Trace Decay
| "Trace Decay" | |
|---|---|
| Westworld episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 8 |
| Directed by | Stephen Williams |
| Written by | |
| Featured music | Ramin Djawadi |
| Cinematography by |
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| Editing by | Tanya Swerling |
| Production code | 4X6158 |
| Original air date | November 20, 2016 |
| Running time | 58 minutes |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
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"Trace Decay" is the eighth episode of the HBO science fiction thriller television series Westworld. The episode aired on November 20, 2016.
The episode received very positive reviews from critics.
Bernard is distraught over having been ordered to kill Theresa. Ford promises that once Bernard erases all evidence of their involvement in Theresa's murder, he will erase Bernard's memories of his relationship with Theresa and the murder, thus eliminating his pain. Theresa's death is classified as an accident, and her industrial espionage is exposed, as is her manipulation of Clementine. In light of the revelations, Charlotte is forced to reinstate Bernard as head of Behavior. Ford then has a debate with Bernard over whether hosts are truly conscious or not. Ford points out that there's little difference between humans and hosts, as they simply live the same routine every day and do whatever they are told. Bernard then asks Ford if he had ever ordered him to hurt anybody other than Theresa. Ford replies he had not, but Bernard has a vision of himself attacking Elsie before Ford erases his memory.
With Theresa dead, Charlotte recruits Lee to help her. Lee believes that he has been working on Ford's villain Wyatt, which Ford assigned to him, but Hale reveals that he has been working on another insignificant character. She takes Lee down to cold storage, where she uploads all of Westworld's data into Peter Abernathy, Dolores' previous "father". She then orders Lee to program Peter to smuggle himself out of the park with the data.
Maeve continues to have flashbacks to her previous life, which distress her. However, this does not stop her desire to escape the park. She tells Felix and Sylvester that she found some old software involving Arnold hidden in her programming waiting to be activated. She orders them to grant her administrative privileges, so she can control other hosts, and to have the fail-safe explosive in her spine removed, allowing her to leave the park. In order to achieve this, Maeve asks the duo to sneak her into the Behavior department so she can modify her own code. While Maeve's systems are shut down, Sylvester orders Felix to wipe all of Maeve's programming. However, Felix ignores Sylvester and changes her programming as planned. Maeve demonstrates the changes by cutting Sylvester's throat, and then ordering Felix to close the wound as they might still need him. Maeve then returns to the park and tests her ability to control the other hosts, allowing her to direct their actions with verbal commands. However, as she prepares to leave the park, she has another vision of herself and her daughter being attacked by the Man in Black, and in her terror she inadvertently kills the new Clementine, alerting the park staff. She flees back to her room, where she has another flashback of Ford and Bernard erasing her memory of her daughter. Maeve then feigns a shutdown as the park staff arrive to retrieve her.
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