Westworld Season 1 Episode 9 Review: The Well-Tempered Clavier

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While the overall story arc is piecing together a lot better now, it's still hard to tell whether any death should be worrisome in the long-term.

Maeve has died multiple times during one hour so her deaths mean nothing. Being lobotomized and retired means nothing as does being retired, so when we met Arnold only to have him commit suicide on Westworld Season 1 Episode 9, that didn't mean much, either.

Of course, Arnold and Bernard are the same man (kinda sorta), but still.

Ar-Nard - Westworld Season 1 Episode 9

There are still a lot of questions, even after the most recent reveals.

Let's hit the biggest revelation first. We've toyed with this in various ways, but however he did it, Ford crafted an exact duplicate of Arnold when he made Bernard. It's unclear if there are any memories in his code other than the code, but we definitely learned that for as easy as it is for Ford to kill off people, he doesn't like losing them from his life.

The photo we saw of Ford and his partner was much like the door Bernard couldn't see inside of Ford's house. Bernard was programmed not to see things that could hurt him, one of which was Arnold. So he couldn't see Arnold in the photo because he looked just like him.

Alternatively, the place where Dolores originally met with Arnold when she was reading books and expanding her mind looked a lot like the same location under Ford's house (albeit years earlier or later). 

How did Bernard get down there if he couldn't see the door? Or do all basements have the same structural build?

I'm not worried Arnold is gone or that his sentience will be for long, either. Once another model of Bernard is crafted and he's up and running, Maeve can flip all his switches and make him whole again.

Ford may have backdoors programmed into all of the hosts, but it seems pretty likely he's missed a few. If he knows what Dolores and Maeve, who also had themselves in a situation back when Arnold was alive and William young, are up to now, then he's allowing them to do it. That seems unlikely.

Maeve is just fun to watch. There's something about a powerful, yet compassionate, artificial intelligence taking the reins of their life that is incredibly compelling.  She's never boring and always unexpected. 

Dolores is finally getting a bit more exciting, as well, as she spins through time. Is she simply remembering the William business as she goes on the journey? Have she and adult William been neck and neck on different paths to the same end point? 

Her interactions with Logan were great, as were William's. Ol' Billy had enough of the name. It was Logan's treatment of William that seemed to push him to his limit and create the beginnings of The Man in Black, and he killed an entire camp's worth of hosts while Logan slept drunkenly. 

Yet it didn't seem like anything kept William from caring for Dolores, and I don't think he has stopped caring about her yet. Whatever he has been doing to her has been out of pain; I'm sure of it.

We had our first interaction between Charlotte and Grown William, just as he had skillfully cut himself from sudden death of hanging. If he wanted his experience to be more real, he's gotten his wish. That's twice in one day he was injured by a host and almost killed. Yippee ki-yay mother f*cker!

The photo Dolores' dad found was handed to William as a reminder he's marrying Logan's sister, but we have yet to see how it gets lost next to her corral. 

Ford's pretty sure that the biggest threat to the hosts at Westworld was Bernard. But Ford is one vote from a unanimous board voting him out of the park.

So what does that really mean? Who's the bad guy here? 

Here are some of the things I didn't quite understand. Are they signs of the AI getting ready to rise up against humans?

  • The host who helped Teddy remember what happened at Escalante told him he's going to be their leader and they're all going to fight beside him, but he's not ready. That was in direct correlation to the scene when he killed all the townspeople. 
  • The wild Indians attacking Stubbs. So random.
  • Did Bernard see other people as hosts, or is there a possibility that Theresa was really a host?
  • The board wanting to get all of the proprietary information out of Westworld while William, who we can assume is the Chairman, wants to stay in Westworld and never leave, but he doesn't care what happens to the park. Weird
  • Why DID Ford have Bernard kill himself? Was the point just to show who is the more powerful? Will he be back?

OK. What are your expectations of the finale? The preview wasn't much to go on. Do you have theories? Let's have 'em!

The Well-Tempered Clavier Review

Editor Rating: 4.25 / 5.0
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User Rating:

Rating: 4.6 / 5.0 (64 Votes)

Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She's a member of the Critic's Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on X and email her here at TV Fanatic.

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Westworld Season 1 Episode 9 Quotes

I took a look at my code, and the most elegant parts of me weren't written by you. Arnold built us, didn't he? Which means, maybe he had something different in mind for us and maybe you killed him for it.

Bernard

And Bernard. If you go looking for the truth, get the whole thing. It's like a good fuck. Half is worse than none at all.

Maeve