Westworld Season 2, episode 3 recap: Virtu e Fortuna
By Kelley Hey
HBO’s Westworld continues its second season with an action packed episode. Here is everything that went down in Virtu e Fortuna.
The episode starts off in unfamiliar territory. A female guest is in another park called The Raj. There she meets and flirts with a man. Before sleeping with him, she asks if he really is human or just a host masquerading as one. She shoots him to determine who he truly is. The shot does not kill him, revealing he is human.
Later, the couple go on a trip to hunt Bengal tigers. The woman notices the hosts have mysteriously vanished. In a tent she finds guests murdered. A host approaches them with a gun and shoots the man.
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The woman kills the host and runs away. As she is escaping, a Bengal sees her and starts chasing her. She runs out of the park boundaries while fleeing the tiger.
Bernard and the Delos group go back to the inner Westworld offices. There Bernard sees Charlotte; she asks him how he made it out alive. She mentions they are still looking for Peter Abernathy.
Bernard has yet another flashback. Back to the timeline closely after the gala massacre, Charlotte and Bernard are trying to locate Abernathy. They find him tied up with gala guests by Rebus and his men. Charlotte and Bernard distract Rebus away from the group, ambush him, and change his personality to make him super compassionate.
The new Rebus lets the captured group go. Seeing Rebus go from vicious villain to a soft, compassionate man was a riot. Bernard and Charlotte take Abernathy away, but when he sees Confedrados coming he refuses to go. As the Confedrados approach, Charlotte escapes, leaving Bernard to fend for himself (cold move, Charlotte).
Dolores and her entourage go to a Confedrado fort and convince the Confedrados to join their cause. She tells them the enemy is coming and shows them Delos’ weapons. We also see a super creepy Clementine. In the park, Ghost Nation ambushes Maeve, Lee, and Hector and Maeve cannot stop them. Hector tries talking to them but they insist on taking Lee hostage. The group escape to the nearest elevator.
Back at the Confedrado fort, Bernard and Abernathy are brought in as prisoners. Dolores demands they are let go but is ignored. Teddy punches the ignorant Confedrado and takes Abernathy to the infirmary. Dolores orders Bernard to be put in jail.
Abernathy doesn’t recognize Dolores at first, but then does. They share an emotional moment reminiscing about the past. He starts to glitch out and stutter.
Back to Maeve and crew, Hector wonders what the plan is after they find Maeve’s daughter. She says it is to go out into the “real world”. Lee argues that Maeve and Hector weren’t programmed to fall in love. Hector angrily states Lee doesn’t know him. However after Hector professes his love to Maeve, Lee reveals that speech was programmed into him.
I love how #Westworld goes from murder and mayhem to empathy and romance in 5 seconds.
— Beyond Westworld (@BeyondWestworld) May 7, 2018
We learn a little bit about Lee’s backstory. Hector’s narrative was based on his own failed romantic experiences and Hector was built to be the man Lee wishes he could be. I couldn’t stand Lee in season one, but he somehow is endearing with Maeve. Their interactions are hilarious and entertaining.
In the fort Dolores asks Bernard to fix Abernathy. Bernard asks Dolores what she is trying to do with the revolution. She states she wants to “dominate the world”.
Maeve and crew come across Armistice (the boys are back in town!). She leads them to Felix and Sylvester, who are in handcuffs. Meave takes their handcuffs off and tells them to come with her.
While trying to fix Abernathy, Bernard finds an encrypted file deep within him. Later he finally sees what is in the file and seems shocked.
Charlotte returns to the Delos team and demands to go with them to retrieve Abernathy. At the fort, Dolores tells the Confedrados to prepare to retreat. The Delos team fights their way to Abernathy, while a shaky Bernard hides.
https://twitter.com/ChocMilkSheikh/status/993311784978219014
Delos escapes with Abernathy in tow. Dolores tries to rescue him but fails. She tells Teddy they will need to go to Sweetwater to “find something”.
The Confedrados call to retreat. However, Dolores orders for the fort’s gates to close, leaving many Confedrados to die. An explosion goes off, killing the Confedrados left outside. Meanwhile, Clementine sees Bernard trying to escape and knocks him out.
Dolores orders Teddy to kill Major Craddock and his men. Craddock belittles Teddy and tells him Teddy does not know what he really wants. Teddy lets the men go, not knowing that Dolores is watching. The woman from The Raj crawls out of muddy waters. She looks up to find Ghost Nation looking down at her.
Next: Westworld Season 2, Episode 2 recap: Reunion
In the final sequence Maeve and her crew walk in the north edge of the park. Lee finds a dismembered head in the snow. They hear a cry as someone approaches.
“Virtu e Fortuna” was the weakest episode so far of season two. It tried to pack too much into one episode. The ideas of the other parks are cool, but honestly I want to discover all of the mysteries of Westworld first. There are a lot of storylines to wrap up before starting new ones. However, the episode did have some entertaining moments such as compassionate Rebus and the interactions between Maeve and Lee.
Westworld airs Sunday nights on HBO.