Tonight’s episode of Westworld cleared up one of the bigger mysteries of the season, namely who was stealing proprietary information from the park.
Elsie discovered the conspiracy after a rogue host attacked her and Stubbs and then bashed its own head in with a boulder. Upon closer examination of the body, she discovered that someone had placed a satellite uplink into its arm, forcing the host to transmit unspecified data about the park.
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In tonight’s episode, Elsie and Bernard continued their investigation into the data theft. Using the park’s original tracking system, Bernard was able to use the host’s last position to find the satellite it was transmitting to. Elsie then discovered that the satellite belonged to Devos, and learned the host was receiving commands from a transmitter inside the park, which the hosts interpreted as voices inside their head.
When Elsie tracked down the transmitter and accessed its user log, she discovered the surprising culprit behind the theft: Theresa Cullen, the head of the Quality Assurance department. Cullen has acted as the board’s proxy throughout most of the season, keeping an eye on Ford and keeping the park running smoothly. Cullen also seems to be angling for a promotion, as she was all too willing to butt heads with Ford over his new storyline on behalf of the board.
So what is Cullen up to and is she really “betraying” Westworld by stealing its data? Although it’s possible that Cullen is working for outside interests as she’s a relatively recent hire, it’s more likely that she’s not stealing from the park at all. Her use of a Devos satellite suggests that she was either trying to stage an incident by messing with the host’s functions or collecting data to use in her planned coup against Ford.
Since Ford has such tight control of the hosts, a staged incident (such as a host nearly killing two employees) could provide Cullen with enough evidence to prove that he’s not fit to run the park anymore. Cullen could also be trying to find a way to report back to the board without Ford’s knowledge, since Ford mentions that he knows everyone in the park so well.
Although Elsie figured out who was behind the rogue host, she also discovered an even bigger mystery: that a second person was messing with the host’s programming. Although Theresa has an ulterior agenda at Westworld, Elsie inadvertently proved that she had nothing to do with the host’s growing self-awareness or the possibility that Arnold was still alive.
We’ll have to wait another week to find out what Cullen’s true motives are. Be sure to share your craziest Westworld theories in the comments below!
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