Maeve and her group help Akane mourn Sakura's death before they leave via the underground tunnels. Akane and Musashi decide to stay behind. Returning to Westworld, Maeve finds her daughter Anna but discovers another host playing her mother. The Ghost Nation attacks and Akecheta asks Maeve to follow him.
Charlotte and Ashley bring Peter back to the Mesa and signal for extraction, bringing a group of mercenaries that take over from the Delos security team. Dolores and her group use the train filled with explosives to blow their way into the Mesa to look for Peter.
Bernard and Elsie return to the Mesa together and find that something in the Cradle, the central repository of host data, has hijacked the park's systems. Bernard uses a host-interface machine to insert himself directly into the Cradle. Within this space, modeled after Sweetwater, Bernard finds Robert Ford waiting for him.
Tropes:
- Ambiguous Time Period: With regards to the show's timeline, we don't know when exactly is the conversation between Dolores and Bernard is taking place. The Widescreen Shot or 16:9 aspect ratio with Letterbox of this conversation, which is similar to Bernard's scenes inside the Cradle, seems to indicate that this also took place in the Cradle.
- An Arm and a Leg: Musashi slices off Tanaka's hand to end their duel.
- Aspect Ratio Switch: The scenes with Bernard inside the Cradle, as well as his interview with Dolores, are shown in a 2.39:1 format with Letterbox, implying that both scenes took place in the Virtual Reality world.
- Bait-and-Switch: The episode opens with one of the now-familiar conversations between Dolores and Arnold, only for him to be revealed to be Bernard, with Dolores programmed to test him for "Fidelity".
- Blood-Splattered Innocents: When Teddy executed Benson, the captive next to Benson gets covered in his blood.
- Boom, Headshot!: Teddy kills the captive Benson this way.
- Brain Uploading: Bernard has Elsie upload his mind into the Cradle. Or, more accurately, unplug his mind from his body and plug it into the Cradle.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Emily to William.
- Campfire Character Exploration: William and Emily open up to each other next to a campfire.
- The Cavalry: Delos finally sends a relief/support team because Charlotte said she had the tech (Abernathy). They arrive in packing containers, air-dropped onto the top of the butte that houses the staff area of the park.
- Challenging the Chief: Musashi challenges Tanaka to a Duel to the Death.
- Combat Pragmatist: Tanaka throws soil into Musashi's eyes to gain the upper hand in their duel. A short time later, Musashi also goes pragmatist by grabbing one of Tanaka's swords off his belt.
- Cover Innocent Eyes and Ears: A mother covers her son's eyes when Tanaka gets his hand cut off by Musashi.
- Dual Wielding: Musashi takes one of Tanaka's swords during their fight and fights him brandishing two.
- Due to the Dead: Akane takes Sakura's heart to the Snow Lake to pay her respects to her surrogate daughter.
- Epileptic Flashing Lights: The lights flicker menacingly when Elsie and Bernard explore the raided Mesa.
- Face–Heel Turn: Teddy, due to his personality being altered, is no longer the Token Good Teammate of Wyatt's army.
- Forced Perspective: Just before finding the exit from Shogun World, Maeve's company sees Mount Fuji off in the distance. To see it in such a manner would have overwhelmed the park due to the size of the actual mountain and how much of it they can see.
- Gone Horribly Right: Dolores had Teddy reprogrammed to be more ruthless so he'd be better suited for her war. The results are so effective that Dolores herself is put off by his casual cruelty and grim, charmless demeanor.
- Hidden Depths: While Emily knew her father was putting on a front in the real world and unleashed his sinister side when he went to the park, she's still surprised to see he's not The Teetotaler she thought he was while in the park.
- Honor Before Reason: Musashi prevents Maeve from forcing Tanaka to kill himself and offers him a duel. Tanaka accepts and gives him back his sword.
- Hope Spot: William and Emily finally find common ground and are in the process of making up, with Emily admitting it was unfair to claim that her mother's suicide was on William and him agreeing to come with her to the shore to be rescued instead of following his potentially suicidal quest... Nope, next morning, she wakes up to find that William and most of his men have abandoned her to continue on their path, only leaving behind a guard for her.
- I Choose to Stay: Musashi and Akane choose to stay behind in Shogun World. Hanaryo, however, chooses to join Maeve.
- Leave Behind a Pistol: Teddy leaves Phil the tech a revolver with a single bullet, so he can kill himself before the runaway train he's riding crashes into the park gateway.
- This shows just how much Teddy has changed when he tells the tech, "That is the last of my mercy. Better use it fast."
- Leet Speak: The lab designation for the "cradle" is CR4DL.
- Lured into a Trap: Lawrence has his men search a caravan which has been raided by the Ghost Nation, not realizing it's a trap laid by bandits. Emily casually guns down the bandits when they spring their trap, having noticed the Ghost Nation arrows were fakes.
- Meaningful Echo: Akane repeats Maeve's words from Musashi's duel back to her when she decides to stay in Shogun World.Akane: We each deserve to choose our fates. Even if that fate is death.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Dolores is clearly shaken by what her reprogramming of Teddy has done to his personality, but finds him too useful to her plans to really regret it.
- Nobody Calls Me "Chicken"!: Tanaka is reluctant to fight Musashi until the latter calls him a puppet and a coward.
- Not Named in Opening Credits: Anthony Hopkins (not listed in the closing credits, either).
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: We don't get to see Maeve fight against the remaining members of the Shogun's army. We are only treated to the aftermath after she's victorious.
- Off with His Head!: Musashi beheads Tanaka to complete his seppuku.
- Oh, Crap!: The look on Dolores's face after Teddy shoots Benson has shades of this.
- The Other Darrin: In-universe. Maeve was replaced by another host to act as the daughter's mother.
- Parental Sexuality Squick: Inverted with William, who appears quite uncomfortable when Emily is telling him about how she rode for days to the Raj's "pleasure palaces", and then "rode for days" when she arrived.
- Pet the Dog:
- Emily concedes she was wrong on blaming her mother's suicide on her father. She even surprises him when she says she's there out of love, to bring him home.
- Felix decides to help Maeve fight off the Ghost Nation while Sizemore uses the distraction to call for help on a radio he swiped from a dead guard in previous episode.
- Psychic-Assisted Suicide: Maeve forces one of the Shogun's soldiers to kill his partner and then himself. She almost does the same to Tanaka, but Musashi wants a duel so she relents.
- Redshirt: Lawrence's cousins, some of whom are killed by Ghost Nation warriors.
- Scenery Porn: Snow Lake is gorgeous, both for the viewers and the characters. The audience is treated with a nice establishing shot from the surrounded hills before heading into the village proper.
- Seppuku: After being defeated in a duel by Musashi, Tanaka commits seppuku.
- Something Only They Would Say: William is cold to Emily as he believes she's just a Host used by Ford. It's when she starts hitting him with her sass and bringing up her old dislikes of him that William realizes it really is her.
- Spoiled by the Format: Closed captions spoil that Dolores is having a conversation with Bernard instead of Arnold.
- Spotting the Thread: Emily is able to tell the raided caravan is actually a trap because the Ghost Nation arrows on the scene are fakes.
- Strapped to an Operating Table: Peter Abernathy is nailed to an examination table while fully conscious.
- That Man Is Dead: Teddy with regards to his former self:Teddy: The man who rode that train was built weak and born to fail. You fixed him. Now forget about it.
- This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself: Maeve decides to separate from Hector and walk to her homestead alone.
- Tomato Surprise: Inverted. At first, William believes Emily is a Host duplicate of his actual daughter built by Ford. It takes her saving his life and showing off her very real dislike for him to realize it really is her.
- Wham Line:
- In the opening, when we are shown a conversation between Dolores and Bernard:Dolores: Freeze all motor functions.
- Dolores says she's testing Bernard. For?Dolores: Fidelity.
- Finally, when Bernard finds something out of place inside the Cradle's recreation of the Mariposa:Ford: Hello, old friend.
- In the opening, when we are shown a conversation between Dolores and Bernard:
- Wham Shot: Bernard enters the Mariposa within the Cradle's virtual Westworld, finding Ford inside.
- Widescreen Shot: The scenes of Bernard inside the Cradle are in 16:9 Aspect Ratio with Letterbox. The scenes of Dolores and Bernard's interview also have this ratio, implying that their conversation also took place in the Cradle.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:
- Teddy unceremoniously kills Benson once he admits that he doesn't know exactly where Charlotte has stashed Peter Abernathy.
- Dolores leaves Phil to die in the train explosion. Teddy mercifully gives him a gun and one bullet for his trouble.
