"The Stray" is the third episode of Westworld, and the third episode of the first season. The episode was co-written by Lisa Joy & Daniel T. Thomsen, and directed by Neil Marshall.
Synopsis
| “ | Elsie Hughes and Ashley Stubbs head into the hills in pursuit of a missing host. Teddy Flood gets a new backstory, which sets him off in pursuit of a new villain, leaving Dolores Abernathy alone in Sweetwater. Bernard Lowe investigates the origins of madness and hallucinations within the hosts. William finds an attraction he'd like to pursue and drags Logan along for the ride. | ” |
–Official Synopsis | ||
Plot
Dolores and Arnold
Dolores Abernathy is waiting in a glass-walled room in a Remote Diagnostic Facility when Arnold enters, says "good morning" and tells her to come, "back online".
This is Arnold Weber, rather than Bernard Lowe, because of: the location (an RDF), Dolores' clothing (for an official examination by a Behavior Technician she would be naked), we never see Bernard without his neckties, nor is he ever wearing a black lab coat, and Ford has kept Dolores and Bernard apart.
Dolores sits up, looks at him, and says, "hello" in return. He asks her, "Has anyone else put you into diagnostic mode since we last spoke?" and "Have you told anyone of our conversations?" She answers that she has been cleaned and serviced but not put into diagnostic mode. She reminds him that he told her not to tell anyone about their conversations (but she doesn't actually say that she hasn't told anyone).
Arnold gives Dolores a copy of Alice in Wonderland
He shows her a gift he's brought for her, a copy of Alice in Wonderland, that he used to read to his son. He asks her to read a particular passage "Dear, dear! How queer everything is today! And yesterday things went on just as usual. I wonder if I've been changed in the night."
She pauses and looks at him, he asks her if that passage makes her think of anything. She answers that it's like the "other books" they've read together, and that "It's about change." She asks about his son, where he is now. He doesn't reply and puts her into Analysis Mode and asks what led her to ask that question. She answers that it seemed appropriate to ask a personal question at that point in the conversation. Appearing reassured, he tells her to Continue.
She carries on reading until she comes to the point where Alice asks herself, "Who in the world am I?"
Dolores
Dolores wakes, as usual in her bed. She puts away some clean washing, opens a drawer and sees a handgun wrapped in a cloth, she clearly wasn't expecting it to be there. She unwraps it, puts it back and this triggers a memory of being dragged into the barn by the Man in Black. She looks in the drawer again but the gun is not there.
William and Logan
We see William walking down the Main Street in Sweetwater, Clementine says "'Morning cowboy", he sees Holden bringing in a bandit and looks at the "Wanted" poster. The bandit tries to escape and William intervenes when Clementine is used as a hostage. He is shot himself and knocked over, but shoots the bandit dead, rescuing Clementine. Holden tells him "Nice shot" and Clementine wants to express her gratitude more directly. Logan appears, closing his zipper, as usual. He's surprised that William has actually killed a Host. Logan wants him to celebrate by having sex with the prostitute hosts, but William wants to go bounty hunting with Holden instead.
Bernard and Elsie
Bernard leaves the glass-walled room, Theresa Cullen says that she's been looking for him. He explains that he was late that day. She talks about the board being uneasy about the update problems and the huge resources Robert Ford is using for his new narrative. She wants to know why his staff, including Elsie Hughes, are still pulling Hosts for examination if the update problem has been resolved. He obviously didn't know that was happening and doesn't reply as she tells him to sort it and to be honest with her about things before leaving. Bernard finds Elsie, who is examining Rebus about the Walter incident. She plays him a recording of Walter's one-sided rant and asks him why he kills six hosts but leaves three others. She points out that the six he killed, had "killed" Walter in the past - it was as if Walter was looking for revenge, for events from an old narrative. She also notices that Walter was talking with a non-existent person named Arnold, which Bernard explains might just be Walter's improvisation.
Elsie gets an alert on her tablet, telling her about a stray host and Bernard tells her to go and sort it out. He obviously disapproves of what she's been doing and says "Do something that's actually in your job description." Hughes and Ashley Stubbs travel to the surface of the park in an elevator. They are heading to Python Pass to find a host that has strayed from his loop.
Around a fire, with no wood or flames, some men are complaining about the lack of wood, but none of them go and chop some. Elsie Hughes and Ashley Stubbs arrive and freeze these hosts. Hughes explains that the men are stuck in a loop because the only host allowed to use the axe, the Woodcutter, has abandoned them.
In the Woodcutter's tent they look at the wooden carvings that he has done. Hughes sees that each of the carvings bears the same strange pattern and puts one in her pocket to look at later.
Hughes and Stubbs close in on the stray. Hughes still has the carving and Stubbs points out that the markings are of the constellation Orion.
While searching for a missing Host, Elsie discovers strange carvings.
Bernard and Ford
Bernard interrupts Ford while he's working with a host. Ford goes to talk to him but breaks off to reprimand another man, Henry, for covering a host with a cloth while he works on him. Ford cuts the host's face with a scalpel to prove a point; reminding Henry that the hosts do not feel anything that they are not programmed to feel. Bernard and Ford talk in Ford's office. Bernard posits that they misdiagnosed the original problem with the hosts, as Dolores and Walter were exhibiting more aberrant behaviour than just recalling memories, both talking to the same imaginary person: Arnold. Bernard questions whether Ford has told him the whole truth.
Teddy and Marti
In Sweetwater Teddy and Marti arrive, she is an attractive female guest carrying a rifle and wearing a sidearm; she is dressed more like a typical male guest than a typical female guest. They stand in front of a building and challenge a large man and his associate coming out. They ritualistically insult each other and then Teddy and Marti shoot them; Marti shoots the large man and Teddy his companion. Marti is delighted. They handcuff the valuable corpse to the porch in front of the saloon and hotel and go inside.
On the Main Street, some men and a guest are discussing Dolores as she walks towards them with her shopping, one says that she will be "tight as a tympani drum". They block her way on the sidewalks and then on the street when she steps into it to avoid them. They harass her until Teddy arrives, saying that she's not interested. The guest backs off and the men leave.
Dolores is unable to pull the trigger on Teddy's gun.
On the way back to the ranch Teddy tries to teach her how to shoot, but she's not able to actually fire the gun. she seems unable to make herself pull the trigger. This puzzles her, as she doesn't realize only certain hosts are given authority to fire a weapon. The sheriff and Marti ride up to get Teddy and go on a bounty hunt. Dolores is upset that he's going, and makes him promise to come back; they kiss and he leaves saying he will come back for her someday soon.
Teddy and the posse talk as they track the fugitive. Teddy reveals that he knows the fugitive from when they were in the army together He tells them that Wyatt came back from war with some "strange ideas", this discussion seems to be prompted by the new narrative and back-story Dr Ford has just updated him with.
They find several dead men tied and hung on a tree, noticing they've been tortured. While they're looking at the bodies one of them turns out not to be dead and coughs over Marti. Shots ring out and they take cover. Marti enjoys the gun battle but another guest is scared. Teddy and Marti distract their attackers while the other guest gets away.
Maeve Millay complains about the dead body outside but Teddy's apology is enough to satisfy her. When Teddy gives her some money we see her remember seeing Teddy's body being cleaned for repair in the Livestock Management area of the Mesa Hub, when she woke too early from her own repair a day prior.
Dolores urges Teddy to take her away.
Clementine comes onto Marti, using the same line as usual, and Marti happily goes upstairs with her. Teddy sees Dolores Abernathy across the street and goes to retrieve her dropped can of food. On their way to the Abernathy Ranch they stop and talk. She talks to him about how she feels unsatisfied and how she wants to go away with him. He says "someday"; she understands that someday means never. From his puzzled expression, she seems to be going off script while he is still on his normal loop. She tells him she wants to go now, but he says he has things to do before he can.
When they get back to the ranch they hear a shot as usual, and Teddy rushes up to the house. Dolores follows even though he tells her not to. There are more shots and ...
Teddy and Dr. Ford
... the scene shifts to the Manufacturing area with a 3D printer constructing the iris of a host eye. We hear Dr. Robert Ford quote Shakespeare's Julius Caesar ("The coward dies a thousand deaths...") Ford is examining Teddy as he upgrades him for the new narrative. Ford asks him what he yearns for and then, when Teddy tells him he wants a life with Dolores, he replies that he will never have that. Teddy doesn't react to this. Ford gives Teddy a backstory update. The story concerns Wyatt and we see Teddy remember him as the update takes effect. However, Teddy says Wyatt was a sergeant, and we see Wyatt wearing the two stripes of a corporal.
Bernard and Ford
Ford tells Bernard that for three years he lived in the park, refining the hosts before paying guests set foot in the park, along with a team of engineers and a partner. This partner, Arnold, was scrubbed from the records. In this time, there were no boards or corporate influence, but just creation. Hosts began to pass the Turing Test, yet Arnold was only interested in creating consciousness, which he believed to be a pyramid with memory at the bottom, followed by improvisation and self-interest and culminating in an unknown stage at the top.
Arnold's theory of what the top of the pyramid could be was the Bicameral Mind, in which the hosts would hear their programming as an internal monologue in order to boost consciousness. Despite this, Ford believes Arnold made two mistakes: firstly, that conscious hosts were not suited for the park; secondly, that those believing they were mistaking their internal monologues for voices of the gods would be lunatics. Arnold's approach was abandoned.
Bernard notes that some hosts are remembering, because of Arnold's code having access to partially purged memories. Ford tells Bernard that Arnold is dead, and that his search for consciousness consumed him. Arnold's death was determined to be an accident, but Ford implies it was suicide. Ford finishes the meeting by telling Bernard that a new update will prevent any more aberrant behavior in the hosts, and reminds him that he should not make Arnold's mistakes as hosts are not real. Dr. Ford seems not to want to believe the truth of what is happening.
Bernard makes a video call to his ex-wife and they remember their dead son Charlie together. Bernard tells her that the pain he feels over his son is the only thing he has left of him.
Elsie asks Stubbs why the stray would be carving Orion into the woodwork, to which Stubbs responds sarcastically. Taking a detour to urinate, Elsie stumbles upon the stray.
In the hills, Teddy's group is ambushed by Wyatt's masked men. The sheriff is quickly cut down and Teddy tells Marti to escape, managing to fire upon their attackers before being attacked himself.
Stubbs tells Elsie to call a control team but instead she secretly calls Bernard to report the aberrant behavior. Bernard does not answer the call though.
Bernard asks Dolores for help on what to do with her, claiming he was fascinated by her but that it would be better for him to restore her to an earlier build. Commanding Dolores to drop scripted responses and only improvise, Dolores asks Bernard if she has changed and whether she is a mistake. Echoing Ford's earlier words, Bernard states that evolution is forged by mistakes. Bernard tells Dolores he does not intend to change her back to a previous build as long as they keep the meetings a secret, comparing it to the time he taught his son to swim by setting him free in the water.
Teddy and Dolores
Dolores shoots Rebus
Dolores hears from a deputy that Wyatt's men ambushed Teddy in the hills, but the deputy says that no one will go looking for Teddy's party until the morning.
She then returns to her family's ranch. She finds herself saying, "Father wouldn't let them roam this close", and then pauses puzzledly before she continues with, "to dark". She says this aloud while alone, seemingly to no one.
Dolores finds her father dead. But, then she has a memory of the previous Peter Abernathy lying dead on the ground. Also it is evident that during this time, she has memories of times when Rebus and Old Walter would come to the ranch and kill her father because not only is the previous Peter Abernathy present, but Old Walter is present as well. A guest passes up the opportunity to rape Dolores, saying that she seems crazy. After the guest gives him permission to do so, Rebus drags her into the barn to rape her himself.
Dolores is lying in the hay, and realizes that she has a handgun in her hand. Rebus remarks that Dolores' boyfriend taught her a thing or two. As Rebus is standing over her and talking, Dolores remembers the Man in Black also standing over her and talking. She hears a man's voice say, "Kill him." She shoots Rebus, runs out of the barn, and screams for her mother. Dolores is shot in the belly by a guest, right after the man says, "Hey! Get back here." Then, strangely, after she is shot, the scene skips backwards a few seconds, and the man again says, "Hey! Get back here." Dolores looks down at her belly, and sees that she hasn't been shot. She then escapes from the ranch.
Ashley Stubbs begins to behead the stray in order to take his brain back for analysis, but the stray attacks Stubbs mid-decapitation and climbs out of the crevasse. Once out, he brandishes a large rock over his head, terrifying Elsie. Instead of dropping it on a shocked Elsie, he smashes his own head in, destroying himself.
William and Logan
Logan complains to William about the boredom he is experiencing when Dolores stumbles into their campsite, and falls into William's arms.
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
- Luke Hemsworth as Ashley Stubbs
- Sidse Babett Knudsen as Theresa Cullen
- Angela Sarafyan as Clementine Pennyfeather
- Jimmi Simpson as William
- Shannon Woodward as Elsie Hughes
- Ed Harris as Man in Black
- Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Robert Ford
Guest Cast
- Louis Herthum as Old Peter Abernathy
- Bradford Tatum as New Peter Abernathy
- Steven Ogg as Rebus
- Bojana Novakovic as Marti
- Talulah Riley as Angela
- Gina Torres as Lauren
- Brian Howe as Sheriff Pickett
- Demetrius Grosse as Deputy Foss
- Eddie Shin as Henry
- Chris Browning as Holden
Co-Stars
- Timothy Lee DePriest as Old Walter
- Ward Roberts as New Walter
- Bruno Gunn as Samuel Walrus
- Darrel Cherney as Horace Calhoun
- Kanin Howell as Ivan
- Paul-Mikel Williams as Charlie
- Tait Fletcher as Woodcutter
- Tom Proctor as Cookie
- Travis Johns, Joshua Dov as Python Cowboys
- Chris Mollica as Sinister Guest
- Dusty Sorg as Sketchy Guest
- Travis Hammer as Leering Guest
- Paul Fox as Young Doctor
- Sorin Brouwers as Wyatt
- Con Schell as Deputy Rogers
- Bradley Fisher as Mariposa Bartender
- Shvona Chung, Sheldon Coolman as Field Techs
Quotes
Bernard Lowe: "I guess people want to read about the things they want the most and experience the least."
William: "She was terrified." Logan: "That's why they exist! So you can feel...THIS."
Teddy: "There's a girl. Dolores. Better than I deserve. But maybe, someday soon, we'll have the life we both been dreamin' of." Dr. Ford: "No. You never will. Your job is not to protect Dolores. Your job is to keep her here, so guests can find her, if they want to, best the stalwart gunslinger, and have their way with his girl. Tell me, has it ever occurred to you to run off with her?" Teddy: "I got some reckoning to do before I can be with her." Ford: "Ah yes. Your mysterious backstory. It's the reason for my visit. Do you know why it's a mystery, Teddy? Because we never bothered to give you one, just a formless guilt you never atoned for. But perhaps it is time you had a worthy origin story."
Dr. Ford: "He doesn't get cold. He doesn't feel ashamed. He doesn't feel a solitary thing that we haven't told him to. Understand?"
Lauren (Bernard's Wife): "Oh, these talks. I don't know if they help or hurt. Do you ever wish you could forget?" Bernard: "This pain. It's all that I have left of him."
Dolores: "There aren't two versions of me. There's only one. And I think when I discover who I am, I'll be free."
Music
Peacherine Rag (Scott Joplin) [1]
Rêverie, L. 68 (Claude Debussy)[1]
Gallery
