西部世界第二季来了
HBO的科幻神剧《西部世界》不仅仅以其对「真实性」的哲学思考闻名，还有错综复杂的人物关系，一点点的背景揭露就能给观众带来新的观看视角，看《西部世界》就有一种在一层一层剥洋葱的感觉。
That’s why for the show’s second season, I’ll be diving into one particular spoilery revelation from each episode to figure out what it means, how we got here, and where things might go in the episodes to come. Some weeks, it might be a huge plot twist; other weeks, it might be something subtle. Either way, we’re going to spoil the hell out of it. Welcome to the Westworld Spoilers Club.
因此，在第二季，我将对每一集抽丝剥茧，分析这集到底是什么意思，以及事情的前因后果。有时候会有巨大的反转，有时候只有细微的伏笔。无论怎样，我们将把这部剧翻个底朝天，欢迎光临《西部世界》俱乐部。
At the end of Westworld’s first season, the show upended what audiences thought they knew, spinning things off in unexpected new directions. In the season 1 finale, Dolores launched a host uprising, Dr. Robert Ford and the members of the Delos board were slaughtered, and Maeve was upgraded, improved, and headed back into the park to find her daughter. The scope of the series also began to expand with the tease of something audiences would later discover was Shogun World. Where things could go from there was anyone’s guess.
在第一季的结尾，这部剧直接颠覆了观众的想法，将剧情引到了一个新方向。在第一季最后一集，Dolores发动了一场host的起义，Robert Ford博士及Delos董事会的成员都被杀害，而Maeve则被强化并回到了基地寻找女儿。另外部分镜头似乎透露还有一个《 幕府世界( Shogun World)》，所有观众都这么猜。
The season 2 premiere, “Journey Into Night,” picks things up almost immediately thereafter. (Technically, it picks up immediately thereafter, and also two weeks later, and then some 30-plus years beforehand. The creators still love their multiple timelines, after all.) But the episode is a breathtakingly efficient exercise in setting up the various characters and arcs that will no doubt make up the bulk of the second season. Maeve enlists the help of Delos story architect Lee Sizemore and bad-boy host Hector in her quest to find her daughter. Dolores goes on a systematic killing spree as part of her larger plan to take Westworld back then conquer the outside world as well. Bernard pings between multiple timeliness, dealing with his potentially fatal injuries in the aftermath of the host uprising, and then, two weeks later, trying to remember what caused the mass execution of dozens of hosts.
第二季第一集，「Journey Into Night」讲的都第一季结尾随后发生的事情。(严格意义上讲，有的是随后发生的，有的是两周后发生的，有的是三十年前发生的，毕竟我们的导演喜欢多线叙事。)但是这一集非常有效率的向我们展开了多个人物的视角，Maeve 得到了故事设计师 Lee Sizemore 的帮助，坏小子Hector 也应她的帮助去找女儿，Dolores 继续系统性的大屠杀作为她夺回西部世界并进一步征服外部世界的计划。Bernard 在多个时间线跳转，一边在逃亡，另一边两周后的他在努力回忆到底发生了什么事。
The Man in Black, however, is at the center of a brand-new riddle: “What is The Door?” That question isn’t just an echo of the debut season’s focus on “the maze.” It also serves as the first big reveal of the show’s new season — and, like most great Westworld mysteries, that reveal leads to more questions than answers.
黑衣人则处于谜语「门是什么?」的中心。这个问题不仅仅是第一季「迷宫」的回应。也作为第二季第一个揭露的问题——作为这部剧老传统，一个秘密揭晓答案了，就会有更多的问题冒出来。
THE BIG REVEAL?
这集揭露了什么?
About two-thirds of the way through “Journey Into Night,” the Man in Black is making his way across the post-massacre landscape when he meets “Young Ford,” a host that Dr. Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins) created to represent his childhood self. But Young Ford doesn’t seem to just be a docile, clueless host anymore. He seems to know things about the Man in Black. He calls him by his proper name, William, and references the older man’s hunt for the center of the maze throughout the first season. Young Ford suggests that a new round has started and that the Man in Black has to find something called The Door. “Congratulations, William,” Young Ford says. “This game is meant for you.”
在「Journey Into Night」中，黑衣人大屠杀后四处晃荡，途中遇到了小Ford，他是Dr. Robert Ford制造的机器人，代表童年的自己。小Ford看起来不像一个打酱油的角色，他似乎知道很多黑衣人的秘密。他直呼黑衣人齐名，William，也提到了黑衣人第一季苦苦追寻的迷宫(maze)。小Ford说游戏的新回合开始了，黑衣人要去找的东西是门(The Door)「恭喜你，William」，小Ford说，「游戏是专门为你设计的。」
Dolores may have killed Dr. Ford at the end of season 1, but that doesn’t mean he’s gone forever. The scene makes it very clear that some version of him still exists in the park, in the guise of Young Ford. Actor Oliver Bell plays the child host, but as he talks, his voice frequently glitches out with what sounds like Hopkins’ voice layered underneath it. Of course, the revelation that Dr. Ford still has clues to share doesn’t stop the Man in Black from shooting the child host in the face.
Dolores 在第一季结尾杀了Ford博士，但这并不意味着他就一去不复返了。这一幕充分说明他依旧以某种形式存在着。演员Oliver Bell扮演小Ford，但如他所言，他的声音像出故障一样混杂着Hopkins(老Ford的扮演者)的声音。当然，即便Dr. Ford还有信息没有透露，也不能阻止黑衣人开枪射他一脸。
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
这集啥意思呢?
It’s early in the season, but the revelation that there is at least one Fordbot alive and well — the Man in Black even calls him “Robert” before gunning him down — opens up a number of possibilities. One potential explanation is that Ford set up this new game for the Man in Black before dying and programmed this host to dole out the information to him whenever they happened to cross paths. But that’s not really how the show presents it. If Young Ford were simply doling out information as part of a new narrative (and the host uprising does seem to be part of Ford’s final tale, “Journey Into Night”), it would follow that he’d speak in his own voice, just like every other host has been doing.
本季才刚刚开始，但我们已经知道，至少有一个Ford机器人活着——黑衣人管他叫Robert——这开启了很多种可能性。一个可能的解释是Ford死前为黑衣人设计了一个游戏，并设置了一个机器人向他透露讯息。如果小Ford仅仅只有一个通知的作用，那么他完全可以用自己的声音说，就像之前的那些机器人那样。
But the voice glitching implies something different is happening. It gives the sense that the Young Ford host has been “taken over” by its creator in some way. But exactly how is up in the air, and that will likely be the most important question to answer moving forward on this particular storyline. Is the voice glitching just a bit of inconsistent, stylistic narrative flair? Did Ford program some of himself into the child host for posterity? Or did he somehow leave his own consciousness in the computer systems of Delos, Inc., turning him into a literal deus ex machina?
但是声音的变化说明事情发生了变化。这个场景说明小Ford机器人被本尊「取代了」。这将是这条故事线最重要的问题。声音的变化仅仅是一种无聊的设定吗?还是说Ford将自己的人格写入了小Ford将其作为自己的后代?还是说他把自己的意识留存在了Delos的电脑里，使他成为了某种意义上的机械降神(deus ex machina)?
Another explanation could be that Ford himself is actually still alive. Viewers have speculated that Ford wasn’t killed in the first season’s finale — that what died was a host replicant — but that doesn’t seem to thematically fit with the show’s idea that Dolores’ decision to strike back against her creators was key to her achieving sentience. And just to make it abundantly clear, Bernard and the Delos security team discover Ford’s body in the season 2 premiere. They find his face riddled with maggots. Given what else the episode reveals about the anatomy of hosts’ heads, the discovery leaves little room for doubt: the real Dr. Ford is dead.
另一个解释是Ford实际上没有死。观众们揣测Ford在第一季的结尾没有死——死的是个机器人替身——但这似乎不太符合剧情安排，因为Dolores杀人才说明获得了自由意志。为了让这一点更明显，Bernard和Delos的安全团队在第二季第一集找到了Ford的尸体，而他的脸书堆满蛆虫。鉴于我们已经见过host的脑袋构造，所以留给观众的想象空间已经不大了：真正的Ford已经死了。
CHANGING THE GAME
变局
But what impact does Ford’s death have on the story? In the first season, the Man in Black was peerless in the park, as a majority shareholder in Delos, Inc., and a 30-year veteran of the park’s adventures. Ford, however, was the one person who seemed to be able to push back. He knew what the Man in Black was capable of, and he was aware of the power he wielded, but he also knew what made him tick, deftly deflecting his inquiries about the maze when they chatted over whiskey back in the first season.
Ford的死对剧情有什么影响呢?黑衣人作为Delos的大股东以及一名有30年经验的老玩家，他在公园里可以为所欲为。Ford似乎是唯一可以制衡他的人。他了解黑衣人也了解自己，他知道如何引导黑衣人，第一季中在，两人就着威士忌聊天的时候他巧妙的让黑衣人去调查迷宫。
Their strange relationship, and the idea that Ford left behind a new game to challenge William, appears to be at the core of what The Door is. But the vague language Young Ford uses — “The game begins where you end, and it ends where you began” — gives the impression that there’s more than trickery or gamesmanship in play. Audiences already learned last season that a young William visited the park, fell in love with Dolores, and became his darkest, worst self as a result of the revelations that followed. In a way, Westworld itself ruined William and sent him down the path to become the Man in Black. With The Door, the ghost of Ford appears to be saying that the key to victory isn’t to go even deeper down the rabbit hole in pursuit of more violent delights; it’s to get out, much as the hosts themselves are trying to do.
两人不寻常的关系使得Ford为黑衣人设计的新游戏成为第二季的核心。但是小Ford含糊其辞的说「游戏在结束的地方开始，在开始的地方结束」让人感觉这个游戏靠技巧和手段是赢不了的。观众已经知道，年轻时的William来过公园，爱上了Dolores，并因此黑化。可以说，是西部世界毁了William并把他送上了成为黑衣人的道路。在「门」中，Ford的幽灵似乎在说，取胜的关键不是追求更多残暴的欢愉。而是出来，这也是host们努力在做的事情。
Whether that’s a one-off, posthumous challenge or something greater and more all-encompassing will no doubt be explored in the episodes ahead. But given that show creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy have unofficially titled this season “The Door,” it would certainly seem that the revelation about the game — and Ford’s continued presence — is just the beginning
不管这是一个一次性的，遗作性质的挑战，抑或是一个更伟大的东西，这一集无疑围绕着诸多疑团。不过鉴于该剧主创 Jonathan Nolan 和Lisa Joy 为第二季取了一个非官方的名字「门」，看起来肯定会有更多关于游戏的秘密被揭露——Ford的出现只是一个开始。
