TCTTS said:
I would be absolutely, 100% convinced of the two-timeline theory after last night if not for the scene were Delores gets caught up in the Day of the Dead festival/parade (or whatever that is), someone whispers her go-to-sleep phrase, and then she's suddenly with Ford/Hopkins back at headquarters.
Last week I argued FOR the two-timeline theory for almost this exact same scenario - when Delores stumbles upon William and Logan at night at the end of episode three, the first scene of episode four is her back at headquarters with Bernard, and then the next time we see her she's back with William and Logan the next morning. I argued that it was too unbelievable that park employees could come pick her up in the middle of the night at a campfire without William and Logan noticing, and thus the scene with her and Bernard at headquarters was likely from a different timeline.
But in last night's episode someone specifically put her in sleep mode - something we didn't see last time - and it would have been much easier for park employees to come pick her up that night during all that parade commotion without William and Logan noticing. And the very next scene is Delores with Ford/Hopkins, seemingly pointing toward a single / the same timeline.
That said, again, nearly EVERYTHING else is starting to point toward a two-timeline theory, but I haven't seen anyone address that particular scene yet. My only theory is that if that parade scene was in the past, that maybe Arnold or someone else gave her that sleep command, for whatever reason (maybe to instill the last bit of coding needed to cause her damsel-to-hero change), and then the Delores/Ford scene was in the present, just using the same editing trick that was employed earlier.
Thoughts?
I go back and forth. I think it is more likely that there are two timelines that are close but not fully overlapping but in the scene you reference, Delores gets pulled by techs who you can hear whisper "until then may you dream a dreamless sleep" or whatever the trigger is that puts them to sleep. Then she does wake up in Ford's company. Could be two different times in which she is interacting with Ford, but there's no evidence that suggests that's the case - it isn't a sleight of hand, it's just deliberately obfuscating things.
Here's another scene that makes me think the timelines are close. When the MIB talks to Teddy, he says, "I cut you open once, you used to be a million pieces, all beautifully assembled, but then they made you more human like on the inside. It was cheaper." The gist of the conversation was the hosts used to be more basic. You have 3 conversations now - 1) between Old Bill the bartender and Ford (2 conversations there really), 2) with Sizemore saying they keep making the robots more sophisticated, and 3) with the MIB talking to Teddy, all of which indicate that when the park opened, no one confused the hosts with real humans. That is clearly happening with William. The only reason Logan isn't treating it that way is because he is desensitized to the whole thing, and can't see what a new comer would - the robots look, feel, and act like humans now.
And when ya think about it, that's one of the central themes of the show. Again, going back to the greeter host, "if you can't tell, what difference does it make?" A new comer sees the host as basically autonomous humans and treats them as such. Yet, if someone is telling you it is okay, giving you permission to bend the rules, you'll treat the hosts like *****
It honestly reminds me of Lord of the Flies - people are basically ****ty creatures, and absent civilization telling them what they can and can't do, they become awful - civilization creates moral responsibility.
And for that reason, I just don't buy the two timeline theory - it is only in the "modern" timeline that those questions exist (where there would be a reasonable doubt about the actually morality of your actions) and yet that's what William, Logan, the MIB, Maeve, and everyone else seem to be going through.
If there are two timelines interacting, I hope they can explain that plot hole.
