Westworld: 5 major questions after Season 2 premiere

HBO’s Westworld premiered its second season Sunday night. Here I break down five questions raised after the action-packed episode.

The season two premiere of HBO’s Westworld was a twisty 75 minutes of television. Throughout its action-packed scenes, the episode raised more questions than gave answers. This caused confusion and speculation throughout the fan base.

Here are five major questions raised after Westworld season 2, episode 1: (Spoilers ahead)

1. What exactly is Delos doing in the secret lab and why?

Upon entering the lab, Bernard sees the drone hosts extracting something from the regular hosts. Bernard comments to Charlotte that it seems they are extracting guests’ DNA and park experiences. Charlotte tells him they are not having that conversation at that moment.

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Since the hosts are extracting information so secretly, it seems that Bernard is pretty much on the ball with what Delos is doing. Are they using this information to create hosts based off of humans? Is their end game to replace humans with hosts? (This is very similar to the plot of FutureWorld, the sequel to the original Westworld movie.)

2. Why did Delos need Peter Abernathy?

Charlotte stated Delos needed a specific host before they could send help. Later, she specified the host is Peter Abernathy, Dolores’ “father”.

When she first mentioned the host, I thought it would be Dolores. Since William is the Executive Vice President of Delos, I figured he may want Dolores because of any leftover feelings for her. Also, Dolores is the oldest host, a rather important piece of the company.

However, I remembered Charlotte uploaded data into Peter in season one. This is mostly the reason Delos needs him as collateral; however, there may be another reason as well. You never know with Westworld. Also, where is Abernathy? 

3. How did Bernard wind up on the beach?

In the premiere, we first see Bernard waking up on a beach. Later, we see him escaping the gala with Charlotte. Presumably, this is a flashback. So, how did Bernard go from one point to the other? Also, what happened to Charlotte? Why was she not with him on the beach? Most likely the next few episodes will explain what happened in between the timelines.

4. How did the Bengal get into Westworld?

Towards the end of the episode, Bernard, Stubbs, and Karl come across a dead Bengal tiger in the park. Stubbs comments that it is from “park six” and that an animal host has never “crossed park borders” before.

Those statements raise several questions as well. How many parks are there? We already know Shogun World will be featured in this season. Are the parks adjacent to each other? Does Delos own stakes in all of the parks or just Westworld?

5. Did Bernard really kill all of those hosts?

In the closing scene, we see a body of water filled with dead hosts floating in it. A seemingly confused Bernard confesses that he killed all of them. Did he kill them sometime in between the two timelines? Does Charlotte know he was a host and ordered him to kill the hosts?

Next: Westworld Season 2, episode 1 recap

Perhaps, it was someone we still have to meet that killed all of the hosts. Personally, I think Bernard did not do it willingly. Since he is a host himself, I don’t believe he would kill other ones.

With plenty of questions posed, Westworld’s second season is sure to be an interesting one. I know I’ll be watching on the edge of my seat.

Westworld airs Sunday nights on HBO.