WARNING: "Episode 3 & 4 / Time Theory" spoilers below
TLDR = We are watching two time periods, but are tricked into thinking we are watching one with clever editing.
After watching episode 4, I was pretty sure the two time period thing just didn't work. Some friends came by last night, and they hadn't watched either episode 3 or 4, so I thought it was a good time to give episodes 3 and 4 a re-watch, this time with the aim of specifically examining the scenes that had seemed to debunk the time period theory.
There were two scene sequences in particular that seemed to blow the theory out of the water, clearly and obviously, the first time I watched:
Episode 3: The scene where Dolores returns home to her farm at night, alone, and runs into her usual story thread with the attack on her farmhouse, during which her parents are killed, followed by a scene in which Dolores wanders into William and Logan's camp and then collapses into William's arms. There is a weird glitch that occurs her where the scene plays out twice in succession with two different outcomes.
Episode 4: A series of scenes in sequence that show people in the map room stating a host has deviated pretty far outside her loop (clearly in the present), immediately followed by a scene with Dolores in the small Spanish village, during which she first talks to the little maze girl, after which she is harassed by a man. While getting harassed, William steps out of a building and intervenes, after which, he leaves with Dolores, Logan, et. al.
My biggest error was assuming that the awakening in Dolores that we are following has only happened once, and that it is happening exclusively in the present. I believe this is not the case at all, and that she has awakened dozens, or perhaps hundreds of times. Keep that in mind as we proceed along here.
The farm scene uses tricky editing to purposely cause confusion with the viewer. The apparent glitch in Dolores is actually cross-cutting between the two time periods. The version in which she gets shot is in the present, while the version in which she gets away and ends up in William's camp is in the past. The cross-cutting is purposefully switched back and forth to make it extremely confusing, but if we pay attention to the objects and events in the scenes, the evidence is clear in regards to the two time periods.
- In the version in the past, Dolores takes a gun from her would-be rapist, and shoots him in the throat. The gun is shiny and clean; she then buries the gun near her farm and runs off (we don't see this, but she digs the gun up in the present, at which point it is old and dirty), ending up at William's camp. She drops hints that she is in the middle of an awakening at the camp, but this is a past awakening.
- She sees different versions of her father during the attack, which seem like a glitch her her programming, but it is more cross-cutting.
- Walter is not present in the present attack (he was retired in a past episode), but is there in the past.
- First scene of episode 4 is the aftermath of the present day attack. Dolores has been repaired but not wiped. She is upset her parents have been killed. The only time she would be in the lab with memories of her parents being killed would be after getting repaired after that attack.
Episode 4 scene sequence - Lab, talk about host out of her loop, Spanish village etc.
This scene is brilliantly edited, and tricky as all get out. We are shown present day comments outside the park about Dolores being out of her loop, but when pushed for specific info as to whether or not she is with a host, the tech replies with "that is not clear." or "unsure" or something along those lines. Cut immediately to present-day Dolores in the village, where she starts talking to Maze Girl. Maze girl says "Don't you remember?" Dolores goes all glitchy again, but once again, this is time period cross-cutting. Suddenly we are in the past, Maze Girl disappears and is no longer in front of Dolores. Dolores is approached by a villainous host or guest, it is unclear which, but the confrontation is interrupted by William. This gives the impression that we are in the present with a glitchy Dolores, but this is two separate loop deviations/awakenings.
I believe Dolores has a regular narrative loop on script in the park, and a larger meta-loops, in which she keeps becoming self-aware. Then she gets "fixed" and starts the process all over again. I believe Bernard is trying to free her from the meta-loop.
TLDR = We are watching two time periods, but are tricked into thinking we are watching one with clever editing.
After watching episode 4, I was pretty sure the two time period thing just didn't work. Some friends came by last night, and they hadn't watched either episode 3 or 4, so I thought it was a good time to give episodes 3 and 4 a re-watch, this time with the aim of specifically examining the scenes that had seemed to debunk the time period theory.
There were two scene sequences in particular that seemed to blow the theory out of the water, clearly and obviously, the first time I watched:
Episode 3: The scene where Dolores returns home to her farm at night, alone, and runs into her usual story thread with the attack on her farmhouse, during which her parents are killed, followed by a scene in which Dolores wanders into William and Logan's camp and then collapses into William's arms. There is a weird glitch that occurs her where the scene plays out twice in succession with two different outcomes.
Episode 4: A series of scenes in sequence that show people in the map room stating a host has deviated pretty far outside her loop (clearly in the present), immediately followed by a scene with Dolores in the small Spanish village, during which she first talks to the little maze girl, after which she is harassed by a man. While getting harassed, William steps out of a building and intervenes, after which, he leaves with Dolores, Logan, et. al.
My biggest error was assuming that the awakening in Dolores that we are following has only happened once, and that it is happening exclusively in the present. I believe this is not the case at all, and that she has awakened dozens, or perhaps hundreds of times. Keep that in mind as we proceed along here.
The farm scene uses tricky editing to purposely cause confusion with the viewer. The apparent glitch in Dolores is actually cross-cutting between the two time periods. The version in which she gets shot is in the present, while the version in which she gets away and ends up in William's camp is in the past. The cross-cutting is purposefully switched back and forth to make it extremely confusing, but if we pay attention to the objects and events in the scenes, the evidence is clear in regards to the two time periods.
- In the version in the past, Dolores takes a gun from her would-be rapist, and shoots him in the throat. The gun is shiny and clean; she then buries the gun near her farm and runs off (we don't see this, but she digs the gun up in the present, at which point it is old and dirty), ending up at William's camp. She drops hints that she is in the middle of an awakening at the camp, but this is a past awakening.
- She sees different versions of her father during the attack, which seem like a glitch her her programming, but it is more cross-cutting.
- Walter is not present in the present attack (he was retired in a past episode), but is there in the past.
- First scene of episode 4 is the aftermath of the present day attack. Dolores has been repaired but not wiped. She is upset her parents have been killed. The only time she would be in the lab with memories of her parents being killed would be after getting repaired after that attack.
Episode 4 scene sequence - Lab, talk about host out of her loop, Spanish village etc.
This scene is brilliantly edited, and tricky as all get out. We are shown present day comments outside the park about Dolores being out of her loop, but when pushed for specific info as to whether or not she is with a host, the tech replies with "that is not clear." or "unsure" or something along those lines. Cut immediately to present-day Dolores in the village, where she starts talking to Maze Girl. Maze girl says "Don't you remember?" Dolores goes all glitchy again, but once again, this is time period cross-cutting. Suddenly we are in the past, Maze Girl disappears and is no longer in front of Dolores. Dolores is approached by a villainous host or guest, it is unclear which, but the confrontation is interrupted by William. This gives the impression that we are in the present with a glitchy Dolores, but this is two separate loop deviations/awakenings.
I believe Dolores has a regular narrative loop on script in the park, and a larger meta-loops, in which she keeps becoming self-aware. Then she gets "fixed" and starts the process all over again. I believe Bernard is trying to free her from the meta-loop.
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