This week, Paul and Caroline invited Mike from Pop Culture Review and the Jay and Mike show to help them sort out the finale! Listen in, as we throw three brains at: The Passenger.

Now:
We didn't see anything from the "now" timeline.
A Few Days Ago with the Man In Black:
A father and daughter heart to heart takes a dark turn.
Some Time Before Season 1:
The details of the MIB's wife's suicide are discussed and recalled.

Now:
Things look grim for Maeve, but Akecheta tells her he'll take care of her daughter.
About A Week Ago with the Man In Black:
Emily/Grace finds him and promises to make him suffer.
Spread Out Over The Whole Story:
Akecheta tells a tale of having been awake for a very long time, searching for the"door".

Now:
Bernard's secret gets exposed and Hale makes him talk.
About A Week Ago with Maeve and Man In Black:
These two meet up, but things don't go like they did before.
About A Week Ago with Dolores:
The train job from last week pays off and her gang invades the mesa. And they don't leave empty-handed.
About A Week Ago with Bernard:
Bernard and Ford have a light-hearted chat in the Cradle where we don't learn anything (that's not true).

About a Week Ago in Sweetwater
Dolores and the newly reprogrammed Teddy send a message to the Mesa on the train.
About a Week Ago in Shogun World / Maeve's Group
Maeve and the team make their way back into Westworld with Dragon Girl in tow. Maeve finds what she's been looking for.
About a Week Ago in the Mesa
Hale and Stubbs call the cavalry.
About a Week Ago in Westworld / Man In Black
MIB and Grace talk, but no one is sure who is and isn't a host.
About a Week Ago in Westworld / Bernard + Elsie
Bernard and Elsie make their way to the Cradle and Bernard goes in to find a surprise.
Some Undetermined Time
The writers trick us into thinking we're watching Arnold and Dolores, but we're actually watching Bernard and Dolores. But when?

2 Weeks Ago in Sweetwater
Earlier we wondered if Dolores and Wyatt would get equal time running the show. Apparently not. Wyatt's in control.
2 Weeks Ago in Shogun World
So much happened here. Mostly, we learned that Sizemore plagiarizes himself in the various parks AND Maeve has continued to evolve her unholy abilities.
Now
Strand, Bernard, and the rescuers make their way back into the Mesa and start cleaning up. Costa introduces a small new mystery.

Pre-Season 1
All the Robo-Jim stuff happened between the years immediately following his death (30+years ago) and right before Season 1 started.
During Season 1
The sequence where Bernard goes robo-cidal happened somewhere toward the end of Season 1, when Bernard was completely under Ford's control.
Two Weeks ago
Man in Black and Lawrence rediscover a shred of William's humanity in Lawrence's besieged hometown.

This week's episode was more straightforward timeline-wise, but we took the same approach as last week. We split up the show into timelines (or storylines in the case of newcomer Grace), and explore them in sequence before moving on to the next one.
Now Timeline:
We find out if Hale survived the 2 weeks ago timeline and whether or not anybody kept track of Abernathy.
Two Weeks Ago Timeline:
Hale and Bernard search for Abernathy and find Rebus' gang.

Dolores/Wyatt makes a deal with the Confederado Colonel and then alters it.

Hale makes a play for Abernathy leaving Bernard behind.

Maeve and her crew encounter some very out of place hosts that use swords more than words.
Pre-Season 1 Timeline:
We meet Grace vacationing in India-world and find out where the tiger came from.

First, the title: Trace Decay. It relates to another theory about how our brains work (recall bicameral mind?). This one has to do with a Nolan favorite, our memory. As the theory goes, memories begin in your mind as a trace and unless -something- happens to lock-in that memory, like rehearsing the memory or some other multi-sensory association, it will decay over time. Pieces can come back, but after a memory gets hazy, it eventually goes away. The process even starts with short term memory.

Memory, the dependability of it and to what extent it should define your current reality, is very much at the heart of Westworld. Both of our female host POV characters, Delores and Maeve, are starting to fray at the edges of their sanity. Their memories, whether they lived through it or simply had them programmed, are not only coming to them as flashbacks, but are now overlaying on top of their perception. What they see and hear is now indistinguishable from memory, making it nearly impossible for them (and us) to tell the difference.

Luckily, we have sound effects and semi-consistent camera / editing tricks we can use to look back and pick apart what we've been shown. Delores, being further down the path, is living through three different realities: Where she's at, where she was 30 years ago with William, and now where she was 35 years ago in the little nameless town. Kind of reminds me of what they say in time travel stories about being in close proximity to another time period's version of yourself: don't do it; it causes drastic problems. Witness Delores' freak out at the nameless / buried / ho-down hosting town for proof.

Looks like I was wrong about Stubbs and Elsie. Having Bernie taking out Elsie might tell me something about to what extent the show is willing to screw with me though. The big-brains at Westworld HQ edited the previous episode in a way to make me think Bernie was too far away from Elsie at the point she was grabbed. The only way Bernie can be in place to take out Elsie is if the show is willing to fool me by editing things to look concurrent, but they're really not. Delores' scenes have been edited to fool me though, so it shouldn't have been a surprise. I thought the non-host timelines were safe, but as I write this, I'm realizing there -was- a host involved: Bernie. His perception of time passing is unreliable and he knew right where to go (because she told him).
Anyway, here's our roundup for the week:
35 years ago: Someone starts shooting up the town where they have dance lessons in the street. It may be Delores and she may have gone suicidal at the end of her rampage.

30 years ago: After finding a town once known for its dance lessons now empty, Logan and his band of sore loser Conferados catch Delores and William.
Now:
Delores find the town buried except for the black steeple and a couple of roof peaks. Memories overlay perception like crazy and she can't tell what's what anymore.

William is starting to act like a dick and looks like he's about done with his first trip to Westworld.

Logan is back with vengeance on his mind.

Maeve can now reprogram other hosts with her words, but is on the run from HQ.

Bernie has covered his tracks too well about Cullen and now Stubbs senses something wrong with him.

Teddy has taken the MIB hostage, but Wyatt's forces have them surrounded.

MIB is tied up at Teddy's camp. I kind of just said that. Keep up.

Hale has turned Sizemore into her latest data-mule since Cullen's death screwed up her previous plans. She has chosen, out of an entire sub-level full of hosts, Tom Abernathy to be the vessel to carry the data. What could go wrong?

Who's revved up for ep 9? If they follow the Game of Thrones equation, ep 9 could be the season's "BIG" episode...

If you're reading this / listening to this podcast, we assume you've seen the episode.

With that out of the way... WOW! We had anticipated Bernard to be revealed as a host (a host-ified version of Arnold, actually), but didn't expect it so soon or so devastatingly. Big reveal, very well done.

Maeve's plan to escape doesn't look like it will have a happy ending...

Delores is happy to have company on her journey to self- fulfillment, but don't call her a key...

William is sounding more and more like the Man In Black with each passing episode...

Elsie is on "leave" since her abduction last week. That implies that whomever took her, could have made that change in the company computer... My money is still on Stubbs.

Cullen 1.0 is currently down. Look for Cullen 2.0 to debut soon! Now, with less betrayal and more compliance!

Now Timeline:
No update
Two weeks ago Timeline:
Dolores gets a little Wyatt on some more Delos employees
Pre-Season 1 Timeline:
Arnold and Ford put on a dog and pony show for a familiar investor.
Post-Season 1 Timeline:
William is well on his way to becoming the diabolical Man In Black just a couple years after the events of season 1, as it turns out.

These are our notes from last season with updates from what we saw tonight in red:

Ford: Dead. Maybe. Killed by Dolores in front of the Delos Board of Directors. Another possibility includes the Ford we saw get shot was actually a host impersonator.

Dead. Saw his body.

Dolores: Alive and making her own choices, the first of which is to murder Ford. When we left her, she was taking potshots at board members with a large revolver.

Large and in charge of the bandit hosts. Exists as Delores and Wyatt together.

William: Confirmation of his identity as the Man In Black. Somewhat disillusioned after discovering his pursuit of the maze was all for nothing. When last seen, he'd been shot in the left arm and had suffered a pretty catastrophic break in his right arm at Dolores' hands. But at least he was having fun.

Alive and in the middle of the game he always wanted to play.

Logan: Rode off into the sunset , naked and with only a feather to keep him company.

No sightings.

Hale: Had front row seats for Ford's suicide/murder, making her in prime seating to get gunned down by Dolores.

Teamed up with a very conflicted Bernard. Not sure if she survives the whole season though.

Sizemore: Alone in cold storage wondering where all the robots went.

Survived and picked up by Maeve as... entertainment, basically.

Bernard: Now with full recall of being a host-ified version of Arnold. Also at the gala/massacre in Escalante, but probably not in any danger.

He did get banged around some, but had also just been patched up from Clementine shooting him... Not in perfect shape.

Maeve: Also made her first programming-independent choice by getting off the train to find her "daughter". This is a reunion made for disappointment.

On the hunt for her daughter with Sizemore and Hector in tow.

Hector: Probably gunned down while "kicking up a row", defending Maeve's escape.

Survived the row and looking to cause more mayhem at Maeve's behest.

Armistice: Now just one-armed, but still causing mayhem in the mid-decks of Delos HQ.

Not seen.

Stubbs: Abducted by misbehaving Ghost Nation warriors and NOBODY said a thing.

Shows up right away, but no word on how he is "back" from the abduction.

Elsie: Missing and last scene being choked. No one showed the audience her body though.

Not seen.

Felix: Aided and abetted Maeve's escape in a big way. Probably stuck in the elevator since the lights went out in the complex.

Not seen.