The episode opens with Maeve getting interrogated by Bernard. Maeve lies to Bernard and says she slit Clementine 2.0’s throat because she perceived her to be a threat to the guests, which triggered a “Good Samaritan” reflex. However, Maeve comes alive when Bernard checks Maeve’s personality attributes and quickly reveals that she knows that Bernard is a host. She shuts Bernard down using her newfound powers of persuasion but says that she won’t erase his memory because that’s what the humans do. Ultimately, Maeve has Bernard send her back into the park so she can meet with Hector and his gang.
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At the Confederato’s camp, William tries to explain to Logan that Dolores has somehow become self-sentient. He asks Logan to help Dolores get out of the park, but Dolores wonders whether getting “out” is so wonderful if the guests keep clamoring to get back in. Logan says that he’s going to help William, but not in the way that he wants, and then drags Logan away.
Bernard sneaks into Ford’s office and then asks Ford to meet him in cold storage. Bernard confronts Ford and reveals that he knows that Arnold wrote the more “elegant” parts of his code. Bernard asks Ford to give him access to all of his memories so he can “meet” Arnold. Ford warns Bernard that he might not like what he finds, but Bernard gives Clementine 1.0 a gun (because they never reset her prime directives not to kill people) to help persuade Ford to unlock his memories.
Bernard “falls” into his memories and wakes up in a hospital room next to his son. He slowly relives his memories and realizes that he killed both Theresa and Elsie. After briefly “waking up” he tells Ford to send him back.
Logan drags William in front of a campfire and goes on a rant about how William has totally forgotten about his sister. Logan shows William a photo (the one that Abernathy found in the pilot episode) of William’s fiancee and then says that he’s not the first person to fall for a host. Logan grabs Dolores and tells her to “convince” him that she’s a “real live girl” and then stabs Dolores in the stomach to show off her mechanical innards to William. As Dolores lies bleeding on the ground, Dolores tells Logan that Arnold made this world beautiful, but humans keep ruining it. She then grabs a knife and slashes Logan’s face before making her escape.
As Dolores runs away, Arnold tells her to “remember” and she’s suddenly isn’t bleeding anymore.
Maeve approaches Hector with a gun and warns him that one of Hector’s posse (the girl with the snake tattoo) is about to kill him. After Maeve’s “prediction” comes true, Maeve offers Hector a partnership: she wants to ride into “hell” and rob the place blind. When Maeve tells Hector to stab her if he doesn’t want to follow, it triggers Hector’s past memories and he agrees to come. As Hector and Maeve start to wake up, Hector asks how they get to “hell”, so Maeve sets the camp on fire while they continue to have sex.
Logan approaches William with a bottle of rum to reconcile with him and asks if William now realizes that the place isn’t real. William apologizes for getting so caught up, so Logan unties him. Logan says that everyone gets seduced by Westworld, and then says they had a real bonding experience together. William and Logan then hug it out.
Teddy wakes up in camp surrounded by Wyatt’s followers. The blonde woman tells Teddy he can find Wyatt in Escalante, the place that Teddy and Wyatt massacred in the past. Teddy recounts the massacre….but the woman forces him to remember that it was actually a past memory in which Teddy (as a sheriff) shot up the entire town. The woman then kills Teddy after telling him that Wyatt will meet him in the city swallowed by sand. After the Man in Black reveals that he’s been to the “city swallowed by sand”, the woman then knocks him out too.
The next morning, the Man in Black wakes up with a rope around his neck. The rope has been thrown over a tree branch and then tied to a horse…so if the horse walks away, he’ll be hung. The Man in Black slowly makes his way over to Teddy’s body and grabs the knife in his gut and cuts himself free just as Charlotte walks up to him. Charlotte explains the current situation to the Man in Black and says she wants his vote to help push Ford out of power. The Man in Black says that he’s interested in someone else’s narratives so he doesn’t mind if Ford gets booted out, but warns her not to interrupt him again.
Stubbs gets alerted that they’ve found Elsie’s tablet in a remote part of the park. He heads into the park to look, but quickly gets confonted by the Ghost Nation. Stubbs ties to shut them down, but he’s instead tackled to the ground by one of the Indians.
The next morning, Logan wakes up and discovers that the entire camp has been massacred….except for William. It turns out that William killed them all, as he now understands how “the game” is played. William wants Logan’s help to track Dolores down and warns him not to call him “Billy” ever again.
As Bernard continues his trek into the past, he remembers when Maeve came alive for the first time and realizes that the hosts can come alive. Bernard also remembers his first conversation with Ford about Arnold…
As Bernard and Ford’s conversation takes place, Dolores heads into the original Westworld town and walks into a church, where she sees dozens of hosts trying to recall their own pasts. Dolores walks into the church’s confessional, which turns out to be an elevator into the original Westworld park. Dolores sees a young Ford looking for Arnold and follows him down into Ford’s original workshop.
Meanwhile, Ford hands Bernard a picture of Bernard’s “son” and explains that Bernard’s backstory was a homage of sorts. Ford then sends Bernard all the way to his first memory, the memory of Bernard’s son’s death. After a brief conversation, Bernard’s son tells Bernard to open his eyes…which reveals his true “first” memory, which is waking up next to Ford. It turns out that Ford designed Bernard after Arnold, using all of Arnold’s original mannerisms.
The episode ends with Dolores talking to the real Arnold…in Arnold’s workshop. Dolores says that the maze was supposed to bring her joy, but that nowhere’s safe. Arnold tells Dolores to remember, and then she realizes that her hallucinations are just memories because she killed Arnold.
Dolores walks out of the confessional, just in time for the Man in Black to walk into the church. Dolores is horrified.
Bernard says that he’s going to find all the sentient hosts and free them, but Ford warns that they won’t trust him because he’s helped oppress them for years. Ford explains that the outside world won’t trust him and that Bernard is the real threat. Bernard tells Clementine 1.0 to pull the trigger, but she doesn’t. It turns out that Ford built a back end into Clementine’s code and was in control all this time. Ford hoped that Bernard would choose to rejoin him of his own free will, but he sees it’s time to wipe the slate clean. Ford then forces Bernard to put the gun to Bernard’s head and pull the trigger. The episode ends with Ford walking away as Bernard shoots himself…just as Ford ordered him to do.
