see one later happen to Caleb and his family. This idea of parents reading bedtime stories to their kids was seen in Arnold/Bernards kid and also Hale and her son.
Outside she comes across a host that was part of the bandit group from the first season. Really weird seeing this guy back and yeah, sticking with the season 3 post-credits scene theory.
He is saved by Maeve and she tells him about William which is when they head out. Turns out his paranoia was justified and he very much bears the responsibility of things still going haywire.
Does Delores have full control?
In the morning Delores wakes up, goes through her routine once more and she sees Peter end his own life. Delores seems completely shocked by this, again making me think that it has nothing to do with her. He asks her if it’s up to him or if she wrote it too.
This makes me think that he’s trying to show he wonders if he has any more choices or if they’ve all been taken away.
Delores goes out onto her balcony and she starts to write a new story and seemingly this is also something that relates to Frankie, Maeve and Caleb’s wife and herself. Again, love the Video Games music, gave me goosebumps and we close out with Teddy.
It’s even possible that Delores isn’t actually in the real world and her brain may be inside Rehoboam or a simulation which explains Teddy’s return. That’s how we left her at the end of season 3, so it would make sense with everything being on a loop. This would explain why people are also stuck doing certain things and how they can be told how their lives will end.
There are hints towards this simulation when the group of dudes talk about this being their first time.
This is similar to people entering the park and the logo for Olympiad also looks very similar to the Delos one. We know that there’s an 8-year time span here but what if it goes beyond that and we’re in the 100 years that the Dam can power data for. Potentially, this version of Delores could be far into the future which will sync up with Bernard’s timeline, to whom we still don’t know what happened. This entire thing could be a park or a simulation or absolutely nothing and it’s a big reach.
Also…forgot to point out earlier that the painting in Delores’ home also reflects her doing paintings in the park. Sent that bit to my editors before I realised though so just easier banging it in here instead of having to talk to people for one minute longer than I already do. Chumps.
Upcoming episodes – spoilers
Now I wanna talk about the trailer for the show next part of the video and I know some of you don’t like me just diving into stuff so this is your spoiler warning for what’s to come.
So in the trailer, we see Hale talking to William and she says that they can control humanity now. This is retribution for them controlling the hosts and it might completely debunk what we said earlier in the video. She could have the real one still and be controlling him at the start of the episode. This would explain how they controlled the Cartel boss and the flies could be some form of nano machine. This is a bit off the deep end here with the theories….but! We also see Caleb getting swarmed as well.
Other important shots in it feature the tower and we also see William approaching the Dam which we can see houses the Sublime. This is very much the entrance to Heaven for the hosts. The databanks clearly store that too and the fact that William can see it also likely means he’s a host too.
I loved how this was very much a soft reboot of the season again. Lots of stuff in the past gets really convoluted and I know people will forget it so I liked that they kinda toned things back.
It was basically a Westworld, wasn’t it?
Episode 1 had some great character moments, symbolism and also something teased that let you just run wild with the fan theories.
Really enjoyed this first episode and I’d love to hear your thoughts on it below.
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