bobinator said:
So we have a "one of the humans isn't really human" situation.
Wife and I were trying to go through human characters to see who makes the most sense, and the best we could come up with is Ford himself even though I don't like the idea that Ford is still alive.
Ford, if he wanted to fake his own death, wouldn't need the clone/host to last very long, which we already know is one of their problems. He just needed it to last long enough to make a speech and get capped by Dolores.
The "you only live as long as the last person to remember you" line that Akecheta tells Stubbs could back this up also.
I don't particularly care for the idea that it's William, though admittedly it's possible.
Do maggots eat dead host flesh? Can't remember how real the flesh of the hosts is.
Ford could be alive as a human or alive in a host/system* due to perfecting was Delos attempted re: immortality.
Place odds on these other human-to-host possibilities:
William
Arnold
Arnold's son
William's wife
*Ford seems to be alive in the system, I can suspend disbelief and accept he could program in such a way that he can control all the chess pieces in the William game after Ford is dead, and appear in a young boy, or young girl, or El Lazo and speak directly to William. But I also think it's possible he's not transferred himself to a host body, like Delos did, but rather the system as a whole.
So many things still to consider besides who this other person to host could be - how many Bernard timelines did we see in this episode and where do they fall chronologically? How secret was the Delos/William immortality experiment and was that the "weapon"? or is the weapon cloning and replacing guests (ie the old Futureworld film sequel to the original Westworld)? Or is Ford-in-the-system the weapon and needs to be hooked up to some external internet connection? Is william showing Delores a valley being excavated, and stated it was full of splendor, just a distraction?
What is the motivation of William's daughter? Is she fascinated with getting to know her father and thinks the only way is in the game? Is she chasing her father due to her mother's death, is she angry? Is she interested in taking away her father's position as William was in wresting it away from delos?
The ghost nation scene? Stubbs and where he fits in the timelines we've seen in season 2?
It's well acted, well written, and definitely has enough mystery to keep anyone engaged - unless you miss the boobs of season 1.