The Original

"The Original"
Season	1
Episode number	1
Air date	October 2, 2016
Writer(s)	Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy
Director	Jonathan Nolan
Episodes
Previous	N/A
Next	"Chestnut"

The Original is the premiere episode of Westworld, and the first episode of the first season. The episode was co-written by series creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, and also directed by Nolan.

Synopsis

“	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.	”
–Official Synopsis

Plot

We hear a man's voice say "Bring her back online.", and then see Dolores Abernathy naked, sitting slightly awkwardly on a stool in a large room.

The unseen man asks if she can hear him and she says that she can, she also says she's not feeling "quite herself". The man tells her she can lose the accent and asks if she knows where she is. Dolores replies that she's in a dream. The man agrees that she is, and asks her if she'd like to wake up - Dolores replies "Yes, I'm terrified."

A fly crawls from her forehead, down her nose and up to her left eye. Dolores doesn't react. The man tells her there's nothing to be afraid of, as long as she answers his questions correctly. He asks her if she understands, she says yes and the fly walks to the middle of her unblinking eye. Again, she doesn't react and the man starts his questions: "First, have you ever questioned the nature of your reality?

Our view switches to Dolores waking in her bed, dressed in a night gown, as she answers, in voice over, "No." The questions continue. "Tell us what you think of your world." We watch as she walks downstairs, fully dressed. We hear her answer that she chooses to see beauty as she walks out onto the porch and says good morning to her father Peter Abernathy sitting there. They talk for a minute, she's going out to do some painting.

We hear Dolores continuing to answer the unseen man in voiceover, she says that she needs to believe in order, to believe that there's a purpose. He asks about the guests, what does she think of them? She starts to answer but our viewpoint switches to a train, carrying guests to the Westworld park at the beginning of their visit. Two men are talking, the man we can see is talking about two previous visits to Westworld. The first time had a family vacation, with fishing etc. The second he came alone and "went straight evil, best two weeks of my life."

Dolores shows Teddy the cattle herd.

Dolores' answer continues, she says that she likes to remember her father had taught her that everyone was once new to this world. She says that the newcomers, which is what she calls the guests, are looking for the same things as everyone else.

The train stops at Sweetwater station and the passengers get off, we watch another man - who'd been listening without comment on the train, alight. He walks past a couple who are visiting for the first time and are looking at and discussing everything. The man from the train walks through town, he passes the Sheriff who is briefing a group of men about searching for a criminal called Hector Escaton. The sheriff asks our man to join them but he apologises, saying "Not today", and politely tipping his hat. Instead he walks into a bar.

In the bar, he orders a drink and turns down an offer of company from a prostitute, Clementine Pennyfeather, saying that he'd rather not pay for a woman's affections. Another woman, Maeve Millay, is listening and says that he has to pay in one way or another, whatever he does. He's not listening though, through the window he's seen Dolores Abernathy coming out of a store and he leaves the bar without speaking again to the women, and runs across the street to 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.

Teddy Flood, the man, crosses the street and picks up a tin can she's dropped and gives it to her. They know each other, she's pleased he's come back. He asks to escort her home, and she challenges him with a smile; says yes, if he can keep up. She gets on her horse and rides away, leaving him to find a horse.

We see him catching her up outside town on a trail. She's not hurrying too much and they stop to admire the view. She teases him for not knowing about cattle, teaches him about the Judas Steer. She also reminds him that her father won't be pleased to see him.

It's dark by the time they get to her farm, as they approach they hear a gunshot and see the flash in the house. He pulls his rifle out of the holster on the horse and tells her to wait, galloping up to the house.

At the house a man with a mustache and bowler hat is tormenting a man, Dolores' father Peter Abernathy who is on the ground in front of his house. Peter is defiant and the man shoots him. The man's partner, Walter is on the porch, complaining that the woman, Dolores' mother, has been killed before he could "have a turn", the man replies that she's still warm enough.

Teddy arrives and shoots them both. As we see Teddy kneel down by the body of the woman inside and watch a frantic Dolores kneel by her father's body, we hear the unseen man ask his last question. He asks her what she would think if he told here there no "chance encounters", that she, and everyone, were built to fulfil the desires of the newcomers.

Before she answers another man appears, the Man in Black who stands over her and says hello. He insults her father and she reaches for a gun on the ground, before she can shoot him he knocks it out of her hands. He tells her that he's been visiting her for 30 years, and she still doesn't remember him.

Teddy comes out of the house and challenges him, the Man in Black knows him and seems bored with the challenge. He torments Teddy, letting Teddy shoot him. It has no effect as Teddy is a host and the Man in Black is a newcomer, a human.

The Man in Black continues to taunt Teddy, finally he drags Dolores off while Teddy shoots at him uselessly. Dolores begs for Teddy's life, but the Man in Black kills him with a single shot and drags her into the barn, to "celebrate".

As Teddy collapses and Dolores is dragged away screaming, we hear Dolores answering the unseen man, saying that every new person she meets reminds he how lucky she is to be alive and how beautiful the world can be. In a reflection on Teddy's motionless eye we see the barn door closing on the Man in Black and Dolores.

Dolores wakes in bed, in her nightgown. She gets up to start her day, she goes downstairs and out onto the porch to greet her father and go out to paint. Teddy wakes on the train, two female guests are discussing him, remarking on how lifelike and perfect he is. One of the women says that perfect is boring, and that she's more interested in the bad guys.

Bernard delicately tells Ford about a mistake in the update.

A view of the landscape pulls back and we see that we're looking at a circular display in a control room.

In a large hall, figures dressed in white "clean room" clothes are assembling an android horse and a woman is "exercising" a completed horse. In another area people are testing humanoid androids, some clothed, some not. A prostitute, a gunfighter, and Dolores. The unseen man is revealed to be Bernard Lowe who is sitting with Elsie King questioning a naked Clementine Pennyfeather sitting on a stool.

Bernard notices that one of her gestures, is subtly different. He tells Elsie that a new class of gestures has been added to "the update" by Robert Ford. The gestures are altered by being able to refer to previous experiences, which have been purged from the android's memory but not yet overwritten. "Reveries", the gestures, access this unconscious memory. He says that it's the tiny things that make the guests fall in love with them. While he's answering a call Elsie looks closely at Clementine, 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.

In the control room, Theresa Cullen and Bernard Lowe are talking to Stubbs. She says that there's unscheduled activity, unscheduled android activity, on one of the sublevels and sends Stubbs to sort it out with a security team. Bernard elects to go as well. Stubbs is worried and Cullen 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, and says so. Cullen is unimpressed, as is Stubbs.

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

At the back of the hall is an office with a large glass window. In the office Robert Ford is sitting drinking with one of the earliest androids, a depiction of Wild Bill Hicock. The andriod's movements are slightly jerky and unnatural, it's words somewhat halting but it's clear that Ford feels affection for it. They're talking about how they don't make anything like they used to, and about he showdowns Bill has seen. Ford tells him to have a deep and dreamless sleep and Bill freezes, glass partway to his mouth.

He turns and talks to Bernard, telling him about the old style hosts, their limitations.

A young newcomer asks Dolores if she's real.

Bernard mentions the new gestures, compliments Ford on them. Bill puts himself away on a shelf and into a zipped up body bag for safekeeping.

Dolores comes out onto the porch and asks her father if he's slept well, he has. She's going to do some errands before painting. He says to be sure to be home before dark, because of the bandit who hasn't been caught. They tease each other, about his stories of when he was "a lawman". She promises to be home before dark.

In town, Teddy gets off the train and makes it past the sheriff, who's picked on a newcomer who quite likes the idea of a posse.

In the bar Clementine has no luck with Teddy again. This time Maeve Millay is busy talking to some clients and doesn't join in the conversation. Teddy sees Dolores through the window and moves to intercept her. As he's crossing the street he's waylaid by a newcomer, a guest who remembers him from a previous visit. He gives up on meeting Dolores and this time it's the Man in Black who retrieves and returns her dropped tin can. She doesn't remember him and isn't alarmed, he's charming and gives her the can. He puzzles her by saying that he has other plans that evening, tips his hat and walks away.

The Man in Black goes into the bar and sits at a poker game.

The couple who joined the posse are on horseback, he's having a great time, her not so much. They find a body and he's looking at it with Sheriff Pickett, when the android malfunctions and begins to repeat himself, it looks similar to a human stroke or brain attack. The woman insists they go back at once, and they leave the sheriff standing there, immobile now.

The sheriff is taken backstage and examined, Lee Sizemore is berating Bernard and demanding to know what happened. Bernard and Cullen seem unbothered, used to him. The unusual behaviour seems to be very unusual, failures don't normally occur in this way and Cullen presses Bernard about the failure, talking about the update as being the likely cause. Bernard is noncomittal but does allow it might be the update.

Cullen says to recall the updated hosts and rollback the update, Sizmemore complains that the number of hosts, 10% of the population, about 200 hosts, will wreak havoc with his storylines. Bernard watches her forehead, looking at the expression on her face as she works to keep her temper. He says as much to Cullen, who is unimpressed, 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 behaviour from the hosts. He reassures her, and she agrees to the diagnostic being run before any action. She leaves instructions and implied threats in her wake as she goes.

We see a sex party in a bath house. Teddy has taken the men there. They talk about him as if he's not present.

Dolores is painting by the river when a family comes up, watching her and the horses she's painting. She shows the little boy how to feed the horse, he asks her if she's "one of them", not real. Dolores says she has to go and that they should as well.

Peter Abernathy watches some men herding cattle into an enclosure, he notices a modern photograph on the ground and picks it up, looking at it carefully.

When Dolores gets home he shows her the photo, she is unbothered by it - but he is disturbed and cannot fit the picture into his experience of the world.

Hector and Armistice arrive in Smallwater.

Lee Sizemore ambushes Theresa Cullen when she's trying to relax at the end of the day. He tries to apologise for being rude earlier that day, and tries to justify his behaviour. She doesn't accept what he says. He says that the work to make hosts more lifelike is inappropriate - that the hosts are too lifelike. He says that it would be a lot cheaper, she corrects his grammar and doesn't listen to him, she also puts down his clumsy attempt at office politics. She walks away.

In the bar Maeve Millay is leaving early, as is Kissy, the croupier. The manager frisks him before he goes. When he gets outside the Man in Black stabs him in the throat and drags him away.

Bernard is still working on the sheriff when Elsie tells him there's a problem with a host.

Walter has shot up the bar, killing hosts left and right, and has gone off script. Two guests are cowering in the bar as he strides around. He goes outside pours milk all over a dead host. Staff arrive and the scene freezes. Bernard and Elsie discuss what's happened, Cullen appears and points out that the sheriff wasn't an isolated incident, and wants the update rolled back. When Bernard points out that it will damage a lot of narrative, she tells him that Sizemore has a contingency plan. She says that Bernard gets the job of telling Robert Ford about the problem - as he 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 finds Ford watching a new android being 3d printed. Ford isn't angry, but teases Bernard about not having found the problem. He realises the mistake was his, and that Bernard doesn't want to say so. They talk about evolution, Ford thinks that the evolution of humans has ceased, that no more improvement will occur. He's not angry with Bernard.

In the desert, the Man in Black has bled Kissy almost dry, saving his blood in metal buckets. He taints the terrified host, finally scalping him as he tries to escape. He's trying to discover what he sees as the secret of Westworld.

Dolores wakes again. Her father is still sitting on the porch, very disturbed by the photo. She shouts for her mother - he tells her to leave, to go, that all the devils of hell are here. She rides to town for the doctor.

Teddy sees her and walks over, she's very relieved to see him. She wants him to go to her father. Before they can go a group of men, Hector and his gang, ride slowly through, blankets over their heads. They are robbing the town a week early to cope with the narrative disruption.

Elsie checks out Hosts: Dolores and Teddy, at the theme park.

The shooting starts and the guests are delighted, Hector is ruthless. The safe is dragged out of the hotel. Hector and Armistice kill everyone they can. Teddy and Dolores hide. Maeve is is unimpressed and remains cool.

Dolores makes a run for it and Teddy is injured trying to save her. Sizemore looks pleased with himself.

The gang make good their escape, with the safe. Maeve shoots one of them to rescue Clementine.

Hector starts his new speech, and is shot in the neck by a delighted guest. Cullen is very amused at that Sizemore's new speech wasn't used.

Dolores is distraught, not knowing how to look after Teddy as he dies.

The guest has his picture taken with Hector's propped up corpse. Elsie in costume, comes upon Dolores. Dolores pleads with her to help and Elsie gently tells her to sleep, calling staff members to pick up both of them.

Bernard tells Cullen that one of the hosts is a problem, he takes her to see the problem. 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 man, not Bernard, she is terrified. We see him ask her the questions.

He asks about her father and about the picture. The answers she gives satisfy him that she's not damaged.

Cullen wants the problem host "put down", Ford wants to find out what went wrong. It's the Peter host. He quotes Shakespeare, having learned it in a previous "role". Ford takes him back to a "save point", Peter is calm and Ford asks him some questions. Peter soon runs into trouble though, his concern for Dolores breaks through and distresses him. Going back to his current build prompts Peter to quote Shakespeare again, and to tell Ford he wants to meet his maker.

Peter appears to threaten Ford. He takes hold of Ford is restrained and disabled. Ford explains some of the behaviour. The Reveries are allowing Peter access to his old memories.

Stubbs 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 satified.

Peter undergoes some sort of procedure that looks very like a lobotomy.

Though Hosts are unable to kill any living thing, Dolores kills a fly that lands on her neck.

Stubbs says that Dolores is the oldest host in the park, he asks her what she thinks of this world. She smiles angelically and says "This world, some people choose to see the ugliness in this world, the disarray. I choose to see the beauty; to believe that there is an order to our days. A purpose. I know things will work out the way they were meant to."

She wakes and goes out to the porch to see her father, now a different host playing the part.

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

Teddy wakes on the train.

We see the scalp taken by the Man in Black, there is a circuit board or antennae embedded in it. The Man in Black rides into town.

On her porch Dolores looks out at the view, and absently kills a fly that lands on her neck.

Dedication

In loving memory of Eddie Rouse (1954-2014) who played Kissy.

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 Bols∅ 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
• Bradford Tatum 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 Bartender
• Lena Georgas as Lori
• Currie Graham as Craig
• Timothy Lee DePriest as Walter
• Jeff Daniel Phillips as Tenderloin
• Mataeo Mingo as Jacob

Co-Stars

• Bridgid Coulter as Mother of Young Boy
• Regi David as Father of Young Boy
• Mateo Mingo as Boy of 8
• Trevante Rohdes, 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 Lopex as Diagnostic Programmer
• Molly Schreiber as Bachelotrette
• Stefanie Chin as Girlfriend
• Joshua Sawtell as Controller
• Nihan Gur as Female Laughing Host

Quotes

“	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.	”
–Dolores Abernathy to Ashley Stubbs.

“	It's the tiny things that make them seem real, that make the guests fall in love with them.	”
–Bernard Lowe about the hosts.

“	..."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.	”
–Dr. Robert Ford explains the success of their work to Bernard.

References

• 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" storyline.
• The Man in Black mentions 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.

External links

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