So, it’s been quite a minute since Season 2 of Westworld aired on HBO. As a result of this, everyone has forgotten what the heck is going on.
Luckily, HBO is aware of how confusing their timeline can be with their mix of humans and robots that look just like humans, so they included a massive recap to help get everything in order.
Except that Episode 1 opens and it is still hard to work out what is going on and, as Forbes points out, the new season appears unrecognizable as viewers are bought fully into the real world for the first time.
Scenes also appear to be cut in a way that makes viewers wonder if everything is happening out of order again. However, the storylines do appear to run in a basic line, except when newcomer, Caleb (Aaron Paul) has a flashback to the reason why he is an unhireable mess.
Spoiler alert: he was in the military, and things went wrong. His friend died in the process.
But, I jump ahead of myself.
Westworld premiere recap
Backing up just a bit to the start of the episode, viewers discover a new character prepping for bed. Considering all the technology that he’s using and his apparent absolute reliance on it, it comes as no surprise that he wakes up zip tied.
Of course, Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) is behind it because she discovered that, outside of the Westworld theme park, she needs a pocketbook.
Since her brain is a hivemind and hooked into the technology, she picks some random a*shole that used her at the park and took his money.
Now, ready to take on the world, she starts infiltrating everything. Picking a boyfriend based on where he works, her goal seems to be to find out everything she can about a new group called Incite Inc.
Viewers know from promos leading up to the Season 3 premiere of Westworld that this will be an essential storyline moving forward, but we have no idea why just yet.
We are made aware that Incite seems to be in control of all the technology in the real world. For example, if the traffic lights change, it’s because Incite is allowing it — that level of control.
And, if there’s one thing that people should have learned from advanced technology after the slaughter at the Westworld park three months earlier, it’s that humans shouldn’t put all their trust into A.I.
Speaking of that slaughter, Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) is the scapegoat for all of that.
Having him as a secret burner host that no one knew about has turned out to be perfect as now people believe that the “human” Bernard killed everyone, meaning the general public still has no idea that the robots are rising.
As a result, Bernard shaved his head, grew a beard, and is working on a farm under the alias, Armand Delgado.
And, as Insider points out, this is an anagram for Damaged Arnold. This also means that everyone should be particularly scared right now.
Damaged Arnold also has a very special clicker that he uses for switching between his alias and the “real” him. This device comes in handy when a couple of employees find out who he is and try to blackmail him.
With a flick of a switch, Bernard can take out anyone he likes — and does so, meaning it’s time to find a new place.
And, out of every place in the world, Damaged Arnold decides that it is time for him to go home to Westworld. *sigh*
The premiere episode of Westworld also shows that Dolores dresses up occasionally as Charlotte Hale (Tessa Thompson). Acting in her place, she effectively runs Delos from the inside.
Although to be fair, I’m not even sure how that works. Does Dolores have a secret stash of host bodies somewhere and swaps her brain balls out as she needs? Who knows, but I’m sure we’ll find out in the following weeks.
In the meantime, she is essentially running the very corporation she hopes to destroy, and that is likely all levels of awesome as far as the robots are concerned.
While Dolores has access to all of tech, she still manages to come under the scrutiny of Incite’s security chief, Martin Connells (Tommy Flanagan).
He even manages to disable Dolores, although, at this point, it appears that he still thinks he is dealing with a human and not a host.
This means he is royally f*cked once Dolores decides to come back online and kill them all.
After that, she befriends Caleb, and I feel like this could be the beginning of a truly f*cked up friendship.
Westworld post-credit scene
For those that stepped away from their screens when the credits rolled, you also missed a special extra scene.
This one involved Maeve (Thandie Newton).
While the end of Season 2 saw Maeve ready to take on the world, it appears that something has gone drastically wrong and you can tell she has no idea what is going on — as is the same with the audience — when she wakes up in what appears to be some sort of Nazi-themed park.
However, viewers will have to tune into next week’s episode in order to find out more about Maeve’s surprising new story this season.
Westworld Season 3 returns with Episode 2 on Sunday, March 22, at 9/8c on HBO.