Pretty great episode!

So that reveal on Bernard was what I anticipated (somewhat) and Dolores also implied that she was into "a bit of a timeslip" - so I think the multiple time loops is definitely what's going on.

Also, I was watching with my friend Rio and when Ford had that little speech about repetition and variation she googled it and she came up with this classic philosophical book, Difference and Repetition by Gilles Deleuze: [link]

Check out a couple of key quotes especially in relation to the lives of the hosts, but it's much concerned with memory, patterns, individuation of self...

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Passive synthesis is exemplified by habit. Habit incarnates the past (and gestures to the future) in the present by transforming the weight of experience into an urgency. Habit creates a multitude of "larval selves," each of which functions like a small ego with desires and satisfactions. In Freudian discourse, this is the domain of bound excitations associated with the pleasure principle.

2. Active synthesis[edit]

The second level of time is organized by the active force of memory, which introduces discontinuity into the passage of time by sustaining relationships between more distant events. A discussion of destiny makes clear how memory transforms time and enacts a more profound form of repetition:

Destiny never consists in step-by-step deterministic relations between presents which succeed one another according to the order of a represented time. Rather, it implies between successive presents non-localisable connections, actions at a distance, systems of replay, resonance and echoes, objective chances, signs, signals, and roles which transcend spatial locations and temporal successions. (83)

Relative to the passive synthesis of habit, memory is virtual and vertical. It deals with events in their depth and structure rather than in their contiguity in time. Where passive syntheses created a field of 'me's,' active synthesis is performed by 'I.' In the Freudian register, this synthesis describes the displaced energy of Eros, which becomes a searching and problematizing force rather than a simple stimulus to gratification.

This show is reminding me more and more of BSG with every passing second.

All of this has happened before, and all of it will happen again.

All of this has happened before, and all of it will happen again.

Yeah, I've been thinking that a lot during the last few episodes.

A lot of fan theories out there on Westworld.

I thought this one was well put together and makes perfect sense for Dolores and Maeve's flashbacks and the time discontinuities on the show: [link]

It's not a spoiler but don't watch the video if you want to figure it yourself.

Personally, I think this is spot on and helps me watch the show.

I had figured out that Bernard was a host before that reveal happened but I had no idea of this week's reveal. Heartbreaking. And Geoffrey Wright is straight up crushing this role. I love him.

Maeve is my favorite, though. I would accept her as my robot overlord. I love her storyline most of all. And as with Geoffrey Wright, Thandie Newton is crushing it.

The Delores/William/MiB/Teddy storyline is probably the one I'm least interested in, although it seems to be kind of at the heart of everything. I think all of the actors are doing fine work, it's just not hitting me in the same emotional sweet spot that the Maeve and Bernard storylines are. But overall, this show turned out to be way richer than I thought it was going to be. I kind of don't know what's going on half the time but I like it!

I can't watch the video now because I'm supposed to be paying attention to my kids, but is it about the photo?

Maeve is my favorite, though. I would accept her as my robot overlord.

Oh hell yes.

but is it about the photo?

It's included in the video, but it's only one part of a step by step analysis.

Is Starz available as streaming-only, without a cable subscription?

Never mind, I see, $8.99 a month. Now I have to decide if American Gods is worth it.