Chestnut (Westworld)

Plot

William, a first time visitor to Westworld, is brought to the park by his friend Logan who wants to show him a good time. William is skeptical about the park, and due to his gentle nature, feels compelled to help any host that's in trouble, including an old man that trips in the mud. Logan reminds William that the hosts aren't human, and that interacting with them may trigger scripted stories and behaviors. At dinner, the old man approaches William to seek his help in finding hidden gold, and since William is too polite to refuse, Logan forces the old man away by stabbing his hand. Logan then has an orgy with several hosts while William refuses to sleep with Clementine out of loyalty to his fiancee. The next day, William comes across Dolores, who accidentally drops a few of her belongings. William kindly helps her pick them up and departs with a smile and a tip of his hat. Later that night, Dolores returns home and digs up a pistol hidden in her yard.

Elsewhere, the Man in Black follows information that Kissy had given him and tracks down the outlaw host Lawrence, who is set to be executed by a posse. The Man in Black kills the posse and leads Lawrence back to his hometown, with the former noting how thorough the Westworld staff have been in crafting detailed backstories for every host. The Man in Black then interrogates Lawrence by holding his wife and daughter hostage, demanding he tell him where the "maze" is. The townspeople attempt to intervene to save Lawrence, but the Man in Black kills them all and executes Lawrence's wife. Lawrence's daughter then gives the Man in Black a cryptic clue of where to find the maze. Satisfied, he leaves with Lawrence in tow.

Back in Sweetwater, Dolores begins to have disturbing visions of seeing the entire town dead. She then whispers Peter's words to Maeve, a prostitute host, as she passes by, causing Maeve to begin recalling memories of her past lives and hampering her functions. The Westworld staff observe Maeve, and seeing that she is no longer popular with the guests, they decide to decommission her and replace her with Clementine. Elsie intervenes and adjusts Maeve's intuition, restoring her effectiveness. Back in the game, Maeve has a conversation with Teddy, but is interrupted when a drunken guest suddenly shoots Teddy to death. Maeve is then taken out for maintenance, but begins having dreams of her life in a previous role as a rural homesteader with a daughter, where she is attacked by the Man in Black. Maeve then wakes up inside the maintenance room, to the shock of the technicians operating on her. Scared and confused, Maeve wanders through the halls of the facility and witnesses "killed" hosts being hosed down, before the technicians are finally able to subdue her. Believing they simply forgot to put Maeve in sleep mode, the technicians decide to cover up the incident rather than report it.

In the command center, Bernard and Elsie continue to investigate the root cause of the malfunctions. Elsie is concerned that the malfunctions may be contagious and questions Bernard's decision to put Dolores back into the park, since she had direct contact with Peter. Bernard points out that she showed no abnormal behavior, when he is in fact secretly interested in her. Later that night, it is shown that Bernard has a sexual relationship with Theresa, a senior manager at Delos, though they are both vague as to whether they want something more. Theresa asks Bernard why the hosts continue to interact with each other even if there are no guests present, and Bernard explains they are "practicing". Meanwhile, Lee, a storyline writer for Delos, sets up a new narrative that would involve guests having to fight off hordes of hostile Native Americans. However, Dr. Ford criticizes Lee's narrative, declaring that it would only provide cheap thrills and does not interest the guests. Instead, Dr. Ford wants something that would communicate a deeper message to the guests and proposes his own "original" narrative. He gives Bernard a preview of what he has in mind by taking him out into the desert to show him a Christian shrine he had found earlier.

Production

"Chestnut" was written by series co-creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, based on the premise of the 1973 film Westworld by Michael Crichton. The episode was directed by Richard J. Lewis.

Music

In an interview, The composer of the show Ramin Djawadi spoke about the piano interpretations of Radiohead's "No Surprises" used in the episode. He said, "When Jonathan says, 'Do a Radiohead song,' I say, 'Great!'" Djawadi continued, "This particular piece was pretty simple, actually. The opening arpeggiated riff from 'No Surprises' translates really well into piano." He noted, "The way I see it, it’s like a jukebox in a restaurant, When you put money in it, it plays preprogrammed pieces. These particular pieces that the piano plays help you with the sense of time, the repeats. It just marks time, and it provides the recognition factor that this is a preprogrammed event."

Ratings

"Chestnut" was viewed by 1.50 million American households on its initial viewing. The episode also acquired a 0.7 rating in the 18–49 demographic. In the United Kingdom, the episode was seen by 1.37 million viewers on Sky Atlantic.

Critical reception

"Chestnut" received positive reviews from critics. The episode currently has a 95% score on Rotten Tomatoes and has an average rating of 8.3 out of 10, based on 21 reviews. The site's consensus reads "Aided by its excellent ensemble cast, Chestnut deepens and expands Westworld's captivating mythology by revealing the park through the eyes of a first-time guest and diving further into the lives of its robotic residents."

Eric Goldman of IGN reviewed the episode positively, saying, "Building upon the excellent pilot, the second episode of Westworld gave us more insight into how the park works and what it's like for a guest to arrive." He gave it a score of 9.1 out of 10. Scott Tobias of The New York Times wrote in his review of the episode; "Creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy have made some big conceptual changes in adapting Crichton’s film for television, most notably the attention they've given to the androids' perspective. But this minor alteration pushes some important questions to the fore: What does the park reveal about the people who visit? And what do they learn about themselves in the process?". Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club wrote in his review, "'Chestnut' isn't as effective a mood piece as 'The Original'; its functional in necessary ways, settling down to the business of being an actual TV show and not just an evocative one hour film. But while that functionality isn't as exciting, it still works well enough, laying the groundwork for what's ahead, and working in the depth that the pilot could only suggest. If the series can maintain this level of quality of better as the season goes on, we should be in for quite a ride." He gave the episode an B+.

Liz Shannon Miller of IndieWire wrote in her review, "What's most intriguing about Westworld is that the imperfections of this world are profoundly tied up in its mysteries. It's tempting to get hung up on trying to solve them. But consider this remark from Dr. Ford, perhaps a meta-commentary on the show itself: "Guests don't return for the obvious things we do, the garish things. They come back because of the subtleties." And the subtleties of the show, so far, are worth appreciating." She gave the episode an A-. Erik Kain of Forbes also reviewed the episode, saying, "So far, I've really enjoyed Westworld. I find the mystery enticing, much like I found Lost in its first season. Hopefully this show doesn't suffer that show's fate. But I've seen plenty of complaints. The cast is too big. The show tipped its hand too soon. The story is too convoluted."