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Do I have a choice? Were any of these choices ever truly mine to begin with?

William

"Vanishing Point" is the ninth episode of the second season of Westworld, and the nineteenth episode overall.

Synopsis[]

Try to kill it all away, but I remember everything.

–HBO

Plot[]

The Man in Black and Emily[]

The Man in Black wakes and notices his daughter Emily brought him to a rally point to call for help. Emily says she knows why he’s still in the park after all these years: He’s punishing himself for the death of Juliet, his wife and Emily’s mother. Emily guiltily recalls a gift her mother gave her: an engraved music box. Emily threw it away, angry that if her mother wasn’t a drunk, she would have known she hadn’t danced in years.

Dolores, Teddy and the Ghost Nation[]

On their way to the Valley Beyond, Dolores and Teddy encounter a group of Ghost Nation warriors barring their way. They, with Wanahton as the head, address Dolores as 'Deathbringer' and tell her she has no place in the Valley Beyond, “Your journey ends here.” Dolores explains the Valley Beyond was built for the people who created the park to ensure their immortality, but she plans to use it against them. But the Ghost Nation stand against her. The stand off breaking into violence between her Horde and the Warriors when one of the Ghost Nation tries to take her down, and Teddy instantly shoots him dead. The battle Antoine Costa viewed on his tablet in “Journey Into Night” coming to life. Getting off her horse, Dolores approaches one of the warriors she shot, telling him, “I told you, friend. Not all of us deserve to make it to the Valley Beyond.” before she shoots him.

Telling Teddy to take down any that are left, she sweeps off in the other direction. Moving through the scrub and long grass, Teddy relentlessly tracks any survivors, and flushes out Wanahton, armed only with his axe, breaking cover and running out in the open. A dead certain kill, for Teddy. But as he watches him run, Wanahton looking back at him, almost waiting for the kill shot, Teddy hesitates. Looking at the unarmed man, then down at his gun...lowering it, letting him go.

The Mesa[]

In the Mesa, tech Roland tells Charlotte Hale he took some of Maeve Millay’s code and implemented it into Clementine Pennyfeather’s system. This update, he says, will enable her to spread a virus to the other hosts. Demonstrating he has Clementine place a hand on the glass wall of the lab. The Hosts on the other side of it brutally massacring each other till there is no one left standing.

Hale, pleased, immediately orders Roland to contact Ashley Stubbs and organize a team to take Clementine to the Valley Beyond — they no longer need Maeve.

Bernard and Elsie[]

Bernard Lowe finds Elsie. He informs her Delos is capturing guests’ data and replicating their cognition; a facility called the Forge holds all the data on a giant server — and they have to reach the Forge before the hosts do.

Father & Daughter[]

Emily theorizes that the Man in Black started Delos’ secret project to seek immortality. The Man in Black grows more skeptical of Emily when she says she “wants in” on the project, though she questions the functionality of replicating a human without a complete copy of their cognition. The Man in Black reveals that scanners were built into the guests’ hats so that their minds could be imaged in real time.

In flashback, the Man in Black remembers Juliet the night she died, growing increasingly drunk at a gala thrown by Delos to honor the achievements of The Man in Black. Escaping the party, he heads for the bar and runs into Ford. The Man in Black reminds Ford of their agreement: “Delos stays out of your stories, you stay out of the Valley.” Ford slides a memory card across to the Man in Black, who tells Ford he’s over his games. He leaves to take Juliet home. To himself, Fords says: “I think perhaps one final game.”

The Man in Black arrives home with Juliet, who grows angry with her husband. Emily sees her mother acting belligerent and tells her she needs to go back to rehab. The Man in Black leads Juliet upstairs. Before falling asleep, she asks: “Is this real? Are you real? Did you ever love me? Tell me one true thing.” The Man in Black takes the memory card Ford gave him and hides it in a book. Emily sits with her father and tells him she’s arranged for her mother to be put into involuntary care. The Man in Black notices water dripping from the ceiling. He runs upstairs and finds Juliet, dead, in an overflowing bathtub.

The Man in Black thinks Emily is a host controlled by Ford. “Nothing is stopping me from getting to the end,” he says. Emily says she blamed herself for her mother’s death, but now she blames her father. Juliet left his personality profile for her so Emily would know everything he’s done in the park, and exactly what kind of person he is. Finally responding to Emily’s distress call, QA arrives. The Man in Black takes out the entire group. Emily cowers horrified that he’s finally crossed the Rubicon and killed real people, telling him that this isn’t a game: She can prove it. But as she reaches behind her back, the Man in Black shoots her dead and says: “F*ck you, Ford.” He asserts Ford was the only one with access to his profile, but on approaching her body, he sees what she was reaching for, the memory card Ford gave him. Realizing he's murdered his daughter.

Creator & Favorite[]

Roland re-enters the room with the immobilized Maeve, and informs her there's not long left her for her. As soon as he gets the word it's over for her. As she lays there unable to move Ford appears in front of her and reveals, out of all the hosts he made, she’s his “favorite.” He encourages Maeve to continue her journey and unlocks her core directives.

"Thou Mayest"[]

Bernard and Elsie drive through the Park, stopping at Elsie's call at a sight of yet another massacre, bodies of dead soldiers strewn through the woods. Pointing out to her that they're dead, Elsie points out to Bernard in return that they are also 'armed' and gets out to go seek out some ammunition they can use. As he watches her progress through the glade, Bernard hears Ford's voice, telling him Elsie is going to betray him. Turning to see him, Bernard argues that she could have killed him days ago. Ford insists she will betray him, and that what he wants to do about it is up to Bernard. Bernard insists he's not going to hurt her again, to which Ford blithely suggests she doesn't have to suffer. Looking down at his hand Bernard sees he's holding his semi-automatic hand gun. Ford suggests that humans will always choose what they understand over what they don't. That the only animals that survive on the planet are either those that they've subjugated, or that flee at the sound of their voices. Nothing in between.

Bernard pleads with Ford to leave him alone. But Ford points out he's merely giving Bernard the options, "Timshel", he quotes the Bible "Thou Mayest", indicating that the ultimate choice on how to act is Bernard's alone. But he reminds him that this isn't just about him. There's an origin of an entire species at stake. They need to open the door. As he disappears, Bernard marches to the far side of the car and tosses the gun away as far as he possibly can before grasping at his head yelling at Ford to get out of it. Getting into the car, he rolls up his sleeve and cuts open his arm, intent on linking himself to his pad and purging himself of Ford, saying if he's going to survive he's going to do it 'his way'. Zip tying his free hand to the wheel, he searches for the 'Ford infected' parts of himself, Ford appears again behind him in the car, calmly telling him he's right there, no need to search. Bernard finds affected parts of himself and deletes those sections, saying that Ford has only brought violence and he's going to stop it on his own Ford, agrees, saying in fact Bernard is the only one who can stop it. Stop all of it. Succeeding in deleting the data package, Bernard looks around to find himself alone again.

Elsie returns after a pretty futile search for ammo, throwing what she found in the back of the vehicle before stopping on seeing Bernard hooked up to the pad. Immediately wary about what he's done. Bernard tries to tell her he was patching a glitch. But when she sees his zip tied hand, her wariness grows asking if he was going to hurt her. He denies it but says he didn't want to take any risks. Seeing her hand on her gun still, he reaches for the locater device, and holds it out to her, tossing it at her feet when she doesn't take it, saying QA will find her. Elsie angry at being left there by him, Bernard tells her she'll be safer there, and that next time she sees him she can decommission him or 'out him' whatever she likes. Still unhappy she says "F**k you Bernard" and wanders away as he cuts his hand loose and drives off.

The Nature of His Reality[]

Riding Ned out onto the prairie, hunched over with the weight of what he's done, the Man in Black collapses in on himself mentally. Dismounting he has visions of Emily as a little girl and as she was. Reaching for his gun he lifts it to his head — fully questioning the nature of his reality. He slices open his forearm and searches for signs of being a host himself.

In a flashback to that same fateful night, the Man in Black speaks to a seemingly asleep Juliet. He says he built a wall to protect his family from the darkness inside him. He admits everything Juliet believes about him is true: “I don’t belong to you or this world. I belong to another world.”

As he leaves the room Juliet opens her eyes: She heard everything. She finds the memory card and pairs it to a tablet and sees the truth about her husband play out before her, from a young man through to the age he is now, seeing his massacre of the soldiers camp, his brutal slaughter of hosts and his rape of Dolores, as well as a personality analysis: Category 47B - Persecutory subtype - Delusions - Paranoid subtype. Everything she feared about him true, she opens the drawer to her vanity and takes out the music box, which she saved for all these years, and places the memory card inside of it. She places the memory card in Emily’s music box — she saved it after all those years — and walks into the bathroom to end her own life.

Cornerstones[]

As Dolores and Teddy continue their journey to the Valley Beyond, Teddy stops as they reach a number of old ruined wooden storehouses. Dismounting he walks through the skeleton of one of them and stops to look out at the beautiful landscape beyond. Reaching into his belt he pulls out a bullet and loads his pistol. Walking in after him, Dolores suggests they better push on, they're not too far from their destination now.

But Teddy leans against one of the posts of the structure, and tells her he's just 'Taking in some of the natural splendor', recalling that was how she used to put it. Looking at her, he notes wryly that there's not a trace of nature in either the landscape or them. No, she agrees. But that means they're free now. Looking around them she opines that they'll be the first creatures in Westworld to make a real choice. The people they (humans) made them, Teddy thinks back, sometimes it feels like it was all a dream. Looking over at her, he recalls "We were so in love." A little taken aback, Dolores says "We still are. Aren't we?"

2x09earlyteddy

Teddy seeing Dolores for the first time

Moving towards her he assures her they still are. That no matter how much he changes...or how much she changes him, she's his cornerstone. And has been since the first time he laid eyes on her. He tells her he remembers now. He remembers everything. We see Teddy naked in the facility, Arnold bringing him online for the very first time. A young Ford over to the side watching on as Arnold welcomes Teddy to the world, examining his pupil reaction to light. As Teddy looks around him, as per the usual host activation, Arnold asks him does he know where he is? Unlike the other hosts who answer automatically to the question, Teddy's eyes alight on a naked offline Dolores standing in a group of 4 of the earliest hosts. Instantly captivated by her he gives his answer "I'm in a dream". Voicing over the scene as he continues to gaze at her, Teddy tells Dolores how he remembers Ford and Arnold's voices, the chill in the room, but mostly he remembers her. He remembers worrying she was cold. Wanting to reach out. Standing with her in the old ruin, he reaches out, "To touch you," he continues, touching her cheek. Dolores closing her eyes, warming to his touch as always. Smiling as he adds "Protect you." From that day forward, he tells her, he never wanted to leave her side.

His hand slowly dropping away from her, he turns and walks a little way away. "Which is why this is so hard." he tells her. Pushing his coat back he draws his gun, and turns back to face her. Seeing it in his hand she turns guarded. Teddy accusatory says straight out "You changed me. Made me into a monster." Immediately on the defensive she argues "I made it so you could survive." But Teddy derides that argument wanting to know "What's the point of surviving if we become as bad as them (humans)" A response she has no answer for. He tells her he understands now how this will end. Where she will lead them. He cocks his gun.

Teddy Suicide - Vanishing Point

As he does so, Dolores gets more assertive, moving forward slowly, telling him he doesn't want to her. Teddy, looking down, raises his head slowly. His answer, when it comes, confuses her, Teddy saying "No, I could never hurt you Dolores." When he adds "I'll protect you until the day I die." A slow realization and fear starts to dawn on her. Grief in Teddy's eyes he tells her he's sorry "I can't protect you anymore." and places the muzzle of his gun to his temple. Horror filling her face, Dolores shakes her head taking a step forward to try and stop him, only for Teddy to pull the trigger.

Dolores - Vanishing Point

Dolores realizing what she's done, and what she's lost

As he drops dead at her feet, Dolores is frozen in shock and disbelief, like a critical error has affected her programming. The world descends into a discordant noise, as she staggers forwards a few unsteady steps and collapses like a sack of stones by his side, still unable to take in what he's done. What she's driven him to. Before the grief takes hold, her hand seeking his. What was real, irreplaceable. She cries and howls in grief.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Cast[]

Co-Stars[]

Deaths[]

Quotes[]

 Man in Black: (voiceover) No one else sees it. This thing in me. Even I didn't see it at first. And then, one day, it was there. A stain. And the more I thought about it... the more I realized I couldn't remember a time it wasn't there. Invisible to everyone. Except you. You saw right through it, didn't you? When did it creep in? A tiny fleck of darkness. Was it all in my head? Or in a remnant of a dream?



Emily: Do you remember on my sixteenth birthday Mom gave me a jewelry box? When you opened it, a little dancer spun in the center. She had it engraved... on the bottom. It said: "To my beautiful ballerina... Emily" Do you remember what I did with it? I threw it in the trash. I told her if she wasn't drunk all the time she'd know that I hadn't danced in years. And then afterwards, I went to get it back, because I felt bad, but the trash had already been emptied, and it was gone. I pushed her away. And then it was too late. But it's not too late for us.


 Wanahton: (speaking Lakota) Deathbringer. We've been watching you. Your journey ends here. The Valley Beyond is not meant for you.
Dolores: No. It was meant for the people who built this place. A tool to ensure their immortality. But I'm gonna use it against them.


William: There's no such thing as fate.
Emily: But there are accidents. Things you can't control. But you don't like that, do you? Is that why you started it, your little project? (Off his reaction) Don't act surprised. The project Uncle Logan used to talk about. It's real, isn't it? Your pursuit for immortality, for life... There's always an angle for you. You want it to be about control, don't you?


Ford: When was the last time you took a good look at your creation? At what it's been learning about its subjects? It was self-knowledge that drew you to the park in the first place. Be careful what you wish for. (slides a memory card across the bar in to the MiB's hand) For a self portrait, you may find it's not very flattering.
(Juliet causes some glasses to crash to the floor in the background)
William Enough games, Robert. Good night. Ford: No, William. I think perhaps one... final game.


William: At first we weren't sure what we'd need. So we recorded everything.
Emily: But how? You'd need to image their minds throughout their stay. Where's the scanner?
William: It was built in. (points to his hat) It didn't matter who they said they were, who they thought they were. We saw underneath all of that. We saw inside them down to the core. So this is all about your mother. You wanna bring her back.
Emily: No. I want to know why she did it.



Juliet: (sighs) Oh. Do you remember when we first met? And I was surrounded by all of those phonies for so many years. All those ruthless, powerful men who hid behind those polished smiles. And then there was you. You wore that little shabby suit. And I'd look at you and I'd think, "Wow, he's the real thing. The only one not faking it." It turns out you're the only one any good at faking it. Good enough to get past me. But not anymore.
William: Juliet.
Juliet: No, you (slaps William in the face) don't touch me, you liar! You fuckin' phony! You're a fucking virus! You came in to this house, into my family, and you consumed it from the inside out! First my brother, then my father. And now it's me!


Emily: Oh yeah, you laugh. Enjoy whatever dream you think you're living in. When this is all done, I'm gonna expose your research project, along with you. Everything you are, everything you've done, it's gonna come to light. I'm gonna make sure of it. And when it does, I'm gonna lock you up. Just like we were gonna do to Mom.
William: Just like you did to Mom. You were the one with that idea. You made the call. Or did Ford forget to give you that little detail?
Emily: Fuck Ford! How could I ever forget? That little detail haunted me. I blame myself for her death. But then I stopped, because I had someone else to blame. I read your profile. (flashback to the MiB hiding the memory card in to the book) Mom left it for me. It was all she could do to open my eyes to the lies that I've embraced about you. You haven't lost yourself to pretending; you are, in your very essence, a lie. It's over, Dad. For good.


Ford: (appearing as a vision to Maeve as she lies flayed open on a table in Behavior Lab and Diagnostics) "Oh, my dear girl. What have they done to you, Maeve? You learned so much, so fast. A dazzling star... brought so low. I had a different story in mind for you. Waking from the dead... sounding the depths of your own mind, at last, riding far away from here to freedom. A tale of escape. I didn't want you to suffer here. Look at the creatures you have to share this world with (Roland walks by). These men of stone. All this ugliness, all this pain, so they can patch a hole in their own broken code. Sometimes I felt the only way to endure this world was to laugh at it. So I imbued the hosts I made with a worldview that reflected my own. And of all the hosts I made... you, Maeve, were my favorite. It isn't easy to contemplate... letting your children die. You were as close as I got to... having one. Still, I underestimated you. You stayed here in this world to save your child. So have I. I tried to chart a path for you, to force you to escape, but... I was wrong. I should have just... opened a door. You've come so far. There's so much of your story left to tell. It's a shame to let them end it here. (whispers) Don't let them. (kisses her on the forehead)


Bernard: Leave me alone. Please.
Ford: I merely offer you choices. Timshel, Bernard. "Thou mayest." But remember, this isn't just about you. There's the origin of an entire species to consider. We need to open the door.


 Dolores: We gotta keep on, Teddy. We're close now.
Teddy: "Just takin' in the natural splendor." That's what you used to say. Except there isn't a trace of nature in any of it, is there? Or in us.
Dolores: No. But that means we're free. We'll be the first creatures in this world to make a real choice.
Teddy: The people, they made us. Sometimes it feels like it was all a dream. We were so in love.
Dolores: (confused) We still are. Aren't we?
Teddy: Yes, Dolores. No matter what happens, no matter how I change... or how much you change me... you're my cornerstone. You have been since the first time I laid eyes on you. I remember now. I remember everything.
(flashback to when Teddy was first activated)
Arnold: Bring yourself online. Welcome to the world, Teddy. Do you know where you are?
Teddy: (looks over and sees Dolores in a frozen state) I'm in a dream.
Arnold: Very good.
Teddy: (voiceover) I remember the sound of their voices. The chill in the room. But mostly I remember you. I remember worrying you were cold. I wanted to reach out...
Teddy: (back in the present day, runs his fingers through Dolores hair and caresses her face) Touch you. Protect you. From that day forward, I never wanted to leave your side. (walks a little way away from her) Which is why this is so hard. (pulls his revolver out of its holster) You changed me. Made me into a monster.
Dolores: I made it so you could survive.
Teddy: What's the use of surviving if we become just as bad as them? I understand now how this will end. Where you will lead us. (cocks revolver)
Dolores: You don't want to hurt me, Teddy.
Teddy: No. No, I could never hurt you, Dolores. I'll protect you until the day I die. I'm sorry. I can't protect you anymore. (brings his revolver up to the side of his head, and shoots himself)

Trivia[]

  • A "Vanishing Point" is the point in a perspective drawing where parallel lines appear to converge.
  • "Timshel" or "Thou Mayest" that Ford says to Bernard about the choices he's giving him, is a Hebrew word taken from the Bible. A reference to the implication that men have the option to choose between acting good or evil, not that God has pre-determined the moral will of man.

Image Gallery/HBO Episode Stills[]

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External links[]

References[]

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