1. Plot

2. Production
    Music 

3. Reception
    Ratings  Critical reception  Accolades 

4. References

5. External links

• Ptolemy Slocum as Sylvester
• Leonardo Nam as Felix Lutz
• Talulah Riley as Angela
• Lili Simmons as New Clementine Pennyfeather
• Brian Howe as Sheriff Pickett
• Demetrius Grosse as Deputy Foss
• Louis Herthum as Peter Abernathy
• Eddie Shin as Henry

"Trace Decay" is the eighth episode of the HBO science fiction thriller television series Westworld. The episode aired on November 20, 2016.

The episode received very positive reviews from critics.

Plot

Bernard is distraught over having been ordered to kill Theresa. Ford promises that once Bernard erases all evidence of their involvement in Theresa's murder, he will erase Bernard's memories of his relationship with Theresa and the murder. Theresa's death is classified as an accident, and her industrial espionage is exposed, as is her manipulation of Clementine. In light of the revelations, Charlotte is forced to reinstate Bernard as head of Behavior. Ford then has a debate with Bernard over whether hosts are truly conscious or not. Ford points out that there's little difference between humans and hosts, as they simply live the same routine every day and do whatever they are told. Bernard then asks Ford if he had ever ordered him to hurt anybody other than Theresa. Ford replies he had not, but Bernard has a vision of himself attacking Elsie before Ford erases his memory.

With Theresa dead, Charlotte recruits Lee to help her. Lee believes that he has been working on Ford's villain Wyatt, which Ford assigned to him, but Hale reveals that he has been working on another insignificant character. She takes Lee down to cold storage, where she uploads all of Westworld's data into Peter Abernathy, Dolores' previous "father". She then orders Lee to program Peter to smuggle himself out of the park with the data.

Maeve continues to have flashbacks to her previous life, which distress her. However, this does not stop her desire to escape the park. She tells Felix and Sylvester that she found some old software involving Arnold hidden in her programming waiting to be activated. She orders them to grant her administrative privileges, so she can control other hosts, and to have the fail-safe explosive in her spine removed, allowing her to leave the park. In order to achieve this, Maeve asks the duo to sneak her into the Behavior department so she can modify her own code. While Maeve's systems are shut down, Sylvester orders Felix to wipe all of Maeve's programming. However, Felix ignores Sylvester and changes her programming as planned. Maeve demonstrates the changes by cutting Sylvester's throat, and then ordering Felix to close the wound. Maeve then returns to the park and tests her ability to control the other hosts. However, as she prepares to leave the park, she has another vision of herself and her daughter being attacked by the Man in Black, and in her terror she inadvertently kills the new Clementine, alerting the park staff. She flees back to her room, where she has another flashback of Ford and Bernard erasing her memory of her daughter, revealing that she had achieved self-consciousness before due to the incident with the Man in Black. Maeve then feigns a shutdown as the park staff arrive to retrieve her.

William and Dolores continue their journey down the canyon, where they find the bodies of more Confederados who were ambushed by the Ghost Nation. A mortally wounded Confederado reveals that Logan betrayed their location. Dolores then begins to have more vivid visions of herself as she and William move on and eventually reach their destination. Dolores walks into an abandoned town and has a vision of the town full of people and park staff training them, before somebody arrives and kills all of the townspeople. Dolores realizes Arnold arranged for her to come here in order for her to remember, and begins breaking down, as she fears she can no longer tell what is real and what is not. Fearing for Dolores' sanity, William decides to take her back to Sweetwater. However, on the way, they are intercepted by a group of Confederados led by Logan.

The Man in Black and Teddy continue to track Wyatt and find a group of slaughtered settlers. They find a survivor, Angela, whom the Man In Black recognizes, as she was one of the Hosts who greeted every Guest as they entered Westworld. The two are attacked by one of Wyatt's cultists, who appears to be immune to bullets. As the Man in Black battles the cultist, Teddy has a flashback of the former attacking Dolores and, after killing the cultist, he knocks the Man in Black out. Teddy then interrogates the Man in Black about Dolores' location. Instead, the Man in Black tells Teddy why he came to the park; that his wife had committed suicide, sensing and fearing the darkness in him, and he felt that he had no more purpose in life and thus came to Westworld to find it and his true self. After he had killed Maeve and her daughter, as a test to see if he was truly evil, he had become aware of the maze and has been obsessed with finding it ever since. Angela attempts to persuade Teddy to kill the Man in Black, but he physically cannot. Angela then stabs Teddy in the shoulder, revealing herself to be one of Wyatt's followers as more of his cultists appear from the surrounding woods.

Production

"Trace Decay" was written by novelist Charles Yu and series co-creator Lisa Joy, and was directed by Stephen Williams.^[1]

Music

In an interview, composer Ramin Djawadi spoke about the song "Reverie" by Debussy, that was used by Ford to calm a Host, when she was not responding to verbal commands. He said, "The music is being controlled, and it's being chosen for a reason".^[2] Djawadi continued, saying, "The great power of music is that something subconsciously happens when you listen to a piece of music, even if you don't pay full attention to it. It just does something to us that nothing else can do, other than music."^[2]

Reception

Ratings

"Trace Decay" was viewed by 1.78 million American households on its initial viewing.^[3] The episode also acquired a 0.8 rating in the 18–49 demographic.^[3] In the United Kingdom, the episode was seen by 1.03 million viewers on Sky Atlantic.^[4]

Critical reception

"Trace Decay" received highly positive reviews from critics. The episode has a 94% score on Rotten Tomatoes and has an average rating of 8.2 out of 10, based on 18 reviews. The site's consensus reads: "Providing its major characters rich layers of context, Westworld{{'}}s 'Trace Decay' begins pulling together the elements of the park's origins and setting the stage for what is sure to be a thrilling conclusion."^[5]

Terri Schwartz of IGN reviewed the episode positively, saying, "While Westworld didn't offer any true resolutions to some of its biggest questions, it teased them out in an interesting way and offered a lot more context to major characters like Maeve and the Man in Black."^[6] She gave it a score of 8.7 out of 10.^[6] Scott Tobias of The New York Times wrote in his review of the episode; "Thandie Newton has become Yul Brynner in the original Westworld, a robot hellbent on destruction, only infinitely smarter and more devious. Her liberation is the show's, too."^[7] Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club wrote in his review, "With two episodes left in the first season, the action is pulling together and the stakes are rising, and yet elements crucial to our understanding remain withheld."^[8] He gave the episode a B.^[8]

Liz Shannon Miller of IndieWire wrote in her review, "We can't expect major twists every week, but while 'Trace Decay' didn't feel like it was stalling, it perhaps could have pushed things further. It's a minor complaint, though — a bump in the ride we're still enjoying."^[9] She gave the episode a B+.^[9] James Hibberd of Entertainment Weekly wrote in his review, "There are only two more episodes left, almost everybody has been captured, or in the process of being captured, and poor Bernard doesn't remember anything! How will it end?"^[10] Ed Power of The Daily Telegraph wrote in his review, "For once it was worth paying attention as Westworld dropped further breadcrumbs regarding the park's origins and Bernard's role in its creation."^[11] David Crow of Den of Geek said in his review, "The hour felt like a comedown, a slowing and re-calibration before the final two episodes presumably blow us all away as if we're a poor, dull-eyed sheriff walking away from Armistice while she has a rifle trained on our backside."^[12] He gave the episode a 3.5 out of 5.^[12] Erik Kain of Forbes also reviewed the episode, saying, "Where does it all go from here? I don't know, honestly. What I do know is that I can't wait to find out. Without doubt, Westworld is the best thing on TV right now."^[13]

Accolades

References

External links

• {{URL|1=https://www.hbo.com/westworld/season-01/8-trace-decay|2="Trace Decay"}} at HBO.com
• {{IMDb episode|4458814}}
• {{tv.com episode|westworld/trace-decay-3425992|Trace Decay}}

• Edward Clive, 1st Earl of Powis
• Edward Clive (actor)
• Edward Clive (British Army general)
• Edward Clive (d. 1845)
• Edward Clive (died 1845)
• Edward Clive (disambiguation)
• Edward Clive (judge)
• Edward C. Mack
• Edward C. Mazique
• Edward C. McLean
• Edward C. McNamara
• Edward C. Merrill Jr.
• Edward C. Molina
• Edward Coate Pinckney
• Edward Coates (disambiguation)
• Edward Cobb
• Edward Cochrane McLean
• Edward Coffin
• Edward Cogswell House
• Edward Coke (1758-1837)
• Edward Coke (1824-1889)
• Edward Coke (1824–1889)
• Edward Coke Billings
• Edward Coke (disambiguation)
• Edward Coke, Viscount Coke