We Think Maeve Is Doomed After Last Night’s New Episode of ‘Westworld’ & Here’s Why

Published Mar 23, 2020

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1:32pm

*Warning: Spoilers ahead*

Last night’s episode of Westworld was a confusing one…to say the least. Still, we were pleased that the entire installment revolved around a beloved character who was noticeably missing from the season premiere: Maeve (Thandie Newton).

Season three, episode two introduces viewers to Maeve’s new loop, which takes place in a European town during World War II. Although she’s disappointed to find herself in another theme park, Maeve goes through the motions until she runs into Lee Sizemore (Simon Quarterman), who agrees to help her find the Valley Beyond.

However, we soon learn that Maeve and Lee’s journey is simply a simulation within a simulation, meaning they’ve been programmed to team up. Later on, Maeve scores a highly coveted meeting with the puppet master Serac (Vincent Cassel), who controls all of the artificial intelligence.

When he discovers that Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) is the mastermind behind everything, he commissions Maeve to find and kill her. Maeve tries to object, but Serac freezes their conversation…and that’s where it ends.

Some fans might see Maeve’s new storyline as a good thing, since she and Dolores will finally get some screen time together, but we couldn’t disagree more. In fact, we think Maeve’s new combat mission will be a death sentence for the host, and here’s why.

John P. Johnson/HBO

First of all, no one has successfully taken down Dolores (at least not yet). As much as we’d love to see a Dolores/Maeve showdown, we already know how it would (probably) end. So far, Dolores has used and then disposed of all her partners in crime, including Teddy (James Marsden). Now that she’s living in futuristic Los Angeles, we highly doubt she’d venture back to Westworld, which means Maeve would have to go to Dolores. Not only is Dolores operating on familiar turf, but she’s also extremely close to hijacking control of the artificial intelligence and, therefore, Maeve.

Second, Maeve can’t control the situation. As we saw during the episode, Maeve has total control over herself with Delos employees, since their “stop all motor functions” commands don’t work. However, the same can’t be said for Serac. The puppet master already proved that he’s in 100 percent control of Maeve, so he may have already stripped her powers for all we know. This could spell disaster for a confrontation with Dolores, since Maeve doesn’t know what she’s capable of.

And lastly, Maeve is desperate. Throughout the entire show, Maeve’s main goal has been to reunite with her daughter, who escaped into the Valley Beyond. So, we wouldn’t be surprised if Maeve does something crazy to ensure she’ll never return to Delos again—like confronting Dolores with an automatic weapon in the real world.

Since everything is a simulation to Maeve, we highly doubt she understands the consequences. Westworld returns to HBO next Sunday, March 29.

Greta Heggeness

Senior Editor

Greta Heggeness is a California-based editor at PureWow and has been writing about entertainment since 2015. She covers everything from awards shows to exclusive celebrity...

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