Eh, I'd say Bernard being fired is bad for Ford even from a purely self-interested perspective. It certainly complicates his plans.

He could be modeled off of him but not actually look like him? Or maybe Ford waited until everyone who initially knew Arnold had moved on before activating him? Logan mentioned that his firm couldn't even find the name or picture of Ford's mysterious co-founder, too.

Agreed, I thought the foreshadowing for Bernard specifically was fairly heavy. Off the top of my head:

Yeah, I don't think we're supposed to see William's "awakening" as a good thing. There's something to be said for suppressing your baser instincts, no?

It also puts the lie to Ford's assertion that the hosts are happy, free of self-doubt. Programmed or not, even in her loop, Dolores was always thinking about a better future, usually with Teddy.

Yeah, but then their supervisors or whoever asks why Maeve's intelligence has been messed with. They can turn it up and no one notices because she can still do her job, so to speak. (I still agree it's a big plot hole, but I also think the techs are screwed no matter what they do at this point.)

Yeah, I guess my cynical brain is trained to look for reveals, but it's surprising how many people are shocked by this. Granted, the manner of the reveal was stunning and brutal, and it still caught me off-guard even strongly suspecting it was coming at some point.

True, but so far the show has earned its reveals in my book. They dropped plenty of hints about Bernard along the way, which they haven't done for other "human" characters, at least not that I've noticed.

I don't think Ford was involved in Elsie's disappearance. Charlotte and Theresa (and ultimately Delos) were behind transferring data outside the park, which is what Elsie stumbled on. Unless that plays into Ford's larger plan somehow.

It's a fresh take on the "robot turns on master" trope, and I love it. They didn't build Maeve to be a soldier or a killing machine, but they did build her to be charming and manipulative – which is arguably scarier.

I was surprised they used that reveal this early, but it makes sense. Audiences are more primed to look for clues these days, especially on a show like this, and I'm not sure they could have kept it going until the end of the season like many shows would have.

Well, it makes sense from the perspective that Ford is a megalomaniac. He wouldn't trust anyone else with the deepest secrets of Host operations, so he installed a Host as head of Behavior to handle day-to-day stuff while he did whatever else. Also a useful way to spy on corporate employees like Theresa. To be clear…

I imagine it buys him some time, if nothing else. Remember that Charlotte felt comfortable forcing Ford out because she "liked Theresa for the job." It can't be easy to find a suitable replacement capable of taking over park operations, especially if/when rumors of trouble start going around.

Yeah, that was all pretty perplexing. I think charitably you can say that this is basically a lost season, so Jackson has some leeway to try crazy shit and see what happens. Less charitably you can say that even with this roster a historically bad season is unacceptable.

Surprised they didn't bring this role up (or maybe it was edited out), since Johnathan Nolan also did Person of Interest, so that has to be how he got a leading role on Westworld.

Eh, Tebow made the smarter choice. He can be a minor league baseballer/commentator/professional Christian/whatever and still make good money without destroying his body on a weekly basis.

The last draft looks pretty good so far, actually. Might be typical Browns fan self-delusion, but Coleman is a good WR, Nassib and Ogbah are solid defenders, and Kessler is better than anyone expected even if he'll never be a star. That alone is better than the Manziel/Gilbert bust-fests we're used to.

This was a fun idea, and I love that they followed through on the podcast bit about Jason taking over as host, but overall it fell kind of flat for me. When it comes to CBB, Jason is much more of a straightman than a wild card, which is great on the pod but less than ideal for TV. And Donny Gary, while hilarious,…

Yeah, that would be a great start. I hope Obama can spark a revitalization of efforts at the state and local level. Trump may have effectively come out of nowhere, but the political climate and infrastructure supporting him definitely didn't. Plus, the lack of a good "bench" is killing Democrats in Senate races that…

Yeah, Larry Doby has been kind of forgotten, which is sad but I guess is the inevitable fate of the second person to break a historic barrier. Even though he joined the Indians just a few months after Jackie Robinson's debut and had to struggle with a lot of the same evil.