William drags Logan off on a bounty hunt. Dolores asks Teddy to teach her to shoot, but her programming prevents her from firing a gun. Ford changes Teddy's backstory for his new narrative, in which the latter is pitted against outlaw host Wyatt. Ford also tells Bernard, who is revealed to have lost his son previously, about his old partner, Arnold, who died in Westworld in an accident. Bernard is worried about the effect their conversations have had on Dolores, but she promises to keep quiet and follow her loop. Elsie, who secretly reports to Bernard, and Stubbs are sent to capture a stray host. They find him trapped in a ravine. When Stubbs tries to retrieve his head, he wakes up and attacks them before smashing his own head in with a rock. At the homestead, Dolores is attacked by bandits, one of whom drags her into the barn to rape her. She steals his gun but is unable to shoot him until she sees him as the Man in Black. Though being shot, she escapes, stumbles into William and Logan's campsite and collapses in William's arms.
This episode provides examples of:
- The Atoner: Teddy feels he can't marry Dolores and run off with her because of an undefined failure in his past. Ford reveals they never bothered to program him with a Back Story to explain this feeling, but gives him a Dark and Troubled Past in a new program.
- Bait-and-Switch: The host looks like he's about to attack Elsie with a rock contrary to his programming, only to bring it down on his own head.
- Artificial Stupidity: One group of hosts is supposed to gather around a campfire. However, when the host responsible for cutting the firewood goes missing, they can't adapt because that host is the only one authorized to use the axe, so their trigger is never activated and the hosts fall into an endless loop, just locking up until the fire is made.
- Better to Die than Be Killed: A host breaks from his narrative loop and treks across the park in search of something. When Elsie and Stubbs catch him, Stubbs decides to chop his head off so they can study whatever glitch sent him wandering. Halfway through the sawing, the host regains consciousness, fights off Stubbs, then bashes his own head in.
- Boss Battle: Turns out this is Teddy's purpose; to create an extra layer of difficulty. Any guest who wants to have their way with the innocent Dolores must first defeat The Gunslinger protecting her. And it does hurt to be shot, as William discovers.
- Bounty Hunter: William has finally found a story line that interests him.
- Chekhov's Gun: In a more literal example, it's established that only certain hosts are programmed to be able to handle weapons. Dolores is shown handling a gun on several occasions but refuses to fire one until Rebus tries to rape her in the barn, at which point she shoots him dead.
- Contrived Coincidence: When Dolores breaks free from her loop and flees her home, she just happens to find her way to William and Logan. Logan lampshades this in the next episode, considering the meeting so improbable that the logical (but wrong) explanation is that the staff arranged the meeting for William's benefit.
- Destination Defenestration: The baddie from the "Wanted!" Poster early on throws a man through the window of the sheriff's office onto the street and then shoots him dead. Just like in the good old West.
- Hearing Voices: Elsie views footage of Walter and sees him talking to someone who wasn't there called Arnold. Dolores hears a voice urging her to shoot Rebus. We learn that Arnold was using this technique in a failed attempt to develop Artificial Intelligence. The hosts were meant to think they were hearing the voice of God, but assumed they were going insane instead.
- Just a Machine: Seeing a technician has covered a host, Ford tears off the blanket and cuts the host's face to demonstrate the trope at hand.
- Properly Paranoid: Stubbs claims he sleeps with his gun, pointing out there's only a single line of code stopping the hosts from turning on them. Also as a precaution only certain hosts are programmed to use weapons, or tools capable of being used as weapons like an axe.
- Quick Draw: Teddy shows his skill in this area, but it's not enough to save him from a Zerg Rush of Wyatt's fanatics.
- A Real Man Is a Killer: Logan congratulates William on 'losing his cherry' after catching a bullet and killing a host.
- Religion of Evil: Wyatt and his Malevolent Masked Men, who wear the skins of the dead and are convinced they can't die because they're already in Hell.
- Replacement Goldfish: Although Ford warns him against this, Bernard seems to be viewing Dolores as a replacement for his dead son, allowing her to develop despite the risk.
- Rescue Sex: William turns down Clementine's offer to repay him for rescuing her.
- Ridiculous Future Inflation: Either the adventure is only for the Idle Rich or this trope is in play. Logan tells William that each day in the park costs "forty grand".
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Elsie views the footage of Walter shooting up the saloon, and realizes that all six of the victims killed Walter in previous narratives.
- Shoot the Hostage Taker: William manages this but only after the girl struggles free. He actually gets shot and would have been killed in real life.
- Shout-Out: Ford quotes from The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. "When the legend becomes fact, you print the legend."
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: Elsie vs. Stubbs.
- Turing Test: The hosts can pass this, but Arnold was trying to develop true artificial sentience.
- Un-person: Arnold was a co-founder of Westworld but has been written out of the official history.
- World of Action Girls: Zigzagged; female guests can play action roles with the hosts treating this as perfectly normal, and there are female Action Girls like Armistice, however some female hosts like Dolores can't use a gun because it's not in their program.
