This episode begins with Maeve being interrogated by Bernard because she had a violent flashback and slit the throat of one of the other robots. At first, she tries to lie to Bernard, but he quickly checks her programming and realizes Felix had been tinkering with her code. It looks like Maeve is finally caught, but then she realizes that Bernard is also a robot. She confronts Bernard about this but quickly learns that he doesn’t know what he is. Thinking fast, she uses her new voice command ability and freezes Bernard in place. Then she tells him the truth. Bernard is convinced and lets Maeve return to the park where she recruits the two bandits she helped in the previous episode. They will return to Felix in the lab and begin their escape attempt.

As for Bernard, he rushes off to confront Ford, and asks to have his memories restored. Assuming Ford will not be willing to do this, he recommissions the robot Hale and Theresa hacked in the previous episode, and since it can kill humans, he has it hold Dr. Ford at gunpoint, to further persuade him. Ford doesn’t seem to mind and helps Bernard recover his lost memories.

A Painful Discovery

Bernard learns that he killed Theresa as well as Elise. He’s distraught over this discovery, but presses on. Finally, he pushes past the false memory of his son’s death to find the moment where he first woke up. Dr. Ford is standing over him, telling him he’s a robotic version of his old partner, Arnold, and Bernard even remembers how Ford took the time to show him Arnold’s subtle mannerisms.

After confirming the truth, Bernard orders the hacked robot to shoot Dr. Ford, but Ford has already broken the hacked robot’s code, and it no longer responds to Bernard’s commands. Bernard asks Ford why he would bother giving him his memories back when he didn’t have to. Ford says he was hoping that Bernard would join his cause of his own free will, but since Bernard did not comply, Ford orders him to take the gun and shoot himself once Ford leaves. Bernard has no choice but to do what Ford says. He takes the gun, and the moment Ford leaves the room, Bernard shoots himself. It looks like that’s the end of Bernard.

The Man in Black isn’t faring much better. He’s still captured, and Teddy is still remembering things, but unfortunately, things are still jumbled up in the poor robot’s head. This turns out to be his undoing because unbeknownst to both Teddy and the Man in Black, the young lady they’d saved is one of Wyatt’s cult members, and she helps Teddy to remember part of his past. It appears that Teddy hadn’t helped Wyatt wipe out a group of soldiers as the poor robot believed, but rather, he murdered an entire town filled with innocent people. Teddy can’t believe it, and the young woman says Wyatt still needs Teddy’s help, but he isn’t ready yet. So, she stabs the robot, hoping he will be a little closer to “ready” in the next life. As for the Man in Black, the young lady seems to know she can’t kill him directly, so she comes up with an inventive solution. She ties a noose around his neck and then ties the other end of the rope to The Man in Black’s horse. Then she leaves. The Man in Black escapes the noose of course, just in time for Hale to appear in front of him randomly. The Man in Black is annoyed by this because it’s breaking up his fantasy; however, it seems that The Man in Black is not only a primary owner of the park. He’s also a board member. Hale needs his vote to oust Ford from the company. The Man in Black agrees to fire the old man because he doesn’t really care one way or the other. Then Hale leaves.

Beneath the Skin

Moving to our other captives, William and Dolores find themselves captured by Logan, William’s brother-in-law, who recently joined the Confederados. But Logan isn’t just holding them hostage for revenge. He’s become worried about William, who he believes is lost in the game since he’s convinced that Dolores is real, or at the very least, there’s something special about her when he should know better. To make his point, Logan stabs Dolores and shows William the metal parts inside her. However, Dolores manages to get away from Logan and his new-found friends. The only reason she leaves William behind is because he promises to find her. Logan orders some men to chase Dolores but doesn’t give the matter much thought because his main concern is for William. 

This was a nice turn of events in the script. We’ve been so lost in William’s perspective that it’s tempting for the viewer to forget Westworld isn’t real. Logan switches from a villian to a hero in a sense because he’s determined to bring poor William back to reality. But Logan is too naive. William tells his brother-in-law that he now realizes Dolores was never real, and that he simply got caught up in the excitement of it all. Logan believes him and lets him go, but the next morning, Logan wakes up to find that William has killed all the Confederados. William then captures Logan and runs off to find Dolores, dragging his brother-in-law behind him with a rope.

As for Dolores, her flashbacks continue. We see her in different kinds of clothing as she tries to return to her hometown. She goes from blood-stained shirt to clean shirt, and we start to get the sense that something is wrong. This time when she returns to her hometown, it’s no longer buried, and the steeple that has been sticking out of sand this entire time is now a pristine church. She enters the church but finds it empty. But before she can leave, The Man in Black appears and traps her inside the building.

Episode nine is fast paced, but if you’re paying attention, the grand twist is obvious, and personally, I found it a little irritating. In the next review, we’ll discuss the conclusion of Westworld.