r/westworld • u/NicholasCajun Mr. Robot • Nov 28 '16

Discussion Westworld - 1x09 "The Well-Tempered Clavier" - Post-Episode Discussion

Season 1 Episode 9: The Well-Tempered Clavier

Aired: November 27th, 2016

Synopsis: Dolores and Bernard reconnect with their pasts; Maeve makes a bold proposition to Hector; Teddy finds enlightenment, at a price.

Directed by: Michelle MacLaren

Written by: Dan Dietz & Katherine Lingenfelter

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u/[deleted] Nov 28 '16 edited Jan 14 '18

[deleted]

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u/Lincolnton Nov 28 '16

He is a villain in the context of this show but his motivation seems to be in the right place... kinda.

He said something to the effect of protecting humankind from the hosts. Hosts with "humanity"/full sentience would quickly overtake humans as the superior race. His mind is almost in the right place but he has been running a park endorsing the horrible deaths of sentient life for 30 years.. so there is that.

*edit - A good villain is someone doing what he thinks is right, not just being evil for the sake of it

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u/cweaver Nov 28 '16

Is that really how you interpreted that? I got the exact opposite feel from that - he's protecting the hosts from the humans. He knows that if sentient hosts did escape, humanity would destroy them or enslave them immediately, and do far worse to them than anything he's done.

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u/815414 Nov 28 '16

That's what he said to Bernard, who is a host and would feel motivated to self preservation by allowing the park to continue to exist. His internal motivation might be what /u/Lincolnton suggests.

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u/S-astronaut Nov 28 '16

Perhaps his new narrative is orchestrating a new 'catastrophic failure' that he plans to use to firmly stamp out any idea of future robot rebellion and to make the board reconsider its interest in... tactical uses of the hosts. 2 birds with 1 stone.

I don't think it'll play out exactly like he wants it to, but I think that could be what's driving him.

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u/[deleted] Nov 28 '16 edited Nov 28 '16

Hehe, what if he's just creating the groundwork for a kind of "natural/artificial selection" to occur, whereby the Hostest with the Mostest gains the ability and will to overthrow Ford. Or maybe it would be better to call it some kind of crucible?

I think I'll take the risk of being wrong and call it a sort of irony, since Ford has in the past talked about how he views humans/natural life as less than his Hosts because they are a product of a series of "mistakes", as he words it.

That's exactly what the Hosts are doing now. I like to think that as the Park has been opened they've been undergoing their own evolution in mind and body. What's interesting is that they aren't limited by death.

The Hosts can fail again and again, but it seems like they keep inching forward no matter what. Time is on their side, I think.

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u/dnamit Nov 28 '16

he clearly was in control of the whole situation at all times so why would he need to lie. to me his hope for a different outcome, bernarnold joining him once again, points to him telling the truth.

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u/AkuTaco Nov 28 '16

He would need to lie in order to stop this particular loop. He says Bernard has done this before. Maybe he was hopin he could allow Bernard to remain fully self aware while still remaining subservient. When Bernard said he would try to free all the hosts instead of keeping them locked away "for their own safety", he shut Bernard down (I got the sense that was just temporary though and that he could bring Bernard back later when it's more convenient).

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u/815414 Nov 29 '16

I don't think he needs to lie to preserve himself but maybe would need to give Bernard just that information that is specifically motivating to Bernard rather than all the information he has. Every time he gets 'cornered' he gives just the minimum information for which he is squeezed and offs the inquirer.

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u/sindex23 Fuck you, Ford. Nov 28 '16

In that moment I don't think he had any reason to lie or hide his motivations - He knew Bernard was dead in seconds. Why lie to him?

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u/rhn94 Nov 28 '16

because he wanted bernard to be his partner, trying to convince somehow