A small moment in the latest 'Westworld' episode just raised tons of concerning questions
HBO
Warning: Spoilers ahead for "Westworld."
The sixth episode of "Westworld" came with some major revelations. Theresa has been smuggling data out of the park for the formidable Delos executive board director Catherine Hale, and Maeve was able to blackmail two Westworld employees into giving her new super-mega brain powers.
But there was one small moment that struck us as bigger than both of these reveals - Bernard's meeting with Ford's fake host family.
After discovering that there were five unregistered hosts in a blacklisted area of the park, Bernard went to see what was going on. He found a house with the hosts inside - an adult man and woman, two young boys, and a dog.
When Bernard first saw the older man, he asked: "Are you Arnold?"
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The man in the house - later implied by Ford to be a host-version of his father - is the same man who was in the photograph Ford handed Bernard when they were talking about Arnold back in episode three.
Here's Ford's "father," as Bernard saw in the sixth episode:
HBO
And here's the photograph Ford handed to Bernard when he was explaining Arnold's history:
HBO
Now we have even more questions about Arnold.
If Ford was lying about the photograph, what else from that episode three conversation might have been a lie? Can we believe anything Ford said about Arnold to Bernard? Did Arnold really kill himself, or is there more to the story Ford's not telling anyone?
Also, why would Ford lie in the first place? He could have easily not shown Bernard any picture at all.
In episode five, Logan recounted the story of Arnold's suicide, and told William that his lawyers had been looking into the incident. He said they didn't know his name, and couldn't even find a picture.
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At the time we assumed Logan's people had just missed the photograph in Ford's office, but now we know the truth. We've never seen a picture of Arnold either.
Which brings us back to the issue of Ford's lie. He must have wanted to mislead Bernard for a specific reason. The answer may lie in a theory we detailed back after episode two aired - Bernard might be a host.
This would explain why Bernard accepted that the man he met nside the remote house was Ford's father and not Arnold. We expected Bernard to push the subject, perhaps question the photograph in the same way we are now. If he was a host, Ford may have programmed Bernard to not properly see things, the same way hosts in the park are programmed to ignore mentions of the "real world" or other human things.
HBO
No matter what Bernard's role in all this might be, we're left knowing that Ford lied at least once about Arnold, which gives us more unanswered questions than ever before.
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