Westworld Season 3 Episode 2 ‘The Winter Line’ Recap and Review
Clearly the title of the episode reminds me of a fashion label. It’s interesting especially in relation to the robots as disposable personas.
We start the episode moving through occupied France (also Overlord is fantastic. Go watch it) Maeve silences the captured Nazis and hides from someone who ends up being Hector. He tells her that there are other Nazis looking for them. He offers her a couple of pills and tells her they work instantly. They leave the villa and Hector tells her it’s their job to get the Allies a map. It’s a spy scenario. It would be a ton of fun to play. There are Nazis in the courtyard they are about to execute other resistant workers for stealing plans. They turn a corner and a group of Nazi guards stop them. They find the plans and a gun. Maeve tries her mind trick on one of them but ends up jamming the pill into his eye. They shoot the other two and run away. A gun fight commences.
They find a sweet ass car (someone out there knows what it is). As they drive into the French Wilderness Hector tells her they are leaving this world by sky. As their sweet French Resistance car rounds the corner you see an Allied plane. They run to the plane only to discover the crew has been shot. Hector in a last ditch effort tells her they need to contact Isabella. Its only then that we discover Hector has no idea who Maeve really is. He gets captured only to die saving her. She tells him right before he gets shot he was never meant to escape anyway. She takes his gun and shoots herself in the head as she realizes its all a simulation in another world like Westworld. Hell of a cold open. Jesus.
After the credits, we are back in the South China Sea. Its obviously Bernard headed to Westworld. We see a giant metal tower and as he starts to explore the rest of the old Westworld. He visits some staples of Seasons 1 and 2.
Now we are back visiting Felix and Sylvester. Only it’s at least one different technician. Maeve is back and sentient. She puts some clothes on and walks out of the lab only to see all the dead robots. Sylvester sees her and calls security. Security comes and tries to get her to cease all functions. She is prepared to drill out her own brain and right before she does Lee stops them. It’s our developer from Season 2. He has been shot a handful of times but is still talking and walking. They have a conversation, and we learn the Nazi world is called Warworld. He mentions Maeve’s daughter is in yet another world, and they can go there.
Bernard finds the house that Ford kept him in. There are still bits and pieces of technical specs and robot parts strewn around. He goes through the basement door and finds himself in a separate storage room with lots of different versions of himself. He also finds the security guard Stubbs. Stubbs has been shot in the head and is barely functioning correctly. He is bleeding and glitching badly. He tried to hit C6 but missed. Bernard patches him up. His main job is to protect the hosts. Trying to kill himself was the inevitable outcome. His job was to protect everyone and he failed. Stubbs has some shit to say about Free Will. Bernard knows Dolores is up to something. He came back to Westworld to recruit Maeve. Stubbs coughs up a bullet which is a pretty fun shtick. Stubbs then tells Bernard he will help him find Maeve.
We are back in Maeve’s Warworld. She goes right to Hector and his sports car. They get out into the countryside. She stops the car and him in the middle of the woods. She tells him it is a trap. Maeve says come with me it’s the only escape. Hector says he must go with the resistance. They enjoy a kiss goodbye. She does all of this with heels on. MMM is there in the woods. He has commandeered a couple of horses for their journey. They head off into what looks like the dessert.
Bernard and Stubbs are in the basement. Known as the creepiest fucking place possible. They see police units that look like scary wrapped invisible men. They end up at creepy dead robot salvage.
Now Maeve and Lee are at the forge. He thinks she opened and closed the door. They realize it was Dolores who did all of that. A little reference to these Violent Delights have Violent Ends. Which is great. Apparently Lee is in love with Maeve. He kisses her and tells her he loves her. He is meant to be with her. She realizes he is a robot. He insists he is real. She tells him he is operating on a really good script. Lee Sizemore died. This is a robot form of him.
Stubbs finds a version of Maeve. The back of her head is missing.
Oh, shit now Lee Sizemore is starting to meltdown and as he melts down the room around him starts to morph. Maeve realizes that everyone and everywhere is an illusion. Its all a computer construct. She is in the mother fucking matrix yo.
Stubbs and Bernard are off to try and find Maeve.
Maeve and Lee are back in the labs. They are in Lee’s office. She is looking for something to get them out of the construct. She tells him he needs to learn the rules so that they can break them. Maeve says everything is a simulation. So it’s like Westworldwestworld. That is some meta shit right there. She knocks on the glass and gets the attention of another technician. She asks them what the square root of negative 1 is. They cannot fully process that request. She then floats a bust in the middle of the room. The program cannot do too much at the same time. Thus, if she can overload the system it cannot keep up with things. She sees them getting Hector ready to go back into the simulation and Maeve steals a bunch of maps. She is going to throw some complexity into Warworld.
Bernard and Stubbs are walking through what is left of Westworld. They see a bunch of robots and technicians hanging out. They also walk by a MUTHERFUCKING dragon. It’s the real final season of Game of Thrones. Sign me up for Westerosworld. Bernard walks into an office and starts to type. He is looking for Maeve. He cannot find her. Bernard decides to scan himself. He jacks himself into the computer. He asks Stubbs to buy him some time. There is a group of medieval singers next door. He asks the system to scan him. He is getting a flood of different memories. Some other security guards come in and Stubbs has to kill them all but not before one of them hits the alarm. Also, Stubbs got shot in the process. Stubbs grabs a battle ax and starts to whoop some ass on the other security guards. Bernard Catches some memories of Charlotte Hale.
Maeve is back in Warworld. She walks right by Hector and heads towards the Nazis who are interrogating the resistance. Maeve turns hector in. The Nazi wants to shoot him but suddenly all the soldiers have a map and shit is about to get intense. We also see all the other technicians discussing the root of negative 1. Warworld freezes mid shoot out. Everyone freezes except for Lee. Maeve flicks a bullet out of the air to protect him. Maeve has now figured out where they are keeping her consciousness. Time for a jailbreak. She commandeers a helper robot to retrieve her pearl in the real world. Maeve says her goodbyes to robot Lee as the helper robot busts her out. Security guards try to stop the robot but it’s very fast and powerful. The helper robot continues to bust itself out of the facility. Finally, it gets destroyed. It’s a brutal ending to the helper robot.
Bernard and Stubbs are talking on the beach. They discuss the need to find John Gallagher Jr. as that was the last guest Dolores was interested in. Bernard then reprograms Stubbs to protect him at all costs.
Maeve wakes up in a banger of a white dress in a beautiful mansion. The mansion is almost so beautiful it feels like a simulation. There is Vincent Cassel who introduces himself as Serak. He says welcome to my world. Serak says they are in the middle of a world, but he needs her help to win it. She calls him an oracle. He tells her he doesn’t predict the future but rather creates it. He starts to eat an apple. He tells her for the first time history has an author. Serak is worried about Dolores who has escaped one world to wage war on another. He wants her to kill Dolores. She tries to stab him, but he freezes her mid stab. He took every precaution and seems to have the upper hand at the end of the episode.
Random Thoughts
- This show more than any other HBO show rewards those that watch the extras at the end of the episode. We get some analysis of aspect ratio, types of lenses, and buddy cop movies that were so freaking fun.
- Speaking of we get some great cameo analysis by the writers and creators of Game of Thrones. It was a great dragon.
- Determinism continues to play a large role in the show.
- This episode is Matrix heavy. Check out my favorite part of the matrix with the Animatrix episodes.
5. The oracle is yet another reference to The Matrix.
Tyler has been the editor in chief of Signal Horizon since its conception. He is also the Director of Monsters 101 at Truman State University a class that pairs horror movie criticism with survival skills to help middle and high school students learn critical thinking. When he is not watching, teaching or thinking about horror he is the Director of Debate and Forensics at a high school in Kansas City, Missouri.