Maeve is given the task of hunting Dolores down by going after the doctor who helped her obtain the DNA used to fake her new identity. Though she finds out the information, she is murdered by Shoganworld host Musashi, who reveals that he is a copy of Dolores. It turns out that asides from bringing Bernard's pearl out of the park, the other three pearls that Dolores carried were her copies.
With help from Caleb, Dolores empties the bank accounts of Incite owner Liam, who they then kidnap. They are opposed by Bernard and Stubbs, but Caleb helps Dolores escape with her ex while the host copy of Martin, who is also a copy of Dolores, captures Bernard.
Meanwhile William struggles with the guilt over having murdered his daughter the previous season. He is visited by Charlotte, who reveals that she plans on taking Delos private so that Serac can't seize control over the company. Unfortunately, Charlotte betrays William revealing herself as another copy of Dolores as she has William declared insane and taken off to an asylum.
Tropes:
- Batman Gambit: "Charlotte" reveals to William that she's actually Dolores, which causes him to violently attack her. This provides the justification she needs to have him committed to an institution, knowing that no one will believe his mad ravings about her being a host. As a result, since he appointed her as his representative to the board, she's given control of his shares.
- Bavarian Fire Drill: When the teller at the bank questions the bizarre nature of Caleb's transfer, since it's highly unusual to empty an entire account worth billions of dollars, Caleb shoots back that he banks at their establishment precisely because they don't ask those questions. This cows her into going along with the transfer without further complaint, other than a final security check.
- Blofeld Ploy: Musashi points his gun at Maeve but then turns around to shoot the Mortician instead.
- Blood Is Squicker in Water: There is an overhead shot of Maeve bleeding out in a puddle of the fluid used to create host bodies.
- Boom, Headshot!: How Serac executes the identity forger.
- Borrowed Biometric Bypass: Dolores knocks out Liam's banker and steals a sample of his blood to get the encryption key to his account for Caleb.
- Cassandra Truth: William yells at the guards that Charlotte is a host when they're restraining him, but no one believes him because of his mental health issues.
- Category Traitor: Serac believes the identity forger to be one because he helped Dolores, even if he didn't know any better.
- Comically Missing the Point: Liam's female friend sees Dolores fighting Stubbs, recognizes her as Liam's supposedly-dead girlfriend, then looks at the drugs in her hand and muses that it's some really good stuff.
- Didn't See That Coming: Bernard makes a device that can remotely freeze a host and tries to use it on Liam, who he assumes Dolores would pull a Kill and Replace on. He's shocked when Liam turns out to be human, and in doing so tips his hand, allowing Martin to take the device from him before he can use it.
- Doomed Hometown: Serac's home city, Paris, was destroyed in a nuclear incident. Though Solomon and later Rehoboam were not made at that time, it's still considered a divergence in 2025 as seen in Season 3's announcement trailer
. - Explosive Leash: In addition to the ability to freeze her motor functions, Serac warns that his techs built in a way to shut down Maeve's consciousness should she attempt to betray him.
- Forced Friendly Fire: Maeve uses her technopathy to hack the auto-aiming guns being used by the Yakuza, causing them to shoot each other.
- Gambit Pileup: Two parties with different agendas are trying to kidnap Liam Dempsey at the Masquerade Ball. The episode ends with team Dolores coming out on top.
- Groin Attack: Maeve shoots a bouncer in the dick then follows him as he's dragged to the Mortician.
- Hallucinations: William keeps seeing and talking with hallucinations of his daughter Emily.
- Has a Type: Liam's friend notes this about him at the High-Class Call Girl auction when the former is drawn to a blonde who looks similar to Dolores.
- House of Broken Mirrors: William shoots up the mirrors in his house in one of his fits.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Musashi stabs Maeve through the gut with a katana before making his escape from Serac's men.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Dolores makes good on her promise to let William destroy himself, having him locked away in a psychiatric ward (just like Emily planned) with no one but his hallucinations and guilt to keep him company for the rest of his life.
- Linked List Clue Methodology: A clue from the identity forger sends Maeve to the Mortician. The Mortician, in turn, leads her to the Yakuza.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Caleb doesn't know Dolores is a host, and Bernard falls just short of telling him before Martin interrupts.
- Madness Mantra:William: I know who the fuck I am!
- Masquerade Ball: The episode climax plays out at one of these, where the participants can bid on high-class prostitutes.
- Me's a Crowd: Dolores made copies of her host pearl and implanted them in the Charlotte, Martin, and Musashi hosts.
- Mess of Woe: While grieving the loss of his daughter, William's house has become a mess.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: The Mortician, an organ trafficker.
- Pants-Positive Safety: Averted mercilessly by Maeve who shoots the bouncer in his nuts with the gun he stored in the front of his waistband.
- The Rest Shall Pass: When Dolores and Caleb bump into Bernard and Stubbs, she sends Caleb after Bernard while taking on Stubbs.
- The Reveal: Charlotte, along with Martin and Musashi, are actually controlled by copies of Dolores.
- Shame If Something Happened: A futuristic variant of the trope. Serac makes the identity forger watch a simulated hologram of his family being killed to get him to confess.
- Starts Stealthily, Ends Loudly: Alluded to when Caleb asks what Dolores plans to do if his Borrowed Biometric Bypass degrades sooner than expected. She tells him she'll just kill everyone at the bank. Fortunately, it doesn't come to that.
- Technopath: Maeve has been given the ability to hack any technology around her.
- Underestimating Badassery: The bouncers at the night club mistake Maeve for an easy target for ridicule and suggest she could be put to work as a prostitute. This earns one of them castration by bullet.
- Use Your Head: Musashi gives Maeve a headbutt during their fight.
- Wham Line:Dolores (in Musashi): If you want something done right, do it yourself.
- Wham Shot: As Maeve is slaughtering her way through the brewery, she punctures one of the casks and host body fluid pours out, showing that Dolores has the Yakuza in her pocket.
- Worf Had the Flu: Dolores proves more than a match for Stubbs during their brawl, partly because Stubbs is not in the best of shape after being shot several times last episode and given inadequate repairs by Bernard.
- Wouldn't Hurt a Child: When Maeve asks Serac if he is going to hurt the children of the identity forger, he denies it, saying that the world can be a very cruel place. Particularly for orphans.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Serac kills the forger as soon as he has the information he needs, partly because he thinks of the man as a Category Traitor for helping Dolores, even if he didn't know what she really is.
