If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense, nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn’t.
Best episode so far. I pride myself on seeing most things coming in a series, but this episode blew my mind. I had no idea Bernard was one of them untill he said 'What door' near the end of the episode.
This was an absolutely awesome episode!
After watching, I wondered if it's the show which let Anthony Hopkins´ perform some great acting or Anthony Hopkins´ performance makes the show great, I have settled that [intentionally] both are in play.
Beyond the storyline, in this episode finally we are presented with a few clear cut questions regarding what could be the consequences if advanced AI/Humanoids end in the "wrong" hands, and lays out the philosophical question if there's "right" hands.
I expect that we'll see more profound and far reaching questions as the series moves on, especially with regards to conscience, self, living vs machine and it bits me that Arnold will be posing them.
I think Dr Ford will make a host copy to Theresa Cullen.
"What door?" That moment was mind blowing!
The show is so amazing, I wish I had started watching it sooner.
This week there has been a fake running around, disguised as if it were a FUM release, at least for a couple of days. What I find most interesting it´s that 13 people found white noise so good to rate it above 86%. I can just imagine if instead of a huge fake it happened to be the real stuff the episode pre-rating would ought to have gone way beyond the 100 per cent mark.
It's simply amazing to see how some people keep insisting in doing what ever they please no matter how many times they are reminded about that it's simply annoying.
I guess that it must be one of the reasons why the Trumps, the Putins, the Bashar and Abu Bakr of this World end up on Top.
"Trompe L'Oeil" is the second top-rated episode in the show after "The Bicameral Mind", having a rate of 9.5 on IMDb.
"Trompe-l'œil" is an art technique that uses realistic imagery to create the optical illusion that the objects in the image exist in three dimensions.
"Trompe L'Oeil" is the second top-rated episode in the show after "The Bicameral Mind", having a rate of 9.5 on IMDb.
"Trompe-l'œil" is an art technique that uses realistic imagery to create the optical illusion that the objects in the image exist in three dimensions.
"Trompe L'Oeil" is the second top-rated episode in the show after "The Bicameral Mind", having a rate of 9.5 on IMDb.
"Trompe-l'œil" is an art technique that uses realistic imagery to create the optical illusion that the objects in the image exist in three dimensions.
“I used to think this place was all about pandering to your baser instincts. Now I understand. It doesn’t cater to your lowest self, it reveals your deepest self. It shows you who you really are.”
“I used to think this place was all about pandering to your baser instincts. Now I understand. It doesn’t cater to your lowest self, it reveals your deepest self. It shows you who you really are.”
“I used to think this place was all about pandering to your baser instincts. Now I understand. It doesn’t cater to your lowest self, it reveals your deepest self. It shows you who you really are.”
“I used to think this place was all about pandering to your baser instincts. Now I understand. It doesn’t cater to your lowest self, it reveals your deepest self. It shows you who you really are.”
There's an interesting push/pull of this episode that, I believe, is rooted in the way in which the Nolans design stories. It is plainly introduced in The Prestige (precisely why that film is so incredible). And it's incredibly well done in this season, although I think the execution waivers slightly once the show's hand is revealed.
Westworld's first season is, for all intents and purposes, about layers. The ways these are revealed are incredibly captivating. And its all about power. I'm reminded of how Bong Joon-Ho talks about Parasite and its layers of relativity. Of course, he uses it to talk about socioeconomic class systems, but it works for positions of power in Westworld. There are machinations that show how for every person you think is at the top of the chain is really just a cog. It's part of why Bernard's reveal works well intellectually for the rest of the show. I just think it falters a little bit as an existential allegory, albeit only slightly.
What, exactly, does this reveal change about the nature of existence from a philosophical standpoint? Not much, really, within the confines of this episode because it functions as a cliffhanger to bring you back from the next one. (To be completely honest I can't remember a lot of what happens to Bernard next, which bolsters my review of this episode as an isolated piece.) There's the strong implication that this is likely not the first time Bernard has almost realized his true nature, but Ford is always there to bring him back, to root him within his trauma. But the thing is, Bernard's maze is constructed so effortlessly for him by Ford that the likelihood is that he wouldn't really want to ever question things around him. He's rooted in his work because of that past trauma. There's no need for him to go back to anything else because it only would bring pain--even if it is illusory. It lends itself to this nihilistic existentialism: we are blind to the bigger picture, but does it really matter if all it would do is make us suffer? I think this may be the true purpose of this reveal, but I think the impact is weakened because of where the episode ends. I don't really think it's a problem, per se. I feel as though a television show should likely be judged more on a seasonal arc rather than episode to episode--not that the episodic arc should not also be emphasized. But I think that is part of why this first season fell just ever so slightly short for me. On the macro, the storytelling is exceptional. Well told and incredibly meaningful. Impeccable craft. It warrants the 9/10.
But the last point (and I don't really mean to harp on a rating, but think of it as a metaphor for why I am held back from being head over heels with the season so far) is withheld because the micro bears the elements I become fatigued with from major, big-budgeted shows. At some level, the cliffhanger feels more important for viewership rather than the reappropriated, modern usage of them where the cliffhanger functions as a mic drop to make you think about how that reveal changes the character. I believe the intention was to be the latter--after all, Jonathon Nolan wrote perhaps the best usage of this in Inception--but the execution of the episode reeks of the former. The final shot on Theresa's hand leaves us with nothing about the final reveal. Compare this to that final shot of Inception. It's not about whether or not the top will fall, it's about Cobb no longer caring if it does. That final shot complete's Cobb's arc. The final shot of Trompe L'Oeil does not. That will be covered in another episode, which is sigh fine. But if we were given just a little more to chew on about how Bernard will either be changed or ignorant of this reveal, I think this episode would really be that absolute banger that we want it to be.
And other television series do this well. I think other episodes of this show do too. Which is why, I find myself, even if only slightly wishing for just a little bit more out of the execution of this final act in the episode. Don't get me wrong, I'm enamored by the questions this show poses and I am absolutely diving back in for more. But this site allows me to nit-pick. So, woo hoo to me I guess.
I saw that coming... Bernard was clearly a host from the nature of the conversations he was having with Delores. This was an exceptional piece of story development though.
I'm starting to question my own reality now. Mind blown
The longer I work here, the more I think I understand the hosts. It's the human beings who confuse me.
Theresa: What's behind this door?
Bernard: What door?
Holy shittttt.
When he said "What door?" my mind exploded :O
I regret not watching this show sooner.
The best plot twist! "What door?"
There are several clues, that shows Bernard is, in fact, a host. Bernard's habit of cleaning his glasses = his own reverie. Bernard and Dolores both using the exact same lines while talking about pain. Bernard's wife being conveniently a hologram. Bernard having a son never did anything to negate the theory of him being a host, as we know their memories are created to give them a believable past. His whole demeanor, always calm and collected, felt completely off to me. And in this episode, of course, his "what door?" was what confirmed it and made me think "here we go."
I wouldn't even be surprised if we learned he was the one who abducted Elsie.
The best episode.
Theresa - What's behind this door?
Bernard - What door?
This moment when all you knew was a lie.
[8.1/10] There’s a weird thing about the seventh episode of a season. For whatever reason, it tends to be the place where shows pull the trigger on big reveals or kick off their major storylines for a season after some number of teases and hints. I tend to think of show’s like Buffy the Vampire Slayer in particular, which would spent six episodes of characters warning “from beneath you, it devours” before revealing what exactly “it” was, but it’s a sort of seasonal pacing plenty of shows follow. It might be a remnant of the days when new series would receive 13-episode orders, meaning a dramatic unveiling was in order for the halfway point of what might be the entirety of the show’s run.
Westworld, on the other hand, is more than two-thirds of the way through its first season, and yet decided to stick to that same seventh episode charm. Whatever the reason, “Trompe L’Oeil” raises the curtain on any number of mysterious plot points and developments the show seemed to be saving for a rainy day. Plans that were once unknown are brought out into the open; questionable motives are exposed, and secret identities are revealed.
The dullest of these is the (attempted) culmination of the corporate backstabbing, but at least the scenes with Hale and Theresa finally shine some light on what the mysterious “board”’s larger goal is, and what the conflict with Ford is. The company that bought Westworld wants the IP -- presumably the patents and code and other protections behind the ability to create robots that can pass as human -- of the park, and Ford won’t let it leave his little enclosure.
So Hale and Theresa’s satellite link-up is, presumably, transmitting that sort of proprietary data so that it can not only get out of the park, but be preserved in case of disaster. Ford doesn't keep back-ups, knowing that the IP is his only leverage, and so Hale is worried that if they don’t convince Ford to step aside gracefully of his own volition, that he’ll wipe away everything valuable about the park with the wave of his hand.
I don’t love the storyline, since it seems to set up a pretty flat old-timers vs. evil corporateer setup, but it’s at least nice to know what the conflict between Ford and the board, in a way that lets us know each side’s motivation and put everything that’s come before into context. It’s something the show has been sorely missing until now.
It seems like “Trompe L’Oeil” exists to expose those personal motivations. We see Maeve declare her intentions to find a way out of this place. Beyond just her awakening, which is already riveting, and the pain and anger in her eyes when she sees her compatriot from the saloon robo-lobotomized, this gives Maeve a clear path, a clear want, something that she (and to a lesser extent Lutz and his would-be pal) to work toward in the broader machinations of the season.
The episode also pulls the trigger on what can only be considered the key romantic relationship of the show -- the budding (and now consumated) connection between Dolores and William. There’s a certain Titanic vibe to their interlude on the train, between hopeful drawings and forbidden romances. But more important than that is the reveal of character.
William admits to his robo-paramour that he has a fiancée, and it throws some temporary tangles into their dalliance. But before he does, the two speak about why they’re on this journey. Dolores talks about wanting the sort of change, wanting something new, that she can only find by breaking out of the loop she’s been in for all this time. And William talks about getting lost in his books, of having lived in stories, and now that he finds himself in the middle of a real life one, he wants to find the meaning in it (something that lends credence to my crazy theory from earlier in the season).
The scene is well-acted, even if the writing is a little heavy-handed. But I’ll take that sort of clarity about what characters want over the endless vagaries the show’s presented thus far any day of the week. There’s power in William and Dolores setting aside their concerns and embracing one another in the throes of passion. There’s force in the notion that Dolores is breaking out of her preordained pattern, and that William ironically feels like he has to pretend in the real world, but is discovery his real life in this pretend world.
In a setting where both can have some peace (before a semi-gratuitous ambush) we get to learn more about who these two people are and why they’re after what they’re after, which makes their stories, and that mandated mayhem, much more meaningful than when it’s shrouded in mystery.
Last but not least, we get a Durden-esque reveal, that Bernard is, in fact, a robot. And if that weren’t enough, we also find out that Ford is willing to have his robot kill, or at least injure, to protect himself and his life’s work, with Hopkins turning up the villainous menace persona that calls to mind his most famous character. When it rains, it pours, and after episodes and episodes of hints and gestures, Westworld puts its cards (or at least enough of them) on the table.
The reveal about Bernard is a genuinely shocking one. I literally gasped when he looked at the plans for his own design and said “doesn't look like anything to me,” a nice touch to add weight and poetry to the reveal. But I’ll admit I’m a little concerned about where the show goes from here. Lord knows Battlestar Galactica, another show deeply concerned with whether there was an soul in machines, started using the “who’s really a cylon?” game as a crutch after a while, and I’m loathe to see Westworld fall into the same trap.
And yet, the idea of someone who knows of Westworld, who’s smart and sophisticated enough to program “hosts” and, as Bernard’s relationship with Theresa shows, passes the most personal of Turing Tests, but who is, unbeknownst to them, also a robot, is an intriguing and compelling one. His false memories, the shock of knowing that your life is a fabrication, is rich material. It remains to be seen whether the truth of where Bernard came from will be worth more than that momentary shock, or whether Westworld will harvest something worthwhile from that fertile ground.
Either way, it’s nice to see the show finally letting the audience in on all of these secrets. Given the Game of Thrones-esque model that Westworld is following, I have no doubt that there will be many more secrets and reveals to come. After all, we still don’t know much about The Maze, or about Arnold, or about what Ford’s master plan is. But even if it took seven episodes, finally knowing what the vast majority of the characters want, about who they really are, gives Westworld a purpose and a momentum that it’s otherwise struggled to maintain up to this point.
Best episode so far. I kinda expected some of them to be actually hosts from the beginning but nonetheless the unmasking was very well executed.
WOW What a plot twist
Bernard!! WTF??
I'm still in shock.
Hannibal is up to his old tricks..!
AMAZING. This show is fucking amazing. I'm questioning my own reality. The actors are killing it (no pun intended). That "What door?" scene gave me goosebumps. Holy crap!
Anthony Hopkins is absolutely delightful. Stellar performance in that last scene. He freaked me out. He looked like he was channeling Hannibal Lecter. This was probably the best acting I've seen, along with Abernathy's. Theresa was glorious. The look on her eyes when see saw Bernard was a host. I suspected he was one since he was the only one with a narrative. Somehow I think he has Arnold's conscience (the anagram is pretty obvious) but watching him discover it was heartbreaking. What an acting. He killed it tonight (too soon?). That dead expression and those subtle movements were very robot-like. The moment Bernard said "what door?" I totally had an internal freak-out. Oh boy. I get Ford is replacing everyone with hosts and I get he's already replacing Theresa with her host version. One Theresa in, one Theresa out. So, who the he'll is real in there? Perhaps Elsie is or Lee Sizemore too. Maybe his only purpose is to create narratives inferior to Ford's so to serve his ego.
Theresa's death is probably one of the most disturbing things I've ever seen. Getting killed by your lover who was secretly a host created by your boss who is a megalomaniac in his secret basement. So hosts can indeed kill guests. So, what's Ford's end game? To create a robot army? To play with his world? He's scary as fuck. I love it, simply love it. That room was the same in which Bernard was interviewing Dolores. Was it Arnold and not Bernard that time? (two timeline theory). Giving i-Bernard those memories is devastating. And that scene when they fired a host. The look on Ford's face. That's pure cinema: show, don't tell.
And that medical equipment in the background, it looked like present day tech, not future tech. So, this could lead us to the two timeline theory.
It makes you question your own life. Simply perfect
Was wondering why Bernard would waste his time with some old broad when he had so many hot droids at his disposal.
And what's more, Delores is a special host, which means that the current timeline Dolores is in, is like the one of the other hosts. And when Bernard talked to her ijthat room episodes ago, it could not be Bernard, but Arnold himself. I don't know, that photo of "Arnold" and Ford looked like there was someone missing there. Bernarnold maybe? Moreover, Arnold fell in love with the hosts, preferring them and in this episode, Bernard told Theresa that he understands the hosts and that the human beings confuse him. I was one of those who thought Bernard was a host since the very beginning: the only one with a backstory, he had his own reverie (cleaning his glasses), he saying he's been there forever. All this made me doubt him. And, if that scene with Bernard interviewing Dolores was not in another timeline or if it wasn't Arnold, it means that it was Ford the one who sent Bernard to interview her. that's why I think it was Arnold all along. That Bernard was designed as Arnold and that they look the same. That's the only way it makes sense, unless they say something different next episode.
And William and his story about reading books. Quite suspicious. I remember the MIB said something like he knew a lot of stories and that he wanted to get the meaning. Quite similar to what William said this episode.
This show is just mind-blowing. I don't know what it is what anymore.
Omg! This show is getting so good! But the ending... Nooo!
Oh my... that ending scene absolutely blew my mind. Anthony Hopkins is king.
The best episode ever! Nice end....
Incredible episode, 10/10. That Bernard scene was the best plot twist I have ever scene!
I knew it! I just knew it!
Yea mind is blown. Great episode. Best of this season so far.
Good title choice. This show is made in details, so sometimes I need to reflect a few minutes about to absorb all the events :'D
Holy mother of God my mind is blown. I can't believe it! And all the theories that the other users wrote on here are all the more fascinating...
Gosh! So did Ford knew the Secret between Bo & Do?
I thought episode 6 was my favorite episode. I was very wrong. Things just keep getting better and better.
Holy shit.
It was one of the popular theories that Bernard is a host as well and it was nearly a running gag to say that his wife and son are his programmed backstory, but now it's true. Wow. It's not like I didn't believe that theory (I was sure that at least one of the main characters is a host), but they actually managed to portray that revealing in such a way that I was still surprised. When Bernard said "They're programmed to ignore this place. They literally couldn't see it if they were staring right at it. [...] What door?" I already knew what was coming, but Jesus, it was a great scene. And the pure shock on his face after he heard that he's a host. It makes you wonder how many times he already heard it and how often he had to forgot about it a few seconds later.
That plot twist reminded me a lot of a certain episode of Mr. Robot in season 2 :) It made you question everything you just saw as well.
And of course Maeve just killed it again - "You think I'm scared of death? I've done it a million times. I'm fucking great at it. How many times have you died?"
But I do think the two guys are stupid for just listening to her. She's not always with them, so they should just tell someone about her. They have so many cameras everywhere that they probably even have proof of her threatening them. Even if it's not possible to put her to sleep anymore, they can still restrain her and probably disable her in some kind of way. Not sure if that's just a plothole or if these two guys are supposed to be that stupid.
since the beginning of this episode i knew Bernard was off, that he was one of them.i don't know how but i felt it. what a wicked twist!!
Greatest episode so far. The theory that Bernard was also a host didn't convince me when I first read it, but now I don't know what to think about this show anymore, anything is possible
To put it simply... Wow!!
Ho Bernard, Bernard, who would have thinked!
My Oh my, best episóde so far! Now we are getting in sync!!!
This episode was so good. It's rare to find a show where you get this surprised. Looking back the signs we're there that Bernard was in fact a host, but watching the scene with the door. O M G. That was some 12/10 stuff. Can't wait for the episode next monday!
Ed Harris is hardly the villain you realize after seeing this episode. Then again I am sure who is good. Even James Marsden's robot cowboy isn't as good you originally were made to think.
This makes me question everything... the characters, the show... this very life that we live....
i liked the reveal in the end but the romance shit really puts a damper on things for me. i wish they'd stick to action and philosophical concepts of ai. i don't need to see that boring dude getting it on with that even more boring machine. if i did i'd watch a porn of someone fucking a hoover.
This was one of those mind blowing episodes! Now it makes you wonder who else could be a host???!!
WTF, i like this events. Very good episode.
Jesus, Anthony Hopkins is almost Lecter-level chilling in this episode, right from that chuckle after the fake demonstration, until the final basement scene.
Sidseeeeee! Nooooooooo! Why?? Why not her replacement!?
Wow, just wow! Best episode yet.
Besides the theories... I think Management is wanting Delos to expand their robots across the world. Replacing leaders, politicians, etc. Or maybe already have?
best episode until now,willian is the man in black
OMG! :O I loved this episode!
I'M. SCREAMING. OF ALL THE THINGS. NEVER EXPECTED THIS. WHAT THE.
Shout by ManiacBVIP OG 12BlockedParent2016-11-16T01:15:14Z
"Doesn't look like anything to me". Be very afraid when you hear that phrase.
Very good reveal. Whilst it doesn't surprise me that some of the park staff are themselves hosts, they did a lot to misdirect you from (but still sort of hint at) thinking Bernard was one of them. As soon as he said "what door?" shortly after explaining that hosts are programmed to not see the house at all, I think we all knew this wasn't going to end well. And with the first (or maybe second?) human casualty now confirmed, I think we're about to see things go very, very wrong.