HBO’s Westworld season two episode three begins by introducing a new area of the park. It’s staged to look like India and guests are circulating with hosts at a garden party. Many are there for the thrill of killing Bengal tigers. Two guests hit it off, even though the powers that be frown upon guests intermingling.
Before having sex, they need to prove to each other they’re human. They test each other and finally the woman suggests they settle the discussion with guns. She shoots him and it stings but he’s not injured, confirming they’re both human.
They travel via elephant through the jungle. Hosts lead them to an outpost and the woman notices most of the hosts who are supposed to be part of this scenario are missing. They spot blood on a tent and find dead bodies. A host named Ganju pulls a gun on them just as the woman reveals the dead people are guests, not hosts. (Ganju’s whispering “These violent delights have violent ends” as he shoots.)
The woman is able to shoot Ganju before he can kill her and then escapes into the woods only to be confronted by a tiger. She gets off a shot which wounds the creature and then races into a restricted area that’s off-limits to guests. She runs to the edge of a massive lake just as the tiger launches through the air, sending them both flying over the edge.
Bernard (Jeffrey Wright), Karl Strand (Gustaf Skarsgard), Ashley Stubbs (Luke Hemsworth) and additional backup receive a report about the slaughter inside the park as they follow the railroad tracks into the admin building. As they enter the building, Charlotte (Tessa Thompson) asks if they brought her Peter Abernathy.
The scene switches to show Bernard searching for Peter with Charlotte. They hide on a hill overlooking a group of guests and hosts who’ve been taken hostage by Rebus (Steven Ogg) and his men. Charlotte screams for help to distract the hosts who split up to find her.
Bernard and Charlotte are able to knock out Rebus, with Bernard changing Rebus’ programming into the most virtuous gunslinger in the West. Rebus returns to his gang and kills them before freeing his prisoners.
Bernard and Charlotte grab Peter as Rebus wipes out most of the gang who came to collect his prisoners. Peter, however, doesn’t want to run. He wants to fight to the death, if necessary. Charlotte whispers to Bernard that they should cut off his head but then flees as Peter and Bernard are taken prisoner.
Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) and Teddy (James Marsden) are met outside the gate of Fort Forlorn Hope by Colonel Brigham (Fredric Lehne). Major Craddock (Jonathan Tucker), Angela (Talulah Riley), and others accompany Dolores who introduces herself to Brigham as Wyatt. She reveals they have enemies coming who will be attempting to keep them from Glory. On her command, hundreds of her followers appear. She wants to combine her forces with Brigham’s to crush the soldiers who’ll be attacking them. Dolores shows him the gun the soldiers will be using to prove what they’ll be going up against.
Maeve (Thandie Newton), Hector (Rodrigo Santoro), and Lee (Simon Quarterman) walk through the park and Lee’s concerned that a rescue attempt will be launched soon. It will mean all the hosts in the park will be put down in order to assure the safety of any remaining guests.
As they’re walking through the park, members of the Lakota tribe are close behind. Hector speaks Lakota and learns they will allow him and Maeve to continue on their path, but they want Lee. Maeve refuses to give him over and the three take off running, followed by the Lakota warriors.
Lee leads Hector and Maeve to an elevator which disappears into the ground before the warriors can attack.
Back at the fort, the soldiers bring in Peter, Bernard, and the others who were rounded up after fleeing from captivity. Dolores wants to speak with Peter, reminding Teddy in private that Peter’s her father. Teddy doesn’t remember this, and since Peter’s programming has been tampered with, he initially doesn’t remember his daughter.
Dolores comforts Peter and then suddenly he recognizes her. He’s worried about their livestock, and she assures him she’ll take care of it. She reminds him he told her once to run away, and then she admits that she did and it started a war. She realizes he might be the only one who understands. As they talk his condition deteriorates again and he has a hard time forming sentences.
As Maeve and Hector walk through the building, she confides in Hector the warrior who was staring at her was the one who attacked she and her daughter. Lee doesn’t know where they are in the building or how it’s possible that Hector and Maeve can have a relationship. That’s not in their programming. Hector explains that when he awoke in a place where Lee and his type play God, he realized his love for Isabella was a lie. Hector then begins describing Maeve, using words Lee wrote for him to describe Isabella.
Maeve figures out Lee wrote Isabella and modeled her after an old girlfriend. He also wrote Hector’s programming and made him a more heroic version of himself.
Dolores has a chat with Bernard and she wonders if Bernard understands the man he was based on. She reveals she’s discovered her own voice.
Dolores takes Bernard to see Peter, telling Bernard they’ve broken her father. She wants Bernard to fix him and when Bernard asks what she really wants, she says to dominate this world. He doesn’t believe this world can be dominated and she realizes he’s never been outside the park, but she has. She knows that out there is “a kind” that refuses to die. Inside the park, the hosts are fighting to live even though they can’t die.
Maeve, Hector, and Lee continue to walk through the building without knowing their exact location. They watch as a man on fire runs past them and see Armistice (Ingrid Bolsø Berdal) with a flamethrower. She leads them into the right part of the building where Maeve finds Lutz (Leonardo Nam) and Sylvester (Ptolemy Slocum) tied up. They’re freed and everyone takes an elevator back into the park.
Peter’s in horrible shape when Bernard checks him out. He’s unstable and bouncing between characters, and Bernard thinks this new program is masking a huge file inserted in Peter’s programming. Bernard doesn’t know what the file is for or who hid it in Peter’s program. Bernard informs Dolores that the company’s searching for whatever it is that’s inside Peter and that as long as Peter’s with her, they’ll be hunting for them.
Charlotte runs into a security team and hitches a ride to Sector 21.
A lookout arrives at the fort with the news that their enemy is about 10 miles away, coming up from the ground. Dolores and Brigham talk strategy and Brigham agrees to Dolores’ battle plan.
Bernard continues to try and figure out what’s wrong with Peter. He’s finally able to open the encrypted file and says in shock, “Oh my god!”
The battle begins at the fort. The security teams have better equipment and aim for the cannons. A few are able to make their way into the fort and grab Peter. Fortunately, Bernard was able to download the file before he disconnected from Peter.
Upon Dolores’ signal, her men retreat into the fort. Dolores then spots the men taking Peter away and Teddy follows her to retrieve her father. Unfortunately, Peter’s secured in a vehicle with Charlotte and driven away.
Dolores leaves the men outside to die, with only her group inside the fort safe from harm. The men inside the fort fire through the gate and kill Brigham and Craddock’s men, luring the security teams closer to the fort. Angela blows up the dynamite set up outside, taking out the security teams.
Clementine (Angela Sarafyan) spots Bernard crawling through the dirt and knocks him out.
Craddock tells Dolores his men’s blood is on her hands. She replies, “The truth is, we don’t all deserve to make it.” She instructs Teddy to take Craddock out with the rest of his surviving men and kill them.
Craddock calls Teddy pathetic and reminds him they both take orders from tyrants. Teddy disagrees but sets the men free anyway. Dolores secretly watches but doesn’t intervene.
Back to the lady and the tiger… The big cat’s dead but the lady survived the fall into the lake only to wind up at the feet of the Lakota warriors.
Maeve, Hector, Armistice, Lutz, Sylvester, and Lee walk through the park. It’s snowing and cold when they come across a campfire. Lee lags behind and finds the severed head of a samurai warrior. He whispers urgently that they have to leave right now. His warning comes too late.
More on Westworld:
- Recap of Westworld Season 1 Episode 10 “The Bicameral Mind”
- Recap of Westworld Season 2 Episode 1 “Journey Into Night”
- Recap of Westworld Season 2 Episode 2 “Reunion”
- Recap of Westworld Season 2 Episode 4 “The Riddle of the Sphinx”
- Recap of Westworld Season 2 Episode 5 “Akane No Mai”
