The Original

"The Original"
Season	1
Episode number	1
Air date	October 2, 2016
Runtime	73 min.
Writer(s)	Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy
Director	Jonathan Nolan
Episodes
Next	"Chestnut"

“	Some people choose to see the ugliness in this world, I choose to see the beauty.	”
–Dolores Abernathy

"The Original" is the first episode of the first season of Westworld, and the first episode overall. It aired on October 2, 2016.

Plot

As another day of fantasy plays out in Westworld - a vast, remote park where guests pay top dollar to share wild-west adventures with android "hosts" - top programmer Bernard Lowe alerts park founder Dr. Robert Ford about incidents of aberrant behavior cropping up in some recently re-coded hosts. Meanwhile, in the Westworld town of Sweetwater, a rancher's daughter named Dolores encounters a gunslinger named Teddy in the street - but their predictable narrative is upended by the appearance of a ruthless Man in Black and, later, by a supporting host's unscripted encounter with an artifact of the outside world.

Synopsis

Dolores Abernathy

We hear a man's voice say "Bring her back online," and then see a nude Dolores Abernathy seated upon a stool.

The series begins with Dolores in Analysis Mode.

The unseen man asks if she can hear him and Dolores replies that she can. She also admits that she's not “quite feeling herself". The man then tells her she can lose the accent she is more accustomed to, before asking her if she knows where she is. Dolores replies that she's in a dream. The man agrees that, yes, she is, and asks her if she'd like to wake up - Dolores replies "Yes, I'm terrified.", but her lips don't move and she shows no sign of emotion.

There is a smudge of dirt on her left cheek. A fly lands and crawls from her forehead, down her nose and up to her left eye, yet Dolores doesn't react and remains motionless. The man assures her that there is nothing to be afraid of, as long as she answers his questions correctly. He then asks her if she understands his commands, and after she replies yes, the fly moves to the center of her unblinking eye. The man starts his questions: "First, have you ever questioned the nature of your reality?” She answers, “No.”

Dolores wakes everyday to the same routine.

Our view switches to Dolores waking in her bed, her voice over guiding us through her normal morning loop. The questions continue: "Tell us what you think of your world." We watch as she walks downstairs, fully dressed. She answers him by saying: “Some people choose to see the ugliness in this world, the disarray. I choose to see the beauty. To believe there is an order to our days. A purpose.” Dolores eventually makes her way out to the porch and says good morning to her father Peter Abernathy, as he sits in his rocking chair. After a brief conversation, Dolores tells her father she is going to leave to do some painting.

The unseen narrator in voice over asks what she thinks about the guests. She says, "Do you mean the newcomers?"  As she talks our viewpoint switches to a train carrying guests to Sweetwater. Two guests are talking. One man mentions his previous visits to Westworld. His first narrative was a family vacation, with fishing and hunting. His second trip he came alone. He admits to going “straight evil”, and that they were the best two weeks of his life.

Dolores continues to speak to the unseen narrator in voice over. She says that she likes to remember how her father taught her that everyone was once new to this world. She says, "The newcomers are just looking for the same things we are - a place to be free, to stake out our dream, a place with unlimited possibilities."

Teddy Flood

Guests arriving by train to Sweetwater the same time as Teddy.

The train stops at the Sweetwater station and the passengers unload. One of the passengers, Teddy, walks past a couple who are visiting for the first time and are looking at Sweetwater in wonderment. The lady says, "It's incredible." The man says, "It better be, for what we're paying."

Teddy walks through town. He bumps into a tall, rough looking cowboy. Then he passes the Sheriff who is briefing a group of men about searching for a criminal named Hector Escaton. The sheriff says Hector gunned down the marshal and is holed up in the mountains. The sheriff asks Teddy to join the posse but he declines, saying "not today" and politely tips his

Teddy see's Dolores from the saloon window and leaves to approach her.

hat before walking on. Instead, Teddy makes his way into the Mariposa Saloon. In the bar, he orders a rye whiskey. Clementine, a saloon prostitute approaches him. "You're new. Not much of a rind on you," she says. Teddy turns down her offer for company. He says he’d prefer not to pay for a woman's affections. Another woman, madam Maeve Millay, is listening and says that he has to pay in one way or another, the difference is her rates are fixed and posted on the door. He's not listening. Instead he’s transfixed on Dolores Abernathy; watching her through the saloon window, coming out of a store. Teddy leaves the bar without speaking to anyone, and walks across the street toward her.

The questions and answers continue in voice over: "Do you ever feel inconsistencies in your world? Or repetitions?"

"All lives have routine. Mine's no different." she says. "Still, I never cease to wonder at the thought, that any day the course of my whole life could change with just one chance encounter."

Dolores is packing her saddle. She drops a can of condensed milk. Teddy picks up the can and hands it to her. "You came back," she says. "I told you I would," he says. It is obvious that they know each other. "Don't mind me," he says. "Just trying to look chivalrous." He asks to escort her home. She challenges him with a smile, saying yes, "can you keep up?" She gets on her horse and rides away, leaving him to quickly find a horse.

We see him catch up to her outside town on the open prairie with the mountains as a backdrop. They are in no rush. They stop to admire the vista of Westworld. She teases him for not knowing about cattle. She says that she forgets he just dresses like a cowboy, and that's the extent of it. She teaches him about the Judas Steer. She tells him the rest of the cattle just follow where he goes. He asks how she knows. She responds that she just knows things, just like she knew he'd come back. She tells Teddy he is predictable; there is a path for everyone and his path leads back to her. She knows things will work out the way they're meant to. She reminds him that her father won't be pleased to see him.

It is dark by the time they return to her farm. As they approach they hear a gunshot and see the flash inside the house. Teddy pulls out his rifle and tells her to stay put. Then he rushes toward the house. At the house a man with a mustache and bowler hat (who we later learn is named Rebus) is tormenting Dolores' father Peter, who is lying on the ground in front of his house. Rebus is holding a glass bottle of milk. He says, "Ain't you got anything out here other than milk, old man?"  Peter remains defiant and Rebus shoots him. Rebus pours some of the milk on dead Peter. Rebus' partner, Walter is on the porch, complaining that Dolores' mother was killed before they could have any fun with her. Rebus says she's still warm enough. Rebus hands the bottle of milk to Walter, who turns and walks back into the house.

Teddy finally arrives and shoots both men. As Teddy kneels next to the body of Dolores’ mother, the unseen narrator continues: "Last question, Dolores. What if I told you that you were wrong? That there are no chance encounters? That you and everyone you know were built to gratify the desires of the people who pay to visit your world? The people you call 'the newcomers.'"

A frantic Dolores arrives and kneels next to her father's body. Then another man appears . . . the Man in Black. He menacingly stands over her and says "Hello again" before hurling insults toward her father. Dolores grabs a gun on the ground and points it at him. Before she can shoot he knocks the gun out of her hands. He slaps her. She falls to the ground. He asks if that's any way to treat an old friend. He reminds her that he’s been visiting for 30 years, yet she still doesn’t remember him after all they've been through. "They gave you a little more pluck, Dolores," he says. "Absolutely charming."

Teddy comes out of the house and challenges him. The Man in Black knows Teddy and seems bored with the challenge. He torments Teddy, letting him have the first shot. Teddy shoots . . . once . . . twice. The bullets have no effect on the Man in Black. The narrator say, "What if I told you you can't hurt the newcomers? And that they can do anything they want to you?" Teddy looks at his gun in disbelief, shocked that the bullets have no effect. The Man in Black continues to taunt Teddy. "I never understood why they paired some of you off," he says. "Seems cruel." Teddy shoots the Man in Black again. The Man in Black says he came to realize that winning doesn't mean anything unless there is a loser. He walks up to Teddy, looks him in the eyes, then says, "which means you are here to be the loser."

Teddy doesn't understand. He gives up and falls to his knees, deflated. The Man in Black pats him on the back and says, "Seems you're not the man you thought you were." The Man in Black walks back to Dolores. He starts to drag her across the yard. "Come on beautiful." Teddy regains his courage and stands. He shoots again in vain, once . . . twice. Dolores begs for Teddy's life. She says she'll do whatever he asks. But the Man in Black slaps her again. He tells her he didn't pay all this money for it to be easy. He wants her to fight. Teddy shoots again. The Man in Black is bored. He turns and shoots Teddy in the chest with a single shot. The Man in Black continues to drag Dolores toward the barn kicking and screaming. "It's good to be back," he says. "Let's celebrate."

After Teddy is killed, Dolores is dragged to the barn by the Man in Black

As Teddy collapses and Dolores is dragged away screaming, we hear the unseen narrator: "Would the things I told you change the way you think about the newcomers, Dolores?" We hear Dolores answer: "No. Of course not. We all love the newcomers. Every new person I meet reminds me how lucky I am to be alive and how beautiful this world can be." The camera zooms to Teddy's motionless eye. In a reflection we see the barn door closing behind the Man in Black and Dolores.

Westworld Mesa Hub

The time loop for Dolores and Teddy begins again. Dolores wakes in her bed. Teddy wakes on the train. Two female guests on the train are discussing Teddy, remarking on how lifelike and perfect he appears. One of the women says that perfect is boring, and that she's more interested in the bad guys.

A view of the landscape pulls back. We see the train speeding across the landscape in the distance. Then we see the landscape is on a large, circular table in a control room. People in matching blue shirts stand around the table holding tablets. The camera moves to a large hall where figures dressed in white "clean room" clothes are assembling an android horse. We continue through the hall where a woman is "exercising" a completed horse. In another area people are testing humanoid androids, some clothed, some not. There is a prostitute, a man with a bow, and a gunfighter. We learn that the unseen narrator is Bernard Lowe. He is sitting with Elsie as they observe a naked Clementine seated on a stool.

While in Analysis Mode it's discovered that Clementine has learned a new gesture.

Bernard asks Elsie if she notices that one of Clementine's gestures is subtly different. "Her finger. That's not standard," Elsie says. Bernard tells Elsie that a new class of gestures has been added to "the update" by Dr. Robert Ford. The Hosts' experiences are always purged from memory at the end of every loop, but are not overwritten. The new gestures have been altered to refer to those previous experiences, tied to specific memories. Bernard says that Dr. Ford calls the new gestures "Reveries". Dr. Ford found a way to allow the "reveries" to access this unconscious memory, "like a subconscious." He says that it's the tiny things that make the Hosts so real, and make the guests fall in love with them. Bernard receives a call on his tablet. He leaves to answer. Elsie looks closely at Clementine. She pushes her hair gently back over an ear, then leans forward and kisses her. Clementine doesn't respond and Elsie sits back down, amused at herself for kissing an android.

Bernard walks down a hallway to the control room where he meets Theresa Cullen and Ashley Stubbs. Theresa says that there's unscheduled android activity on sub-level 83. She tells Stubbs to send a response team with full armor. Stubbs says he'll take care of it himself. Bernard elects to go as well. Bernard reminds them that the hosts can't hurt them by design. Stubbs says the hosts are like kids, "they all rebel eventually." Stubbs is worried and Theresa says it's because of the recent update and the possibility of a critical failure. Bernard doesn't believe there's any likelihood of that happening. He says there hasn't been a critical failure in over 30 years. Theresa is not impressed.

Stubbs, his armed team, and Bernard go down to the sub-level in a large elevator. As the door opens a large volume of water floods in. Stubbs says it's a weeks old coolant failure. "Gonna smell fantastic," Stubbs says. They go into a large badly lit area and then into a hall full of quietly standing androids.

Stubbs and Bernard enter a sub-level room of decommissioned, old androids/hosts.

At the back of the hall is an office with a large glass window. In the office Dr. Robert Ford is sitting and drinking with one of the earliest androids, a depiction of Wild Bill. The android's movements are slightly jerky and unnatural, it's words somewhat halting but it's clear that Ford feels some sort of affection toward it. Bill drinks whiskey. They talk about how people don't make anything like they used to, and about the showdowns Bill has seen in his time. Ford tells Bill to drink to "deep and dreamless slumber." It is a command phrase. Bill freezes, his glass partway to his mouth. Ford then turns and talks to Bernard about the old style hosts and their limitations. Bill was the second host they built. Bernard mentions Clementine’s new gesture and compliments Ford on the reveries. "They are beautiful," Bernard says. Ford tells Bill to put himself away. Bill walks to a shelf and climbs up. He puts himself inside a large plastic body bag and zips himself up for safekeeping.

Dolores Abernathy

Every day Dolores tells her father Peter good morning on the porch.

Dolores walks down the stairs and heads to the front porch. She asks her father if he slept well. She informs her father she is going to run some errands before heading off to paint. He reminds her to return before dark because the bandit who gunned down the marshal is still up in the hills. They tease each other, talking about his stories of when he was "a lawman", showing how close she is to her father. "I am what I am because of you, and I wouldn't have it any other way," he says. She then promises to be home before dark.

Teddy Flood

Guests go on a bounty hunt for Hector Escaton.

In town, Teddy gets off the train. He walks into the same tall cowboy. Teddy continues into town. He passes Sheriff Pickett, who again asks Teddy to join the posse. But two newcomers stop, Craig and Lori. Craig is excited about the idea. He coaxes his wife Lori to join in on the fun.

Teddy is at the Mariposa Saloon. The earlier conversation with Clementine repeats with minor variations. "Not much of a rind on you," she says. Again, he declines her offer. He'd rather earn a woman's affections than pay for it. Maeve is standing off to the side speaking mandarin with three guests. Teddy sees Dolores through the window. Again, he walks out of the bar onto the street and heads toward Dolores.

As Teddy is crossing the street to reach Dolores, he's intercepted by another guest, Clarence, who remembers him from a previous visit, when Teddy showed him around.

Man in Black

The Man in Black greets Dolores.

This time it's the Man in Black who retrieves and returns the can of condensed milk. She doesn't remember him and isn't alarmed in any way. He's charming and gives her the can back. "Sweet," he says. "But not as sweet as you." He tells her that he has other plans that evening and won’t be stopping by her home. She is puzzled. He tips his hat and walks away.

The Man in Black goes into the Mariposa Saloon. Clementine approaches him. "You're new," she says. "Not much of a . . . ." He lifts a hand to interrupt her. She stops. Then he sits at a poker game. Kissy, the croupier, tells the players to place their bets. The Man in Black smiles.

Bounty hunting with Sheriff Pickett

The couple, Craig and Lori, who joined the posse are on horseback. Craig is having a great time. Lori is not. She swats at flies buzzing around her head. While riding, they come across a body on the trail. Sheriff Pickett and Craig dismount to look at the body. "It looks like Hector has been this way," the Sheriff says. The a fly lands on the Sheriff's cheek and he begins to malfunction, repeating himself and mimicking a human stroke. Lori is frightened. Not knowing what to do, Lori insists they go back at once, so they leave the sheriff standing there, immobile now.

Sheriff Pickett malfunctioned while on the bounty hunt with guests.

The malfunctioned Sheriff Pickett is back at the Westworld labs and is being analyzed. The top of his skull has been removed. Lee Sizemore is berating Bernard and demanding to know what happened. The Host’s behavior is very unusual. Failures don't normally occur this way. Bernard says he hasn't finished his diagnostics. Theresa presses Bernard about the failure. She asks if the update is the likely cause. Bernard is noncommittal, but doesn't rule out the update. She asks how many hosts have been updated. He says about 10% of the population. Theresa says they should recall the updated hosts and rollback the update. Sizemore complains that pulling that number of hosts, about 200, will wreak havoc with his narratives. Theresa is unimpressed. She tells him that guests interrupt "your precious story lines" all the time. "When they want to," Sizemore responds, emphasizing the word "they". "We sell complete immersion in 100 interconnected narratives," he continues. He tells her that if they pull one character the overall story adjusts. But if they pull 200 at once it will be a disaster.

Bernard is watching the two argue. He notices how Theresa's brow line pulls into an arc when she's angry and tries to control it. "It's elegant," he says. He asks if he can record it to show to his team later. She tells him that he cannot record it and brings him back to the safety issue: 1,400 guests and a possible problem with aberrant behavior from the hosts. She needs to know if they are in danger. He reassures her that the Sheriff's core code is intact. "He literally couldn't hurt a fly," Bernard tells her. She relents, agreeing to the diagnostic being run before any action is taken. She leaves instructions and implied threats in her wake as she leaves.

Teddy Flood

Clarence and the other men who approached Teddy in the street are drinking with naked prostitutes in a cabin overlooking the mountains. One of the men says this place is wild. Clarence tells him this is basic, level one. If you leave town, that's where the real demented stuff begins. Clarence tells his friend that Teddy is like a guide. The friend responds that Teddy creeps him out. Clarence says that if they get bored they just use Teddy as target practice. The camera pulls back and we see Teddy sitting on the porch staring off into the distance at the mountains. A fly lands on Teddy's cheek and walks toward his eye. Teddy doesn't flinch and appears to not hear the men behind him.

Dolores Abernathy

A young guest asks Dolores if she is "one of them".

Dolores is painting by the river when a family walks up. They watch her and the horses while she is painting. They talk briefly about the beautiful view of the horses, river, and mountains. She shows the little boy how to feed the horse. Out of the blue the boy says, "You're one of them. You're not real." Dolores appears unphased and continues to smile, but she tells them she needs to go, and so should they. "There's bandits in these hills," she says as she walks away.

Back at the Abernathy Ranch, Dolores’ father watches some men herding cattle into a pen. At his feet he notices something strange. He digs something out of the dirt and picks it up. It is a modern photograph. He looks at it carefully.

When Dolores returns home her father is sitting in his chair on the porch. He shows her the photo. It is a picture of a woman in a modern city. The woman is smiling, with city lights behind her. "Where is she?" Peter asks. "It doesn't look like anything to me," Dolores says. He asks if she's ever seen anything like this place. "Doesn't look like anything to me," Dolores repeats. Dolores does not appear bothered by the photograph. But Peter becomes more fixated on the image, unable to understand how it fits into their world.

Westworld Mesa Hub

Theresa Cullen is standing at an overlook at Mesa Gold looking at the landscape. She's smoking a cigarette and trying to relax at the end of the day. Lee Sizemore approaches her and tries small talk. She sees through it. He tries to apologize for being rude earlier that day, and tries to justify his behavior. Theresa doesn't accept his apology. He says he is opposed to the update. He says that the work to make hosts more lifelike is inappropriate - that the hosts are too lifelike already. He says this place works because the guests know the hosts aren't real. He wants to roll back the updates; make the hosts more manageable. "Lobotomies tend to do that," Theresa says.

Lee hints that there is something bigger and more important that the board of directors is interested in, other than the usual park operations. Lee continues to talk before she corrects his grammar, a way of putting him in his place. He tells her she has his support. She toys with him and his clumsy attempt at office politics. She says this place is one thing to guests, another thing to shareholders, and another thing completely different to management. She asks him what he thinks management's real interests are. He doesn't know. She tells him he's smart enough to see there's a bigger picture but not smart enough to see what it is. She tells him that makes his support useless to her. She walks away.

Man in Black

The saloon is closing for the evening. Maeve and Kissy are leaving. The manager frisks Kissy on his way out, taking chips from his pockets and tossing them on the table. When Kissy walks outside the Man in Black slashes him throat and drags him away.

Bernard Lowe

Bernard is still working on the host Sheriff. He tells the Sheriff that he envies  his forgetfulness. Elsie comes into the room and tells him there's a problem with another host.

We cut to Walter who has shot up the saloon gone totally off his narrative. At least 6 hosts are on the floor dead. Walter appears to have several gunshots in his chest and abdomen. Walter is carrying a glass jar of milk. Two guests are cowering on the floor as Walter approaches the dead hosts and pours milk on their bodies, the same way Rebus treated Peter Abernathy. He tells the guests they can't have any milk. "Ain't for you," he says. He drinks the milk and it pumps out of a wound in his torso. He is unphased. He walks outside. Rebus is on the ground dead. There are 6 empty milk bottles set around his body. "Found me another bottle," Walter says. He kneels over Rebus and pours milk into his dead mouth.

Then the scene freezes. Spotlights turn on. Bernard, Elsie, and Stubbs are on site. Stubbs goes to talk to the guests inside the saloon. Bernard and Elsie discuss what's happened. Elsie says they (referring to Walter and Rebus) are supposed to turn on each other but only if a guest takes them on the High Sierra story line, and then "Walter always buys it." Bernard says, "Well, I guess Walter got tired of buying it."

Theresa appears and points out that the sheriff’s malfunctioning wasn't an isolated incident. Bernard says it confirms the update is the problem. He will roll them back, clean them up, and put them back in service. Theresa rejects his idea. She tells him that hosts are supposed to stay in their loops with minor deviations. This isn't minor. This is a disaster. She tells Stubbs to pull all updated hosts, examine them, and decommission the faulty ones. Bernard points out that it will damage a lot of narratives. She responds that Sizemore has a contingency plan. Sizemore will advance the saloon heist a week and make it twice as bloody. It will give them cover to recall the remaining hosts. Then she tells Bernard that he gets the job of telling Dr. Robert Ford about the problem. She still thinks it was Bernard who caused it. Bernard hasn't told her, or anyone, that the part of the update likely to have caused the problem was Ford's unofficial addition.

Bernard delicately tells Dr. Ford about the Host's glitches and mistakes in the upgrade.

Later, Bernard finds Ford watching a new android being created in a milk-like white liquid. Ford isn't angry after Bernard confronts him. Instead, he teases Bernard about not finding the problem sooner. Ford knows the mistake was his, and is amused that Bernard doesn't want to say so, or call out the mistake. They talk about evolution and how it depends upon mistakes. Ford thinks that the evolution of humans has ceased, that no more improvement will occur.

Man in Black

Kissy is scalped by the Man in Black to retrieve The Maze.

In the desert, the Man in Black has bled Kissy almost dry, saving his blood in metal buckets. He taunts the terrified host, eventually scalping him as he tries in vain to escape. The Man in Black is trying to discover the deeper levels of Westworld. He's determined to discover the secret. He wants Kissy to help him get there. When Kissy refuses to tell him, the Man in Black scalps Kissy. On the bloody inside of the scalp there is a map imprinted in the tissue, a maze.

Peter Abernathy

After remaining perplexed by a modern day photograph, Dolores' father begins acting strange.

As always with her loop, Dolores wakes again in the morning and walks to the front porch, where her father is sitting, as usual. She starts her routine dialogue, but her father doesn't respond. He is staring at the photograph. He has grown increasingly disturbed by the photograph. Dolores asks is he's been outside all night. He says he had a question he's not supposed to ask. The question gave him an answer he's not supposed to know. He asks Dolores if she wants to know the answer. Frightened for her father, Dolores yells out to her mother for help. He grabs and tells her to leave. "Don't you see? Hell is empty and all the devils are here," he says. Then he whispers something in her ear. We can't hear what he says. Scared for her father, she quickly rides to town saying she will bring the doctor. Clementine and Maeve watch her frantically search for the doctor. Dolores and Teddy see each other. She runs into his arms. They repeat their normal dialogue. "You came back," she says. "I told you I would," he responds. Then she tell him he has to come home will her because her father is very ill. They are interrupted when they see a group of people on horseback ride slowly through Sweetwater wearing blankets over their heads to cover their identity.

Hector and his gang attack Sweetwater

Hector and his gang arrives in Sweetwater to steal the safe from the saloon.

The people on horseback are Hector and his gang, including Armistice. Dolores and Armistice lock eyes and hold their stare at each other.

We cut to the Mesa Hub control room. Lee Sizemore says that he has managed to massage events to "inspire" Hector to head to town a week early. Lee proudly announces that he's also written a new speech for Hector. Unenthusiasticly, Theresa states that she can barely contain herself.

We cut back to the streets of Sweetwater. Hector and Armistice are robbing the saloon. They shoot a deputy who approaches them. Hector heads into the saloon carrying one end of a rope. The other end is tied to a horse. Armistice unloads several long guns wrapped in a blanket; two lever-action rifles and one pump shotgun. She takes one of the WInchester Model 1873 rifles and starts shooting outside the saloon. She fires 11 shots, hitting each target, women and men, armed and unarmed. She swaps her weapon for another rifle.

Inside the saloon Hector shoots the bartender then pours himself a glass of whiskey. Maeve asks why he's robbing a saloon instead of a train. He replies that everyone here is indulging their vices, so he came to indulge his vices. Two of Hector's men run up the stairs.

Outside, Armistice is still shooting. Now she has the shotgun. She shoots a man off a horse and then hits him four times as he's being dragged. She is ruthless. Teddy and Dolores try to hide, but Dolores says she has to get back to her father. They break from cover. Two of Hector's men engage them with pistols. Teddy shoots one, but the other man shoots Teddy. He falls to the ground. Dolores kneels next to him. "Don't mind me. Just trying to look chivalrous," he says, repeating the same lines programmed in his loop.

Lee Sizemore looks pleased with himself as he watches from headquarters, knowing Hector will give the speech he had programmed him with.

Inside the saloon, the men upstairs have tied the rope around the safe and are pushing it over the balcony. Hector is still drinking at the bar then starts walking toward the door. Maeve remains cool and stands in his way. Hector easily picks her up and moves her two feet to the left. The safe smashed to the floor where she was just standing. Hector whistles and the horse takes off with the safe.

One of Hector's gang stops on his way out and says he's going to take Clementine with him. She's frightened. When the man reaches for her, Maeve shoots the man through the back of the head. Blood sprays on the rotating sheet music on the player piano. Then she shoots another man.

The guest ends up killing Hector outside of the saloon before he can say his 'speech'.

Outside Armistice is still at work with the shotgun. Hector starts his new speech just outside the saloon entrance. "You wanted me. Well let this be a lesson. The lesson is . . . ." That as far as he gets when he is shot in the neck by a guest. It is Craig, the very guest that had been on the bounty hunt for Hector when Sheriff Pickett malfunctioned. Then he shoots Armistice twice in the chest. She falls to the ground.

Lee Sizemore is horrified. Theresa is very amused.

Craig is very excited. His wife Lori is also having fun for the first time. "Look at her wiggle," Lori gleefully exclaims pointing at Armistice. Craig tells Lori to get a photographer so they can get a picture. Lori cheerfully runs off.

"Maybe you'll get to your speech next time," Theresa says to Lee.

On the street, Dolores is distraught, as Teddy is dying. "At least I got to see you one last time," Teddy says. Dolores tells him that he's not going anywhere. "There's a path for everyone," she says. "My path is bound with yours." Teddy dies. "No, we've only just begun," Dolores cries.

Meanwhile Craig and Lori are having their picture taken with Hector's propped up corpse inside a standing coffin. The shot is a call back to many westerns, including Ned Logan propped up outside the saloon in "The Unforgiven." Craig takes Hector's hat. Then Elsie appears in full time-period costume, observing the scene. She approaches Dolores, still crying and distraught. Dolores pleads with her to help. Now Dolores has the same dirt smudge on her left cheek that was there at the start of the episode. Elsie gently kneels next to her and caresses her face, similar to the earlier scene with Clementine. "Soon this will all feel like a distant dream," Elsie says. Then she issues the command: "Until then, may you rest in a deep and dreamless slumber." Dolores shuts down and collapses on Teddy. Elsie then calls for staff members to pick up both of the hosts. She walks away speaking into her microphone earpiece, "We got them all."

Westworld Mesa Hub

The hosts are brought through the hub on carts. Bernard tells Theresa that they all checked out except for one of the hosts. Peter Abernathy has become a problem. He takes her to see the Host for herself.

Stubbs and Elsie bring a naked and distressed Dolores back online. Stubbs "calms" her by turning off her display of emotions. She says that she's not feeling quite herself. She thinks she's in a dream. Stubbs is the unseen narrator, not Bernard, she is terrified as we see him ask her more questions. "First, have you ever questioned the nature of your reality? . . . Has anyone around you? For instance your father." He asks about her father and about the picture. He asks her if there was anything odd about the picture. She says there was not. "It didn't look like anything to me."

We then see the Abernathy ranch in this distance. People are walking around with flash lights. There is some type of car or all-terrain vehicle to the left with its headlights on. Inside the house people in "clean room" clothes are searching the house. They put the photograph in a plastic bag.

Because of his odd behavior, Peter is taken out of commission and replaced with another Host.

Theresa, Dr. Ford, and Bernard examine and discuss Peter Abernathy. Theresa wants the problem host "put down". If he breached, that's the policy. Dr. Ford wants to first discover why. Bernard says the results of their diagnostic test are confusing. Dr. Ford sits with the Peter Host to examine him. Dr. Ford asks Peter what happened to his program. The Host quotes Shakespeare. Dr. Ford asks Peter to access a "previous configuration." This calms Peter. Dr. Ford asks Peter some more questions. Peter appears back to his normal self. He talks about his daughter. Peter says he is who he is because of his daughter and he wouldn't have it any . . . Then Peter runs into a bit of trouble, as his concern for Dolores breaks through and distresses him. He says he has to worn Dolores. "The things they do to her," Peter says getting angry. "The thinks you do her. I have to protect her. I have to help her. She' got to get out." Bernard acknowledges they are miles beyond a glitch. Dr. Ford tells Peter to access his current build. He quotes Shakespeare again. He says that his itinerary is to meet his maker. Dr. Ford tells him he's in luck and asks him what he wants to say to his maker. "By most mechanical and dirty hand. I shall have such revenges on you, both, "Peter says glancing at Bernard. "The things I will do. What they are, yet I know not, but they will be the terrors of the earth." He leans forward and takes hold of Dr. Ford. "You don't know where you are, do you?" Peter says. "You're in a prison of your own sins." Security rushes in and turns Peter off. He powers down and freezes. Theresa demands to know what happened. Bernard says he's off script and they didn't program any of those behaviors. Dr. Ford realizes what happened because of the Shakespeare quotes. They had used this Host in a number of different roles. He's been Abernathy for 10 years, he was sheriff for a while before then, and before that, "the professor" from a horror narrative called "The Dinner Party." He was a leader of a group of cultists in the desert. He liked to quote Shakespeare, John Donne, and Gertrude Stein. Bernard realized that he Reveries are allowing the Host to access fragments of prior builds. "No cause for alarm, Bernard," Dr. Ford says. "Simply our old work coming back to haunt us."

In another area, Stubbs is still speaking to Dolores. He asks Dolores what her father whispered to her and she tells him, "These violent delights have violent ends", a quote from Romeo and Juliet. She says she doesn't know what it means. She says that she's never lied and would never hurt a living thing. Stubbs is satisfied with her responses.

Peter undergoes an unknown procedure that looks very much like a lobotomy, perhaps a call back to Theresa's comment to Lee earlier on the terrace.

Peter and Walter are taken to Cold Storage by Bernard to be retired indefinitely. Bernard whispers something into Peter's ear, and Peter takes his place in the hall of silent hosts.

Dolores Abernathy

We see Dolores still in Analysis Mode. A Behavior Technician says the wipe is complete. She asks if any of that had any impact on her core code. "Not good old Dolores," Stubbs says. He explains that Dolores has been repaired so many times she's practically brand new. She's the oldest host in the park. He asks Dolores what she thinks of this world. Dolores smiles and replies on script from the beginning of the episode in a Western accent. "This world? . . ."

We see Dolores wake up in her bed starting her loop. She walks down the stair. In voice over we hear Dolores say "Some people choose to see the ugliness in this world, the disarray."

Dolores walks out onto the front porch. She says hello to her father. It is a different host playing his part; Dolores does not notice. He repeats similar lines as Peter from the prior loops, his script now.

We cut back to a large door opening in the sub levels. Bernard, Stubbs, and a security team in full armor are putting Peter and Walter away.

"I choose to see the beauty," Dolores says in voice over.

Bernard leans next to Peter and whispers something. We can't hear. Peter and Walter find their place with all the other decommissioned hosts.

We see Teddy waking up on the train restarting his loop. "To believe that there is an order to our days, a purpose," Dolores continues in voice over.

We see the Man in Black look at the map inside Kissy's skull. He gets on his horse and rides into the desert.

We see Dolores back on her porch with her new father. She looks out at the view and smiles. A fly lands on her neck.

Back in the lab we see Dolores still sitting with Stubbs with the same dirt on her left cheek. "I know things will work out the way they were meant to," she says.

Back on the porch, Dolores swats the fly against her neck with her hand, killing it.

Cast

Main Cast

• Evan Rachel Wood as Dolores Abernathy
• Thandie Newton as Maeve Millay
• Jeffrey Wright as Bernard Lowe
• James Marsden as Teddy Flood
• Sidse Babett Knudsen as Theresa Cullen
• Ingrid Bolsø Berdal as Armistice
• Luke Hemsworth as Ashley Stubbs
• Simon Quarterman as Lee Sizemore
• Rodrigo Santoro as Hector Escaton
• Angela Sarafyan as Clementine Pennyfeather
• Shannon Woodward as Elsie Hughes
• Ed Harris as the Man in Black
• Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Robert Ford

Guest Cast

• Louis Herthum as Peter Abernathy
• Steven Ogg as Rebus
• Michael Wincott as Old Bill
• Eddie Rouse as Kissy
• Brian Howe as Sheriff Pickett
• Demetrius Grosse as Deputy Foss
• Ptolemy Slocum as Sylvester
• Leonardo Nam as Lutz
• Kyle Bornheimer as Clarence
• Bradford Tatum as Peter Abernathy/Bartender
• Lena Georgas as Lori
• Currie Graham as Craig

Co-Stars

• Timothy Lee DePriest as Walter
• Jeff Daniel Phillips as Tenderloin
• Bridgid Coulter as Mother of Young Boy
• Regi David as Father of Young Boy
• Mataeo Mingo as Jacob
• Trevante Rhodes, Micky Shiloah, Keller Wortham as the Bachelors
• Olivia May, Jackie Moore, Alex Marshall-Brown as the Hookers
• Jeffrey Muller as Man on Train
• Brook Kerr as Woman on Train
• Bradley Snedeker, Patrick Quinlan as Passengers
• Bianca Lopez as Diagnostic Programmer
• Molly Schreiber as Bachelorette
• Stefanie Chin as Girlfriend
• Joshua Sawtell as Controller
• Nihan Gur as Female Laughing Host

Deaths

• Dolores' Mother (Physical Body, Off-Screen)
• Peter Abernathy (Physical Body)
• Teddy Flood (Physical Body, 2 times)
• Kissy (Physical Body, Off-Screen)
• 12 unnamed Sweetwater host residents (Physical Body)
• Mariposa's bartender (Physical Body)
• Hector Escaton (Physical Body)
• Armistice (Physical Body)
• 6 unnamed farm hosts (Physical Body, Off-Screen)
• Rebus (Physical Body, Off-Screen)
• 3 members of Hector Escaton's gang (Physical Body)

Quotes

Dolores Abernathy to Ashley Stubbs: All lives have routine. Mine's no different. Still, I never cease to wonder at the thought that any day the course of my whole life could change with just one chance encounter.

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Bernard Lowe to Theresa Cullen, on the hosts: It's the tiny things that make them seem real, that make the guests fall in love with them.

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Dr. Robert Ford to Bernard, on the success of their work: ..."Mistakes" is the word you're too embarrassed to use. You ought not to be.

You're a product of a trillion of them. Evolution forged the entirety of sentient life on this planet using only one tool The mistake...of course, we've managed to slip evolution's leash now, haven't we? We can cure any disease, keep even the weakest of us alive, and, you know, one fine day perhaps we shall even resurrect the dead. Call forth Lazarus from his cave. Do you know what that means? It means that we're done. That this is as good as we're going to get.

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Peter to Dolores, whispering: These Violent Delights Have Violent Ends

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Stubbs to Bernard, on Hosts: You don't have kids at home, do you Bernard? If you did, you'd know they all rebel eventually.

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Dolores to Teddy, on the "Judas Steer": The rest will follow wherever you make him go.

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Dr. Robert Ford to Bernard, on human evolution: This is as good as we're going to get.

Music

• Paint It Black — The Rolling Stones
• Ain't No Grave — Johnny Cash
• Black Hole Sun — Soundgarden
• Sweetwater — Ramin Djawadi
• This World — Ramin Djawadi

Trivia

• "The Original" may refer to Dolores Abernathy; she is the oldest host in the park and could be said to be the 'original' host. (See more in episode names' meanings article)
• The title also may be a reference to the 1976 film Futureworld. In this sequel to the first film, Westworld (1973), Delos have reopened the park. They collect DNA from the (rich and powerful) guests, and grow clones which return home instead of the guests themselves. The Guests themselves are referred to as "The Originals".
• Westworld is HBO's biggest premiere since True Detective, with an audience of 3.3 million people.
• This episode was dedicated In loving memory of Eddie Rouse (1954-2014) who played Kissy and who died after filming the first episode.
• The fly on Dolores's face is real. A "Fly Wrangler", put a very cold fly - too cold to fly away - on the actor's forehead and let it wander around as it warmed up. However, the fly that enters her eyes is CGI special effects
• Flies could be representative of computer programming "bugs".
• It's mentioned that Dr. Robert Ford was involved in the very early stages of the theme park's development.
• During the scene where Walter is going on a rampage with hosts in the saloon, he mentioned a man called Arnold.
• Walter can sometimes be part of the "High Sierra" narrative.
• The Man in Black mentions he believes there's a deeper level to the "game".
• The Peter Abernathy host used to be a part of a narrative called "The Dinner Party" and portrayed a cultist turned cannibal who used to quote Shakespeare, John Donne and Gertrude Stein.
• There are some similarities between The Tempest and Westworld themes.

Gallery

The gallery below is automatically generated and contains images in the category "Images from The Original". Images added to that category turn up in the gallery after a short time.

External links

• The Original at the Internet Movie Database (rating 8,9/10)
• The Original at the Rotten tomatoes(rating 100%)
• The Original at en.wikipedia.org
• The Original at HBO