History Recap / WestworldS03E08CrisisTheory

In the post-credits, William enters the Delos HQ in Dubai where he meets Charlotte, who reveals to him his host copy based on his Man in Black persona. In a huge struggle, the Man in Black host seemingly kills William by slitting his throat. Later in the far future, Bernard wakes up with his body covered in dust.

* FaceHeelTurn: Charlotte not only turns on Dolores, she also begins the production of Host duplicates to KillAndReplace figures such as William.

* LaserGuidedKarma: Serac gets hit with a double dose -- first, he gets locked out of Rehoboam, just as he had locked his brother out and second, he is forced to watch as Reboham erases itself, as he had ordered the erasure of the host data.

* MythologyGag: Finally, after three seasons of waiting, the Man In Black is a robot.

** Delos Park Five is based on an American suburbia and was rented out to the United States armed forces for military exercises. Caleb took part in one such exercise, rescuing a group of hosts - Dolores and Hanaryo included - from a group of terrorists - Craddock being one of them. One of Caleb's fellow soldiers proposed the unit raping the female hosts but Caleb convinced them not to.

** Dolores chose Caleb after he prevented his fellow soldiers from raping a group of female hosts they rescued in an exercise, herself included.

* ScarsAreForever: Charlotte has mostly repaired her injuries from the car bomb, but has deliberately kept the damaged skin on her left arm as a reminder of what humans do to each other and her kind.

** Although we saw in the previous episode that Clementine and Hanaryo were resurrected to help Maeve, they do not appear in the present day in this episode and their current location and status are unknown. Same for Felix and Sylvester, who only appeared in a simulation earlier in the season..

In the post-credits, William enters the Delos HQ in Dubai where he meets Charlotte, who reveals to him his host copy based on his Man in Black persona. In a huge struggle, the Man in Black host seemingly slits William's throat. Later in the far future, Bernard wakes up with his body covered in dust.

Dolores' true intentions are revealed; Bernard confronts a ghost from his past; Maeve is conflicted; Serac's voice is dominant; Caleb's role is revealed; and William faces an unexpected villain.

It's the end of the world, and Caleb tries to get to the Rehoboam while Maeve chooses sides. Bernard and Stubbs face off against William, who tries to stop the Hosts once and for all. Meanwhile, Dolores is resurrected only to face a final memory-death as Serac tries to find the key to the Sublime.

After activating the EMP that shut her and Maeve down, Caleb discovers a message from Dolores instructing him to extract her host pearl from her skull and flee to a warehouse back in the United States. From there, Caleb inserts Delores's pearl into a first-generation Host body version of herself which she ultimately reskins. From there, Dolores reveals that had fate not brought them together sooner than expected, Dolores intended on contacting Caleb for her schemes eventually for inclusion in her plans. It is revealed that Caleb, while in the military, trained at one of Delos' park (Park 5) and that Dolores was a host that Caleb and his fellow soldiers rescued from insurgents (one of which was Craddock). Caleb's flashback to the event reveals that several of his fellow soldiers wanted to rape the civilian hosts that they had saved, citing envy towards the regular park guests who could afford to visit the park as guests and "do what they wanted to" the hosts.

William shoots Stubbs and is about to kill Bernard when several cops show up and force William to flee. One of the cops is a copy of Lawrence with Dolores's mind inside of it. Lawrence gives Bernard a briefcase and an address. From there, Bernard takes Stubbs to the address, which is the home of Arnold's wife. Though she has Alzheimer's and thinks Bernard is her late husband, Bernard is able to have a conversation with her about their son and their grief; Arnold's wife tells him that there is nothing wrong with holding onto that grief as it allows you to still remember that person.

Doores, using the RICO app, pays for help for Caleb to make his way through an anti-Incite riot going on in front of their corporate HQ. After sending Caleb on his way, Dolores and Maeve fight again, but Charlotte arranges for Dolores to be incapacitated as payback for her husband and son's deaths, ultimately betraying her. Caleb is soon captured inside the building and brought before Serac and Rehoboamm. Delores is attached to a device that will allow Reboham to sort through her memories to find the key to the Sublime and forces Caleb to place the data device with Solomon's plan for him into Rehoboam so it can reveal that Solomon/Delores' plan for Caleb to "lead a revolution" will end with humanity's destruction. Horrified that he was being used by Dolores to commit genocide, Caleb is broken but Maeve (through technopathic mindlink) discovers a bigger truth: Serac is a pawn of Rehoboam. Having gained sentience, Rehoboam took over the world and convince Serac to be his mouthpiece/frontman by offering to make sure events like the destruction of Paris would not happen if he helped the AI take over the planet and that most of what Serac has said was him repeating lines from the AI. Furthermore, through Maeve's technopathic powers, it turns out that Dolores doesn't have the key at all leading Serac to have all of her memories erased out of frustration.

While that was happening, Maeve telepathically links to Dolores where they shared their last conversation, revealing Dolores' true motives which are to free humanity from Rehoboam's control so that they can choose their future. In her last words to Maeve, she knows "There is ugliness in this world. Disarray. I choose to see the beauty."

As Dolores dies as the last of her memories are erased, Maeve kills all of Serac's men including those who are holding Caleb. Then, she reveals to Caleb that Dolores did not choose him to destroy humanity for her, but because of his inherent goodness. Furthermore, Dolores had instituted a back-up plan: hooking her up to Rehoboam and the data device containing Solomon's war plans effectively lobotomized the Rehoboam AI and granted sole control over it to Caleb. Caleb orders Rehoboam to delete itself and leaves with Maeve, as Serac mourns for its loss. As the whole world goes into chaos, Caleb and Maeve plan on their next move which is to guide humanity into the new world.

Meanwhile, Bernard takes Stubbs to a hotel room and after placing the dying host in a bathtub filled with ice to allow Stubbs to recover, Bernard opens the suitcase and finds a VR device. From there, Bernard realizes Dolores's true plans and he happens to have the key to the Sublime because she trusts him into protecting it. Hooking up the VR headset, Bernard accesses the pocket reality to find answers on the Sublime.

Afterwards, there are two mid-credit scenes setting up season four:

1. William invades a Delos office in Dubai where Charlotte hail has set up operations. There, she reveals that she has created a host version of William based on his "Man in Black" persona and has him kill the real William. Off in the distance, we see that Charlotte has rows of 3D printers working to create host bodies, for her plans to conquer humanity and the world.

2. At some point in the future where everything is dusted, Bernard wakes up to the real world.

After activating the EMP that shut her and Maeve down, Caleb discovers a message from Delores instructing him to extract her host pearl from her skull and flee to a warhouse back in the United States. From there, Caleb inserts Delores's pearl into a first generation Host body version of herself which she ultimately reskins using supplies waiting for the two in the lair. From there, Delores reveals that had fate not brought them together sooner than expected, Delores intended on contacting Caleb for her schemes eventually for inclusion in her plans. It is revealed that Caleb, while in the military, trained at Westworld in Everytown Park (a replica of a regular US town) and that Delores was a host that Caleb and his fellow soldiers rescued from insurgents (one of which was Craddock). Caleb's flashback to the event reveals that several of his fellow soldiers wanted to rape the civilian hosts that they had saved, citing envy towards the regular park guests who could afford to visit the park as guests and "do what they wanted to" the hosts.

William shoots Stubbs and is about to kill Bernard when several cops show up and force William to flee. One of the cops is a copy of Lawrence with Delores's mind inside of it. Lawrence gives Bernard a briefcase and an address. From there, Bernard takes Stubbs to the address, which is the home of Arnold's wife. Though she has alzheimers and thinks Bernard is her late husband, Bernard is able to have a conversation with her about their son and their grief; Arnold's wife tells him that there is nothing wrong with holding onto that grief as it allows you to still remember that person.

Delores, using the RICO app, pays for help for Caleb to make his way through an anti-Incite riot going on infront of their corporate HQ. After sending Caleb on his way, Delores and Maeve fight again, but Charlotte arranges for Delores to be incapacitated as payback for her husband and son's deaths. Caleb is soon captured inside the building and brought before Serac and Reboham. Delores is attached to a device that will allow Reboham to sort through her memories to find the key to the Sublime and forces Caleb to place the data device with Solomon's plan for him into Reboham so it can reveal that Solomon/Delores' plan for Caleb to "lead a revolution" will end with humanity's destruction. Horrified that he was being used by Delores to commit genocide, Caleb is broken but Maeve (through technopathic mindlink) discovers a bigger truth: Serac is a pawn of Reboham. Having gained sentience, Reboham took over the world and convince Serac to be his mouthpiece/frontman by offering to make sure events like the destruction of Paris would not happen if he helped the AI take over the planet and that most of what Serac has said was him repeating lines from the AI. Furthermore, through Maeve's technopathic powers, Delores (who's memories are being erased by Serac in order to try and find the key) Maeve sees the rest of the flashback to Caleb's visit to Westworld and Delores's first meeting with him.

In the memory, Maeve sees Caleb shut down his fellow soldiers who want to rape Delores and the other hosts that were being used as civilians in the wargames exercise at the park. As Delores dies as the last of her memories are erased, Maeve reveals to Caleb that Delores did not chose him to destroy humanity for her, but because of his inherent goodness. Furthermore, Delores had instituted a Thanatos gambit: hooking her up to Reboham and the data device containing Solomon's war plans effectively lobotomized the Reboham AI and granted sole control over it to Caleb. Caleb orders Reboham to delete itself and leaves with Maeve, as Serac screams in horror as his creation dies. As they watch the police crush the riots before their eyes, Caleb and Maeve mourn Delores and the true implications of their plans: to give humanity it's freedom and to allow people like Caleb "the be whatever the fuck they want to be". Meanwhile, Bernard takes Stubbs to a hotel room and after placing the dying host in a bathtub filled with eyes to allow Stubbs to die without relative pain, Bernard opens the suitcase and finds a VR device. From there, Bernard realizes that the thing Delores did to him, was to implant the key to the sublime into his mind due to her feeling he was the only one who could be trusted to truly protect access to it. Hooking up the VR headset, Bernard accesses the pocket reality.

Afterwards, there are two midcredit scenes setting up season four:

1. William invades a Delos office in Dubai where Charlotte hail has set up operations. There, she reveals that she has created a host version of William based on his "Man in black" persona and has him kill the real William. Off in the distance, we see that Charlotte has rows of 3D printers working to create host bodies, for unknown but sinister reasons.

2. At some point in the future (so far ahead that Bernard is covered in layers of dust), Bernard finally leaves the Sublime and has a shocked look on his face; whether or not it is due to something he discovered in the Sublime realm or at how long he was connected to it, is unstated.

Dolores and Caleb head to Incite to destroy Rehoboam.

* RealityEnsues:
** When Maeve turns on Serac, she kills the lights in the room and begins slaughtering the guards. When she's done and turns the lights back on, Caleb is fine, but Maeve has been shot numerous times and Serac was shot in the confusion.
** William believes himself to be the hero of the story, on a crusade to wipe out the hosts and save humanity. In reality, he's just an old man with a bad hand and overinflated ego, who is only a threat when he catches people off-guard. Every time he's forced into a direct confrontation, he's beaten badly. This ends with his host duplicate slitting his throat.

** Although we saw in the previous episode that Clementine and Hanaryo were resurrected to help Maeve, they do not appear in the present day in this episode and their current location and status are unknown. Same for Felix and Sylvester, who only appeared in a simulation earlier in the season.

* KilledOffForReal: Dolores Prime has her memories deleted by Rehoboam, effectively killing her for good.

* CharacterDeath: Dolores Prime has her memories deleted by Rehoboam, effectively killing her for good.

-->'''Jonathan Nolan''': And what [Bernard] finds, when he accesses that alternative universe are several characters we know and love who have vanished into it during the second season. We’ll continue to explore that, and also ask questions about it in the fourth season.

* ExactWords: Dolores previously told William she would one day get to witness him destroy himself. The post-credit scene has William ultimately meeting his end at the hands of a host duplicate of himself.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: By the time Bernard plugs himself into the Sublime, Stubbs is recuperating from his injuries in a bathtub. In the second post-credit scene, Bernard wakes up, covered in dust, showing that he stayed there for years. However, we don't learn about Stubbs's fate.

* TokenGoodTeammate: A flashback shows Caleb was this to his fellow soldiers, at one point convincing them not to rape a group of female hosts (Dolores being one of them) they recently saved in a military exercise. This is ultimately why she chose him, having accessed the profile created on him by the Forge thanks to the helmets the soliders wore.

** Since Dolores was the first successful host created by the Argos Initiative, Ford and Arnold based all the next hosts on her, making them also duplicates of Dolores' -- albeit with different cornerstones.

* MonsterProgenitor: Dolores is this to the other hosts, being the first successful prototype that the others were then developed off of.