"The Winter Line" is the second episode of the third season of Westworld, and the twenty-second episode overall. It aired on March 22, 2020.
Plot
People put up a lot of walls. Bring a sledgehammer to your life.
Based on the excellent IMDB synopsis but only initially - add and change as you think is needed. No speculation in plot sections please, that's what the comments are for.
Maeve Millay and Hector Escaton
Maeve Millay wakes to find herself in 1940s Italy with a man tied to a chair. Hector Escaton comes in and she surprises herself by speaking Italian. They are partisans trying to escape from the Nazis. Maeve's host control techniques don't work. They use a sports car to reach a plane but the flight crew are dead, and the Nazis have them cornered. Hector calls Maeve "Isabella", not recognising her, his Name is Ettore in this narrative. He is killed in a shootout with the Nazis and Maeve commits suicide with a gun to her head. She realises this isn't real.
Bernard Lowe
Bernard arrives back in Westworld on a boat. The signs are in Chinese, the White Church destroyed by fire.
Maeve
Maeve is back on a tech table, she revives, takes a weapon and walks around the Labs, something seems off. She sees Hector naked in a pile of other host bodies. Security tries to stop her but their command don't work and she prepares to kill herself again. Lee Sizemore comes in to stop them. She remembers him, they chat about his "death" and her new role in Warworld. He offers her a chance to find her daughter again as WarWorld is close to The Forge.
Bernard
Bernard goes down to the original Robert Ford lab, now deserted and in ruins. He finds a room of bagged Hosts, his own replicas included. Stubbs wakes, with a bloody head wound. Ashley Stubbs had tried to kill himself - but Host are difficult to kill. Bernard repairs him and installs a non-expolosive C6 vertebrae so that Stubbs can leave the parks if he chooses. Stubbs had failed in his mission to protect all of the hosts and so tried to destroy himself; he wonders why Bernard came back, Bernard explains that he wants to try to stop Dolores, he needs help from Maeve, they set out to find her.
Maeve
Maeve is back in the Nazi scenario, she escapes with Hector again, but this time she stops the car and leaves the Resistance Leader, walking off alone into the trees. Sizemore greets her with two horses and they head towards the Mesa Hub in the distance .
Bernard and Stubbs
Stubbs and Lowe drive to the Mesa site. Stubbs is sure Maeve is in Sub-Level B83, host storage. As well as the stored hosts they find dead ones.
Sizemore and Maeve
Sizemore and Maeve find a Control Room, the Forge. She was never there before and doesn't remember who got the rest of the AI into the encrypted world. Sizemore claims he has changed and wants to help her, he kisses Maeve. She realizes Sizemore is really dead, and that this is an AI, the Sizemore AI becomes confused.
Stubbs and Lowe
Stubbs and Lowe find a stored Maeve body with no Control Unit.
Sizemore and Maeve
Sizemore crashes and the server room fades. Maeve tries to think her way out of what is happening and realizes she is in a VR simulation.
Stubbs and Lowe
Bernard looks for a terminal to search for Maeve, Stubbs should be able to help.
Maeve takes Sizemore back to the labs. She looks for a clue or hint to escape. She confuses staff bay asking about the square root of -1. She finds a tablet and starts surfing, sure that whoever programmed this left some shortcuts or gaps. They find a costume room.
Bernard Lowe and Stubbs find the Labs and an office, Bernard tries to log in. He cannot and thinks Dolores Abernathy created him with a corrupt code, Bernard connects using a hardwire plug-in. Stubbs prevents two security from shooting Lowe, but allows one to escape, he then he has to fight off five more while Lowe undergoes a confusing scan. Stubbs gets him to unplug and leave.
Maeve starts the WW2 Partisan Scenario again but this time changes it up and approaches the Nazis. She turns in Hector , then pulls maps from everyone else's clothes, the AI go crazy and everyone starts shooting. The VR scenario freezes except for Maeve. Sizemore is also active. Maeve hacks a tablet to see out into the real world. She programs a robot to grab her brain CPU, in-simulation Maeve collapses. The robot strides off deflecting security bullets and makes it outside. In a palm-treed yard it is finally gunned down and drops the spherical CPU.
At a beach Bernard freezes Stubbs and reprograms him to protect Lowe at all costs. They grab a rowboat and go to the shore.
Maeve wakes in a modern expensive house in a stylish dress. She finds a man waiting for her, Serac. He welcomes her to the real world. He needs her help. His System has recently stopped, it has detected a Threat. Maeve realizes it is Dolores but doesn't want to help, she grabs a knife but he freezes her with a red button, they will talk again.
Cast
Main Cast
- Evan Rachel Wood as Dolores Abernathy (credit only)
- Thandie Newton as Maeve Millay
- Jeffrey Wright as Bernard Lowe
- Tessa Thompson as Charlotte Hale's host (credit only)
- Aaron Paul as Caleb Nichols (credit only)
- Luke Hemsworth as Ashley Stubbs
- Simon Quarterman as Lee Sizemore (simulation)
- Vincent Cassel as Serac
- Ed Harris as Man in Black (credit only)
Guest Starring
- Rodrigo Santoro as Hector Escaton
- John Gallagher Jr. as Liam Dempsey Jr.
- Leonardo Nam as Felix Lutz
- Ptolemy Slocum as Sylvester
- D.B. Weiss as Dan
- David Benioff as Dave
- David Danipour as Benny
Co-Starring
- Christian Stamm as Sauer
- Severin Mahncke as Lietuenant
- Andreas Riter as Nazi Nazi
- Alexander Ward as Drone Host/Harriet
- Nico Conde as Captive
- Candice Renée as Behavior Tech
- Cosima Cabrera as Behavior Tech
- Al Bayan as Behavior Tech
- JD Taden as QA member
- Zack Duhame as QA officer
- Tuen Wai Meng as Fisherman
- Calvin Seabrooks as Tech
Trivia and Notes
The title
General
- This is the first episode to tease the fourth park, Medieval World, as seen in Westworld film and its sequel Futureworld.
- This episode contains an Easter egg from Westworld's fellow HBO show Game of Thrones which featured a cameo appearance from the latter series' creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss in addition to Drogon.
Mistakes
Quotes
Music
Image Gallery/HBO Episode Stills
This gallery is automatically generated and contains images in the category "Images from The Winter Line". Images added to that category turn up in the gallery after a short time.
External links
The Winter Line at the Internet Movie Database (rating {{{3}}}/10) (rating 8.8/10)- "The Winter Line" at Rotten tomatoes (rating 90%)
