January 7, 2019 – Westworld Season 2 is pretty straightforward. Most of the action takes places within a two-week time period just after Dolores shoots Ford at the investors’ party in the Season 1 finale. (For Season 1 time jumps, go here.)
Season 2 has these basic time periods. (The two-week period and the Present could be lumped together, but I’ve chosen to separate them.)
As mentioned, the bulk of Season 2 happens in Past2W. Therefore, below are notes mostly about the other time periods: Past, Present, Future. If something isn't mentioned, you can assume it’s Past2W.
Past (about 20 years ago): Dolores interviews Bernard, who’s been built using Dolores’ memories of Arnold. Dolores is testing Bernard for “fidelity.”
Present: Bernard wakes up on the beach in a gray jacket. (He was wearing all black at the party two weeks earlier.)
This is the start of the Present. A second clean-up squad, headed by Karl Strand, has arrived on the island.
The first squad, headed by Coughlin, was killed (Past2W).
Past2W note: Bernard is in a barn with party guests during the hosts’ uprising. This is about two weeks ahead of when he wakes up on the beach.
Past memory: Maeve remembers her daughter.
Present: Bernard, Strand et al. have traveled from the beach to the party massacre site.
Then they arrive at a lake and find a dead bengal tiger. Then they come to a large lake and find the hosts’ dead bodies, including Teddy’s.
Coughlin led the first crew (Past2W); Strand leads the later one (Present)
Past: Dolores is with Arnold in the real world. A younger Ford drops in briefly. Arnold takes Dolores on a tour.
Past: Logan and William are at a bar. Akecheta and Angela show up. They go to a party where Clementine is playing the piano.
Past memory: Dolores recalls an early time in Sweetwater, after William’s first visit to the park. This is our first time to see Delos.
Past: Dolores plays a piano at Delos’ retirement party. Dolores runs into Logan, who recognizes her from the park. Logan prophesies the hosts will someday take over humanity.
Past: William is with Dolores down in the secret lab. William takes her outside to see the future location of the Forge.
Past2W note: It’s a different sector of the park, the Raj, with Grace (William’s daughter Emily) just after the uprising began. This solves the mystery of the dead bengal tiger.
Present: Bernard, Karl Strand, and his crew head into the Mesa. They find Hale – however, it’s actually Dolores in a Hale host body!
Past2W note: The rest of this episode is Past2W.
Bengal tiger chases Grace/Emily (Past2W); then found by Strand (Present)
Dolores in a Hale host body (Present), after she killed the real Hale (Past2W)
Past: We’re inside the secret lab in Sector 12, with the host duplicate of Delos.
Past memory: While with Elsie at the cave, Bernard remembers being at the cave before, and about a lab being there.
Past: Back to the secret lab again with the host of Delos, being interviewed by William.
Past memory: While with Elsie in the lab, Bernard remembers more about the lab.
Past: Back to the secret lab again with the host of Delos, but this time he’s interviewed by older William (the Man in Black). This probably took place just before the party when Ford was assassinated.
Past memory: Bernard has more memories of the lab.
Present: Bernard and Strand are in the Cradle, where the hosts’ backup data is held. (The Forge, in contrast, is where all of the guests’ data is held.) They’re looking for Abernathy’s “pearl” (his brain ball, sometimes referred to as a “control unit”). Hale/Dolores doesn’t know where it is, because Bernard hid it after he shot her.
Past2W note: The rest of this episode is Past2W. The Shogun World story makes this one of the strongest episodes of the season.
Past: This is the same as the opening scene of Episode 1. Dolores interviews Bernard, testing for fidelity.
Past2W note: Hale has captured Abernathy away from Dolores. So this is the real Hale, not Hale/Dolores.
Past memory: Bernard remembers being at the Cradle, and taking one of the red balls (“pearls”).
Present: Bernard, Stubbs, and Strand go to the lab under the Ford family house.
Past memory: While there, Bernard remembers killing Theresa Cullen.
Past memory: Maeve has memories of the Man in Black.
Present: Much happens in Past2W until we see Hale/Dolores interviewing Bernard. She asks about Abernathy’s control unit. Strand and Stubbs are there.
Hale/Dolores interrogating Bernard regarding Abernathy’s pearl (Present)
Past memory: While with Akecheta and the Ghost Nation, Maeve’s daughter remembers Maeve being her mother.
Past: Much backstory is given for Akecheta, spread out over many years.
Past2W note: Akecheta’s backstory is intercut with Past2W scenes of him speaking with Maeve’s daughter at the Ghost Nation camp, and of injured Maeve at the Hub.
Akecheta at the aftermath of Arnold’s assassination then Ford’s assassination over 30 years later
Past memory: William has memories of the Past, wakes up, and Emily brings up other Past memories. It cuts to Bernard and
Hale, then back to William and Emily for more Past memories…
Past: William and Emily are at a fundraising party. William sees Ford in the bar.
Past: William is with his wife after the fundraiser. She’s drunk.
Past memory: After killing the real Emily, William has Past memories of being with his wife. He confesses to her while she sleeps.
Past: William’s wife finds the data card with his park profile.
Past memory: While with Dolores, Teddy has memories of the Past before shooting himself.
Past: Dolores interviews Bernard.
Past memory: When Dolores and William meet up with Bernard, Dolores remembers the real Arnold interviewing her,
and also her creating Bernard in Arnold’s image. But she confesses that she made Bernard a little different from Arnold.
Present: Bernard is on the beach with Strand. Then Hale, Bernard, Strand and company go to the Forge.
Future: When injured William is in the Forge elevator, we expect he will run into Bernard.
But when the elevator door opens for Bernard, the elevator is empty. This probably means we’re seeing host “William” as per the after-credits scene.
Present: Hale, Bernard, Strand et al. are in the Forge. Dolores’ dead body is there. This is intercut with scenes from Past2W.
Eventually, Bernard confesses what he did with Dolores, and then Hale/Dolores kills Strand and his crew.
We see Past2W flashbacks of Bernard putting Dolores’ pearl in a print of Hale’s body. Then Hale/Dolores kills Bernard.
Past2W note: Bernard imagines Ford, scrambles his memory data, and falls down on the beach. This is where Strand first found him.
For how I’ve divided up Season 2, this is the end of Past2W.
Present: Hale/Dolores is on the beach, then she leaves the island with the five pearls.
Future: After a quick Past shot of Dolores interviewing Bernard, it transitions to a Future interview with him. Bernard is naked, probably to indicate his body’s just been printed.
We see scenes of Hale/Dolores coming upon Arnold’s home, which has a host printer.
Future: The after-credits scene has “William” being interviewed by host Emily, testing for fidelity. Lisa Joy, co-writer of the series, said this takes place in the distant future.
Dolores interviewing Bernard in the Future
William coming down in elevator; but the elevator is empty for Bernard
Helpful visual timeline of both seasons:
westworld-timeline-spoilers-2018-4
Text-only timeline by year:
westworld-timeline