Westworld: Season 2 finale recap

This week’s Westworld was its last until next season and what a finale it was. Here is everything that went down in the action-packed episode.

The Westworld Season 2 finale opens on a flashback of Dolores testing Bernard. After the flashback, we see Bernard heading to The Valley.

Dolores leaves Teddy behind to make her own way to The Valley. She finds William and forces him to come along, as she says she will need a monster to get there.

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We also see Akecheta lead hosts to the valley and Clementine lead QA.

Back in The Mesa, just before Maeve is killed by the tech, the other dead hosts in the room awaken and kill the tech. They also heal Maeve.

Hector and crew come into The Mesa looking for Maeve. They come across Lee and Hector tells him he can stay there and die. Lee follows them anyway. They see QA responders with their guns ready. Suddenly, a group of buffalo burst through the door, killing the Delos employees. Maeve follows after. This sequence was a little bit cheesy because of the use of slow motion, however, Maeve’s line about saving herself was great.

Bernard makes it to The Door but is interrupted by QA. However, they are killed by William and Dolores. William wonders who Bernard is. Dolores tells him it was what he was looking for all those years. He realizes it is Arnold and Dolores reveals Bernard is her own creation.

William tries to kill Dolores, but she does not die. One bullet ricochets and William is injured. Dolores leaves him, saying she will not let him destroy himself yet. As Bernard and Dolores descend into The Forge, Bernard has a time flash.

In this timeline, Strand and Stubbs have an argument about guest safety. Bernard travels with Hale, Strand, and Costa into The Forge. They see a dead Dolores on the floor and realize she must have flooded outside The Forge. Hale and Strand demand Bernard to tell them where Abernathy’s control unit is.

Back to the other timeline, Dolores tells Bernard she doesn’t want access to a new land, but mankind’s undoing. They enter the system and see James Delos’ baselines of his experiences in the park.

Then, they are transported into Delos’ memories. In the one memory, they meet Logan, who reveals himself to be the system itself. Logan shows them Delos’ most distinguished memory- the day he abandoned his son when he needed help the most.  He tells them he created millions of Delos copies, unable to get it exactly right. The problem with the copies is they were too complicated.

Logan tells Bernard he instructed Logan to let Dolores do whatever she wants in the system. He shows Bernard and Dolores a literal library of each guest’s code (what a cool concept).

Maeve and crew make their way to Maeve’s daughter. They are pursued by QA. Surrounded by QA, Hector plans to distract them while Maeve and the others escape. However, Lee ultimately sacrifices himself for the others. (Now that’s how you do a character redemption arc.)

Bernard learns The Valley Beyond is a virtual world for the hosts, untouched by humankind. However, only their minds can enter.

The hosts outside see the “door” open and begin to enter the new world.

Dolores says The Valley is yet another false reality. Bernard responds that the hosts made their own choice. They exit the system and she begins to erase the guests’ data. Bernard says this will destroy the host world as well.

As the “door” starts to close, Clementine, Hale, Elsie, and QA arrive. As Clementine rides by the hosts, they start to attack each other. Armistice kills Clementine, but the hosts continue to attack. Hector tells Maeve to go and find her daughter. William makes his way into the heart of The Forge.

Dolores tells Bernard to trust her, they can create their own stories. Bernard says she will just kill everyone. He shoots and kills her. In the carnage, Hector is shot and killed.

Maeve reaches her daughter. She freezes the other hosts, giving time for her daughter to flee into The Valley. As her daughter runs, Maeve tells her she loves her. Maeve is shot and killed. The hosts unfreeze and attack each other again. Akecheta makes through to The Valley and finally reunites with his wife (cue the crying).

Bernard stops the guest data deletion and exits The Forge. Outside he finds the hosts dead and Elsie and Hale. The Valley begins to flood and the group heads back to The Mesa.

In The Mesa, Elsie says she can’t trust Bernard. She freezes his motor functions and forces him to sit. Elsie confronts Hale about caring about the secret project more than the human lives. Hale offers her a position in exchange for keeping quiet. However, Hale ultimately kills her as she is not “morally flexible” enough for the job.

Bernard gets Ford back. He wonders if anyone even has any free will, humans included. Ford asks him if he will continue his story.

Back to the other timeline, Strand and team find the encryption key inside Dolores’ body. They are able to access the data. Bernard begins to remember everything. Suddenly, Hale shoots all the Delos team. Bernard created a host version of Hale and uploaded Dolores’ consciousness into her. This Hale killed the actual Hale.

Hale-Dolores changes the coordinates to The Valley so no human can access them. She shoots Bernard.

He wakes up on a shore and realizes it wasn’t Ford that came back, but rather his own inner voice.

Hale-Dolores goes to where Stubbs and QA are stationed. There we see Maeve, Hector, and Armistice dead. Stubbs tells her he doesn’t know where his loyalty should lie. As Hale-Dolores goes off to the mainland, we see that William somehow survived yet again. We also see Teddy presumably in The Valley.

Bernard wakes up in Arnold’s house with Dolores. She tells him Ford created a world for them, however, they are still in danger. They will both need to survive, but not as friends or allies. She leaves with Hale.

Next: Evan Rachel Wood chooses to #Resist on Westworld Finale Day

Bernard exits his house and makes his way through the yard. He opens the door to the outside world. We see him smile, but the screen fades to black before we see what’s behind the door.

The Westworld season 2 finale was a crazy, emotional ride. It sometimes felt like it was trying too hard to be “epic”, but it was ultimately an entertaining finale that raised a lot of questions for next season.

What did you think of the Westworld season 2 finale? Comment below! 

Westworld Season 3 is confirmed and will return soon to HBO.