Chestnut

"Chestnut"
Season	1
Episode number	2
Writer(s)	Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy
Director	Richard J. Lewis
Episodes
Previous	"The Original"
Next	"The Stray"

Chestnut is the second episode of Westworld, and the second episode of the first season. The episode was co-written by series creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, and directed by Richard J. Lewis.

Synopsis

“	First-time guest William and repeat visitor Logan, arrive at Westworld with different expectations and agendas. Bernard and Quality Assurance head Theresa Cullen debate whether a recent host anomaly is contagious. Meanwhile, behaviour engineer Elsie Hughes tweaks the emotions of Maeve, a madam in Sweetwater’s brothel, in order to avoid a recall. Head Writer Lee Sizemore pitches his latest narrative to the team, but Dr. Ford has other ideas. The Man in Black conscripts a condemned man, Lawrence, to help him uncover Westworld’s deepest secrets.	”
–Official Synopsis

Plot

Dolores hears a male voice saying "Do you remember?" Dolores steps outside her home in the middle of the night, dressed in her nightclothes and digs up a hand gun.

We see a pair of visitors stepping off the monorail: Logan and William. Logan is arrogant, and William is passive. William is engaged to Logan’s sister, and he and Logan work at the same company. [[File:William_arrives.jpg|thumb|William arrives at the Mesa Hub to prepare for his visit to the park. William is greeted by a female host in a white dress who takes him to a private suite. She tells him there are no formal guidebooks or instructions, and that "figuring out how it works is half the fun."

"Are you real?" William asks her.

"If you can’t tell, does it matter?" she replies.

She presents him with a large choice of clothing options. All of the clothing has been tailored to fit William perfectly. He asks if there's a changing room. "I can help you or, if you prefer, I can step outside", she says. He asks what most people do, and she assures him he doesn’t have to worry about what other people do. She starts to undress him, and offers to have sex with him, but he declines, She politely leaves him to change on his own.

In Westworld's control building, the Mesa Hub, Elsie Hughes is working when her boss, Bernard Lowe enters, he asks her how she's doing with "the build for the new narrative". Elsie is working on the problems that Peter Abernathy had after finding the modern photograph. She can't find out why it caused problems in the way it did - he shouldn't have brooded on it all night. Elsie says that it was Robert Ford's addition to the update that caused the problem and wants to rebuild Peter, or at least recall the hosts that had contact with him. Bernard won't allow it.

In Sweetwater is bustling and everything seems normal. Dolores Abernathy crosses the street while carrying her shopping, just as she does every morning. Halfway across, she pauses and looks puzzled. She hears a male voice say, "Remember", and turns towards it. As she looks down the street she sees a very different scene than she had moments ago: bodies and wreckage are lying everywhere and a cart is aflame. She hears the sound of screams, but faintly. And, she sees a wolf loping across the corpse-shewn street.

Dolores returns from her waking nightmare (actually a memory), to find Maeve Millay shouting at her. Maeve rudely asks Dolores to not stand near the saloon looking like a half-wit. She states that this is because she doesn't want her potential customers to assume that Dolores represents the kind of prostitutes the saloon has to offer. Dolores, not fully recovered from her bad memory, quietly says to Maeve, "These violent delights have violent ends." Dolores' statement causes Maeve to become nonplussed, and she

puzzledly gazes back at her. Dolores then turns and walks away.

"These violent delights have violent ends."

William changes into his Westworld

clothing and is met by the host, Angela again. She offers him a black or white hat. He chooses a white one.

While on the train (the "Black Ridge Limited"), William orders a drink, and looks around at the people in the bar car. Logan enters from the same door that William came from, zipping up the fly on his pants. The train lurches forward and emerges from a tunnel. William and Logan take in  the spectacular scenery of the Westworld park.

A man is about to be hung by what looks like a posse. The gibbet is improvised and the man is having to balance on the handle of some railway machinery, a small handcar. The Man in Black (MiB) rides up and, after a short conversation with the leader, Sheriff Reed, and kills everyone except the condemned man. It's clear that the MiB is a human while everyone else is a Host. He has no trouble killing them all but they don't manage to shoot him even once, even if they had, guests cannot be killed. The man removes his blindfold to see the dead men and then the Man in Black, who greets him by name and shows him the scalp taken from Kissy. The MiB tells Lawrence that he wants the answers. He binds Lawrence's hands and rides off, dragging the rescued man stumbling along behind him.

Maeve is giving her standard introduction speech, about the little voice, to a newly arrived guest. While she speaks we see her remember being attacked by a native American with an axe. She's dressed in farmers' clothing and has a small girl, assumingly her daughter with her. The new guest sees she's distressed and gets up, excusing himself. Maeve doesn't seem to notice him leave.

We see Maeve in Analysis Mode undergoing a review, she's sitting on a stool while a man talks. He asks her "what did it say?" she answers that "This is the new world ..." The man examines her and can't see the problem and can't see why her success rate has dropped. They decide to double her "aggression" in a last attempt to get her numbers back up.

Dr. Robert Ford and Bernard Lowe are watching a host being manufactured. Lowe tells Ford that the two hosts have been retired, he also says he found it quite hard to do it. Ford tells Bernard that the photograph was not being enough to cause the failure to host Peter Abernathy. They discuss the possibility of sabotage. Ford thinks it's more likely to be something just going wrong, that the task of creating lifelike machines is complex enough to guarantee strange failures.

The train arrives at Sweetwater, the Guests disembark and walk into the town. The big man who bumped into Teddy Flood by the station does the same to William, the man on an obvious loop. William apologizes, and Logan chastises him for being too polite. Clementine tries to tempt them in as they pass, but Logan tips his hat and carries on.

A man is thrown off the back of a passing cart as they cross the street. He lands face down in the mud and William is once again chastised by Logan for trying to help the old man. Logan's obviously come across the man before and knows he wants to take them on the narrative of treasure hunting. William notices Dolores leaving the general store and loading her goods into her saddle bag. She sees her reflection in a window and pauses, troubled by something.

Briefly we see her in Analysis Mode being told "Bring yourself back online." Dolores says "Hello" to Bernard who asks her if she remembers their last conversation, she says she does and he makes sure she hasn't told anyone about the conversations he has with her. This is not a normal session with a programmer, she's sitting on an ordinary wooden chair, and she's clothed.

He tells her to go into Analysis Mode and asks if anyone else has updated her core heuristics, her deep programming. She says that no one has. He brings her back into character and says that she's not to mention him talking to her. She asks if she's done something wrong and he tells her to remove the entire conversation from her logs. He sends her back into the park.

We see Maeve being more aggressive - it just makes the guests uncomfortable now. Maeve talks to Clementine, asking if she's having nightmares. She shares her trick on how to wake from a nightmare with Clementine- counting backwards. We see her remembering something traumatic and Teddy asks if she's OK.

In the Control Room they're monitoring her performance and decide to give Clementine the role of Madam, and withdraw Maeve in the morning.

Theresa Cullen is smoking, joined by Bernard. She quizzes him about the main update and he reassures her.

William and Logan are eating a meal in the hotel dining room. William stops Logan from shooting another guest. They're joined by the old man William helped in the street. Logan tries to get rid of him, when he doesn't take the hint Logan stabs him through the hand with his dinner knife, pinning him to the table, shocking William.

We see Logan having sex with three women and William chatting to Clementine. He is uncomfortable about having sex with her because he is already engaged to Logan's sister.

In the control room we see Lee Sizemore berating a designer for not doing what he had requested. Theresa watches him and talks about his request for 50 additional hosts - he's getting 20.

Ford has still to approve the new narrative.

We see Ford going into the park, he walks through the desert and meets a Host Little Boy of about ten, he says he's wandered off from his parents. They chat and walk together. Ford seems unbothered by enticing a boy away, as though he has known him for quite some time.

Man in Black saves Lawrence from hanging, then drags him to his home.

The Man In Black is still towing Lawrence. He questions him about Kissy. He's taken Lawrence home and they sit at a table outside a Mexican cafe. Lawrence's Wife and daughter are there as well. The MiB tries to get Lawrence to tell him the entrance to the maze, Lawrence denies any knowledge and the Mib abruptly shoots the cafe barkeep, Lawrence's cousins who came upon the scene and then Lawrence's wife (in the head, after toying with her). The little girl doesn't act very alarmed, in fact, she acts quite creepy in a way. She tells the Mib that the maze isn't meant for him but tells him to follow the Blood Arroyo (a dry creek or river bed) to the place where the snake lays its eggs. Lawrence tell him to go now, the MiB says that he's never going back, and once again brings Lawrence with him in tow.

Elsie interrogates Maeve.

Ford and the boy are still walking. Ford tells the boy to look at the town with the white church and listen to its bell (there's nothing there) the boy says he can hear it. Ford shows the boy how he can control a rattle snake with gestures. At the bottom of the slope is a dark spire. He tells the boy to head home, and that he won't be back. The boy drops his stick and obediently goes - it's obvious now that he's a host.

Bernard goes back to his living quarters, Theresa arrives and we see that they're in a secret intimate relationship. Later in bed together they talk - about how he never talks but that his hosts.

We see Maeve being analyzed in Behavior Lab and Diagnostics. Elsie is examining her, she doesn't approve of the extra aggression "those morons" have added. She saves Maeve's current configuration, but makes some small, and precisely targeted, adjustments. Her assistant asks if the hosts dream. Elsie says they don't, but that they do have the concept of dreams as a safety precaution. She notes that Maeve has some physical discomfort in her abdomen and schedules a full physical examination for Maeve's next visit to the Mesa Hub with Livestock Management. Elsie passes her as fit and puts her back to work.

We see Maeve flirting, very successfully, with a guest. Elsie's adjustments have worked and she's back on form. [[File:Maeve_and_child.jpg|thumb|Maeve flashes back to a memory of protecting a child, presumably her daughter.]] Teddy and Maeve talk about their various sins, together they seem friendly. All of a sudden a guest shoots Teddy repeatedly. Maeve shows mild disapproval but remembers a previous violent episode. In a dream she remembers being happy with what appears to be her daughter on the farm, but she becomes confused with her memory of being attacked. She runs for her daughter and locks the door of the farmhouse, getting a shotgun in the process. The door opens, and instead of it being a Native American attacker, it is actually the Man in Black. She tries to shoot him but with no effect, as he is a guest. Maeve counts backwards to wake herself, the very trick she had told Clementine about.

She wakes on the examination table, it's her physical; two technicians Sylvester and Felix are cleaning up an MRSA infection in her abdomen. She opens her eyes and looks around her - scared. They see her moving and are shocked and afraid. They try to control her with no luck, blaming each other for not having her properly in sleep mode. She threatens them with a scalpel as she gets off the table, telling them to keep their hands off her. She escapes from the room and runs, holding her abdomen together.

She finds herself in an area where damaged hosts are being stored and repaired. That's when she sees Teddy dead, with the gunshot wounds he obtained while in the saloon. While she's looking at him, confused, the two technicians retrieve her by sedating her immediately. They hide the fact that she awoke.

Maeve awakens on the operating table.

In her nightgown, Dolores finds a gun and takes it indoors.

Lee Sizemore is performing, excited as he is outlining his new narrative to everyone, including Dr. Ford. "Odyssey on Red River" is his idea. He speaks about how wonderful it will be. Ford is watching, as are Theresa and Bernard. Ford simply says "No, I don't think so." He doesn't see the point and humiliates Sizemore in front of everyone. As Ford speaks, we see William crosses the street to pick up Dolores' stray can of food (the same as in every loop). They don't speak but William tips his hat to her and she smiles back at him as Logan calls him away.

Ford says that the new narrative speaks more about Sizemore than about the guests. He says he knows what the guests want. Later, in the park he's showing Bernard the black spire he was looking at with the little boy, it appears to be part of a new narrative that Ford has been working on for some time. It looks like the top of a church spire, sticking out of the ground.

Trivia

• The guests' clothes look authentic but, sensibly, have modern conveniences. Logan has a zip-fastener in his trousers, his pants, and we see him pulling it up when he enters the the bar. Zip-fastener or zippers weren't in common use until the 20th century.
• It is mentioned that Lawrence was responsible for the deaths of Donald Pardue and his brother.
• Lee Sizemore writes a new narrative called Odyssey on Red River.

Cast

Main Cast

• Evan Rachel Wood as Dolores Abernathy
• Thandie Newton as Maeve Millay
• Jeffrey Wright as Bernard Lowe
• James Marsden as Teddy Flood
• Ben Barnes as Logan
• Clifton Collins Jr. as Lawrence
• Luke Hemsworth as Ashley Stubbs
• Sidse Babett Knudsen as Theresa Cullen
• Simon Quarterman as Lee Sizemore
• Angela Sarafyan as Clementine Pennyfeather
• Jimmi Simpson as William
• Shannon Woodward as Elsie Hughes
• Ed Harris as Man in Black
• Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Robert Ford

Supporting Cast

• Ptolemy Slocum as Sylvester
• Leonardo Nam as Felix Lutz
• Talulah Riley as Angela
• Louis Herthum as Peter Abernathy
• Oliver Bell as Little Boy
• Sal Lopez as Cigarillo
• Josh Clark as Sheriff Reed
• Izabella Alvarez as Lawrence's Daughter
• Jasmyn Rae as Homestead Girl
• Price Carson as Barkeep

Quotes

Theresa: "You're certainly a man comfortable with long, pensive silences. Although, ironically, your creations never shut up, even when there are no guests around."
Bernard: "They're always trying to error correct, make themselves more human. When they talk to each other, it's a way of practicing. Theresa: Is that what you're doing now? Practicing?"

---

Elsie Hughes: "Dreams are mainly memories. Can you imagine how fucked we'd be if these poor assholes ever remembered what the guests do to them?"

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Man in Black: "No, you don't understand. This time, I'm never goin' back."

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Lawrence's Daughter: "The maze isn't meant for you."

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Man in Black: "It means when you're suffering, that's when you're most real."

---

Man in Black: "You know why this beats the real world, Lawrence? The world is chaos. It's an accident. But in here, every detail adds up to something. Even you, Lawrence.
Lawrence: "What do you want from me?"
Man in Black: "The Maze. How do I find the entrance?"

Gallery

Notes

• The episode was released four days early on HBO Go for free streaming, before its official premiere on Sunday Night.

External links

• Chestnut at the Internet Movie Database (rating {{{3}}}/10)