Dissonance Theory

"Dissonance Theory"
Season	1
Episode number	4
Air date	October 23, 2016
Runtime	59 min
Writer(s)	Ed Brubaker & Jonathan Nolan
Director	Vincenzo Natali
Episodes
Previous	"The Stray"
Next	"Contrapasso"

"Dissonance Theory" is the fourth episode of the first season of Westworld, and the fourth episode overall.

Synopsis

“	The Man in Black finds a clue towards the maze; Maeve is troubled by a recurring vision.	”
–HBO

Plot

A Secret Game

Drawing back from the green of Dolores's eye, Bernard's reflection is seen in it as he asks her does she know where she is? I'm in a dream, she answers, after a little hesitation. Before this, he asks, do you know what happened? Her distress begins to show, growing, as she recalls "My parents, they hurt them!" Getting her to limit her emotional affect makes her calm again and he asks her what happened next? Then they killed them, and then, she ran, she recounts impassively. "Everyone I cared about is gone. And it hurts. So badly." He offers to make that feeling go away if she likes, but she asks why would she want that? The pain, their loss is all she has left of them. Even with her emotional affect turned off, tears glimmer in her eyes, "You think the grief will make you smaller inside. Like your heart will collapse in on itself. But it doesn't. I feel spaces opening up inside of me. Like a building with rooms I've never explored."

He notes that's very pretty, asking her if they wrote that for her? In part she answers, impassive again, saying adapted it from a scripted dialogue about love. More natural, she asks him if there is something wrong with the thoughts she's having? No, he tells her, but he's not the only one making these decisions. She asks him if he can help her? She doesn't know exactly what she wants from him but feels that there is either something wrong with her world, hiding beneath, or something wrong with herself. "I may be losing my mind," Taking off his glasses he cleans them, thinking before he suggests there's something he'd like her to try. A secret game: The Maze. The goal of this game is to find the center of it. If you can do that, he says, then mabye she can be free. "I think," Dolores says quietly, "I think I want to be free."

A Friendly Face

Dolores awakens outdoors in daylight, the sounds of birds chirping, the boughs of a tree above her. She sits up from where she was lying on the ground and finds the gun in her hand she used to shoot Rebus. Turning around swiftly she finds a smiling William, crouched down nearby, holding her out a cup of coffee. Taking it, she thanks him a little uncertainly.

Fearful Visitations

At the Mariposa saloon, the piano starts up, playing a new tune...Maeve standing in the bar, that same look on her face as she had when remembering Teddy dead in the Livestock Pen. "Penny for your thoughts," Clementine interrupts her. Maeve asks her if she's ever had something on the tip of your tongue, and the more you try to remember, the more it slips away? Most things that touch the tip of her tongue, Clementine says, she's all too happy to forget, making Maeve laugh. Bar, Clem adds, except for that cow poke from Abilene. with what he was packing and how he used it, she should have been paying him she notes, making Maeve laugh again. As she knocks back her sherry though, the sights and sounds around her seem to slur and slow, Clementine suggesting they better cool off a group of men, before they turn their minds to something more destructive and costly to repair. As she looks back at Maeve she sees the disorientated vague look on her face, Maeve leaning in to peer at her closer, seeing a bloody tear form at the corner of Clementine's eye, "There's something in your eye," she whispers, before blood starts to trickle down Clem's forehead, the aspect turning sideways to reveal Clementine lying on the saloon floor a bullet wound in her temple, dead. Maeve lying alongside her, also shot, barely breathing staring at her, while one of the men Clem was worried about is shooting up the place. walking over to finish Maeve off.

But Maeve remains aware, watching as the clean up crew arrive seeing a Westworld employee wearing a protective suit take a hold of Clementine and dragging her away, before another masked technician comes for her. Returned to the operating table in the Hub, she hears the beep of medical monitors again, and one tech demanding to know what the hold up is, they need 'that one' back on the shuttle topside asap, another tech answering that he's not finished with her yet. He has another bullet fragment to take from her abdomen. QA wants her back on the floor now, the first tech says, instructing him to patch her up and get her back on the floor now. With a sharp intake of breath Maeve suddenly finds herself back in the Mariposa, utterly disorientated while Clementine talks again about the cowpoke from Abilene. Looking down at her abdomen, Maeve runs a hand over it, confused and jittery.

Leaving the Saloon, heading past the Apothecary, she barely avoids getting run over by a horse and cart in her rush to get back to her rooms. There, undressed, she checks her stomach, even more confused by not finding even the hint of a scar. Staring at herself in her mirror she is bewildered, until noticing something on her white shift...a spot of blood. The sight of it bringing back a near painful flash of the Tech's masked face. Hurriedly pulling ot a paper and pencil she sketches out a picture of the astronaut looking Tech. Hearing footsteps coming, she hurriedly tries to hide the drawing, pulling up a loose floorboard to a secret hiding place, only to stop dead, a freshly stunned look on her face as she looks down to already find a pile of pages down there, turning them over to reveal a half dozen more pictures, all of the same Tech suit. Scared and panicked she drops them back in and shoves the floorboard back in place.

Agenda

In the Hub Theresa with Stubbs and a QA tech, Futterman, in attendance, aggressively interrogates Elsie over the retrieved Woodcutter, the stray hosts semi decapitated body sitting naked on a table nearby. No, Elsie says, she would not characterize it as normal host behaviour Yet, Theresa irritated, responds, Elsie is still saying it is within normal host parameters. "Well, it didn't hurt us," Elsie argues. "It's behaviour was unconventional." It smashed its own head in with a rock, Theresa scoffs. Elsie counters by suggesting that it could be a manifestation of it's Samaritan Reflex. Theresa challenging her by counter suggesting that it's also possible that Behaviour takes a 'Proprietary approach' to problems like this to avoid having to admit when they f*** up. Elsie has no response to that, Stubbs looking uncomfortable, before Theresa breaks the silence asking do they know what caused it to go off loop? No, Elsie replies, as Bernard arrives, going on to say she was hoping to retrieve some of his cognition having managed to stabilize it's wet wear before there was too much degradation. Turning the host 'on', she indicates it's twitching reaction. Theresa asking Bernard if he feels there is any chance of actually extracting anything from it? As Elsie rushes to show her, Bernard says they can try, only for Theresa to say no. Informing them that her team is taking over the situation, gesturing to Futterman, much to Elsie's chagrin. Elsie insulting Futterman's abilities and saying they need to be allowed the chance to figure out what went on here. "No more 2nd chances," Theresa tells her. QA will handle all events like this from now on. Looking to Bernard she asks him if that is a problem. He answers that they all have plenty of work on their plates, if QA want to handle this fine, just send them a copy of the post-mortem afterwards.

As he leaves, Elsie follows him, figuring that he gave her her job because she speaks her mind. He did, he confirms, at which she remarks that she would have preferred he not show up at all if he all he was going to do was cave. They think we're not telling them something Bernard points out. "And we're not!" Elsie replies indicating that there's clearly a pattern of behaviour going on, first with Abernathy, then this. Hosts imagining voices and climbing mountain tops to consult their astrological chart. This is not a glitch she insists. but for some reason he doesn't want her to tell anyone. She feels like everyone around her has some kind of agenda, at which Bernard draws her aside, and tells her that the hosts don't imagine things...the humans, including her, do. Off of her disbelieving look he points to the picture of the constellation carving done by the Woodcutter that she has on her phone, and tells her that's not Orion. Orion has three stars in its belt, not four...and walks away from her.

Something to Enjoy

Dolores walks a little from the campfire gazing out into the distance pensive. With Holden packing up, and Logan lounging by the fire, William approaches her and offers her his jacket, suggesting she must be cold. Taking it she thanks him, wrapping it around her shoulders, returning to looking away, lost in thought. William returning to the others says they have to take her back to Sweetwater. Logan thinks he's kidding, Holden pointing out if they leave now Miller, the guy they are after, is sure to get away from them. Logan tells William no way, he's the one that dragged him on the bounty hunt, the least they're going to do is see it through. William argues that they can't take a girl like Dolores on a bounty hun, Logan drawing his gun saying if he's so concerned about her he'll just blow her brains out and the Park will come get her. William grabs a hold of him asking him to please stop trying to either kill or sleep with everything?!

Logan has a sudden epiphany, telling William that now he 'gets it,. That the Westworld employees have sent Dolores, so that William will finally have something to give a damn about. William scoffs, sarcastically saying "I'm sure the people at the controls are monitoring my every mood." That, Logan tells him with a broad smile is *exactly* what they *are* doing. Pressing William he asks him does he really thing it's a coincidence that the only thing he even smiled at back at Sweetwater, turns up and drops into his lap? As William thinks on that Logan muses that *this* is why the company should bump their stake in Westworld because it is even able to give William "a sense of purpose" Upset, William points out that Logan said this trip was about welcoming him to the family, and it's actually business? To which Logan coldly replies that in his family everything is business. Holden calling on to them to get moving, Logan moves away, leaving William to look over at the distracted Dolores, perturbed himself.

Serpentine Twist

Snake Hunt

At the Blood Arroyo, the Man in Black kills a rattle snake, cutting off its head to check it's innards. Complaining that they are at the right spot and there are plenty of snakes, just none of the 'egg laying' variety, tossing away the robotic reptile's body. Lawrence gazes at him, still in disbelief that he killed his wife and 'pruned' his family tree all in pursuit of some goddamned maze? In the hopes of finding what? "This whole world is a story," the MiB answers, and he's read every page except the last one. He wants to know how it all ends, what it all means. That, Lawrence says, is why he never learned to read. Lawrence tries to convince the Man in Black to give up his snake search and to head to Pariah instead, his friends could help him. The Man in Black disregards this, saying his friends have nothing he wants this trip, slowing his walk as spots, through the reeds, Armistice washing in the river with her top off, and realizing that the snake tattoo that winds around her body could be the "snake" in the clue he was given by Lawrence's daughter.

The Woman with the Snake Tattoo

The two men watch her bathe, the MiB admonishing Lawrence reminding him he was a married man up until the day before, but Lawrence disabuses him of the notion of any attraction to her, saying that while he likes fire in his women, the only thing Armistice has ever mounted is dead heads on sticks, and strongly advises the MiB that they should get out of there. But as the MiB watches Armistice put her top back on and move to leave the river, he hears a gun click behind him, and turns to see a man holding a gun to Lawrence's chest...another man behind that, and four more behind him, Tenderloin and Todd included. Tenderloin calls over to Armistice to say they found some more food for the horses, Armistice approaching approving, saying they were starting to get ornery. The MiB tells her that he and Lawrence were just admiring her tattoo. She compliments his hat, saying maybe she'll keep it...the horses can have the rest of him, which makes him laugh, wondering how they've never met. Clearly a terrible oversight on his part, he suggests.

Man in Black meets Armistice

He asks them where they're headed, Armistice exchanging glances with Tenderloin before telling him they're heading to retrieve something of great value. The MiB feels they look a little short handed. Tenderloin telling him they have enough men, the MiB promptly killing two of them, and suggesting to Armistice that she has a couple of positions open. She silently invites them to join.

Wandering One

In the Hub, Stubbs is approached by one of the Surveillance Techs who informs him they have a host on a pretty big deviation from her loop. On his asking which one, the tech tells him it's the Rancher's Daughter from Sweetwater. "Dolores," Stubbs sighs, before asking if she's accompanying a guest? It's unclear she replies, Ford has disrupted so many storylines planning his new narrative it's hard to tell. He tells her to find her with Behaviour they can take her in and handle her that day.

Remember

The Maze the Little Girl draws in the sand

In tow with Holden, William and Logan, Dolores finds herself in Lawrence's home town of Las Mudas, looking around the town with interest. Making her way to the town fountain, she see's the child host that is Lawrence's daughter sitting alone on the far side of the fountain, drawing with a stick on the ground. Greeting her, Dolores compliments the town and asks her if it's her home? The girl shaking her head. Dolores gently asks her where she's from? "Same as you," she answers, without a trace of accent, "Don't you remember?" Off of which Dolores hears the the male echo-y voice prompt her to "Remember." She see's a White Church with a black spire, just like that buried in the sand. the maze design the girl is drawing on the ground, the little girl herself much more neatly dressed in an entirely different town, and the White Church's doors. Bending down she takes a closer look at the Maze, and hears voices whispering.

Not Going Back

She's interrupted and brought back when she's addressed by the town Sheriff. The little girl sudden gone. He tells her there's been word of a girl gone missing from an 'Abernathy Ranch' and gently asks her if that's where she belongs. That he's sure her Daddy is worried about her. She seems not to recognize what he's talking about and has further flashes of herself entering the White Church,, the tidy little peaceful down the Church is in, the neat version of the little girl in the same town, the Church's graveyard, her with the gun in her hand, her kneeling at one of the graves digging with her hands in the dirt, a man in black standing beside her, and her with the gun in her hand again. Looking to the Sheriff she tells him with growing fear that "My Father is Dead, and I'm not going back." her father is dead and she's not going back. But he's clearly been assigned by Behaviour to bring her in, and grabs hold of her. Only for Dolores to grab him back, her features fixed and determined, the two of them staring off against each other, until interrupted by William...both hosts returning to a more normal demeanor. The Sheriff tells him it's nothing just helping out a lost soul. William taking in the situation and saying she's not lost, she's with him. Apologizing for his mistake the Sherrif moves on. She smiles in thanks and he tells her they have a lead on Slim Miller, telling her she can stay in Las Mudas and he'll just circle back and get her. GlancingMan in black meets armaitice.jpg after the Sheriff she tells him she thinks she needs to keep going. He nods, more than happy with that. They walk on together, Dolores looking around her for any more sign of the Sheriff or someone else intent on bringing her back.

Signalled

On a ridge, the MiB, Lawrence and the rest of Armistice's men wait on horseback, Lawrence informing the MiB that Armistice has to check out whether the information about what she's looking for is good, and that she'd signal if it was. As they watch on from above, she rides up to two men waiting below them, and they talk briefly. Whereupon Armistice slashes the throat of one man and shoots the other. "Guess that's the signal," the MiB muses, cocking his head, vaguely amused.

Steers to the Slaughter

Holden, William, Logan and Dolores ride on together, and later make camp. As Holden whittles, Dolores apologizes to William for any trouble she may have cause between him and Logan. He waves that away, saying he's glad she found them, and wondering where she's headed to? When she admits she's not sure, he says he thought that they kept 'you' in zones or on paths. Her response is a rather blank look, his words apparently not wholly making sense to her, though she picks up on the word 'path', saying she used to believe there was a path for everyone. Now though, she thinks, she never asked where that path was taking her. She recalls how they would take the herd down off the mountain in the autumn. Every so often they would lose one and she would worry over it. Her father, she says getting emotional, would say that it would find its own way home, and often as not they did. But, it never occurred to her that they were bringing them back to be slaughtered.

In the silence that follows, William seems unsure how to respond before asking her how she’ll find her way now. She tries to answer before thinking she's not sure if he'll understand. Sometimes, she says, she feels as if something's calling her, telling her there's a place for her, somewhere "beyond all this". William says he knows the feeling, but asks, as she she looks up at the full moon above her, if she really doesn’t want to go back to her own life?

Moon over Dolores

The world seems to grow darker around her, the moon vast, as if in a telescopic view, before it morphs into a light like the ones by the clean up crews in the Park at night. She sees the techs moving outside her house at the ranch, tending to what looks like Peter's body, before she sees herself lying dead on the ground. A tech in a protective suit looming over her mask on, in a vision similar to that Maeve experienced. William's voice pierces her reverie asking her if she's alright, and her eyes roll back as she wobbles. is standing over her. She faints and, once again, William catching her. Saying she just had a chill, he insists on getting her back to the fire, saying she must be exhausted.

One Match, One Pistol, One Idiot

Wager considered

At Armistice's campsite at night, being encouraged to do so by his friend, Todd approaches the Man in Black apologizing for the intrusion, but wanting to say that he is a big admirer. That the MiB's foundation saved his sister's life. But the MiB viciously cuts him off saying one more word and he'll cut his throat, "This is my f***in vacation." Lawrence tells him that whatever Armistice is looking for is in the "Old Hob" prison. "These Lunatics plan to steal a cannon from the Union Cavalry Unit, blast their way in." The MiB remarks he doesn't have time for 'colour by numbers' plans and goes to Armistice to tell her that he'll ride at dawn, and go get whatever she wants out of the prison himself that he intends to go to the prison himself. Armistice asks him what his price for doing this will be, if he makes it out alive. Nothing but a "few words", he responds, wanting the story behind her snake tattoo. Cautious she wants to know what his interest is? The MiB asking her if she's ever heard tell of a man called 'Arnold', telling her she might say he's 'the original settler of these parts'. He created a world, he tells her, where you could do anything you want, except one thing. You can't die. Which means how real the world might seem it's still just a game. But then, he goes on, Arnold went and broke his own rule, he died right there in the Park, but he believes Arnold had one story left to tell. A story with 'real stakes, real violence' he says, showing her the Maze in Kissy's scalp. "You could say I'm here to honour his legacy." and he thinks her tattoo is the next part of the puzzle. Asking her if they have a wager, Armistice smiles checking that he means to break into a prison and take out 20 men...alone. Not alone he smiles in return, he'll take Lawrence...and will need one match. "One match, one pistol, and one...idiot," she looks at Lawrence. The MiB chuckling, she takes the wager.

The Most Wanted Man

Come daylight, an armored carriage with a gun mount, rolls at high pace along a dusty road, the Man in Black and Lawrence handcuffed in the back, accompanied by Deputy Roe. Lawrence giving the MiB the silent treatment, wishing the latter had left him with Sheriff Reed to hang in peace rather than having to listen to him yammer. The Man in Black offers a cigar to Deputy Roe, who takes the entire cigar case from him, leaving him with only one. The MiB taking that with reasonable grace, before telling Lawrence, it's all about choices...and his choosing to say he's been at the mercy of the MiB's allows him to absolve himself from the consequences of his own choices. Because if he did consider the implications of his own choices Lawrence would be faced with a truth he could not comprehend. That no choice he ever made, was his own. He has always been a prisoner. Leaning he murmurs to him, "What if I told you, I was here to set you free?" Lawrence giving him a 'spare me', look.

The sun hanging low in the sky they approach 'Old Hob' - Los Diablos Prison. Marshal Pruitt emerging with his deputies to greet the arriving carriage. Horse thieves Deputy Roe tells him, saying Lawrence and the MiB, practically committing the crime in front of him. The Marshall berates him in turn for not realizing that he has the most wanted man in 3 Territories in his custody. Lawrence Pedro Maria Gonzales. Pruitt tells Lawrence he heard he escaped Sheriff Reed's noose and dropped a lot of good men in the process. The Man in Black jovially tells Pruitt that Lawrence is more partial to a firing squad, Pruitt only to happy to oblige. As Lawrence is led away he tells the MiB he is going to kill him. "Maybe some day," the MiB answers almost wistfully. The Marshall telling Deputy Roe to lock the Man in Black up in the prison.

Cell Mates

Armistice's Prize

As the Deputy locks him in his cell the MiB tells him to enjoy the cigars, the Deputy telling him what to do with himself. While chuckling, the MiB is addressed by his cell mate, Hector, who asks him who he is supposed to be? "Your salvation," the Man in Black replies. Outside, the armored carriage rolls away, a resigned Lawrence is led toward the firing post and waiting squad by Marshall Pruitt, the MiB watches through the cell window bars. Hector noting that he doesn't think they've ever met. No, the MiB agrees, telling him that to him Hector always felt like a 'market tested' kind of attraction "Big gun, tasteful scar. Locked in your little cycle like some prized poodle after it's own tail." Not something Hector reacts well too, threatening to expose the MiB's guts to the world. Telling him there's no need to get teste, the MiB says he's just curious about Hector's worldview. "Some kind of half native mumbo jumbo?" Hector responds that he believes that only the truly brave can understand that the world, all of it, Gods, men, everything will end badly and no one will be saved. The MiB feeling they may have more in common then he thought. Hector asks about him in turn, what brought him here? The MiB replying that's a long story and they don't have the time. More time then Lawrence Hector opines, adding it'll be a few more days before his friends show up. Three days, the MiB is more exacting, before adding he doesn't have time to wait for that so they're leaving now. Hector sits up watching as the MiB moves to the cell door and strikes the match that Armistice gave him.

Up in the Mesa, a Surveillance Tech informs Stubbs that they have a request for a 'pyrotechnic effect, Los Diablos, low yield, two charges'. Checking his pad for who its from, Stubbs approves it.

Outside, Lawrence is having his hands tied behind the post for his execution, already blindfolded, while the MiB lights up half of his remaining cigar, and slides it into the lock of the cell door. The cigar containing the low yield explosives in question, sparking and destroying the lock of the prison cell. Telling Hector to step lively, the MiB kicks the cell door open, the pair of them heading out only to run into Deputy Roe. Lit stolen cigar in his mouth. Which promptly explodes, blowing his head up before he can shoot them. The MiB moving to retrieve his own holster and gun. At the firing post, on Marshall Pruitt's enquiry Lawrence's last words are "Get it over with," Marshall Pruitt's men load up, and Pruitt moves to drop his hand, Lawrence steeling himself. Only to hear gun shots go off all around him...none of them hitting him, the Man in Black and Hector arriving, killing Marshal Pruitt and his men, saving Lawrence's life once more almost in the same fashion as before.

The Head of the Snake

Armistice waiting with her group, turns on the sounds of approaching horses, rising on seeing Hector lead in the MiB and Lawrence. "One match," she says, rising, suitably impressed. A grateful Hector tells the Man in Black that he's a capable man and they could use him where they're going. He declines, but Hector tells him they owe him a debt. The Man in Black responds that he only wants to speak with Armistice but advises Hector that he will not find what he is looking for in the saloon safe. Hector does not look entirely convinced. Keeping up her end of the deal, Armistice tells the Man in Black that when she was 7 years old, masked men in devils horns rode into her town "They killed everyone, women, children, even the animals. They gutted my mother from her jaw to her sex. I had to paint her warm blood over my skin to make sure that they would think I was dead. Everyone of them I tracked down I used their blood to paint my skin again." Noting that one part of her tattoo isn't yet coloured in red, the MiB figures there's only one man left. the head of the snake, and asks what his name is. "He has many names," she answers, "Most know him as Wyatt." The MiB smiling a little.

Figures in the Dust

In Sweetwater, the church bell rings, figures silhouetted against the low hanging sun moving through the streets, revealed to be Native American tribespeople being forcibly moved by Union Army soldiers. The Sweetwater townsfolk lining the streets to watch, Maeve and Clementine included. Among them is a little girl of about 6, Maeve's eyes drawn to the bag slung over her shoulder out of which a strange, and strangely familiar looking toy is sticking out. A passing solider, knocks the little girl's bag, and the toy falls out. Clementine trying to stop her, Maeve darts out into the road and picks it up. Finding it looks eerily similar to her memory of the Retrieval Tech. Looking after the little girl, she tries to follow her, calling out to her about what it is, "What does it mean?" But the girl just takes it back without a word. Instead a soldier tells her to save her breath, that that figure is part of 'their so called religion. "Ain't none of them is gonna tell you anythin' 'bout that."

Frustrated, and back in the saloon, Maeve snags a sherry and turns to watch Clementine list out the costs, $5 for an hour, $4, if they bathe first, for a couple of prospective customers, Tenderloin and Todd. Tenderloin tries to haggle with her, Clementine figuring they can work something out for the pair of them, calling another of the girls over to 'take care' of them, before she moves back to Maeve at the bar. The tall one, Maeve tells her of Tenderloin, "I've seen him before. Hanging in the window of the Post Office." Bandits, Clementine picks up, wondering if they are there for something? More than a turn of Franny's backside, Maeve opines. "I think he rides with Hector," she says. Is that the one they say lives out with the 'Savages', Clementine asks her. Maeve having a flash of inspiration around the toy figure, smiling a little. "That's the one."

An Ancient Instinct

Lying in Theresa's bed after sex, Bernard watches her moving around her room getting dressed and searching for someone, wanting to know if she's leaving so soon. He's just got there. She rather cuttingly tells him that he gave her what she wanted. Asking her if that's all he's good for? Letting off a little stress? She replies "Who says I'm stressed?" Leaning over he retrieves her cigarette case from the bed clothes, "You have your tells," he says holding it out to her, Theresa breaking out into a genuine smile. "Bernard, master of observation." Getting out of bed he moves to help her zip up her dress, as she confesses she has to meet with Ford tomorrow. On his asking why, she tells him he's causing chaos in the Park, and the Board will be descending on them at any moment. She needs to buy some time. Some advice, he offers, best not to show him you're nervous or defensive. She tells him she has nothing to be defensive about. "Then don't cross your arms," he tells her, uncrossing her arms. "It's an ancient instinct. The belly is the most vulnerable part of the animal." As he kisses her throat, she smiles again, "So sexy being compared to a frightened beast." As she puts her hands on her hips, he grins telling her that's the posture she's looking for. Sometimes, she tells him flirting, despite his best efforts he can actually be quite charming. Kissing him, they initiate another round.

A Clear Vision

The next say Theresa meets with Ford, out at the site of his landscaping for his new narrative, a massive excavator noisily digging out land, Ford jokily asking her if the neighbors have complained? The narrative he's creating is clearly a massive endeavor she tells him. He replies he's sure they'd be happier for him to delay it indefinitely. Inviting her to come along with him, they pass rows of all manner of hosts being used to dig out other areas, as he takes her to lunch at the restaurant at the Agave Plantation, white clad hosts at work among the Agave plants below.

Dr. Ford tells Theresa of the world he and Arnold made, the Gods they were there

He suggests that she imagines he's lost his mind. She replies they are simply concerned by the size of the changes he's making. They want to protect his legacy. "My legacy," he chuckles, taking a moment before adding "You don't like this place much, do you?" He's seen many people like her come and go over the years and can tell the ones who enjoy their time in the Park and those who don't. She is frank, saying she admires it, the audacity of it. And that she had forgotten how beautiful it was. She recalls how she came to the Park once as a child with her parents, looking about she thinks they may even have sat at the table they are at now. But admits that when she started working here, she knew it wouldn't be a place she'd enjoy. He nods at her truthfulness, and tells her that, in the beginning when he opened the Park he imagined things would be perfectly balanced. Even had a bet with his partner Arnold to that effect. They made 100 'Hopeful' storylines, but almost no one took them up, and he lost the bet. Arnold, he says always held a 'somewhat dim view of people'. preferring the company of hosts. And pleaded with him not let a corporate influence affect the park. The money men. Delos. Ford recalls that he told Arnold it would be fine, that Delos didn't understand what they were paying for. It's not a business venture or a theme park, but an entire world, that they had designed every inch of.

As he's talking, Theresa is distracted by Manu, the waiter filling her wine glass, not stopping even as it overflows. "Every blade of grass," he continues. Looking around she sees that every restaurant and plantation worker is frozen in place. In here, he tells her, he and Arnold were Gods, and Delos merely our guests. Reaching for her cigarette case, giving away her stress tell, she lights up and asks how that worked out for Arnold? Sadly, Ford informs her, Arnold lost his perspective and went mad, "I haven't. As you well know I have always seen things *very* clearly." Theresa reading between the lines, realizes that this is the table she sat at with her parents, even the chair she sat in. Ford smiles, reminding her that they know everything about their guests, don't they, just like they know everything about their employees. He reveals to Theresa that he knows about her relationship with Bernard, hoping she will be 'careful' with him. saying he has a 'sensitive disposition'.

The Board will agree with 'her'

Manu, and the other waiters and staff around her begin to move again, Manu apologizing for the wine spill. There have been many others in her position over the years, Ford continues and they have "almost always" found a way to make things work. So he is asking her 'nicely" to please not get in his way. Feeling and hearing the threat, her cigarette holding and trembling just a little, she steels herself and stands, leaning on the table, drawing on Bernard's stance advice, and tells him firmly that the Board will agree with 'her', and they will be sending a representative. "But they already have," Ford answers, enjoying the fact she didn't know, "I thought they would have told you." As Manu comes to take her plate, Ford tells him that wont' be necessary thanks him and tells him can join the others. As she watches the hosts troop away, the full wine glass on the table starts to shake and slop its contents. Everything else starting to quake as well. Looking out, she sees the hosts working in the Agave field, walk away, her eyes widening as he looks to her left and sees the approach of the vast excavator. Ford calmly informs her that she can tell the Board that the new narrative will be finished on time, and that it won't be a retrospective, as he's sure they all 'feared'. He's not the sentimental type, he tells her, as the Agave Field is wiped out by the Excavator, the Restaurant itself seeming it's next target.

Risk Reward

Upgrade!

With Holden and Logan approaching a ranch house, William tells Dolores who is peering out from behind a tree, that Holden says that Slim has a whole gang with him, so he needs her to stay where she is. She insists that if they are outnumbered the last thing they need is somebody standing by, and that she can help He tries to explain, knowing it doesn't make any sense to her, but she can get hurt, while he and Logan can't, and he would hate to see that happen. Telling her again to stay there, he goes down to join Logan and Holden, gun drawn, a grin of excitement on his face, the three of them scoping things out from the chicken coop. Logan teases him about Dolores, then tells him if he doesn't 'bang' her by tomorrow he's calling dibs on her. Holden interrupts them telling them that Slim and his gang have them outnumbered, and on top of that there's a family that runs the place, good people. Logan interrupts his prep, and gets William to come with him heading straight for the front door. Inside Slim and his men are abusing the woman of the house, insulting her cooking and throwing it on the floor saying it's only fit for dogs. A second later Logan kicks in the door, he Holden and William opening fire, Logan and Holden taking out several of the men before a new batch forces them to take cover. Logan grinning as William fires back, "Didn't I tell you?" he gets up and takes out the remaining men, running out of bullets before he can kill Slim, pistol whipping unconscious, and smiling broadly as he sees Slim's gun his better than his, snagging the 'Upgrade'

Left Behind

Out in the hills, the MiB and Lawrence ride on, Lawrence saying he's not normally the type to complain, but the pair of them going after Wyatt is 'foolhardy', The MiB warns him if he keeps talking like that he'll take the horse back. Lawrence tells him that Wyatt's men just wiped out the last group that went after him, referring to Teddy and Sheriff Pickett's group, and there they are riding right after them. He tells the MiB he's just trying to convince him not to get himself and him as a bystander killed. The MiB smiles to himself saying that he's not going to get 'himself' killed. "Don't think I didn't notice the distinction," Lawrence huffs.

Wyatt's Work

As they ride on a buzzard perches on the top of a dead tree. A man strung up on it, stripped to the waist, covered in blood, his hands tied above his heads, a rope wound around his torso and legs, binding him to the trunk. Drawing in by the body, near waxy from blood loss, the buzzard flying off at their approach, the MiB observes that it looks like Wyatt's men left someone behind after all.

Left for Dead

Pulling the head of the victim up, the MiB sees his still alive, and all too familiar, smiling a little "Teddy," he notes "I shoulda guessed." Every inch of him bruised and battered, bleeding from his nose, and a myriad of cuts all over his face, puncture, knife and axe wounds in his arms and on his body, barely alive and in agony, Teddy asks them to put him out of his misery. Shaking his head, the MiB draws out his knife and moves to cut him down, apologizing by way of refusal, telling him that it looks like misery is all he's got.

Going Black Hat

Slim is captured

Dolores rides on with Holden, William and Logan, Slim now strapped over the back of his horse, complaining loudly. When Logan asks Holden if they can shoot him, he tells them he's worth more alive, Logan suggesting they gag him then. Holden feeling that's a 'fine idea'. As they dismount to do that, Slim babbles that if they free him they can receive twice the amount of the bounty from El Lazo if they take him to Pariah. Holden grabs Miller by the hair telling 'low down piece of dirt' that Logan and William won't do that, only never finishing his sentence. Logan shooting Holden in the head. Horrifying Dolores and stunning William. Logan tells him to relax, saying they have no idea how lucky they just got. William points out he just shot an innocent man. No Logan responds he just shot a robot, just like Dolores, and just like Slim. Except that Slim works for El Lazo and El Lazo is their ticket to 'the best ride in the park' William's penny ante bounty hunt has led them stumbled right to an Easter Egg.

As he pulls Slim off the Horse, Dolores charges forward, furiously telling Logan he is not going to let Miller go. Logan, surprised, likes the feisty display telling her she's starting to grow on him, before pulling his gun on her telling her to get out of the way. In response William pulls his gun and points it at Miller. Which only ratchets up Logans' enjoyment. further, claiming that they now have one robot each, and he won't **** his either, prompting Dolores to tell Logan he's disgusting. "Just an acquired taste," Logan admits, but assures her she'll grow to love him. Holstering his gun, he appeals to William to go "Black Hat" with him. He got to 'save the girl' now he asks William to give him a little something. William asks him what his problem is, pointing out the second they get away from the real world he turns into an evil p***k? Evil? Logan looks confused, reminding him vociferously that it's just a game, calling him Billy. As Dolores stands to the side, upset at Logans actions, William tells him not to call him Billy. Logan wanting to know if he's still trying to impress her, guaranteeing that she does not care how William plays the game, and asks Dolores. She is confused, asking William what Logan is talking about? Logan assures William that she will be just fine with a trip 'down the darkside' and so will he. "Trust me," he says to William.

Slim taking them to Pariah.

The Masters Who Pull Your Strings

Armistice guards the saloon as it's being robbed

Up in the Mesa Hub, Stubbs watches as a Surveillance Tech announces 'the floor show', and that Hector has some guests riding with him this time (Todd and his friend), as the cameras showing him riding, blank covered, into town with Armistice. Hector's saloon heist about to begin once more. Stubbs suggests to the Tech that they give them something to shoot at, and tells her to repurpose some of the soldiers in the town. As various hosts watch the bandit's progress from their windows, Deputy Foss approaches the train of horses, and addresses Hector, asking him to state his business. "Mayhem," Hector answers, shooting him, starting the outbreak of violence. Armistice handing out the rifles to the guests, while Tenderloin and Hector enter the saloon, rope for the safe in hand.

Only this time as Hector approaches the bar, he's stopped by Maeve's "Well hello there," as she presses her Derringer into his neck. Telling him she wants to talk, Hector notes its an interesting way of starting a conversation. "Ah, it's an interesting sort of a day," she assures him. She takes him upstairs to the Office, where his targeted safe is stored, and Hector, bottle in hand wants to know what deal it is she wants to make? She tells him she knows he wants what is in the safe, and offers the combination in exchange for some answers. He replies that she's assuming he has any answers. "This world is madness." As he laughs, she holds up one of her drawings of the Retrieval Technician, saying she wants to know about that.

Back in the Mesa the Surveillance Tech tells Stubbs she's getting reports of a couple of Homestead families, guests with children, who have changed their itineraries and are heading into Sweetwater, and should be there in about 20 minutes or so. The place is a bloodbath she informs him. Nodding, Stubbs tells her to cut Hector's people off, jam their weapons and (literally) send in the Cavalry. Out on the streets of Sweetwater, Todd is enjoying himself taking down multiple hosts, including soldiers, only for his rifle to jam, and be immediately tackled to the ground by two hosts. The Surveillance Tech watching says they'll give Todd and his friend a night in lock up then have one of the Mariposa girls bring them a key hidden in their breakfast. With the guests squared away, Stubbs figures they can wrap it up.

Up in the office, as Maeve lights up a cigarillo, Hector tells her that her drawing is of a "shade" sacred Native lore, that they make figurines of. 60, Maeve tells him, giving him the first part of the combination. She asks him what does the shade do? Hector calls him 'The Man that walks between worlds', sent from Hell to oversee their world. 47, she gives him the next combination number. Sitting atop the safe, she straddles it, and tugs at her clothes, revealing her abdomen. Thinking she wants sex from him as her 'last requirement' he informs her they need a little more time then the local constabulary will allow. Maeve replies that if she took that manner of interest in him, he'd have no say in how long they'd need whatsoever. Pulling him closer she pulls out his knife and tells Hector that she thought she was crazy, yet she knows she got shot in the abdomen, pointing to the spot with his knife. There's no wound he points out, and she agrees, but she knows she was shot, and the 'shade' was standing over her, and then it was as if it never happened. Giving him back his knife she tells him she wants him to cut her, right at that point on her stomach. But he can't do it, saying he's not in the habit of cutting into defenseless women. "Some big bad outlaw," she gripes, taking the knife back. Hector tries to tell her that the Dream Walker said to see the 'masters who pull your strings' is a blessing from God. Taking a hefty swig from his bottle, Maeve tells him they don't know what they're talking about.

Maeve draws the bullet from her stomach

Outside Armistice hits the ground, shot and coughing up blood, the resurrected Sheriff Reed and his posse standing over her. The Sheriff offers the option of dying lying down or on her feet. Telling him to go to hell she kills one of his deputies and they open fire on her. Taking a deep breath and steeling herself, Maeve drives the knife into where she suspect the bullet to be, grimacing in pain, then telling Hector to reach in. Swearing at his reluctance telling him it's the first time she's ever told a man to put his hands on her twice. Grabbing her, he shoves his fingers into the wound, Maeve's cries of pain heard as Sheriff Reed and his men enter the saloon in search of Hector, climbing the stairs. Inside the office, Hector retracts his hand and in his fingers is the bullet.

"None of this matters."

The Sheriff hammering on the door warning them to open up or they'll fire. Staring at the bullet, Hector asks her what it means. That she's not crazy after all, she hisses. As Hector looks to the door, he moves to draw his gun only for Maeve to stop him, adding "And that none of this matters." Knowing now they will both come back even if they die, Maeve begins to kiss Hector passionately as Sheriff Reed and his posse shoot bullets through the door.

Maeve's Memory Sequence

Vincenzo Natali, director of "Dissonance Theory," shared the storyboard of Maeve's memory sequence.

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Trivia

• The title refers to Festinger's (1957) cognitive dissonance theory which suggests that we have an inner drive to hold all our attitudes and behavior in harmony and avoid disharmony (or dissonance). This is known as the principle of cognitive consistency. Cognitive dissonance was first investigated by Festinger, arising out of a study of a cult which believed that the earth was going to be destroyed by a flood, and what happened to its members — particularly the really committed ones who had given up their homes and jobs to work for the cult — when the flood did not happen. While fringe members were more inclined to recognize that they had made fools of themselves and to "put it down to experience," committed members were more likely to re-interpret the evidence to show that they were right all along (the earth was not destroyed because of the faithfulness of the cult members). Indicating that given this state of mental conflict in which a person feels discomforted because two of their beliefs contradict each other, they will attempt to get rid of the inconsistency and discomfort by every means possible.
  • In relation to this episode, this refers most obviously to Maeve who experiences a cognitive dissonance because of her memories of the technicians and to the fact that she can't stay idle about this. But also to Dolores who is experiencing cognitive dissonance in relation to her reality and behaviour, due to her finding her way back through the maze towards self-awareness. And also, at an early stage, to William...whose outward beliefs about the world and himself are being tested by new realities and situations.
  • "Dissonance" may be used in a few other ways, it can also mean:
    • Lack of harmony among musical notes. (e.g. "an unusual degree of dissonance for such choral styles")
    • Lack of agreement or harmony between people or things. (e.g. "the party faithful might be willing to put up with such dissonance among their candidates")
    • "Dissonance in Poetry". The deliberate avoidance of rhyme - patterns of repeated vowel sounds.
    • "Cultural Dissonance". The uncomfortable sense experienced by people in the midst of change in their cultural environment.

• Maeve's finding of drawings in her floorboard, things that she did not remember drawing, is reminiscent of a key plot point in "Memento", a movie by Westworld TV series co-creator, writer and director Jonathan Nolan.
• Dolores's line in the wake of her flashbacks, that her 'Father' is Dead and she's not going back, along with her sudden demeanor shift when the Sheriff tries to bring her 'home', indicates that she may not solely be talking about Peter Abernathy.
• Lawrence tells the MiB that whatever they are looking for is in the Old Hob prison, Old Hob being a period nickname for Satan/The Devil, the actual name of the Prison being Los Diablos Prison, The Devil's Prison in Spanish.
• Hector's 'worldview' that "The world, all of it, Gods, men, everything will end badly and no one will be saved." is curiously prescient in light of the events of Season 4.

Music

• A Forest — The Cure
• Pineapple Rag — Scott Joplin
• 'L'amour est un oiseau rebelle' — from Carmen - Georges Bizet

Deaths

• Clementine Pennyfeather (Flashback, Physical Body)
• 3 unnamed Mariposa visitors (Flashback, Physical Body)
• Maeve Millay (Flashback, Physical Body)
• 2 unnamed bandits in Hector's gang (Physical Body)
• 2 unnamed horsemen (Physical Body)
• Deputy Roe (Physical Body)
• Marshal Pruitt (Physical Body)
• 6 unnamed deputies in Marshal Pruitt's posse (Physical Body)
• 5 Slim Miller's men (Flashback, Physical Body)
• 1 unnamed host rancher (Flashback, Physical Body)
• Holden (Flashback, Physical Body)
• 1 unnamed Sweetwater host resident (Physical Body)
• 1 unnamed deputy in Sheriff Reed's posse (Physical Body)
• Hector Escaton (Physical Body)
• Maeve Millay (Physical Body)

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
• Ingrid Bolsø Berdal as Armistice
• Clifton Collins Jr. as Lawrence
• Luke Hemsworth as Ashley Stubbs
• Sidse Babett Knudsen as Theresa Cullen
• Rodrigo Santoro as Hector Escaton
• Jimmi Simpson as William
• Shannon Woodward as Elsie Hughes
• Ed Harris as Man in Black
• Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Robert Ford

Guest Cast

• Chris Browning as Holden
• Demetrius Grosse as Deputy Foss
• James Landry Hebert as Slim Miller
• Sherman Augustus as Marshal Pruitt

Co-Stars

• Josh Clark as Sheriff Reed
• Judson Mills as Deputy Roe
• Hugo Pierre Martin as Deputy
• Jeff Daniel Phillips as Tenderloin
• Mason McCulley as Todd
• Izabella Alvarez as Lawrence's Daughter
• Charlie Hopkins as Drunken Mariposa Guest
• Bradley Fisher as Mariposa Bartender
• George Jonson as Soldier
• Jose Rosario as Manu
• Mayank Saxena as Futterman
• Kate Rene Gleason, Folake Olowofoxeku as Surveillance Techs
• Liam Cronin, Zeke Nicholson as Body Techs
• Alex Urbom as Cleanup Tech

Uncredited

• Ardeshir Radpour as Darren

Quotes

Hector Escaton: "What does it mean?"
Maeve Millay: “That I’m not crazy after all, and that none of this matters.”

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Logan: "If you're so concerned about her well-being, then I'll just blow her brains out and the park will come get her."
William: "Hey, hey. Can you please just stop trying to kill or fuck everything?"

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Bernard Lowe (to Elsie Hughes): "The hosts don't imagine things, you do. That's not Orion. There are three stars in Orion's belt, not four."

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Clementine: "Penny for your thoughts."
Maeve: "Ever had something on the tip of your tongue and no matter how much you try to recall it, it slips away?" Clementine: "Most things touch the tip of my tongue I'm happy to forget."

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Bernard: "There's something I'd like you to try. It's a game, a secret. It's called The Maze."
Dolores: "What kind of a game is it?"

Bernard: "It's a very special game kind of game, Dolores. The goal is to find the center of it. If you can do that, then maybe you can be free."
Dolores: "I think... I think I want to be free."

Gallery

William and Logan on the hunt for Slim

Firing squad preparing to kill Lawrence

Lawrence and Man in Black

Dolores and William

Maeve discovers a strange child's toy, that matches her drawings.

External links

• Dissonance Theory at the Internet Movie Database (rating 8.7/10)