The Storm

Maura wakes up in a mental hospital. She remembers the night she and Daniel made love and how it felt. She is worried about him, but she knows he is safe.

Maura rushes back up to the deck and sees a storm brewing. She tells Daniel that the shutdown is starting and they don’t have much time before everyone dies again. Daniel pleads with Maura to let him out, pointing out that the shutdown has started and they don’t have much time. Maura instead rushes away and heads back up to the deck, where a storm begins raging and wind whips around the boat.

This isn’t good news because the passengers can’t actually steer the ship in stormy conditions. Mrs Wilson’s hand has turned black after she touched the strange black material.

Maura gathers her strength and imagines this is all in her memory. She gets her eureka moment and believes the Captain is back inside his own memory. Everyone onboard is trying to find Eyk Larsen and right now, no one seems to know where he is. But we do. He’s onboard the Prometheus.

Daniel finds a way out of the storm-ridden train by crawling through a hidden compartment. He enters different worlds that are all glitchy, but each is unique and tailored to its passenger. ..

Daniel finally finds the young boy, pointing out that Maura still doesn’t remember but in order to help her, the pair need to find the code and his device to stop what’s happening. Handing over a ring, the young boy smiles sadly. “She’ll wake up this time.” He says. Unfortunately, the boy has also been found by one of the ship’s officers, who uses a tablet to search the entire vessel for him. Once he catches wind of his heat signature, the officer hurriedly sets to work initiating a shutdown.

Maura descends into Daniel’s personal hatch and finds a photograph of her and Daniel together, along with the young boy who’s clearly her son. Maura makes herself forget to get rid of the pain. As thin slivers of memory start to come back, Daniel hurries to his cabin to speak to Maura. He points out that the young boy is her son, Elliot, and she’s had false memories planted in her. Maura makes herself forget to get rid of the pain.

Daniel whispers to her that all of this is a simulation, an allegory from Plato’s “Cave of the Soul.” If she can’t remember what happened, her consciousness will be trapped in the simulation forever. ..

Daniel is determined to save Maura before everything restarts. There’s an override code to stop the shutdown but only Maura knows where that is. She’s hidden it but made herself forget.

Maura looks at her locket and finds a key. She doesn’t know what it opens, but she knows she needs to find out. So she and her partner, Daniel, try to buy themselves more time by entering a code into the simulation. It turns out this has been happening dozens of times (explaining the ship graveyard last episode). Maura is caught in a loop and has been this entire time. They need to get to Elliot, and they only have 10 minutes to stop the cycle repeating again. ..

Ling Yi hears her mother’s voice from the deck and rushes out to confront her. When Olek joins, he’s hit by a nasty wave surge that slams him off the edge of the boat and into the water below. ..

Ling Yi tries to make sense of what’s happening as Jerome and Clemence take Lucien back to their cabin. He’s suffered a horrible seizure once more, but this time it’s not good news. They’ve made it too late. Unfortunately, it’s also too late for Angel too, who’s crushed thanks to the ship lurching and cracking under the storm pressure. “I’m scared.” He says, before eventually passing away. ..

The ship begins to break apart and water starts pouring in. Franz and Tove try to close the doors, but realize it’s impossible from the outside. Franz decides to save Tove and sacrifice himself. Anker and Iben also lose their lives too.

Henry, a man who has been through more than most, tells Maura that the Boston Police Department is too reliant on emotion and that’s why they make the same mistakes over and over again. He believes that this is what makes them weak and that it’s what will lead to their downfall. As we near the end of all things, Henry’s voice crackles over the PA system, telling Maura that she’s come far but failed again.

Eyk Larsen watches as another ship joins the graveyard, that being the Kerberos. The remaining passengers head up to the deck and try to make sense of what’s happening.

The Episode Review

This episode is really good, and it explains the ties between Daniel, Maura and Elliot. I thought that the boy was going to be a younger version of Daniel, but then that might be because I’m looking too closely at Dark!

The Westworld series has been a great success in keeping things interesting and mixing in answers to some of its mysteries. The idea of this being one big simulation that’s been repeated constantly is a nice way of giving this series definition.

The ending leaves things wide open for the next chapter though, and it’s anyone’s guess quite how this one’s going to finish now! ..