Thanks, I was trying to remember the a/r shifts - you know, you might actually be onto something, i.e., maybe what we thought was the real world was VR, like a walk-through before executing it with the actual hosts/people.

I vaguely remembers them using a different aspect ratio earlier in the season. Went back, and it looks like it was just the opening scene with Delores in the real world. When they went back to that storyline later, it was the normal aspect. Hmm.