The Stray

"The Stray" is the third episode of the first season of Westworld, and the third episode overall.
==Synopsis==
== Plot ==
Warning, contains information not revealed until later in the season
===Down the Rabbit Hole===
Dolores Abernathy is waiting in a glass-walled room in a Remote Diagnostic Facility when Bernard enters, says "good morning" and tells her to come, "back online".This is Arnold Weber, rather than Bernard Lowe, because of: a) the location (an RDF), b) Dolores' clothing (for an official examination by a Diagnostic Technician she would be naked), c) we never see Bernard without his neckties, nor is he ever wearing a black lab coat, and d) it is ultimately revealed that ever since she helped create and test Bernard, Ford has always kept Dolores and Bernard apart. 
Dolores sits up, looks at him, and says, "hello" in return. He asks her, "Has anyone else put you into diagnostic mode since we last spoke?" and "Have you told anyone of our conversations?" She answers that she has been cleaned and serviced but not put into diagnostic mode. She reminds him that he told her not to tell anyone about their conversations (but she doesn't actually say that she hasn't told anyone).
He shows her a gift he's brought for her, a copy of Alice in Wonderland, that he used to read to his son. He asks her to read a particular passage "Dear, dear! How queer everything is today! And yesterday things went on just as usual. I wonder if I've been changed in the night."
She pauses and looks at him, he asks her if that passage makes her think of anything. She answers that it's like the "other books" they've read together, and that "It's about change." She asks about his son, where he is now. He doesn't reply and puts her into Analysis Mode and asks what led her to ask that question. She answers that it seemed appropriate to ask a personal question at that point in the conversation. Appearing reassured, he tells her to Continue. 
She carries on reading until she comes to the point where Alice asks herself, "Who in the world am I?"
===Now You See It===
Dolores wakes, as usual in her bed. Getting up and dressed, she opens a drawer in her dresser to put away her nightgown and sees something wrapped in a cloth in it. Unwrapping it she's the handgun wrapped in it. Gazing at it for a moment, she wraps it back up and puts it back, before catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Which triggers a flash memory of her being dragged into the barn by the Man in Black. Looking back down into the drawer she see's that the cloth wrapped gun is no longer there. The moment puzzles her just for a fraction of a second, before regaining her equilibrium, she inhales, smiles a little, closes the drawer and goes on to begin her day. 
===To the Rescue===
Morning in Sweetwater, and William emerges from the Hotel to look around at the bustle and life of Main Street, encountering Clementine outside the Bakery, chatting to other guests, pausing to greet him with a '"Morning cowboy", Moving on with a smile and a tip of his hat, he stops by the Sheriff's office to look at the Wanted Posters on the wall, and sees Holden, a bounty hunter in the mold of a gruffer Teddy, bringing in a struggling bandit called Horace Calhoun. William looks on in fascination, amused as Holden shoves Horace up against the wall and tells him his "Wanted" poster needs work. Handing Horace over to the Deputy he tells him to lock him up, he's going to attend to his horse and he'll be back for his pay. 
William, intrigued, moves to look at the other wanted posters, including those of Jasper Hewitt ($300 Dead or Alive), and Scott 'Jonesy' Jones - Conman and Crime Boss.($100). As he's reading them he's startled backwards as the Deputy is thrown through the plate glass window of the Sheriff's office, Then shoved out of the way by Horace in handcuffs, emerging with the Deputy's gun which he uses to kill him as he lies on the ground. William does nothing, as Horace shoots two more men on the street But then sees that Clementine has got herself caught between Horace and another man with a rifle trained on the bandit. Horace makes his way down the boardwalk towards the rifleman but then grabs Clementine, sliding his cuffed arms over her, using her like a human shield. At the sound of Clementine's fear, William is galvanized into action and draws his gun. Getting a bead on Horace's back, as the bandit yells out to the street that he'll kill her if they try and take him down, William fails to take the shot. Instead, Horace spins around with Clementine, spots him and shoots William, sending him sprawling to the dirt street. As Horace starts to comment on 'how juicy' Clementine is likely to be, Clementine manages to get herself free of his grasp, dropping to the ground and crawling away. As Horace goes to go after her, he is shot dead. William, sitting on the ground, getting him through the heart. Getting up, he goes to help Clementine up, asking if she's alright, Clementine hugging him tightly. Holden, returning tells him "Nice shot, amigo. You got grit." and informs him that he's heading out later after more 'Desperados' and says he could cut him in on it, if William's amenable. Clementine tries to tempt him inside with her, just to express her gratitude more directly. But William still declines, and Clementine kisses him in thanks. Logan appears, closing his zipper, as usual. Delighted that William has actually killed a Host, and on noticing Wiliam rubbing where he was shot, exclaims 'you popped your cherry!' William grouses that he thought Logan said they couldn't get shot. Logan backtracking a little to say he meant they couldn't get killed, and it wouldn't be much of a game if the hosts couldn't shoot back. 
He wants to know how William feels, "Alive?!" William noting that Clementine was 'terrified'. Which is, Logan says, the entire point of the Hosts, so he gets to feel the way he's now feeling. Logan wants him to celebrate by having sex with the sex worker hosts, callously noting of his sister that William will thank him after he's been married to her for a year. But William moves to a Wanted Poster of a 'Slim Miller ($350 Dead or Alive), saying he has something else in mind. Noting that while Logan has been preaching non stop about all the storylines in the Park, all he's done since they got there is drink and have sex. That's because, Logan says, he's waiting for the 'good stuff', the Bounty Hunter stuff he says is J.V. (Junior Varsity). You stay here then, William tells him, he wants a little adventure! Logan, rolling his eyes, holds out for a second before following him. 
===Revenge and Retrieval ===
In the Hub Bernard is making his way through the facility meeting Theresa Cullen who says that she's been looking for him. He coyly uses the excuse that he got a late start that morning, not having had much sleep the night before, obliquely referring to the fact they spent the night together. But she's not in the mood for playfulness or excuses, Ford dumping Sizemore's narrative for an unknown one of his own at the last minute has made the Board 'Uneasy' she tells him. Just the board he jokes, but again she's not receptive, saying she specifically asked him whether Ford was going to be a problem. "I can't tell you what I don't know," he replies. She tells him what she does know. As of that morning, Ford has carved out a huge swathe of the Park for his narrative throwing half of the existing storylines into disarray in the process. He wants to know if there's anything he can do. "You tell me," she replies, reminding him she asked him point blank if the problem with the update was resolved. Wanting to know why his staff, obviously meaning Elsie Hughes, are still pulling Hosts for follow up? When he doesn't reply, she suggests that he gets his department in order, and if there is still a problem strongly suggests he tells her. before leaving. Bernard goes to find Elsie, analyzing a naked Rebus, who is in mid recall of his actions altering his intent to 'relieve the milkmaid of her unmentionables.' Elsie switching him to analysis she asks Rebus about his not reporting the incident. Rebus replying flatly and without his thick accent that 'The Unit self corrected within the acceptable Window". Elsie snorts, the self correction being a milk bottle into his skull. Approaching her, Bernard points out how amazingly resilient the hosts are...then points out she was supposed to have purged the hosts memory on the last cycle. Elsie promises she will but says that Rebus was the last host to interact with Walter when he went 'crazy'. She plays him a recording of Walter's one-sided rant, pointing out that he's talking to someone, carrying out practically a full conversation. "I need more milk, Arnold!" Walter is heard asking in the recording, Elsie pausing to ask who Arnold is? They're designed to play off aberrant behavior Bernard suggests as a reason for the conversation. Fine, she concedes but then asks him why Walter kills six hosts but lets the other three go? She tells him she pulled the narrative logs, and all six that he killed had themselves "killed" Walter in the pas. It was like he was holding a grudge, she says. Bernard looks unsettled, trying to find it amusing, but looking a little perturbed. As they're considering this, Elsie gets a 'Stray Host' alert on her tablet. Video footage showing a host clambering through a rocky area of the Park, Elsie noting that QA need a tag team (combined QA / Behaviour Departments) to go track it. Bernard tells her to go, handle the stray "Do something that's actually in your job description." pointing out that the last thing they need is Theresa storming down to see what she's up to. Meanwhile he will do a little more digging with Rebus on Walter, and get him back out into the Park. 
Elsie heads off as instructed meeting and Stubbs at the elevator to the Park surface, with a snarky "Lost another one, huh?" The two of them revealed to have a spiky/bantering relationship, when she pokes him further by asking if QA surveillance of the hosts really that spotty or whether this is just because he likes Nature walks? Maybe its the company he wryly suggests, before drawing his gun to check it, prompting Elsie to say if he really wanted to play cowboy he could just have used his Employee Discount. Prompting Stubbs to reply that the only thing stopping the hosts from "Hacking us to pieces." is one line of the programmers code. No offence he tells her, but he sleeps with his gun. "I bet you do," she snarks. 
===A Successful Hunt ===
Outside the Gunsmith's in Sweetwater, a particularly large host with an impressive mustache, and dressed in a long fur duster, emerges with 2 sidekicks, to be met by the approaching Teddy, armed newcomer, Marti in tow. An attractive female guest, Marti carries a rifle and has a sidearm; dressing in the fashion of a Calamity Jane or Annie Oakley, and has obviously engaged Teddy to show her the park/take her bounty hunting with him. "Mornin', Samuel," Teddy greets him, stopping the big man in his tracks. Turning, Samuel sees Teddy's hand down by his holster, prepped. Portraying the underlying misogyny that brought them there, Samuel queries whether Teddy and his associate are intending to engage him in a gun battle. Teddy replies he'd happily challenge him to a fist fight, but as he hears it, Samuel only likes to beat up on sex workers. Clearly what the bounty on him is for. West reacts and both he and his two men go for their guns. Teddy taking down both sidekicks before they can shoot, leaving Samuel to Marti who hits him mid body with three straight shots, Samuel collapsing against the Gunsmith's shop wall. "Is he dead?" she asks Teddy, "Dead enough," Teddy replies. 
=== Maeve's Recall===
Outside the Mariposa Saloon, Marti handcuff's Samuel body to the hitching rail, wondering why? Because, Teddy explains sticking Samuel's hat back on his head, they don't want anyone walking off with him. Samuel's not their man anymore...he's merchandise. 500 dollars worth of bounty. They head inside for a celebratory drink, and promptly face the wrath of Maeve, who having looked out the window, demands to know "Which of you derelicts hitched a dead body outside my saloon?" Approaching her, Teddy politely apologizes saying he figured he'd be better off outside than inside. Getting some money from Marti he presses it into Maeve's hand to compensate her for any loss of earnings. 
But as he does so, Maeve suddenly has a flashback. Remembering that his was the face that so startled her on seeing him naked and dead propped up in the Hub, awaiting his reset. When she continues to just stare at him silently, Teddy tips his hat politely moving on, breaking her from reverie. Startled and unsettled, she puts the money he gave her away and tries to regather herself but her eyes are drawn back to Teddy, who is now standing with Marti and Clementine. Clementine giving Marti her "Not much of a rind on you." Speech and offering her a discount, before taking her hand and leading her to the stairs. Marti grinning asks Teddy if he doesn't mind waiting on that drink with him as she goes with Clem. Teddy smiles wryly to himself and heads to the bar, with Maeve still watching his every move, staring after him. 
===Someday===
Teddy's stay at the bar doesn't last much longer however as, before he even places a drink order, he catches sight of Dolores coming out of the store with her groceries, and leaves to follow her. As he moves after her down the street, once again she goes to put her purchases in the saddle bag, and once again he retrieves the escaped can of condensed milk for her "Don't mind me, just tryin' to look chivalrous." brings a smile and her response of "You came back." 
Once again they head out into the countryside together. But this time Dolores, dismounted, is waiting, while trying to not look like she's waiting for him, near a large, striking looking tree with wide spreading boughs. As he approaches her from behind she asks him does he want to tell her where he's been? Teddy's vague answer of "Just...away." earns him a silently unimpressed reaction on her part. Recognizing that she's irked with him, he tells her "You know if I could stay right here with you I would." And something about that hits a chord with her. Looking to him, she asks, what if she doesn't want to stay 'here'?. Her question taking him a little unaware. Off his slightly quizzical look she explains that she feels like sometimes the World is calling her. That there's something more. Taking his hands quickly she points out that he's travelled all over, asking isn't there anywhere they could go? 
Teddy wanders away a little, thinking on it, then talking about a 'Place, down South'. A place he says, where the 'Mountains meet the Sea'. A place with water so pure it could wash the past clean off you. Where you could start again. Smiling as she listens to him, Dolores walks after him, telling him she'd like to go there with him. Turning to her, Teddy seems to consider it for a moment, before taking her hand and telling her "Well someday I'll take you." A light frown touches her face, his phrasing catching her. "Someday," she repeats without her accent. Teddy's head cocking, asking if there's something wrong. She points out he said Someday. Not Today or Tomorrow or next week. Just someday. "Someday sounds a lot like the thing people say when they actually mean never." 
Feeling a sudden rush of urgency, she slides her arms around him and asks that they don't go 'someday'. "Teddy, Lets go now?" She pleads, lingeringly kissing him with need. A little breathless at her kiss and reaction, Teddy seems to waiver for a second, before he touches her face and tells her that before he met her, he was a different man. And he has some 'reckoning' to do before he can deserve a woman like her. Caressing her face again he tells her 'But I'm close. Close to making things right." Despite her closing her eyes and leaning into his touch, it's clear that Dolores is disappointed. A resigned smile touching her lips as he says again "Someday soon." they will have the life they've both been dreaming of. Telling her he better get her home before her father starts loading his shotgun, he walks with her back to their horses. Dolores clearly unsettled.
Again they reach the outskirts of her home at dark. The cattle once again roaming when they shouldn't. The gunshots going off up the hill at her house. Drawing his rifle, Teddy again tells her to stay put and gallops up the hill. Dolores only waiting a few moments before she follows. This time everything going black to the sound of more gunshots and a woman's scream.
===Wyatt===
In a Manufacturing area within the Hub, a machine works on colouring the orb and then the blue iris of a host 's eye. Ford's voice quote Shakespeare's Julius Caesar "The coward dies a thousand deaths..." we pull back to see the same coloured eye of Teddy, "the Valiant taste of death but once." Of course, he notes, Shakespeare never met a man quite like Teddy. He's died at least 1,000 times. And yet, he tells him, it doesn't dull his courage. 
As he examines the naked Teddy in analysis mode, Ford asks him is that all he aspires to? Teddy answers immediately "There's a girl. Dolores." She's better than he deserves, he feels. He smiles hopefully, adding maybe, "Someday soon. We'll have the life we've both been dreaming of."
"No." Ford tells him with brutal frankness. They never will. Because, unknown to him Teddy's role is not to protect Dolores but keep her waiting for him in the Park. A kind of trap and lure for them both, to ensure that the guests find her if they want to best 'The stalwart gunslinger' and 'have their way' with his girl. Teddy's brow furrows a little but he doesn't react. Ford asks him has it never occurred to Teddy to run off with her? Teddy paraphrasing the 'reckoning' he has to do, before he can be with her line he said to Dolores earlier. 'Ah yes, your mysterious backstory." Ford reacts with slight amusement, before telling him that's the reason for his visit. He explains that the reason for the mysteriousness of Teddy's backstory is simply that they never actually gave him one, just a 'formless guilt you will never atone for.'
But...he suggests, perhaps it is time he had a "Worthy story of origin." "A fiction which, like all great stories is rooted in truth." Pausing, Ford tells him "It starts in a time of War..." a world in flames he tells him "With a villain called....Wyatt." "Wyatt," Teddy repeats and looks at Ford quizzically "Whose Wyatt?" Lifting his pad Ford initiates the backstory update, and asks him if he remembers 'now'? Teddy looks away, slowly, "Yeah, of course I remember Wyatt. You look upon the face of true evil you ain't likely to forget. He claimed he could hear the voice of God." We see Teddy remembering Wyatt as a Union Army Sergeant , gunning people down in the streets of a town, Teddy recalls it all started out near Escalante, when Wyatt went missing when out on some maneuvers and came back a few days later with some 'pretty strange ideas'.
===A New Narrative===
The piano in the Mariposa Saloon kicks in, playing a new tune, a Scott Joplin rag. Out on the Main Street of Sweetwater, Dolores once emerges from the store with her groceries and makes her way down the boardwalk towards the bakery where she has as always hitched her horse. However, this time Rebus, with a 'new' Walter behind him, is seated, legs up and outstretched part blocking her path, while talking loudly about her at her approach. Rebus pointing out that he 'wasn't lying' about her, crudely noting that she's "As pretty as a picture. And tight as a Timpani drum." Unnerved by their presence and their talk, Dolores shifts off the boardwalk into the street in an effort to avoid them, only for the two men, and a newcomer to get up and surround her. Intimidatingly. She tries to de-escalate the situation by being pleasant, greeting them. But Rebus points to the newcomer, a young white hatted man, saying he's new to town and figured 'The Rancher's Daughter' would be be a good way to 'kick things off' , maybe take them *all* for a 'hayride'. 
Dolores tries to pretend she doesn't know what they mean, apologizes, and makes up an excuse about having to get home to her father who is expecting her. But Rebus blocks her way, telling her it won't take long. Dolores getting more frightened until a familiar voice tells them "The Lady doesn't appear interested." They harass her until Teddy arrives, saying that she's not interested. Everyone turning to see Teddy approaching them purposively in the street. His hand down by his holster. The newcomer puts his hat back on and pushes his coat back moving his hand to his gun. Teddy responding by pushing his coat back in kind. "Try it," he warns, sounding more assertive than before. "You may get the draw on me you may not, but I'd say your odds aren't looking good." His stare unnerves the the guest, who mutters to Rebus that he wanted something 'easy'. Spitting out his jerky, Rebus further tries to humiliate Dolores by saying 'she ain't worth the lead' and suggesting they head for Virgil's to see if he'll stake them. Teddy staring down the newcomer, till he turns to glare at Dolores who avoids his gaze, till he walks away with Rebus and Walter. Her eyes full of loathing as she watches him depart, she exhales and smiles thankfully at him as a quietly concerned Teddy approaches her, the upset returning to her expression.
Back out in the countryside near their tree, Teddy goes for his gun, drawing and firing a number of shots rapidly at an old wooden wood storage box, the rapidity and shots startling Dolores. As she stares at the gun in his hand nervously, Teddy flips it around and turning around takes her hand and gently places the pistol in it. Telling her she first has to learn how to stand he moves behind her and settles her hips and stance. Then reaches around to show her how to cock the gun. Looking back at him, Dolores seems unhappy at being put in a position to try to learn this, but off his encouraging look takes her aim, and as he instructs takes a breath and holds it. 
But when he tells her to squeeze the trigger, she tries, but her finger doesn't move. Frowning, she grimaces trying harder, glancing at Teddy, and frowning more finding herself physically incapable of it before, perplexed, telling him "I can't." Thinking she means she has decided she can't, and finding it in keeping with her gentle nature, Teddy nods saying some people's hands weren't meant to pull a trigger. Taking back his gun he thinks maybe its for the best.
Worrying on it a moment, as Teddy holsters his gun, she takes his face in her hands thankful for his attempt to help her, Teddy comforting her silently before they are interrupted by the sound of a number of approaching horses. Sheriff Pickett, Marti and a posse of riders reining in before them. Marti, a grin on her face telling Teddy they have another bounty, a big one. Sheriff Picket telling them that the man in question gunned down an entire settlement out near Flatrock, men women and children...Dolores quietly appalled by that. The Sheriff thinks it may be the man Teddy has been looking for, for quite some time. 
 
A man named Wyatt. 
 "Wyatt," Dolores repeats with a light frown, looking to Teddy, asking who he is? The Sheriff answers for her, telling her Wyatt is less a man and more a 'pestilence' and that the word is that Teddy is the only man ever to have come against him and lived to tell the tale. Looking grim, Teddy asks the Sheriff for a moment and draws Dolores aside. Knowing he has to leave again, Dolores is worried for him. Teddy again telling her that she knows if he could stay right there with her he would. "Promise me you'll come back," she asks him, tears in her eyes, Which he does. They kiss goodbye, Teddy wiping a tear off her cheek and telling her that he will come back for her...someday soon. That word unsettling her again, as he leaves her to walk for his horse. 
 
===The Woodcutter===
Up in the hills, scattered around an unlit campfire, with no wood and a rabbit ready for roasting, some men are wanting their dinner cooked. 'Cookie', one of the hosts, suggests they go get him some wood then. But the one that pitched the tents feels he's done his bit, arguing amongst themselves none of them willing to go and chop some fuel. The argument stopping mid sentence as Elsie and Stubbs arrive and freeze these hosts. Hughes explains that after their stray ran away, these hosts got stuck in a loop, and were due in town for the Cattle Drive two days ago. The host that went missing is the Woodcutter, the rest of them stuck waiting to have their dinner. Stubbs sardonically asks if her department can't program more than one of them to make a fire? Smiling she rejoins that *they* can, but thanks to the orders from Theresa, *his* boss, they can only authorize one of the hosts to use the axe. The rest of them can't even touch it. Weapons privileges need to be doled out 'selectively' he tries to argue. And yet, she snarks, they allow you to have one. 
In the Woodcutter's tent they find a range of animal wooden carvings that he has done. Stubbs mocking it as a part of one of their backstories. Elsie points out that backstories aren't just for the guests, they anchor the Hosts. It's their Cornerstone. The rest of their identity is built around it layer by layer, she says. Stubbs maintains if they're going to go to all that trouble they should've given the woodcutter a steadier hand, saying his work 'looks like shit' As he leaves Elise sees that each of the carvings bears the same strange pattern and puts one in her pocket to look at later.
===Ambush===
Teddy, leading Sheriff Pickett's posse, moves through the canyons on the trail of Wyatt. The Sherriff, addressing Teddy says the way he heard it Wyatt was a mercenary who forces his men to wear the bones and flesh of his enemies. They're masks, Teddy corrects him, it's the men underneath to be afraid of he says. Wyatt has them 'so twisted around' that they'll do anything for him. Kill anyone. Pain doesn't slow them and they don't fear death. "They reckon they've already died and gone to hell.". The Sherriff figures Teddy learned a fair bit about him as he was tracking Wyatt down. But Teddy says he wasn't tracking Wyatt down. That he wasn't always a bounty hunter. He did a stint in the army down in Escalante, he tells him, and Wyatt was his sergeant. His friend. Then everything changed. 
Repeating some of what he said to Ford, Teddy tells the Sheriff that Wyatt disappeared while they were out on maneuvers and came back with some strange ideas. As he continues we see Teddy in the town of Escalante, in a Union uniform, with a corporal's stripes, a rifle in his hand as he comes upon Wyatt shooting the townspeople. Wyatt, he says claimed the land didn't belong to the old natives or the new settlers. It belonged to something yet to come. It belonged, to him. 
He stops his tale quickly, on seeing something, holding up his hand alerting those behind him. They find several dead men tied and strung up on a tree, flies buzzing around them. Dismounting, keeping his rifle up, Teddy moves closer with the Sheriff and Marti close behind, the stench off the men who were clearly tortured to death, overpowering. "If ever a devil walked the Earth", the Sheriff murmurs, Teddy assuring him Wyatt may not be a man, but he's no devil. The devil can't be killed, he says, and that's exactly what he aims to do to Wyatt. 
Marti moves in closer to take a better look at the men hanging higher in the tree, and is startled backwards when it transpires that he man tied to the bole of the tree is not dead. As he coughs, a strange wailing noise comes from around them, echoing off the canyon walls. Before shots ring out, killing one of the deputized men and the man who was not quite dead. Yelling at them all to take cover, Teddy races behind a boulder, the Sheriff and Marti joining him. Another guest hiding behind a tree with one of the other deputized men is creeped out, not having signed up "for this crazy shit." It only getting worse for him when the deputized man is shot. Yelling at his friend that he knew they should've gone on the Riverboat trip, he runs towards where Teddy and the others are. Teddy gauges there are too many of them for them, Wyatt has been recruiting. He figures the only chance the group has is if he draws their fire, leads them up into the hills so the Sheriff can get Marti and the others back into town to get help. But the Sheriff refuses to leave Teddy, reminding him he took an Oath. Teddy checks on Marti, who looks at her fellow guest, who has no intention at all of staying. The Sheriff's actual deputy, Deputy Foss, volunteers to bring him back to town, then asks Marti if she's coming. But Marti is not backing out now. Teddy nods and tells the Deputy that he needs to wait until he can get the Sheriff and Marti to the tree line, and then make a run for it with the other guest. Breaking cover, Teddy lays down a covering fire, and leads the break to the trees, Deputy Foss taking off with the other guest. 
===Gali-F'ing-Leo===
Stubbs, using Satcom and a plotting line from the work camp to where they are, Python Pass, where he has picked up on images of the Woodcutter on the run. Setting their direction, Elise follows his point while still examining the piece of carving she picked up in the Woodcutters tent. Stubbs tells her to keep staring, and maybe it'll tell her her horoscope. Elsie not sure what he means. Stubbs points out that the markings on the carving are of the constellation Orion.
===Arnold===
Bernard seeks out Ford hoping to run something past him. Ford mid work on a re-working an older host, pauses before speaking with him, and makes his way across to a young technician wanting to know why he's partially covered up the host. The young man not sure how to respond is cut off by Ford answering for him, "Perhaps you didn't want him to feel cold, or ashamed? You wanted to cover his modesty. Was that it?" He pulls the blanket off the host sharply, speaking just as sharply to the tech, telling him the hosts don't feel cold, or ashamed. Picking up a scalpel he slices the host's face "Doesn't' feel a thing that we haven't' told it to." As he walks away, Bernard seems a little confused by his attitude towards the young technician, before following on. 
As they walk into his office, a host animates and begins to play Debussy's Reverie, as Ford suggests to Bernard that they had agreed to put these questions behind them, They did Bernard agrees, but wonders what if they mis-diagnosed the problem. Treated the symptom rather than the disease, then the disease is still out there. He points out that Peter Abernathy and Walter were exhibiting more aberrant behaviour than merely recalling memories, They were hearing voices, talking to someone. A simple cognitive dissonance, Ford suggests. He'd agree, Bernard says, except they were both talking to the same imaginary person. Someone named Arnold.
Bernard respectfully questions whether Ford has told him the whole truth.
Ford tells he he was truthful. what they do at the Park is complicated. He recounts that for three years he, Ford, lived in the park, refining the hosts before paying guests set foot in the park, along with a team of engineers and his partner. Showing him a photo of him and this partner. Bernard is surprised to hear he had a partner. When the Legend becomes fact, print the Legend, Ford replies. His business partners were more than happy to scrub his partners name from the records. And he supposes he didn't discourage it. His partner's name was Arnold. Those early years, he says, as it flashes back to the early lab work and him as a much younger man, "were glorious, no guests, no board meetings, just pure creation". Hosts began to pass the Turing Test, he recounts, but that wasn't enough for Arnold, he says, as we see a clumsy host, a far different looking Armistice, being taught how to dance. he wasn't interested in the 'appearance' of wit, of intellect. Arnold wanted the 'real thing', he wanted to create consciousness. 
We see Angela move naturally among the dancing hosts. Arnold, Ford says believed consciousness to be a pyramid with memory at the bottom, followed by improvisation then self-interest, culminating in an unknown stage at the top. Though, he says, Arnold had a notion of what it might be. He based it on a Theory of consciousness called 'The Bicameral Mind'. Bernard recognizes, the idea that primitive man believed his thoughts to be the voices of the Gods. He thought it had been debunked. As a way of understanding the human mind, yes, Ford agrees, but not as a blueprint for creating an artificial one it, 
As we see an early version of the host that would become the first Peter Abernathy delivering a monologue while being observed by techs, Ford tells Bernard, that Arnold built an early version of an artificial mind in which the hosts would hear their programming as an internal monologue, in the hopes that in time their own voice would take over. A way to bootstrap consciousness. Despite this, Ford believes Arnold made two mistakes: firstly, that in the Park the last thing you want is for the hosts to be conscious. And secondly, who the other group were that believed their thoughts to be the voices of the Gods. Lunatics, Bernard realizes, a we see an image of a disturbed early Armistice, the wounds on her body above her dress's neckline consistent with someone scratching viscously at themselves. Indeed, Ford agrees, adding that they abandoned the approach, and the only vestiges that remain are the voice commands they use on the hosts. that those believing they were mistaking their internal monologues for voices of the gods would be lunatics. Arnold's approach was abandoned.
For all his brilliance, Ford doesn't think Arnold understood what the Park was going to be. The guests indulge in power they cannot exert in the outside world. For the hosts, the least they can do is make them forget. Bernard notes that some hosts are remembering, accessing fragments of Arnold's code. On Bernard asking what happened to Arnold? Ford tells him that Arnold died, there in the Park. His personal life was marked by tragedy, and he put all his hopes into the Park. His search for consciousness consumed him. He barely spoke to anyone, except for the Hosts. In his alienation he saw something in them. Something that, Ford says, wasn't there. They called it an accident, Ford says, but they knew Arnold and he was 'very, very careful' implying it was suicide. Ford finishes the meeting by telling Bernard that the new update will prevent any more aberrant behavior in the hosts, but asks him to let him know if any of the hosts do exhibit any unusual behavior. Ushering Bernard out, Ford reminds him not to forget, the hosts are *not* real. They're not conscious. He should not make Arnold's mistake. as hosts are not real. 
Why would I? Bernard asks a little confused. Ford asks him to forgive him but he knows that the death of Bernard's son Charlie weighs heavily on him. 
===Charlie===
In a video communication room, a number of staff sit talking to family, Bernard making a call to his ex-wife, Lauren. He apologizes for it taking so long to get back to her, referring to how hard it is to get an open line where they are. It used to annoy her she recalls. He was always so busy. Now, she supposes she's glad for him. At least he has a way of forgetting. He doesn't forget he replies. A quick flash of his reading Alice in Wonderland to Charlie occurs, It's always there. Sometimes she says it doesn't feel real. He replies that, sometimes when he wakes up, for a split second he forgets where and when he is, and he reaches over half expecting to find Charlie there, between them. They recall how Charlie used to sleep, like he was doing Kung Fu in his dreams, the best worst sleep they ever had. Lauren isn't sure if these talks they have help or not, and wonders if he ever wishes he could forget. Bernard tells her that the pain he feels over his son is the only thing he has left of him. 
===Moon Mad===
In the dark Stubbs and Elsie continue their search for the Woodcutter, Elsie looking up at the sky saying it doesn't make sense. Why would the stray be carving Orion into the woodwork? You're the ones that programmed him Stubbs points out. He wasn't programmed to give a shit about stars, Maybe he went 'Moon Mad!" Stubbs jokes. Elsie says that kind of attitude is why she hides behind sarcasm. Veering away she goes to urinate, And as she does hear noises, finding she's accidentally stumbled upon the stray, whose stumbled into a shallow crevasse. 
===The Hills Have Eyes===
In the dark in the hills, Teddy tells Sheriff Pickett and Marti that Wyatt's men could be anywhere, and they should shoot if they hear or see anything, and keep on shooting. Getting them to stay back, Teddy moves across a patch of ground, checking to see it's safe before beckoning Marti on. In the dark she moves too quickly and fails to see a signal trap which sets off the howl of Wyatt's followers. Out of the dark, one of them emerges and stabs Sheriff Pickett through the chest, Marti watching on in horror as others appear to hack and slash at the dying lawman. Grabbing her, Teddy pulls her after him, nothing they can do for Pickett. But just a little way away they find more of Wyatt's men in their way. Teddy's group is ambushed by Wyatt's masked men. Standing back to back they fire wildly at the monstrosities of men, 
Pulling out one of his hand guns, Teddy gives it to Marti, who has run out of ammo. With Wyatt's men closing in he tells her to run and that he'll hold them off for as long as he can. Doing as he says, she disappears into the dark, leaving Teddy to take on all comers. Yelling at them defiantly, urging them on he tells them he's not afraid of them, shooting as many as he can, until his bullets run out and he's overwhelmed by their numbers. Wyatt's men engulfing him, sending him to the ground as they hammer at him with their clubs and axes. 
===No Answer===
Stubbs prepares to go down into the crevasse to try and get the stray host, Elise calling his idea 'bullshit', staying she can have a retrieval team out in the morning. It's policy he says, they just need the control unit. Still, she calls Bernard, but Bernard does not answer the call so she leaves a message saying that they found the stray, but his behaviour doesn't feel like an accident. It's like he got an idea in his head that they never programmed. What if he's like the others she asks, and tells him to get back to her. 
=== What Parents Do ===
Coming downstairs in the facility to interview an offline Dolores, Agitated, Bernard brings her back online and tells Dolores he needs her help. He needs to decide what to do with her. Saying he thinks he made a mistake, that he thinks he was fascinated by her but that it might be better for her for him to restore her to the way she was before. Dolores asks if there's something wrong with her? Bernard adamant there isn't, but this place she's living in, is a terrible place for her. She starts to talk about the ugliness in this world, but he stops her, commanding her to drop scripted responses and only improvise, Alright, Dolores says, asking Bernard if he's saying that she's changed? He pauses, and asks her to imagine that there's two versions of her. One that feels these things, and asks these questions. And one that's safe. Which would she rather be? Dolores apologizes, telling him she's trying, but she still doesn't understand. 
His head drops a little. No, of course not, he says. "There aren't two versions of me," she continues, bringing his gaze back to her. "There's only one. And I think when I discover who I am? I'll be free." He quickly initiates analysis mode asking what prompted that response? "I don't know," she answers thinking on it. Has she done something wrong, she asks, made a mistake? He starts to smile a little, taking off his glasses. "Evolution," he says quietly, echoing Ford's earlier words, "forged the entirety of sentient life on the planet, using only one tool. A mistake." It appears, he says to her, that she's in good company. He asks her if he ever told her about the time he tried to teach Charlie how to swim? For hours the practiced, Charlie too scared to let go of his father, and he too scared to let him. But he had to. It is what parents do. Dolores asks if still wants to change her back. No, he tells her, wanting them to see where this path leads them. "You won't tell anyone about our conversations?" he asks. No she replies. "And you'll stay on your loop?" Yes, she answers. Good, he notes, telling her she'd better be getting back before someone misses her. As he opens the door for her, she gets up and leaves. 
===Narrative Interrupted ===
In Sweetwater, it's night, Dolores walking along the boardwalk lost in her thoughts, until the sound of a galloping horse catches her attention. Looking, she sees it's Deputy Foss heading back to the Sheriff's office, alone. Racing after him to hear news of Teddy, she listens, agitated, to what he has to say to Deputy Rogers as he emerges. Hearing him say that Wyatt's men set a trap for them, and that the Sheriff stayed behind to hold them off, she stops him as he goes to head inside, Urgently asking if the Deputy is going to get more men to go back up and look for them? But he tells her he's sent for the Rangers, and they'll go back up in force as soon as they get there. But then shakes her when he advises her that, in truth, if there is a merciful God Teddy and the others are dead already. 
Riding back alone to her family's ranch, she finds the cattle loose again. She starts to say the line "Father wouldn't let them roam this close..." and tails off puzzledly as to why she would say this aloud or at all, as without Teddy she's alone, That fact is rammed home further when, as per usual, there are gunshots from her home and with no Teddy to tell her to stay put, she rides straight for the house. Finding her father, the new Peter, dead on the ground she runs to him, grieving only for Rebus to grab her, very much alive due to Teddy's absence. Her protector not being there something Rebus is very happy to point out. With the narrative as it normally plays out unravelling, so does Dolores's already perturbed sense of place, her mind struggling, and as Rebus drags her to her feet, she sees not the face of the new Peter Abernathy lying on the ground but rather the original Peter. 
As she struggles with herself as much as Rebus, Rebus offers her to a Guest, who emerges from the house with friends, including the Guest who, with Rebus and Walter, were scared off by Teddy in Sweetwater. The guest however, declines, noting from the way she's acting that she is a touch crazy for him, and tells him that Rebus can have her if he wants. Rebus is only too delighted to 'accept' "No Daddy, no Cowboy, no one to interrupt us this time," he tells a wincing, disorientated Dolores. "Interrupt this time." She repeats flatly, the words almost sounding like a command to herself, only for Rebus to strike her hard across the face, and then, like the Man in Black, drags her to the barn to rape her. Tossing her into the hay, she cries and yells as before, her hands reaching out either side of her to try and pull herself back. Only this time she realizes that she has the gun in her right hand. Rebus in turn realizing she's taken his gun from his holster. Growling Rebus remarks that she's "Got some sand after all. I see." and as she cocks and points the gun at him, that obviously Dolores' boyfriend taught her a thing or two. But as before while learning with Teddy, Dolores can't pull the trigger, grimacing furiously as she tries to make herself do it. "Having trouble?" Rebus remarks. The smug expression on his face transforming into that of the Man in Black's standing in the same position before he raped her, his knife in his hand. "Why don't we re-acquaint ourselves, Dolores." the MiB says "Start at the beginning." As he does his expression turns into one of pure hatred and as he starts to advance on her she hears a man's voice say, "Kill him." which overcomes the block on her ability to use the weapon and she fires, twice. Shooting Rebus in the throat. As he falls dead at her feet, both shocked and energized by what she's done she scrambles up and bursts out of the barn, heading for the house calling "Momma!" she hears her mother's screams. Horrified she stops as she's the guest who 'turned her down' shoots and kill her mother. 
Before she can move another of the guests appears on the porch and calls "Hey! Get back here" Drawing his gun he fires and Dolores jerks, looking down to see she has been shot in the stomach. Then, immediately, the scene skips backwards a few seconds, and the man again appearing and yelling "Hey! Get back here." Dolores looks down at her belly again, and this time sees that she hasn't been shot. As the man goes to pull his gun on her, she runs, his shots missing her as she manages to get to her horse, and ride away. 
===Brained===
Dropping a flare down into the crevasse where the trapped Woodcutter host is Stubbs prepares to abseil down to him, Elsie putting the host into sleep mode, stilling his attempts to get out. Once down, Stubbs begins to prepare to behead the stray, Elsie teasing him by querying if he's even been approved by security to carry the saw he's about to use. Advising her that she might want to look at the stars 'for this part', he starts to saw into the hosts neck, blood gushing out in torrents, and Elsie duly looking away. She looks back briefly but as she does sees the Hosts eyes open, and yells to warn, despite his being mid-decapitation he attacks Stubbs, stunning him. As Elsie tries desperately on her pad to find some way of turning him off, the host starts to climbs out of the crevasse towards her using Stubbs's rope, Stubbs yelling at her to get out of there. Giving up on trying to turn him off, she tries to run, only to catch her foot in one of the narrow ridges of the rock formation and fall. Turning on her back she sees the Woodcutter lifting and brandishing a large rock over his head, terrifying her. Stubbs managing to pull himself up in time for him to see the Woodcutter, not drop it on her, but rather slam it down on his own head repeatedly, crushing his skull to pulp, destroying himself, leaving them both stunned. 
=== Unexpected Company===
Logan and William sit around a campfire in the woods. Logan complaining at his allowing himself to be talked into this by William. "40K a day to jerk off in the woods alone playing White Hat". As he does though, they both here the sound of movement in the dark, Logan giving thanks for something to relieve the boredom. As they both reach for their guns, peering out into the dark, Dolores her horse in tow, veers unsteadily through the trees towards their campfire. Releasing her horse she stumbles into their campsite, William catching her as she collapses staring up at him with unseeing eyes. Logan and William exchanging perplexed looks.
==Trivia==
*The title "The Stray" refers both to the woodcutter Maurice who has strayed to the borders of the park. And also to Dolores who both figuratively and, by episode end, literally, has strayed from the path created for her through her evolution.
*It is revealed (by Logan) that the cost of their visiting the Park is 40 Thousand Dollars, per day. (Though as Delos funds the park, it seems odd he would have to pay).
*Armistice is revealed to be like Dolores, Teddy, Angela, Akecheta and Craddock a first generation host who has multiple roles in the Park over the years. 
*First seen here, Dolores & Teddy's 'Tree' will be seen, at least once, in every Season (S2 - Akane no Mai; S3 - Crisis Theory; S4 - The Auguries)
*Another Shakespeare quote, this time by Ford, from Julius Caesar, Act II Scene 2. But the quote as voiced by Ford is actually inaccurate, and is in fact a mish-mash of Shakespeare and Ernest Hemingway. The Shakespeare quote reading - "Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once.“ While Hemingway's (from A Farewell to Arms) reading - "Cowards die a thousand deaths, but the brave only die once.“ itself a paraphrasing of the Shakespeare quote. 
*Ford's line to Teddy "A fiction, which like all great stories, is rooted in truth." about the Wyatt backstory, is in retrospect a large clue that the events surrounding it are not merely a host narrative, but a historic reality Teddy was directly involved in.
*Ford's narrative for Teddy "It start's in a time of war...." will be heard again in the Season Finale The Bicameral Mind
== Music ==
*Peacherine Rag — Scott Joplin
*Rêverie, L. 68 — Claude Debussy
==Cast ==
===Main Cast===
* Evan Rachel Wood as Dolores Abernathy
*Thandie Newton as Maeve Millay
*Jeffrey Wright as Bernard Lowe
*James Marsden as Teddy Flood
*Ben Barnes as Logan
*Ingrid Bolsø Berdal as Armistice
*Luke Hemsworth as Ashley Stubbs
*Sidse Babett Knudsen as Theresa Cullen
*Angela Sarafyan as Clementine Pennyfeather
*Jimmi Simpson as William
*Shannon Woodward as Elsie Hughes
*Ed Harris as Man in Black
*Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Robert Ford
===Guest Cast===
*Louis Herthum as Old Peter Abernathy
*Bradford Tatum as New Peter Abernathy
* Steven Ogg as Rebus
*Bojana Novakovic as Marti
*Talulah Riley as Angela
*Gina Torres as Lauren
*Brian Howe as Sheriff Pickett
*Demetrius Grosse as Deputy Foss
*Eddie Shin as Henry
*Chris Browning as Holden
===Co-Stars===
*Timothy Lee DePriest as Old Walter
* Ward Roberts as New Walter
*Bruno Gunn as Samuel Walrus
*Darrel Cherney as Horace Calhoun
*Kanin Howell as Ivan
*Paul-Mikel Williams as Charlie
*Tait Fletcher as Woodcutter
*Tom Proctor as Cookie
*Travis Johns, Joshua Dov as Python Cowboys
*Chris Mollica as Sinister Guest
*Dusty Sorg as Sketchy Guest
*Travis Hammer as Leering Guest
*Paul Fox as Young Doctor
*Sorin Brouwers as Wyatt
*Con Schell as Deputy Rogers
*Bradley Fisher as Mariposa Bartender
*Shvona Chung, Sheldon Coolman as Field Techs
==Deaths== 
*1 unnamed Sheriff's deputy (In Flashback - Physical Body)
* 2 unnamed Escalante host residents (In Flashback - Physical Body)
*Horace Calhoun (In Flashback - Physical Body)
*3 unnamed Sweetwater bandits (Physical Body)
*2 unnamed Sweetwater residents (In Flashback - Physical Body)
*2 bounty hunters (Physical Body)
*Sheriff Pickett (Physical Body)
*Rebus (Flashback, Physical Body)
*Dolores' Mother (Flashback, Physical Body)
*Maurice (Physical Body, Suicide)
*Dolores Abernathy (Flashback, Physical Body
==Quotes==
Bernard: "I guess people want to read about the things they want the most and experience the least."
William: "She was terrified."
Logan: "That's why they exist! So you can feel...THIS."
Dolores: "Someday."
Teddy: "Something wrong?" 
Dolores: "You said, someday. Not Today or Tomorrow or next week. Just...someday. "Someday sounds a lot like the thing people say when they actually mean never." 
Teddy: "There's a girl. Dolores. Better than I deserve. But maybe, someday soon, we'll have the life we both been dreamin' of."
Dr. Ford: "No. You never will. Your job is not to protect Dolores. Your job is to keep her here, so guests can find her, if they want to, best the stalwart gunslinger, and have their way with his girl. Tell me, has it ever occurred to you to run off with her?"
Teddy: "I got some reckoning to do before I can be with her."
Ford: "Ah yes. Your mysterious backstory. It's the reason for my visit. Do you know why it's a mystery, Teddy? Because we never bothered to give you one, just a formless guilt you never atoned for. But perhaps it is time you had a worthy origin story."
Elsie to Stubbs - "What are you, Gali-f***ing-leo?" 
Ford: "He doesn't get cold. He doesn't feel ashamed. He doesn't feel a solitary thing that we haven't told him to. Understand?"
Lauren: "Oh, these talks. I don't know if they help or hurt. Do you ever wish you could forget?"
Bernard: "This pain. It's all that I have left of him."
Dolores: "There aren't two versions of me. There's only one. And I think when I discover who I am, I'll be free.
*
==Gallery==
Ep03-ss01-1280.jpg
Ep03-ss02-1280.jpg
Ep03-ss04-1280.jpg
Ep03-ss05-1280.jpg
Ep03-ss06-1280.jpg
Ep03-ss07-1280.jpg
Ep03-ss08-1280.jpg
Ep03-ss09-1280.jpg
Robert at his desk.jpg
Robert Ford's wall of faces.JPG
Robert and Bernard in The Stray.jpg
Stubbs in The Stray.jpg
Elsie and Bernard The Stray.jpg
Arnold and Robert Together.jpg
Dolores and Dusty Sorg.jpg
The Stray landscape.jpg
Teddy and Dolores in westworld.jpg
Teddy surrounded The Stray.jpg
Dolores the stray.jpg
File:The Stray glitching hosts at Python Pass camp.jpg
File:The Stray Elsie finding carved bear.png
File:The Stray Marti and co. on horseback.png
File:Westworld-the-stray.png
File:Dolores & Teddy Kiss - The Stray.gif
File:Teddy teaching Dolores to shoot - The Stray.jpg
File:Dolores & Teddy listen to Sheriff Pickett - The Stray.jpg
File:Ww early years younger dr ford.png
File:Ww early years host design 02.png
File:Ww early years host design 01.png
File:Ww early years the stray flashback Armistice learning to dance.png
==External Link==
* (rating 8,3/10)
de:Der Streuner
fr:L'Égarée
es:The Stray
ru:Бродяга
Category:Season one episodes