War is brewing in Westworld, and there will no doubt be lots of casualties, upheavals, reversals of fortune and a rapid emergence of the power players in Season 2. It was easy to think that the power would stay in the hands of the humans who created the hosts that populated Westworld, even when the hosts were gaining consciousness and could even think for themselves. However, the Season 1 finale made it abundantly clear that with newly freed minds and a will to unite, the hosts would take back control of Westworld and potentially escape into the real world.
We could tell that much from the trailer that dropped during the Super Bowl. But now, with the publication of some new Westworld Season 2 photos via Entertainment Weekly, it’s more evident than ever that the hosts will be taking back power in a major way and that the leaders of this crucial rebellion have emerged. Not who you’d expect, either.
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While all of these new Westworld Season 2 photos are interesting, full of energy and perhaps indicative that big changes are about to come, there may be one detail you’re overlooking as you scroll through the photos on Entertainment Weekly or, say, on Westworld star Thandie Newton’s Instagram photo set (see below). It’s a detail that, if connected to what we know about what’s to come in Season 2, could be extrapolated and interpreted to mean big things for the characters and the plot.
First off, are you paying attention to the clothes that Maeve (played by Newton) is wearing in these new Westworld photos? We’ve seen Maeve in modern clothing before, but we haven’t seen her in these clothes. It appears Maeve has transcended gender-coded clothing, ditching the tight corset and intricate hairstyles we saw her wear when she played the host/madam of a Westworld saloon and wearing pants, a blazer and her hair loose and free. She is a woman who has chosen the clothing of a power player, a leader, masculine in its energy. In short, she’s not someone to be messed with.
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Meanwhile, Dolores is seen in one of the pictures from Season 2 wearing a white dress, her hair straight and sleek. She looks pensively outward. It’s hard to tell where she is exactly, but if I had to hazard a guess, it looks like she’s at the ranch where she used to live. She’s a changed woman in this photo, so it’s most likely from a later episode (especially since she is still wearing her Westworld costume in other photos). Dolores might be assessing her next big move after the initial rebellion.
Dolores #Westworldpic.twitter.com/NwEvMAvfhF
— Westworld Posts (@WestworldP) March 2, 2018
These clothing changes seem to telegraph that Maeve and Dolores are the ones to watch in Season 2. Their ability to transform, chameleon-like, into these modern beings seems to say that they are willing to do whatever it takes to secure their freedom. They will become who they need to be, use their newly acquired free will to fight for what they want and make sure that the old world order is no more. In short: these are Westworld‘s power players, not the men.
It is interesting to note here that even when Maeve and Dolores don modern clothing, they wear either dark clothing or light clothing, respectively, still subconsciously playing into the black hat/white hat choice offered to Westworld guests when they enter the park. Human men entering the park got to choose their period-appropriate costume, and the final touch would be a black hat or a white hat. It was implied that if they wore a black hat, they’d likely be the type to get into all kinds of trouble, from murder to theft to violently hedonistic pleasures. If they wore a white hat, they’d be more likely to do good, exploring the park with respect and wonder for what has been created and interacting with the hosts with kindness.
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Seeing Maeve wear dark clothing while Dolores wears a white dress implies that these two women, once consigned to the same fate as easily manipulated female Westworld hosts, could find themselves in opposition to one another. Not only could they rise to the top of the pack, allowed to wear modern clothing and thus insert themselves at the highest levels to help earn the freedom of all the Westworld hosts, but they could also soon square off against each other.
“These violent delights have violent ends,” as is often said in Westworld. Who’s to say that those violent delights and violent ends can’t be two women rising to the top of the food chain, breaking the bonds of their enslavement through a Westworld-wide rebellion and then facing off against one another, ideals about freedom potentially opposed, fighting for the right way for hosts to live if and when they gain their freedom?
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