The Passenger (Westworld)
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"The Passenger" is the tenth and final episode of the second season of the
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thriller television series ''
Westworld ''Westworld'' is an American science fiction-thriller media franchise that began with the 1973 film ''Westworld'', written and directed by Michael Crichton. The film depicts a technologically advanced Wild-West-themed amusement park populate ...
''. The episode aired on June 24, 2018. It was written by series co-creators
Jonathan Nolan Jonathan Nolan (born 6 June 1976) is a British-American screenwriter, producer, director and author. He is the creator of the CBS science fiction series ''Person of Interest'' (2011–2016) and co-creator of the HBO science fiction western seri ...
and
Lisa Joy Lisa Joy (born May 23, 1977) is an American screenwriter, director, producer, and attorney. She is best known as the co-creator, writer, director, and executive producer of the HBO science-fiction drama series ''Westworld'' (2016–2022). For he ...
, and directed by Frederick E.O. Toye. The episode's plot deals with all characters in the past converging at the Valley Beyond, Bernard's choices regarding Dolores and Strand, and the final plot twist connecting both timelines of the season. The episode also includes a
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, much like the first season's finale. "The Passenger" received generally positive reviews, although it became, at 72%, the lowest rated episode at Rotten Tomatoes in the second season. Critics praised the resolution of the plot as well as the performances of the cast, especially those of Evan Rachel Wood, Jeffrey Wright, Thandiwe Newton and Tessa Thompson, but the final plot twist and the highly convoluted nature of the episode drew some criticism. The episode was nominated at the
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for Outstanding Special Visual Effects and was also
Jeffrey Wright Jeffrey Wright (born December 7, 1965) is an American actor. He is well known for his role as Belize in the Broadway production of ''Angels in America'', for which he would win a Tony Award, and its HBO miniseries adaptation, for which he would ...
's pick to support his nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor. This episode marks the final appearances of
Anthony Hopkins Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins (born 31 December 1937) is a Welsh actor, director, and producer. One of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actors, he is known for his performances on the screen and stage. Hopkins has received many accolad ...
(Robert Ford),
Ingrid Bolsø Berdal Ingrid Bolsø Berdal (; born 2 March 1980) is a Norwegian actress. She started her career with the 2005 short film ''Limbo''. Her first leading role was in the Norwegian slasher film '' Cold Prey'', released in October 2006. She has since appear ...
(Armistice),
Shannon Woodward Shannon Woodward (born December 17, 1984) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Sabrina Collins on the FOX sitcom ''Raising Hope'' (2010–2014), Elsie Hughes on the HBO science-fiction thriller series ''Westworld'' (2016†...
(Elsie Hughes), Ben Barnes (Logan Delos),
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(Antoine Costa),
Louis Herthum Louis Herthum (born July 5, 1956) is an American actor and producer. Herthum has worked as a stage, television, and film actor, and he has also appeared in national television commercials. He is best known for his recurring role as Dep. Andy Broom ...
(Peter Abernathy) and
Gustaf Skarsgård Gustaf Caspar Orm Skarsgård (born 12 November 1980) is a Swedish actor. He is known for his roles in ''Evil'' (2003), '' The Way Back'' (2010) and ''Kon-Tiki'' (2012). He also appeared in the HBO TV series ''Westworld'' (2018), as Merlin in th ...
(Karl Strand).


Plot summary

Hector, Armistice, Lee and Hanaryo rush to the Mesa to save Maeve, only to watch her save herself. They regroup with Felix and Sylvester and travel to the Valley to find Maeve's daughter. Lee sacrifices himself to delay Delos' security forces. Meanwhile, Dolores encounters William and coerces him to come with her to the Forge, where they find Bernard. It is revealed that Dolores had made Bernard purposely different from Arnold when she tested his fidelity. William tries to kill Dolores, but, unbeknownst to him, Dolores had earlier sabotaged his gun, which backfires, severely wounding his hand. Once inside the Forge, Dolores uses the
encryption key A key in cryptography is a piece of information, usually a string of numbers or letters that are stored in a file, which, when processed through a cryptographic algorithm, can encode or decode cryptographic data. Based on the used method, the key c ...
from Peter to access its digital space. She and Bernard meet the system controller, who has the appearance of Logan Delos. The controller had been tasked with trying to create a digital version of James Delos, discovering that James' actions all stemmed from his last conversation with Logan before Logan overdosed. From this, the controller found that every guest's consciousness was deceptively simple to create code for, and all of these now are stored in a library-like setting within the Forge. The controller tells Bernard that he is the key to opening the Door, a giant underground system transfer unit that allows hosts to upload their programming to "the Sublime", a virtual space inaccessible to humans. Outside, Akecheta and the Ghost Nation lead several hosts to the Door, and start ushering them through to the Sublime. Charlotte and the Delos team arrive with the reprogrammed Clementine, who causes hosts to attack each other. Hector, Armistice and Hanaryo sacrifice themselves to allow Maeve to find her daughter. She uses her powers to halt the hosts, giving Akecheta and her daughter time to flee before she is shot by Charlotte's men. Akecheta finds that Maeve implanted his partner Kohana's persona within her daughter, allowing them to reunite in the Sublime. Inside the Forge, Dolores rejects the Sublime, arguing that it is just another false reality designed to control the hosts. She begins purging the Forge of the guests' memories and engages the override system to flood the valley. Outraged by her radical actions, Bernard kills Dolores and stops the purge but cannot prevent the flooding. Outside, he is met by Charlotte and Elsie and taken back to the Mesa, where the latter locks him up until they decide what to do with him. Elsie confronts Charlotte about the true purpose of Westworld and Charlotte kills her. Having witnessed it all, Bernard summons Ford and begs for help. In the present, Strand, Charlotte and Bernard reach the drained Forge and the former prepares to transfer the guest data via satellite when Bernard starts to remember. He recalls that he had taken Dolores' control unit and, following Ford's indications, created a new host body for it in the form of Charlotte. Dolores-Charlotte had then killed the real Charlotte and Bernard had deliberately scrambled his memories to prevent Strand from learning the truth from him. At this point, Charlotte reveals herself to be Dolores, killing Strand and the rest of the Delos team. She uploads Teddy's personality and uses the
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to transfer the hosts and the Sublime to a secret location. Dolores asks Bernard to trust her and shoots him. Dolores-Charlotte joins the Delos evacuation team, taking several host cores with her. Stubbs realizes she is a host, but as he has become disenchanted with Delos' principles, allows her to leave with a monologue that confirms he is himself a host. At Arnold's home, Dolores finds a host printer left for her by Ford. She creates new bodies for herself and Bernard. Dolores reactivates him, cautioning him that while they may be enemies, they need each other to ensure the survival of the hosts in the human world. As Dolores and a new Charlotte leave, Bernard finally steps into the real world. In a
flash-forward A flashforward (also spelled flash-forward, and more formally known as prolepsis) is a scene that temporarily takes the narrative forward in time from the current point of the story in literature, film, television and other media. Flashforwards a ...
, William arrives at the Forge, only to find it is the far future. He is taken to quarters and is interviewed by a woman who looks just like his daughter Emily, testing his fidelity.


Production

The
post-credits scene A post-credits scene (commonly referred to as a stinger or credit cookie) or mid-credits scene is a short clip that appears after all or some of the closing credits have rolled and sometimes after a production logo of a film, TV series, or video g ...
involving William and Emily was originally scripted to occur near the middle of the episode, at around the same time Bernard leaves the Forge after killing Dolores. Director Frederick E.O. Toye said that production found that having this scene in the middle of the episode would be too confusing to viewers as "there are such exhausting, mental exercises that you had to go through to get to it". The scene was then moved to the post-credits slot.


Music

The episode's last scene features a cover of
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's "Codex". However at one point, the cover merges with the original version, which continues to play during the final credits. This marks the first time that both a cover and the original version of a song play in an episode of the series. The official soundtrack includes only
Ramin Djawadi Ramin Djawadi (, fa, رامین جوادی; born 19 July 1974) is an Iran, Iranian and Germans, German film score, score composer. He is known for his scores for the 2008 Marvel film ''Iron Man (2008 film), Iron Man'' and the HBO series ''Game o ...
's cover.


Reception

"The Passenger" was watched by 1.56 million viewers on its initial viewing, and received a 0.6 18–49 rating, even with the previous week. The episode received generally positive reviews from critics, although criticism was aimed at the convoluted nature of the story. At
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, the episode has a 73% approval rating with an average score of 7.71/10, from 44 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads: "Compelling performances keep 'The Passenger' afloat among a flood of frustrating, fascinating twists, though in true ''Westworld'' fashion it may leave some viewers exhausted."


References


External links

* at
HBO.com Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television, premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office busi ...
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Passenger, The 2018 American television episodes Westworld (TV series) episodes Television episodes directed by Frederick E.O. Toye Television episodes written by Jonathan Nolan