Westworld's premiere established the rules of the game, the machinations of the designers and the loops of the hosts. Episode 2 introduced viewers to the guests’ perspective.

“Chestnut” lacked the first episode’s fabulous bookends of Dolores’s mirrored interrogations, but it made up for it with the introduction of new characters and the thickening of plots.

It turns out that Westworld has a moral choice system like so many other role-playing games. In Mass Effect, for example, your actions and dialogue choices fall into “renegade” or “paragon” categories, opening different story possibilities and affecting your reputation. In Fable, evil characters sprout devil horns while those who do good get haloes.

In “Chestnut,” the moral quandary that all Westworld guests face is represented by the cowboy hat that new visitor William chooses before boarding the train into the park — but his journey probably won’t prove to be as black and white as is implied by the lighter color of his headwear versus and his friend Logan’s darker millinery.

In a really good video game, like The Witcher 3, your choices aren’t necessarily “good” or “evil.” There are shades and layers in between, and there are consequences one way or the other, no matter what decisions you make. And Westworld is a really good video game. So is William a “good guy” because he doesn’t want to rape and pillage with Logan, or is he bad simply by being there and taking part in the “fun”? More importantly, will that matter either way if/when the hosts rise?

I’ll always see Jimmi Simpson as It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Liam McPoyle, a member of an incestuous hillbilly clan who knock back milk like it’s whiskey. Hopefully, William never has a run-in with the milk-obsessed bandits from episode 1 or the association might grow difficult to overcome.

Jimmi Simpson as William and Ben Barnes as Logan Image: John P. Johnson/HBO

Though she’s not the focus of episode 2 like she was in the first hour of Westworld, Dolores appears to have assumed an important new role: patient zero for whatever “virus” is allowing hosts to access their memories.

The soon-to-be iconic phrase, "these violent delights have violent ends," appears to be the trigger, much like "a deep and dreamless slumber" is the phrase that puts the hosts to sleep. “We speak the right words and we create life itself,” Ford says. Apparently that’s not all words can do in Westworld.

Dolores wakes in the night hearing voices, but unlike Walter’s voices in the first episode (he was clearly talking to someone as he drizzled milk on his victims in the saloon) we actually hear Dolores’s voice, if briefly.

Obviously, someone is deliberately causing the hosts to remember, be it Dolores’s flashback to a decimated Sweetwater, or Maeve’s dreams of a past life. But who? Given Ford’s secrecy, he could have some ulterior motive, while Bernard has his own secrets — it seems his clandestine chats with Dolores are stricken from the record, but she remembers their conversations, which goes against just about every rule of the park.

Dolores isn’t ignorant of that fact: “Have you done something wrong?” she asks Bernard. Someone must have cranked her “perception” stat up.

Thandie Newton as Maeve and Jasmyn Rae as Homestead Girl Image: John P. Johnson/HBO

Speaking of which, the designers fiddling with poor Maeve’s personality in their attempts to make her more sexually attractive makes for a sad sight — but these scenes have the positive side effect of letting actress Thandie Newton demonstrate her skill. Watching her repeat the same lines with barely perceptible alterations to her tone and mannerisms is impressive, and it highlights the strength of many of the actors playing hosts on Westworld, not to mention the writing.

Is Dolores even aware of what she’s doing when she “activates” Maeve’s repressed memories? The way Evan Rachel Wood plays the scene could go either way; maybe she blacked out for a few seconds, her programming momentarily overcome by a sinister urge in her code. Or maybe she’s fully awakened, playing coy the other 99 percent of the time, and knows exactly what she's attempting.

The hosts’ exact degree of consciousness is a central mystery in Westworld, and the actors and script do an amazing job of dancing around it. I hope it’s something they keep us guessing on for as long as possible.

Jeffrey Wright as Bernard Lowe and Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Robert Ford Image: John P. Johnson/HBO

Within the company, Ford begins to flex his muscles in a way it seems he hasn’t in some time. Despite Sizemore’s confidence that their “fearless leader” hasn’t weighed in on a storyline in ages, so is unlikely to interfere in his plan, Anthony Hopkins’ character shoots down his wanton “Odyssey on Red River” storyline without a moment’s hesitation.

Likely no one had a problem seeing Sizemore get shut down, as he proves himself a worse and worse person with every scene he’s in. Even so, you have to wonder about Ford. It’s been hinted he has “demons,” and he clearly isn’t interested in sharing what his new project is... yet.

“You can’t play god without being acquainted with the devil,” Ford tells Bernard. Which is he? Is there a difference? And why did he apparently create a host version of himself as a child who wanders around in the desert?

That conversation, whether literal or metaphorical, might reveal something of Ford’s motivations: he created Westworld because he wanted to be free to do as he pleased. That doesn’t sound like a hero’s motives to me.

Ed Harris as the Man in Black Image: John P. Johnson/HBO



Ed Harris as the Man in Black continues to play the most perfectly despicable villain — when he’s not terrorizing Dolores it seems he’s murdering entire posses, towns and families (at least most of them won’t remember). His goals became a little more clear tonight: he seeks the maze, although it “isn’t meant for [him].”

The Man in Black’s exploits are often hard to watch, but they also so far have served as the most “Western” scenes in this predominantly sci-fi show. The showdown at the cantina played like a thrilling tribute to the genre — until you remember he can’t be hurt. Takes some of the fun out of it, which is perhaps the very sensation that may be catching up with the villain, causing him to dig deeper into the game after 30 years of coming to the park.

What will come of Bernard and Theresa’s relationship? (Side note: “You’re certainly a man comfortable with long pensive silences” is probably the worst line in the show yet, but I’ll forgive it as an aberration.) Will Maeve remember the horrors she glimpsed? What is Ford’s new storyline and why is he being so weird about it? Will William turn out to be the white knight he seems to think he is (and would that even be a good thing)? What is Dolores doing with a gun — and who put it there for her and guided her to it?

We got more mysteries than answers this week, but I like the direction Westworld is headed.

Westworld airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO.