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'Westworld' recap: Suspicions, shootouts and scares round out 'Chestnut'

Ah, the plot thickens.

Westworld's premiere had a lot of tracks to put down (which, for the most part, it did well), and this week's episode gets the train in motion. Dewey-eyed new guests, hardened killers, eerie flashbacks and eerier discoveries, "Chestnut" has it all. So step right up and enjoy the show.

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Dolores, the “daughter” of the farmer  who malfunctioned in the premiere(Abernathy), wakes up in the middle of the night and wanders outside. It seems she remembers something, or thinks she does. Ever since daddy Abernathy whispered to her “these violent delights have violent ends,” she’s been a little off, to say the least.

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Meanwhile, two buddies on a super-snazzy, futuristic train roll into the “Welcome to Westworld” station. William (Jimmi Simpson) and Logan (Ben Barns), two work friends, couldn’t be more different: William is kind and cautious; Logan’s a bit more bold ... and a jerk.

Upon arrival, William is led by a host to his own dressing room. That’s putting it mildly; it’s filled with everything western he could ever want: chaps, boots, jackets, hats, guns. When it comes time to pick from the wall(s) of hats, he unsurprisingly goes for a white one. Logan, who he finds on a saloon car that takes them inside Westworld, has chosen an all-black ensemble. This place seduces everyone, he tells William (who’s looking out the window, awestruck), and reveals who you really are.

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William (Jimmi Simpson) realizes quickly that Westworld's hosts (including this one...
William (Jimmi Simpson) realizes quickly that Westworld's hosts (including this one portrayed by Talulah Riley) are there solely for the guests' pleasure. (John P. Johnson / HBO)

We start to see that's the case, as these newcomers get a good slice of the episode's real estate. William can't get over how expansive and detailed the park is, going out of his way to help the old "town drunk." The duo run into him again at dinner, and (just as Logan warned William about interacting with every host) the old man tries to talk William into going on a treasure hunt. William at least pretends to be interested -- until Logan stabs the drunkard's hand to the table. That's one way to make a man stop talking (and start yelling).

That evening, poor William sits all lonely on his bed, having to listen to Logan’s exciting four-way in the next room. Clementine, one of the more popular hookers downstairs, tries to put a smile on that face, but William passes. He’s got someone waiting at home, he says. “Real love is always something worth waiting for,” she responds, before leaving with a kiss goodnight. How sweet?

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Behind the scenes, Elsie, the main associate of Jeffrey Wright’s Bernard, voices to Bernard her concern that Abernathy’s programming glitch could be “contagious” to other hosts. Bernard, though, doesn’t want to ruffle feathers and insists on burying the matter.

Sure enough, Abernathy’s glitch does seem to spread. Dolores, busy having a flashback of some bloody massacre, gets some shade from Maeve the Madam for standing in front of her business. With a creepily lovely expression, she tells Maeve, “these violent delights have violent ends,” and walks away.

But the damage is done. Maeve starts to have her own random flashbacks, spurts of memories that give her pause -- but, more importantly, keep her from being a good prostitute.

Bernard, meanwhile, doesn’t seem as concerned about hosts behaving unusually as he is curious. He secretly interrogates Dolores in one of the austere glass-enclosed rooms that makes Westworld’s underbelly seem all the more treacherous. She says she hasn’t been tampered with; he says that he finds her adaptations “fascinating,” but wants the changes to remain secret. He tells her not to inform anyone of their “little talks.”

It's Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins) who puts the thought that the hosts may have been...
It's Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins) who puts the thought that the hosts may have been tampered with in Bernard's (Jeffrey Wright) mind. (John P. Johnson / HBO)

When Bernard’s not secretly conversing with an ever-curious host, he’s also secretly getting it on with Theresa, Westworld’s corporate overseer -- and talking about how fascinated he is with the hosts. Fun stuff.

Later on, Dolores wanders back to the spot outside her house she was the previous night and digs up something: a gun. Cue ominous thoughts

Back to Maeve, whose work is getting so bad that she’s scheduled by the park’s techies to be decommissioned, and Clementine is programmed to take over. When Maeve goes to sleep that night in her own bed, we see in a dream what her flashbacks were. If the dream’s to be believed, Maeve once had a sweet daughter and a little house on the prairie -- before a raid by Native Americans destroyed all that. She manages to hole herself and her daughter up in the house with a shotgun, ready to go down fighting, when something worse arrives.

Who comes striding through the door? None other than the fearsome Man in Black, who Maeve’s shots cannot harm.

Realizing the dream, Maeve wakes herself up, except she’s no longer at home but in a glass room, with strange technology and two men in (truly discomforting) surgical wear. Oh, and her belly’s cut open. Scaring the bejesus out of her doctors, she manages to escape and run off into the vast network that is Westworld’s operations center. The place is so big that a naked host can run about almost unhindered.

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She stumbles upon one of the first truly terrifying scenes of the series: an area where more discomforting men are working on, disinfecting or disposing the bodies of “dead” hosts.  Stunned at the sight, Maeve doesn’t react when her two doctors come up from behind and shut her off.

Abernathy may have alluded to being aware of his existence last week, but now an “infected” host has taken a real glimpse behind the park’s curtain. It will be exciting to see if she remembers what she saw -- and how that’ll affect her going forward.

It’ll also be interesting to see how Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins) reacts to his creations’ evolution. He spent much of this episode sneaking into his own park in search of something while accompanied by a creepy boy (who’s probably a host). There’s a fun bit where Ford all but hypnotizes a rattlesnake, revealing how he can control almost every detail of the park himself.

Back in the underbelly, he listens to a spectacular pitch on a new storyline by Lee Sizemore (who’s also a real jerk). The assembled audience applauds in approval, but Ford shuts it down with a simple “no.” Later, back in the park, Ford is told by Bernard that the company won’t like Ford’s veto of the storyline, alluding to the park's creator being on some thin ice. Ford assures him that they’ll get a new storyline, one he’s been working on for a long time, and leads Bernard to a strange iron structure in the desert. What could it mean?

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All the while this episode, the Man in Black (MB) is on a mission to find the maze he believes is hidden in Westworld. 

He shoots up a group of lawmen to free a man sentenced to death, but it’s not out of affection for the man. Rather, he drags the prisoner (by his noose!) to the man’s hometown. There, MB kills all the convict’s cousins and uses his family as a pawn to get him to reveal the maze’s location.

None of it works -- the man swears he has no idea what MB is talking about -- so MB just decides to make the family suffer, treating the wife to a little dance before blowing her brains out. The man’s young daughter, who’s been quietly crying in fear the whole time, suddenly snaps out of it and tells MB the maze isn’t meant for him, reminding us in the process that they’re still robots at heart. Still, she gives him a clue via riddle, and that’s all he needs for the day.

Do you think Ford's project connects to the maze MB is after? I sure do. Do you also think Ford has something to do with his hosts becoming more self-aware? I sure do. Do you also think Maeve will go all Uma-Thurman-from-Kill-Bill on some people when she puts the pieces of her existence together? I sure hope so.

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For more on Westworld and other TV/movie news, follow me on twitter @HJuncensored.

Logan (Ben Barns) and William. Which Westworlder might you be?
Logan (Ben Barns) and William. Which Westworlder might you be?(John P. Johnson / HBO)