Please prepare your mind for its inevitable WTF-induced explosion, because this episode of Westworld has spawned all kinds of new theories and confusion. So, let's just jump right in while agreeing to make this face together:
A note on timelines: I believe all the timelines in this episode were happening simultaneously approximately two weeks ago save for one—which we'll get to at the end.
Two Weeks Ago: Bernard and Elsie in the Cradle
A Note on Bernard's Outfits: Before we get started, note that flashbacks to two weeks ago between Bernard and Charlotte featured him in a black suit and black shirt, with a scar:
Follow-up episodes (involving both Charlotte and Elsie) in the same two-weeks-ago timeline involve Bernard wearing the gray suit he's worn in the present-day, which is suspicious/confusing/something to keep in mind.
The Cradle
We now know that The Cradle is a simulation unit that Delos uses to test/store narratives—and apparently it's responsible for blocking QA's attempts to fix the park thanks to ~The Ghost of Robert Ford~ lurking inside it. In my opinion, information housed in The Cradle has a much larger purpose and (as Reddit points out) is what's potentially been uploaded into Peter Abernathy—who spent this episode nailed to a chair waiting for Delos officials to take him back to the real world.
It's hard to understand whether Ford uploaded himself to The Cradle, or is simply a piece of code with a human-like incarnation—but either way, he's controlling the strings of Delos' most importance piece of technology.
Why The Cradle = "The Weapon"
It's clear The Cradle is a way for Delos employees to test-drive narratives. But an extremely savvy Redditor points out there might be more to it than that. If The Cradle allows Delos to test-drive narratives, it potentially allows them to also test human behavior/reactions to those narratives—and as such, is the ultimate weapon. Essentially, it allows Delos to see potential versions of the future, and whoever's controlling it wins the game. Right now, Ford controls The Cradle, but Maeve seems to have a way of overriding him (perhaps?) with her ability to control hosts' minds.
Two Weeks Ago: Maeve & Co.
There's not much to theorize about Maeve this week, but it is interesting that her mind control does not to extend to Ghost Nation. She didn't prevent them from attacking her daughter's new mom, and the tricks that worked for her in Shogun World seem to have disappeared. (Speaking of Ghost Nation, I still think they were among Ford's earlier experiments with host consciousness, which could explain why their leader told Maeve they were on the same "path" and asked him to join her.)
Two Weeks Ago: Dolores and Teddy
I fully believe that Dolores & Co. are heading back to The Mesa not just to rescue Peter Abernathy, but to access The Cradle and use it as a weapon. That aside, please allow me a brief fan theory tangent:
Calling It Now: Dolores Is Pregnant
That baby in the opening credits of Westworld was the initial giveaway that the show would be exploring host reproduction, but IMO, last week's sex scene happened for a reason, and was extremely intentional on the part of a show that has otherwise shied away from showing sex for the sake of sex. I predict Dolores will be pregnant with Teddy's baby by end of season, and for everyone saying "IMPOSSIBLE!" take a look at the evidence compiled by ScreenRant:
1) Lisa Joy essentially confirmed that aside from their brains, hosts are basically humans—and even poop. "The hosts are basically organic. It's cheaper that way to print them out. They eat, they sleep, they have sex, they can poop. It's really like a human body with the one difference being where we have a brain, they have a CPU. There's a lot of potential for them. If you had a part of your brain that was a computer, self improvement would be a lot easier."
2) Last week we saw James Delos masturbating in his room, opening up the possibility that hosts (or in his case, host/clone hybrids) ejaculate.
Two Weeks Ago: The Man in Black and Grace
Is Grace a Host?
William seems to think Grace is a host sent by Ford to troll him, which honestly makes sense. Either way, she tries to convince her dad that she's legit by talking about her past as a kid with a certain level of accuracy—but he ends up rejecting her in the middle of the night. I guess Westworld wants us to spend the rest of the season questioning whether or not Grace is real, but joke's on them because I'm already obsessed with whether or not TMIB is a host, so!
A Note on "The Door"
The Man in Black seems willing to risk everything to play Ford's game and find out what "The Door" is—even his relationship with Grace. I think this is because the TMIB is searching for a deeper truth about himself: whether or not he's a host.
We know that Ford loves messing with TMIB, and there's a compelling case for him creating a host version of his nemesis as one final "fuck you." And "The Door"? I'm thinking "The Door" will be a metaphor for the final moments of the season, when TMIB comes face-to-face with another version of himself and doesn't know whether he—or his clone—is the real deal. As a Redditor points out, this theory is supported by the trailer for the film Futureworld, which ends with the musing "even those of us who create them can’t tell the original from the duplicate" and shows Peter Fonda shooting another Peter Fonda.
The Future: Dolores and Bernar-nold
During Episode 4, I theorized that like William, Ford was experimenting with human cloning in order to clone himself, and where William/Delos failed, he succeeded. I also theorized that Bernard was Ford's first successful human clone, using three pieces of evidence to support this madness!
1) The fact that the DNA sniffer let Bernard into the bunker when he arrived with Charlotte indicates that he has human DNA, or at least something resembling it.
2) The fact that Bernard's main "symptom" of system failure is a shaking hand—much like James Delos'.
3) The fact that Bernard remembers visiting a lab under Ford's direction, printing a red control unit for another human clone, and wandering off with it.
To me, the conversation between Bernard and Dolores at the beginning of this episode was clear evidence that the unit in question was a human clone brain modeled on Arnold, and Dolores is now trying to get him to act like the real thing. THAT SAID, there is also evidence to support a popular fan theory that Bernard = Teddy.
Basically, the Reddit theory goes that Teddy's brain control unit was, at some point, transferred into a Bernard body. Which explains why Bernard has taken to wearing a gray suit that looks almost exactly like Teddy's, and perhaps could explain why he's so confused all the time. This would mean that the scene at the beginning of this episode, of Dolores testing Bernard's script, is really Dolores teaching her BF how to play the part of Bernard—after bringing him back online in a fresh new body.
Phew! That's it! See you for next week's madness!
