Westworld season 2 just revealed the park's location but what does it mean for the characters?
Westworld premiered its second season on April 22, 2018, and answered some of the most unresolved questions which left users scratching their heads after the season finale of the show. Among the many puzzles that the show threw up was the question about the location of the 'Westworld'. Thanks to the second season, we now know that the entire place is situated on an island, which we believe is located somewhere in Asia.
For those of you who have seen the first episode, you will be able to recall that in the early scenes a new character named Karl Strand, played by actor Gustaf Skarsgård, is standing there trying to command the team of officers that have been sent in order to take control of the situation which seems to be getting out of hand. In the scene, Karl is confronted by a man who says,"Escort him off my f—ing island." This one line had been the answer that each and every fan of the show had been dying to hear.
Another thing to notice is that the military man here is played by an Asian actor speaking Chinese. While we cannot be sure if the park is situated in China, there is a possibility for it to be somewhere in Asia. Now that we know where the park is situated, it gives rise to the next big question - What does this mean for the 'hosts'?
Looking back at Season 1 and even the first episode of Season 2, we know that the hosts are not a big fan of the guests and would do anything to take over the world. (Yes, probably like every other robot movie you would have seen) However, you might want to rethink that because this time, feelings are involved, quite literally. To make this a bit easier for you to understand, let me give you a scenario to imagine.
For a second, think that your entire life depends on the day you live. You wake up, get ready, go about doing your chores, make new memories, come back and do some more chores and by the end of the day, you head back to have a peaceful sleep. But the next day when you wake up, you restart your entire life once again, without a recollection of any happy or even bad memory that happened in the past. For some, it might be a dream come true to live each day like their last and have no recollection of the regrets or mistakes in life. But would you say the same if on one fine day everything changes and you start to get a flashback of EVERYTHING bad done to you by others? Does not sound so good, right?
Well, that is exactly what is happening to the hosts of the show. The cheerful, loveable and always in their character robots suddenly happened to have a recollection of every bad thing that has ever been done to them by the guests. Yes, right from beating to the number of times they have been shot dead, they remember everything. So, it does not come as a surprise that they want to take over the world and make everyone suffer the way they did.
Throughout the first episode, there have been various incidents which make us believe that this time, the hosts are being driven by their emotions and feelings, and not just programs that they have been installed with. Two characters in particular that have often portrayed such strong emotions during the first episode of the second season include, Maeve Millay and Dolores Abernathy.
The first time we get a hint about the characters being driven by emotions is during a conversation between the characters of Maeve and Lee Sizemore. Throughout the episode, we see that Maeve is on a quest to find her daughter but she is soon confronted by Lee as he says that his daughter is just a program and not "real". Soon, we see Maeve getting angered by this statement and suggests how the owners of the Westworld theme park have just used her dreams and her body. Her character then says, "You will use it to decorate your personality, will that be real?"
Throughout this conversation, we see that the word "real" has been emphasized. We know now from the show that the hosts were made to fit into the characters of what the guests wanted, quite like, using them as puppets to satisfy their thirst for entertainment. However, it seems like now, the "real" lies in what the hosts will make of it.
At the same time, in another conversation which is seen between Dolores and Teddy Flood, we see Dolores emphasizing on the point that she "remembers beautiful things and terrible things." Right after Dolores says these lines, she pauses momentarily and one could only imagine the horrible things that come to her mind when she says "terrible things".
Another interesting thing to notice will be how there is a clear difference between the hosts and the guests. Dolores mentions how "there is a greater world out there, the one that belongs to them." Seeing Dolores uttering the word "them", one can see how she is not interested in associating with the guests in any way. However, there is a possibility that the reaction which is generated among the hosts could be all because of their survival instincts.
No matter what the situation may be, one thing is for sure and that is, the hosts are all about business as they plan on taking over the world that lies outside. But it might be a bit tricky. To begin with, now that we know that the park is situated on an island, the hosts will have to find a way out of the place. One might think it is an easy task if they have a vehicle to get them to land, but then again, we are not yet aware of how far is this island from the rest of the civilization.
At the same time, we know that the control room and Westworld is at two separate locations. The only way to reach either of the places is by taking the train which connects the two places. However, this seems unlikely as all the systems in the control room are slowly shutting down and we can only guess that by the time the hosts try to reach anywhere near the control room, the train will probably stop functioning as it also happens to run on the same energy as the rest of the systems in the room.
Moreover, no one knows the exact location of the control room. All the hosts that have ever been brought to the room are first made unconscious and then brought to the room.
The only person on the show who is aware of the location is Maeve. One could say she was one of the lucky ones who gained consciousness when she was in the control room. Knowing how vast the entire area of Westworld is, it does not seem likely that the hosts will be able to make their way to the center any time soon.
There are only two possibilities that could probably pave the wave for the hosts entry to the control room; the first being Maeve helping people to find their way to the place and the second one being someone chancing upon the location. No matter what the scene may be, there is no doubt that the upcoming episodes of the show are going to be mind-blowing. It would be interesting to see how the hosts gain control of Westworld entirely and how the showrunners plan on connecting the two worlds together.
