In its fourth episode, “Westworld” has moved past establishing its macabre theme park and started moving towards tying character storylines together. Their
The show hasn’t shed much light on what lies within The Maze or what it looks like, but it may have revealed what its entrance looks like. In Sunday’s episode, Dolores encountered the young girl from whom the Man in Black got information on where to find The Maze. She showed Dolores the drawing of the Maze that she etched into the dirt and told her it was where she came from. That triggered some strange visions from Dolores’ past… including an image of a familiar church.
You may recall that Episode 2 ended with Dr. Ford showing Bernard the place where he will build the biggest storyline the park has ever seen. It was a mostly empty swath of land, but it did have the ruins of a church steeple rising from the earth. It’s the same church Dolores saw in her vision. Whatever this church is, it is connected to several themes.
For starters, we’ve seen religion play a big role in the series, as this week’s episode ended with Hector describing the park’s employees to Maeve as demons from hell who watch over their world. In another scene, Ford and Bernard discuss the bicameral mind — the idea that prehistoric humans viewed their own thoughts and conscience as the voices of gods speaking to them. Later, Ford remarks to Theresa that when he was creating the park with Arnold, they saw themselves as the gods of the world they had created.
Another example of religion in “Westworld” is the constellation engraving of Orion that the park’s employees found while searching for the rogue host that smashed in his skull. In ancient Greece and Rome, the constellations were connected to the gods and heroes of Mount Olympus. In this case, Orion was a great hunter known for slaying a wide variety of animals. Perhaps Orion became a similar figure to the rogue android, only the hunters he was worshiping were the guests who were hunting the hosts with reckless abandon.
It’s also been noted that Dolores is the oldest android in the park, which would match up with the church’s dilapidated condition. Dolores’ origins could come from a section of the park that has been left to ruin and which Ford is trying to bring back in a new form. What exactly that form will be isn’t clear yet, but signs point to all the characters converging at the site of Ford’s new project.
The big missing piece to the puzzle is where all the events of the series fit chronologically. We know that the scenes are being presented in a non-linear format, as we jump from Dolores’ conversations with Bernard backstage to her travels with Billy and Logan. What’s not as clear is where everything fits together when it comes to cause and effect. As Dolores, the Man in Black, and possibly other characters get closer to The Maze, the park’s past, present, and future should all become clear.