Westworld season 2: Is Robert Ford back from the dead? Anthony Hopkins' return explained

All is not as it seems - and yes, extreme spoilers follow

The latest episode of Westworld dropped its best ending yet that probably boggled brains as much as it did speed up heart rates.

This sixth instalment - titled 'Phase Space' - added several questions to the mounting pile which in turn appeared to present yet another timeline for viewers to chew over. This arrived in the form of the Cradle, a giant room that's home to a server with stored copies of consciousnesses of every single host (“They're all in there,” a troubled Elsie tells Bernard when she's attempting to discern what's gone wrong with the hosts. “It’s like there’s something in there that’s improvising. The Cradle’s fighting back.”)

Viewers have heard about the Cradle several times already this season - we know from Maling (Betty Gabriel) that the hosts had usurped it - but only in this episode do we see it. The final scene sees Bernard surrender himself to the server by extracting the pearl from his head to merge it with the Cradle which sends his consciousness inside.

These scenes are differentiated by the ones that play out in real-time by being shot in widescreen. We see Bernard on a train en route to Sweetwater, much like Teddy was numerous times last season. He arrives and walks through a simulated version of the town before spotting a coded version of Dolores and several other unnamed hosts we don't know going about their days. He heads into the Mariposa Saloon, the piano ringing out. He stops, looks at the pianist. “Hello, old friend,” rings out the unmistakable tones of Anthony Hopkins whose Dr Robert Ford is reflected in the mirror.

Yes, he's back - but not as we once knew him. So what is going on?

Since the beginning of season two, Ford's influence on the park's events has reigned supreme from the young boy and the version of El Lazo played by Giancarlo Esposito steering William (Ed Harris) on his journey to 'The Door.' This wasn't all an elaborate scheme he sorted pre-death, however. We know this because Ford's appearance inside the Cradle proves that he's able to control events from beyond the grave as part of the park's code.

Ford is the thing inside that's fighting back. Ford never died - he simply became code - which throws fresh light on the man's very own words before Dolores took him out in the season one finale: “Mozart, Beethoven, and Chopin never died. They simply became music.”

"Hello, old friend" - Hopkins makes a surprise 'Westworld' return in latest episode (HBO)

It's certain we'll learn more about the Cradle as the season progresses, however one key detail presented in these scenes also serves as a clue that may help viewers decipher another mystery: the aspect ratio. As Bernard's consciousness merges with the Cradle's, the format switches to widescreen and there have only been two moments shown in widescreen before both taken from the same scene: the opening of season two and the opening of this very episode in which Dolores and a character - previously thought to be Arnold - is shown speaking to one another.

Initially, it seemed as if this was a flashback between Arnold and Dolores designed to highlight the trajectory of Dolores from innocent farmhand's daughter to the leader of a host uprising.

However, this week we see something else is going on entirely. The tables are turned and Dolores is revealed to be the one with the upper hand. “Freeze all motor functions,” she tells Bernard. He stops in place before she explains - much in the same way William did to the robotic version of Jim Delos (Peter Mullan) - that this is a conversation they've had multiple times before and she is testing him. For what, he asks? “Fidelity,” Dolores tells him.

Quite why these scenes are all shot in the same aspect ratio as the ones inside the Cradle remains to be seen but Dolores has certainly attempted to place Arnold's conscience inside Bernard's which explains why he believes he killed all of the hosts when we see him find them floating in the ocean weeks from now.

And breathe.

Westworld season 2 debuts on HBO in the US and through Sky Atlantic and NOWTV in the UK.

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