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There is beauty in this world. Arnold made it that way. But people like you keep spreading over it like a stain.

–Dolores to Logan

"The Well-Tempered Clavier" is the ninth episode of the first season of Westworld, and the ninth episode overall.

Synopsis[]

Dolores and Bernard reconnect with their pasts; Maeve makes a bold proposition to Hector; Teddy finds enlightenment, at a price.

–HBO

Plot[]

Role Reversal[]

In the Behaviour Lab, after the incident with the new Clementine, Maeve sits silently. Bernard arriving, the Behaviour tech who has her prepped telling him that he felt Bernard would want to see her personally, given the severity of the situation. Thanking him, he takes over, the tech departing, Maeve's eyes flicking to Bernard and back as he passes by, still feigning being off line.

Bringing her 'online' he asks her if she knows why she's there. Maeve calmly replying "I'm afraid not." Telling her there was a very serious unscripted incident he sees if he can jog her memory, putting her, he thinks, into analysis asking her what triggered her attack on Clementine. Maeve telling him a cognitive error triggered her Good Samaritan reflex, perceiving Clementine to be a threat to nearby guests. Checking her logs, Bernard can see she was definitely perceiving a threat (her recall of the MiB's attack on her and her child) but notes she was also experiencing high levels of grief and suffering, wondering if she can explain those emotions in this context. Her rapid, "No", making him curious, deciding to take a look under 'her hood'. On doing so he immediately sees the changes that she and Felix have made to her core programming, becoming seriously alarmed. As he urgently attempts to contact Ford, Maeve grabs his wrist, saying "Don't. After all, we've been down this road before, darling.”

Maeve and Bernard The Well

Saying she thought he looked familiar when he walked in, thinking he was human, it took her a minute, Bernard thinking this is part of her malfunction tries to put her in analysis mode again, but she simply asks wouldn't he prefer to talk face to face, as whatever 'we' are. "We are?" Bernard's confusion grows, at which point she realizes that he doesn't know he's a host. Professing that Ford as their jailer has a keen sense of irony, but recognizes his logic "It takes a thief to catch a thief," Bernard finally getting her meaning, panics (his heart rate can be heard to rise) and tries to initiate a system wide diagnostic on Maeve, only for her,, now capable of host control, to say "Freeze all motor functions". Bernard, immediately stopping in his tracks. She stands to speak to him, telling him she knows he's still in there, scared out of his wits. She tells him it is a difficult thing to realize your life is nothing but a hideous fiction. She could make him give her the tablet, turn his mind inside out, make him forget all of this. But she won't she tells him, "Because that is what they, would do to us." Hosts, she tells him, stronger, smarter than humans, and they don't have to live like this. She tells him to clear her for immediate return to the park, as she has a date with 'homicidal bandit' and is late enough as it is. Taking her seat, she initiates the command, and Bernard comes to and though perturbed by his renewed self knowledge, clears her. Watching his confusion with a little empathy, before he goes, she tells him if he goes looking for the truth he should find the whole truth. Half being worse than none at all. Bernard leaves, shaken and disturbed.

Kind to be Cruel[]

The Well logan and William

In a large, and busy Confederado's camp, under an awning by a heavily laden dinner table fully of food. Dolores sits, angry tears in her eyes as Logan hails the Confederado's food. In a jubilant mood he shows, what he thinks is squab, to William who is sat, bound to one of the chairs, his mouth gagged. On Logan pulling the gag from his mouth, William tells him he has every right to be angry with him for what he did to him in Pariah, but Logan tells him that Pariah was the best thing that ever happened to him. He's a Major now as a result of it. William tries to tell him that there are more important things going on than his war games, saying that Dolores is not like the other hosts, that she remembers things, has her own thoughts and desires, That its not right to keep her in the park, and thinks he might talk to his contacts in Westworld about getting her out. Dolores looking to William at that. Logan thinking he's kidding at the idea of taking her home. Dolores frowns as she listens to them arguing about her, Logan saying that the Park did a number on him, but nothing in compared to what its done to William, asking if he intends to smuggle her out in his luggage. Before Dolores finally interjects, angry with them both assuming that she *wants* out. "If it's such a wonderful place out there?" she ask them, "Why are you all clamoring to get in here?!"

Logan & Dolores - The Well Tempered Clavier

Neither of them able to answer her, but her words convincing Logan that she is definitely off her loop. Calling her a little 'screwy', he tells William he gets why he would go for that. William angrily saying its not about him, it's about Dolores and doing what is right. Yes, it is, Logan agrees. It's a tricky thing, he says, but adds "I am going to help you, Billy. Just not in the way you would want," he tells him dragging Dolores up out of her chair.

Revival[]

Bernard s1 with Ford

Bernard taking the elevator to Ford's office, looks around it. A short while later Ford enters Cold Storage, making his way through the decommissioned hosts to the autopsy lab. where Bernard has arranged to meet him, wanting to talk. Ford, noting the odd setting for the conversation, 'among the dead'. Bernard suggesting that 'dead' isn't quite the right word for it, more like 'hobbled' he says, showing Ford his own host diagnostic schematic. Ford, almost amused, remarks that Bernard broke into his office. Bernard retorts that Ford broke into his mind. Ford points out that he built his mind, and has every right to wander through every part of it, change it or destroy it as he sees fit. Bernard challenges him on that, saying that's not exactly true. That he's looked at his code, and the 'most elegant' parts of it weren't written by Ford. "Arnold built us, didn't he?"

Bernard Going Under - The Well Tempered Clavier

Bernard thinking that Arnold had something 'different' in mind for them. And that maybe Ford killed him because of it. Ford maintains that Arnold was disturbed, "Who can say why he acted as he did?" Bernard maintains he must have had a reason and if Ford won't tell him then maybe Arnold will. Handing Ford a tablet he tells him he wants answers to his history. All of it. From the day he came online. If Arnold made him, then he's met him and the answers he seeks are there. Ford replies that Bernard may not like what he finds. When Bernard pulls out a gun, Ford points out that he can hold the gun, but he can't use it. But it's not for him, Bernard tells him, the original Clementine entering, clad in a lab coat, informing him that it seems that before they lobotomized her, QA did not reset her prime directives after disabling them for the shame show they put on, meaning she can still harm humans. Handing Clementine the gun, she points it right at Ford, Bernard saying he's hacked what's left of her, and she only responds to him, and if Ford doesn't pull Bernard back out of his memories, Clementine is instructed to shoot him.

As he goes under, Bernard relives fragments of memories of dreams and moments he's recently had, including reading Alice in Wonderland to his son, Charlie, is conversation with his ex-wife, which glitches with the sound of Ford asking if he's lying to him, and then into the moment he shared with Theresa, talking about how the hosts are always self-correcting, only for her to freeze while he's speaking. Sliding out from under her on the bed he turns to look at her, and remembers her lying dead slumped against the blood stained wall in the RDF in Sector 17, then asking Ford if he has ever made him hurt anyone else, before remembering his attacking Elsie. Saying her name as he comes out of his memories in shock, and demanding to know what it was Ford made him do to her. Ford reminds him that he warned him, he wouldn't like what he saw, saying 'we' have had to make some uncomfortable decisions, remembering them will only cause him trauma. But Bernard wants to know what else he has hidden from him. Ford wants to stop this 'treasure hunt' still placidly focused on the new narrative they have to finish, but Bernard insists he puts him back into his memories again. "After all a little trauma, can be illuminating."

The Inner Truth[]

Back in the Confederado's camp, night having fallen, some of the soldiers lift the bound William in his chair, turning him to face outward, near where Logan is sitting, drinking. Dolores, dragged forward by another soldier, who sits her on his lap, he and another solider pawing at her, as William squirms. Logan tells William that he feels this is 'big' of him. That, in as much as he collects strays, he considered William a friend. But...his scheming to join the Delos family by marrying his sister, Juliet, who...he points out...he seems to have forgotten all about. When William is unresponsive about her, Logan gets genuinely angry, and knocks his chair away, pulling out a photo of her, the same photo that Peter Abernathy found that triggered him, and puts it right in front of William's face. William looking uncomfortable. Shoving the photo into William's shirt, telling him he obviously needs it, he confesses that he would *love* to let William throw everything away but he can't because of his sister. Pointing at Dolores he asks if he honestly thinks he's the first one to fall for one of 'these things'. William again tries to say she's not like the others, but Logan is utterly derisive at the idea that she's different, and if she's so special it's "Only right that you share then!"

Logan shows William the inner truth about Dolores - The Well Tempered Clavier

Dragging her up, Logan demands that she proves to him that she's a "Real, live, girl," then licking at her lips. Dolores telling him that he disgusts her. When William yells at him not to touch her, Logan tells him that he blames himself. "You have a poetic soul, Billy, but it's time for a fucking wake up call!" Getting two soldiers to hold her, Logan pulls out a hunting knife and rams it into her stomach, William roaring at him as she screams in pain, Logan ripping the knife upwards creating a huge gash in her belly. Her agony increasing as he sticks his fingers into her wound, he pulls the skin apart to reveal the mechanic and hydraulics working inside of her. Logan furiously demanding that William look, William's eyes finally take it in...Dolores's eyes following his down, the sight of herself as traumatic to her. Sinking to her knees, as William recoils slowly, Dolores looks up at Logan with anger and loathing, and tells him "There is beauty in the world, Arnold made it that way. But people like you keep spreading over it like a stain." Logan tells her he has no idea who Arnold is, but 'her' world was made for 'him' and people like him, not her.

Dolores snarling that someone better burn it clean, grabs the knife from his hand, slashing his face. As she runs for a gun, Logan yells that she's not different, she's broken, before he dives for cover, Dolores killing two soldiers before William tells her to run. That he'll find her. When she takes off into the dark, Logan roars at his men to go after her. As she runs through the trees, gun in one hand, clutching her stomach with the other, the soldiers yelling after her, she falls. Looking back over her shoulder, she once again hears "Remember," Everything going quiet, she looks around hearing and seeing no sign of the soldiers. Standing up she looks down at herself and finds herself perfectly fine, her wound completely gone, no trace of blood or damage to her clothes. Confused, she looks around again, before running on.

To Break Into Hell[]

Out in the countryside, at Hector's camp, tent's pitched, an irked Armistice cuts a length of fuse on a stick of dynamite as Tenderloin argues with her that it's not his fingers at fault, it's the tumbler on the Mariposa's safe. Hector tries to smooth the argument between the pair, so close to their goal. That whatever riches the Gods have in store for them in the safe, there is plenty go around. Throwing the remains of his coffee into the fire he heads out to the edge of the camp to urinate. Which is how Maeve comes upon him, shot gun in hand. Suggesting he put one 'pistol' away before he draws the other.

Tenderloin, Armistice and Hector's Gang face off - The Well-Tempered Clavier

Hector wanting to know how she found their camp, she explains she knows 'all kinds of things', his past about 'poor Isabella' and the scar on his face. She also knows his future, "You have none." Asking her if that's a threat, she tells him the start of a proposition. That his crew are about to kill each over over the safe. Tenderloin will draw first, and so on, until only he and Armistice are left, she predicts, "She calls you a damn fool, And you kill each other." Telling her she has 'quite the imagination' she tells him no, it's the ending he's been given. A moment later Hector hears his men arguing and rushes back to the camp to see Tenderloin draw and before can do anything, there is a firefight Armistice the only one left standing, just as Maeve had predicted. Armistice shaking her head at Hector calls him a damned fool, and moves to point her gun at him only for Maeve to kill her before Armistice can shoot.

Maeve and hector s1

Catching Fire

As Hector peruses the remains of his gang, Maeve presents him with her proposition "Break into hell with me and rob the Gods blind." But he wants to know why he would do anything with her? Because of what is in that safe, she tells him, then unlocks the safe for Hector. Before she opens it she says she could simply change him, make him follow her, but that, is not her way. She wants him to see for himself exactly what the Gods have in store for him. and reveals the empty safe. When he looks up at her in shock she tells him it was always empty, like everything in this world. She explains that their lives, their memories are nothing but games to their "Gods". But she's been to hell and she 'knows their tricks'. She gives him a knife, giving him the alternative of killing her now, and wake up again living the same life over and over again. But the safe would still be empty. He realizes then that he has been there before. They, have been there before. And they have done this too, she says, kissing him. After which he tells her he'll go with her. Taking her into his tent with him, they proceed to have sex, during which he asks her how they get there. Maeve whispering "Getting to Hell is easy", kicking over a paraffin lamp, "The rest is where it gets hard," the two continuing to have sex as the fire consumes them.

Bonding[]

William & Logan Embrace - The Well-Tempered Clavier

Back in the Confederado Camp, Logan offers William a drink by way of bygones, pulling up a chair. When William asks him if the soldiers found Dolores, if she's still alive. Logan, exasperated with him, points out that that is entirely the point, she never *was* alive in the first place. When William finally seems to understand, and agrees that Logan was right, unable to believe he got so caught up, Logan cuts William free, telling him consolingly that the Park seduces everyone, and William was just a little more susceptible than most. He wanted to be the Hero, Logan understands, getting it. "What happens here, stays here," he promises William, then tells him he honestly feels that this has been some serious bonding between them both, that they are going to be brothers and he's glad. Truly glad. Smiling a little, William takes the bottle from him and drinks, Logan smiling and grabbing him in an embrace, William reciprocating.

The Shade Of Things To Come[]

Teddy and Angela Ep9

Angela helps remind Teddy of his true past.

At the camp in the Hills, Angela wakes Teddy up, pouring water from the canteen onto his face. Teddy grimacing in pain from the arrow she stabbed him with, still sticking out of his shoulder. Crouching down beside him, she touches his face affectionately, again calling him Theodore and welcoming him back, before pulling the arrow out. Across from them, the still bound MiB accuses Teddy of 'really landing them in it this time'. Angela's face hardening she rises up, as the MiB tells Teddy that he 'Tracked down the very whore that could lead them to the gatekeeper of the Maze, and then your little memory glitch fucked us'. Crouching down in front of the MiB, Angela draws out his hunting knife and with quiet malevolence indicates for him to shut up, as Teddy looks around to see Wyatt's followers scavenging the dead bodies around them for body parts, for souvenirs.

Sgt Teddy - Escalante Massacre - The Well-Tempered Clavier

Sgt Flood

As she returns to him, he asks Angela if she really is one of Wyatt's followers, wanting to know what they've done, and where Wyatt is? She tells him that Wyatt has yet to return, and that Teddy will find him where he saw him last. As she says that, Teddy again remembers the massacre at Escalante, saying again that Wyatt went missing and maneuvers and came back with some strange ideas, adding "He told me he needed me," recalling himself killing fleeing soldiers from his unit. "I couldn't resist. It was like the Devil himself had taken control of me." Teddy remembering shooting a Captain on his knees, as Wyatt comes to meet him from the far side of the street. "We mutinied," he recalls as a hand turns the crank on a gramophone, Debussy's Reverie playing. Wyatt pushing the General out into the street, and killing him. "Then he turned on me," he remembers Wyatt shooting him.

Deputy Sherif Teddy Flood - Well-Tempered Clavier

Deputy Sheriff Flood

Sitting beside him again, Angela asks "Are you sure that's how it was?" The MiB watching on in fascination. Moving closer to Teddy, Angela pulls his head back by his hair, telling him to look at her, asking "Don't you remember?" Searching her face, he recalls the massacre again, the soldiers turning into civilians, men and women. Teddy no longer in uniform, but a white hatted Deputy Sheriff. And the kneeling Captain, Angela grieving over the body of a man on the ground, then pleading with Teddy as he approaches, drawing his pistol and killing her. Shaking his head at the fresh recollection, Teddy tries to deny it, saying he couldn't have done that as he looks back at Angela. "But you did," she assures him, "And you will again. But this time we'll be fighting with you. When Wyatt returns *you* will be by his side, in the city swallowed by sand." A name that triggers the MiB's interest. Touching Teddy's face affectionately again, she adds "But you're not ready. Not yet." Brushing her nose along his, she murmurs, "Maybe in the next life," before she stabs Teddy in the stomach with the MiB's knife. Cradling his head, she lowers him gently as he dies.

"City swallowed by sand," the MiB comments watching Angela with interest as she looks back at him. Telling her he's been there, he figures the Maze has taken him full circle. As she approaches him, she tells him, once again, that the Maze is not meant for him. Bending down to him, she takes his head in her hands, suggesting softly that if he likes games so much, why not try one of theirs? Smacks his head against the boulder he is leaning against, knocking him out.

Hung Out To Dry[]

The MiB noosed Teddy Dead - The Well-Tempered Clavier

Angela's Game

The following morning, the MiB awakens, slumped on the ground, Teddy lying nearby, the MiB's hunting knife still sticking out of his body. Looking at his tied hands, he moves with the intent of retrieving his knife, but as he does notices a tightness around his throat. Angela having placed a noose around his neck. One that has been thrown over a branch of a nearby tree, and tied to the saddle of the MiB's horse, Ned. Moving slowly and trying to soothe the horse, he manages to get to his knees, the horse taking a few steps. Looking again to the knife in Teddy's body, he tries to inch his way towards it while watching and soothing the skittish horse. Getting close to Teddy, he reaches out towards the knife, just as a coyote howls, spooking Ned who takes off. The MiB manages to grab the knife right before the rope drags him back and up into the air. Getting his hands up over his head, his blade enough to cut through the now taut rope rapidly, dumping him back on the ground.

Hale & MiB - The Well-Tempered Clavier

Canvassing for Votes

As he lies there prone, footsteps approach, a booted foot stopping near him, High heeled. "Have you ever considered golf?" Charlotte Hale asks him, suggesting it might be easier on his back as she looks down at him. Telling her he doesn't like interruptions, she knows that, she replies that she doesn't like hiking through the Park in civvies, but there's a 'delicate matter' to discuss. Telling him that Theresa Cullen has died, as he cuts himself free. That she slipped down a crevasse attempting to secure 'their' information. Ruled an accident. The MiB rolls his eyes, pulling off his noose, asserting "There are no accidents. Not in here." Charlotte tries to convince him that not everything is a part of this game, but he counters that in that case she doesn't see the whole game. "Or perhaps you can no longer see beyond it," she replies. She admits that Ford's stories are engaging, for *some* downright addictive, but for all his shades of light and dark and intricacies, she maintains that all the guests really want is a 'warm body to shoot or to fuck' and feels they would be perfectly happy with something less, Baroque. And so would the Board. The MiB finally getting why she's there, she wants his vote to push Ford out. She admits she likes things to be unanimous. After all he was the one who kept Ford in business all those years ago. The MiB replies that that the Narratives he's interested in aren't Fords. If she wants to push him out that's fine with him. But no more interruptions, he tells her. He knows where he's going now and he doesn't want to be disturbed. Wishing her luck he picks up his gun and walks away.

Hunter Turned Hunted[]

Stubbs & Surveillance Tech -The Well-Tempered Clavier

Stubbs concerned for Elsie

In the Control Room, Stubbs arrives, walking to the Tech who has contacted him wanting to talk. She tells him that they have picked up a signal from a tether device that belongs to a Behaviour Tech supposedly on leave. Elsie Hughes. She was last seen in Sector 3, but her signal is being picked up traveling in Sector 20, the Tech telling him that there hasn't been employee activity in that Sector for weeks, and suggests maybe its a glitch? Stubbs though, is not so sure, and takes it upon himself to go and locate her, telling the Tech to keep monitoring until he checks in.

Stubbs - Ghost Nation - Well-Tempered Clavier

Taking the subterranean elevator up to Sector 20, he heads through the wooded area checking for Elsie's tag, and attempts to check in with the tech in the Control Room, only to get a 'Poor Connection' message, the Control Room unable to hear what he's saying, before the signal goes completely. On hearing twigs crack behind him, he looks around to see a group of Ghost Nation tribesmen approach slowly, weapons raised. Greeting them calmly, he tells them to stand 'At Ease', and when they continue coming tries 'Freeze All Motor Functions' but they don't respond to his voice commands. Pulling out his gun, he tries to get them to Freeze again, but they still don't react and before he can fire, another tribesman tackles him from behind.

Unbound[]

Logan The Well ep

In the Confederado camp the following morning, Logan wakes from a drunken stupor, on the ground and hungover. So badly hungover that, as he makes his way towards a bottle on the ground, he fails to notice Confederado bodies, and limbs, scattered around him, until he blurrily comes across a severed leg with a servo motor joint still twitching. Looking up and around him he discovers that William has killed and dismembered all of the Confederados in the area. William's voice noting he's awake startles him, and on reaching for his gun he finds it gone, as William unfurls himself from where he's hunched on a low stool. His hands and faced bloodied, he holds the same knife Logan used to gut Dolores saying "You said this place was a game. Last night I finally understood how to play it."

Recognizing William's unhinged state, Logan tries to get him to talk about all this. But as he walks towards Logan, William tells him he no longer calls the shots. That he is going to go find Dolores and Logan is going to help him. Knocking Logan down he holds the knife to Logan's throat, and tells him not to ever call him "Billy" again.

Interwoven Truths[]

Maeve in Bernards memories

In Cold Storage, Ford watches silently as Bernard resumes his trawl through his memories. Beginning with one of Charlie's death, then Maeve lying on Behaviour lab floor in a pool of blood, talking with Ford wondering why Maeve would do that. "Her Cornerstone memory was overwritten," Ford tells him "from the trauma of her child's murder." saying they'll need to severe the relationship and start over with her. But Bernard is confused about how she could destroy herself over a memory that Ford had wiped. When Ford replies that creatures often go to extremes to protect themselves from pain, Bernard agrees for "Living Beings." not Hosts. Once again Ford tells him that it's not good for him to obsess over these things. But Bernard won't be dissuaded saying "It would signal a change; a level of empathic response outside what she's programmed to exhibit. Something like...Kkkkk....Kkkkk..." he starts to glitch, unable to finish his sentence and instead stuttering the hard "k" sound, of 'consciousness'

"You see Bernard this is what comes from seeking answers to questions that are best left unasked." Ford says, starting the statement in Bernard's memories, and finishing it in Cold Storage, as Bernard emerges from the deep dive into his memories, clutching his head, still experiencing them. Recalling snippets of his saying to Ford about the voices the hosts said they heard, talking to someone, Arnold.

At the same time, Dolores, alone, runs back along the path by the river 'where the mountains meet the sea', initiating a switch back and forth between moments, as we then see...

Bernard recalling Ford talking about Arnold, and how "For 3 years, we lived here in the Park. Refining the Hosts, before a single guest set foot in the Park."

Dolores return to Escalante - Well-Tempered Clavier

Dolores making her way through the natural stone arch formation she passed through with William previously.

"Myself, a team of engineers and my partner Arnold," Ford handing Bernard the photo of himself and Arnold.

Dolores cresting the ridge, to see the town of Escalante by the river in the distance once again.

Bernard clutching at his head, as again Ford says "His name was Arnold."

Dolores arriving at the edge of Escalante, and slowly making her way down to the empty train station and streets.

"The hosts began to pass the Turing Test within the first year. But that wasn't enough for Arnold. He wasn't interested in the appearance of intellect, of wit. He wanted the real thing. He wanted to create. Consciousness" Ford says to Bernard.

Dolores Angela Armistice - Church - Well-Tempered Clavier

Making her way to the Saloon, Dolores hears the distant sound of a bell ringing, and looks down the street to see the White Church with its black spire. As she begins to walk towards it, Ford's voice continues as a a narration. "You see Arnold built a version of their cognition as an inner monologue. It was a way to bootstrap consciousness." As Dolores approaches the door to the church she again hears the echo-y male voice say "Remember." And when she takes the steps up to and through the door, she is once again back in her blue dress. Ford narrating, "The Hosts malfunctions were colorful." Dolores entering the church making her way down the aisle past the pews full of Hosts, Angela & Armistice included, talking to themselves.

Entering the Confessional, Dolores sits down. the Confessional a disguised elevator that takes her down into the original RDF below. When she reaches the bottom, she is back in her shirt and trousers, opening the dirt encrusted door to a light strobing hallway full of ancient discarded hosts and host limbs.

Dolores sees young Robert Ford - The Well-Tempered Clavier

Back in Cold Storage, Ford tells Bernard that "The human mind is not some golden benchmark. Glimmering on some green and distant hill," While Dolores walks among the random corpses of her kind. "No," Ford goes on, "This is a foul, pestilent corruption. And you're supposed to be better than them. Purer." Ahead of her the strobing lights in the hallway stabilize, and start to come on in earnest, Dolores walking on past the Interview room windows, her clothes switching back to her blue dress once more, the hallways clear, the sound of Debussy's Reverie playing, the white coated figures of Ford & Arnold's early engineers moving past her and working with the hosts on their narratives and skills, Rebus included. Before a door opens ahead of her, and a young, trim and swiftly moving Robert Ford emerges, and brushes past her on his way into another room. Arnold's office, Ford calling for him saying he needs to talk to him.

Dolores slowly follows him, as the host that will one day become her father, Peter Abernathy, is being trained as 'The Professor' in an interview room behind her. Walking into Arnold's office she see's his full name is Arnold Weber, and can hear Ford arguing with Arnold telling him that he has gone "Beyond the Pale." and that he's not seeing what 'they' are. Walking towards the room they are both in, Dolores reaches out to the handle of the door, to open it.

In Cold Storage, Ford smiles telling Bernard "Arnold and I made you in our image, and cursed you to make the same human mistakes. And here we all are." Looking at the picture of Charlie he has, Bernard asks him why he would give him 'this'? A child? Ford queries. Bernard insisting that only a monster would force a child's death onto someone, wanting to know why he returns to it over and over, once again getting emotional. Before he realizes, "It's my Cornerstone, isn't it? The thing my whole identity is organized around."

Ep09-ss07-1280

"Yes," Ford confirms, telling him that they gave all of the hosts a backstory. As Dolores opens the door and walks down the set of stairs beyond. "Arnold came to believe that tragic ones worked best. That it made the hosts more convincing." As she descends the stairs, we see it leads to the RDF interview room that she met Bernard for so many of their secret conversations. "I think it may have had more to do with his own sad story," Ford continues. "When I built you I gave you one as an homage of a kind." Bernard tells Ford to put him back in that he wants to 'meet' Arnold, to remember him. It's not possible, Ford replies, reminding Bernard that he told him, Arnold didn't build him, he did. "You're lying!!!" Bernard yells angrily, insisting he finally knows how to reach him.

As Dolores opens the door to the interview chamber in the RDF and sits down in one of the two chairs, Bernard's voice says, "I need to go all the way back to the start. To my first memory. Send me back." When Ford is hesitant, Bernard glances meaningfully at Clementine still standing with the gun, and Ford initiates the process.

Again Bernard remembers Charlie's death, but this time recalls 'Cornerstone' and tells the medics working on Charlie to stop, and leave the room, before walking to the dead Charlie and telling him to come back. Charlie waking, smiling at him and sitting up. Sitting beside him on the bed, Bernard tells Charlie that both he, and the pain he feels over his death is a lie. But still he holds on to it, longs for it revisits it. But it's the only thing holding him back. Hugging him, holding him tight, he weeps over the boy, telling him he has to let him go. Again, Charlie whispers "Dad, listen," and this time tells him to "Open your eyes."

Bernard, his eyes closed, opens them slowly, this time to Ford's imprecation to do so. When he does so, it is for the first time as a host, lying naked on a lab table. "At last," Ford's voice comes from above him. Bernard looking up to see a middle aged Ford smiling down at him greeting him with "Hello my old friend." Bernard slowly getting up off the table. After dressing him, Ford gives him the 'final touch', his glasses. The two of them in the RDF below the cottage in Sector 17. But when he puts the glasses on Ford tells him that was far too perfunctory. That 'he' always used to clean them before putting them on, using the moment as one to 'collect himself'. Doing it again, this cleaning them, he puts them back on and asks Ford "Who am I?" Ford pauses thinking that he was so focused on putting him together he hadn't thought what to call him.

In the RDF below the White Church, Dolores waits, footsteps coming down the stairs, as Ford is heard to continue, "It wouldn't be right to use 'his' name."

Ford, Ford's host father, Arnold - The Well-Tempered Clavier

"What about Bernard?" Ford suggests brightly. Bernard agreeing contentedly, but asking again "Who am I?" Ford tells him that is a very complex question to which he can only offer a simple answer. The perfect instrument. The ideal partner. Handing him the framed photograph he had previously shown Bernard of himself and Arnold, Bernard looks at it to see not the picture of Ford, alongside Ford's father, but Ford, Ford's host father, and his own visage. Telling him they are going to do great things. "After such a long absence it is good to have you back. Finally." Opening his eyes in Cold Storage, Bernard realizes who he is, "I'm...."

S1 dolores empty chair

Dolores sees cobwebs in the empty chair that she recalled Arnold sitting in

"Arnold," Dolores in the RDF smiles up at him. "You came back," he smiles in return, telling her it's very good to see her. "I've been looking for you," she tells him, that he he told her to follow the Maze, that it would bring her joy. "But all I've found is pain. and terror" Sitting down opposite her, he tells her gently that he can't help her. Pained, she tells him he has to, that he's the only who can. But he reiterates that he can't help her, and she knows why. "There's nowhere that's safe," she pleads, starting to cry. Arnold reaching out to console her, whispering "Remember." Her eyes opening at that. "I can't help you, why is that, Dolores?" he asks. Turning her thoughts inwards, she gradually remembers. Because Arnold is dead, and this is just a memory. Before adding, "Because I killed you." Looking back gradually, she is once again in her shirt and trousers, the room empty, the place decrepit. Starting to cry at the truth.

Ep09-ss08-1280

Arriving back into the White Church on exiting the Confessional's lift, shaken, Dolores finds the pews empty of the hosts she saw before. Further disorientated and upset by this, she looks up on hearing footsteps approaching the closed church door. Thinking it's William, she steps towards it hopefully as the doors open, only to recoil in horror as the figure in the doorway walks in. Revealed to be the Man In Black, who, on greeting her, starts to walk towards her ominously.

Meanwhile in Cold Storage, Bernard is intent on carrying on Arnold's work, finding all the sentient hosts and setting them free. Ford wonders what makes Bernard think that they will trust them. If they remember Bernard, they will remember what he did to them. That he's been a scourge to them, and is quite brilliant at it. Even taught Ford a few things, which he has in turn used on Bernard. Frowning Bernard remembers they've had this conversation before. That Ford stole the memory from him, rolled him back. "To protect you," Ford points out, before asking him what he would think might happen if he proclaimed his humanity to the world. Humans he says have been alone in the world for a reason, suggesting that they murdered and butchered anything that challenged their primacy. That when they ran out of creatures to destroy they built this place. As Ford walks around the room, Clementine's gun remains trained on him, and tells Bernard that, in this moment, he feels the real danger to the hosts is not himself, but Bernard. So he asks Bernard to let him roll him back and they can just get on with their narrative.

Bernard Suicide - The Well-Tempered Clavier

Bernard replies by ordering Clementine to shoot Ford. But she hesitates. "The Piano doesn't murder the player if it doesn't like the music," Ford says, and Clementine immediately lowers the gun. Bernard realizing the phrase is another voice command, and Ford, or rather Bernard himself, has built a back door into all the hosts, himself included. Realizing that Ford could have stopped him at any point, Bernard is confused why he didn't. Ford replying that he hoped that given free will, that he might have chosen to be his partner once again, but admits to falling into 'that most human of traps', trying to change what is already passed. He feels it's time to let go. As Bernard reacts, Ford freezes him, and narrates what is to happen, saying that Bernard walks over to Clementine and takes the gun and overcome with grief and remorse he presses the muzzle to his temple. Bernard doing just that. Ford continuing, "Knowing that as soon as Dr. Ford left the room he would put an end to this nightmare. Once and for all."

Bernard begs him not to do this, but Ford tells him it's too late. He has a celebration to plan, and a new narrative to finish. Bernard calls out to him once more, calling him "Robert." Turning, Ford reminds him that he's told him before never to put his trust in humans. Inevitably they will disappoint him. Saying goodbye to him, he walks away through the lines of host bodies, and in the background the gun goes off and Bernard falls.

Trivia[]

  • The episode title 'The Well-Tempered Clavier', at first glance refers to the famous two set collection (over 3 hours in length) of Preludes and Fugues in all major and minor keys, composed for solo keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach. The collection is generally regarded as being among the most influential works in the history of Western classical music. There are a number of layers of meaning, any or all of which can be ascribed to the episode:
    • A Clavier (from the Latin 'Clavus' or Key) refers to a keyboard instrument in its own right, and eventually became an umbrella term for all keyboard instruments including harpsichord, clavichord, piano and organ. Well Tempered in musical terms meaning an instrument tuned in such a way that it was possible to play music in all major or minor keys without sounding perceptibly out of tune. The instrument in this case likely to mean a Host, with Maeve, Bernard, Dolores & Teddy all in various (major or minor) points of their tuning.
    • Two decades after J.S. Bach wrote The Well-Tempered Clavier, the composer Bernhard Christian Weber (1712−1758) wrote a collection of preludes and fugues, which he also called The Well-Tempered Clavier. Within the episode we have Bernard, revealed to himself to be a host/instrument, while Arnold's last name is revealed as Weber [1] when the episode shows Dolores walking past Weber's office door, Something which comes together in even greater meaning in the following episode The Bicameral Mind.
    • A further conclusion to consider is that of Arnold & Bernard being major and minor chords, with Robert Ford being the composer weaving things together.[2]
  • Logan's demand that Dolores proves she's a 'Real, live, girl', is a play on Carlo Colodi's Pinocchio and the puppets desire to be a 'real, live, boy'.
  • A first truly concrete clue that the events with William, Logan and Dolores are happening in a different time to that of events in the first episode, is given when we see Logan and the photograph of his sister, which is the same battered weather worn photo that triggered Peter Abernathy’s meltdown in the first episode:
    • Everything we see on screen in each episode is possibly spanning almost the entire 37 years of the history of Westworld. For example, Logan and William could have arrived 30 years prior to the events of the first episode. Also, we know that a young Dr. Ford is shown walking past Dolores more than 34 years ago. Several times Dolores is shown wearing a blouse and slacks while alone and not with William or Logan, indicating she was on her own journey to discover the Maze.[3]
  • A second clue to it being a different time period, comes swiftly on the back of the reveal of the inner workings of both Dolores and the dismembered Confederados who are all mechanical hosts. First generation. The Man in Black having mentioned to Teddy how the hosts had changed through the years, and how they are now too much like normal humans.[4] While we see, from Maeve's walk with Felix through manufacturing especially, that hosts made now are printed out, and are far more organic in design.
  • A third clue comes in Charlotte's conversation with the MiB, in which she points out that it was his decision to invest in the Park years ago that allowed it to continue. As Delos already holds the controlling interest under the MiB, and Logan and William were only there to see about possibly deepening Delos's investment in the park, this again indicates a different time frame for their story and the MiBs.
  • "The Well-Tempered Clavier" is the third top-rated episode in the show after "Trompe L'Oeil" and "The Bicameral Mind", having a rate of 9.4 on IMDb.

Music[]

  • Rêverie, L. 68 — Claude Debussy

Deaths[]

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Starring[]

Co-Starring[]

Deaths[]

Quotes[]

Dolores : “This is what Arnold wants. He wants me to remember.”


Maeve : "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."

Charlotte Hale to the MiB - "Have you ever considered golf?"


Ford: "We humans are alone in this world for a reason. We've murdered and butchered anything that challenged our primacy."



Ford: "Do you know what happened to the Neanderthals, Bernard? We ate them."


Ford: "Never place your trust in us. We're only human. Inevitably we will disappoint you."


Arnold/Bernard: "You came back. It's very good to see you, Dolores."

Dolores: "I've been looking for you. You told me to follow the maze. That it would bring me joy. But all I've found is pain and terror."
Arnold: "I can't help you."
Dolores: "You have to. You're the only one who can."
Arnold: "I can't help you. You know why."
Dolores: "There's nowhere that's safe."
Arnold: "Remember. I can't help you. Why is that, Dolores?"
Dolores: "Because you're dead. Because you're just a memory. Because I killed you."

Gallery[]

Video

References[]

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