‘Westworld’ Was Dropping Major Hints About That Dolores-Charlotte Twist All Season

“Doesn’t Look Like Anything To Leigh … And Bill” is HuffPost’s weekly recap in which we break down the craziest thing you might have missed on “Westworld.” This week: Season 2, Episode 10, “The Passenger.”

If you thought the “Westworld” finale didn’t make a ton of sense, don’t worry. You’re not alone. 

In Season 2, Episode 10, “The Passenger,” we learn that the second run of the series was meant to be confusing for viewers. (Because, of course.) Turns out Bernard (Jeffery Wright) was the mastermind behind all the chaos. He’d been intentionally skewing his memories so the Delos team wouldn’t catch on to his secret plan, which involved killing all the human profiles stored at the park, setting up his fellow hosts for a virtual paradise, and replacing Delos board honcho Charlotte Hale (Tessa Thompson) with a look-alike robot who was actually ― get this! ― Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) the whole time.

Yeah, ever since Bernard woke up on the beach, Charlotte’s droid doppelgänger has been walking around with Dolores in her brain, making her a hybrid character we’ll call Charlores.

Here’s how it happened: Bernard’s beach nap actually took place in the middle of this season’s story. Before that, Charlotte was Charlotte. Then, after Charlotte kills Elsie (Shannon Woodward) for fear the programmer won’t keep quiet about all the wacky shenanigans Delos has been up to, Bernard devises a plan to eliminate the bigwig and save the hosts. 

So, Bernard brings back Dolores’ consciousness (who, oh yeah, he previously killed), puts her in a Charlotte Hale body double, and she shows up in her birthday suit to shoot Hale in the face. Then, he plants himself on the beach with his deliberately screwed-up memories and waits for the Delos team.

Let’s just say, it all made for a very uneasy viewing experience.

In an effort to make sense of the Charlores reveal, the series’ indecipherable timeline and its general tomfoolery, we went back through the season to look for what we may have missed. And apparently, the show was hinting at that reveal the whole time. 

Here are all the times we should have known Charlotte wasn’t who she said she was (as well as the approximate timestamps for you to look them up):

In Episode 3, “Virtu e Fortuna,” Charlotte is still Charlotte, but something feels fishy nonetheless.

After Dolores’ massacre at the park in the Season 1 finale, Charlotte’s been on the run with Bernard in an attempt to capture Peter Abernathy (Louis Herthum) and deliver his much-sought brain ball to Delos ― something she ultimately fails to do.

“What the hell is happening?” asks a frustrated Charlotte.

She eventually makes her way to the safety of the Delos security teams, who are in the park and checking every person they encounter to confirm they’re truly human. But there’s a weird beat after they assess Charlotte’s humanity.

She’s confirmed “human,” yet the scene lingers on her character just a half-second too long with no dialogue. And you’re left wondering, “Wait, is she human?”

The scene occurs long before she’s replaced by Dolores, but it reeks of foreshadowing.

Let’s cut to the chase: In Episode 7, “Les Ecorches,” Charlotte is Charlores.

Early on in Episode 7, the Delos team discovers a roomful of Bernard copies, revealing to everyone at the company that he’s a robot. Charlores, of course, already knew this, since Dolores found out about Bernard’s identity back in Season 1. So, when she sees the copies and says something to the effect of, “I figured you’d have some skeletons in your closet, Bernard. I didn’t think they’d be … YOUR OWN! Mwahaha!” ― she’s faking it.

That line should’ve tipped us off, because every time Dolores talks, she aims for a dialogue mic drop.

The winks at the truth get even more intense when Charlores tortures Bernard for information.

“Your predicament is unique,” she says, “a host hiding among the humans.”

Due to what seems like a weird effect, it sounds as though both Charlotte and Dolores utter the word “unique” at the same time. Perhaps because the situation isn’t unique: Charlores is a host hiding among the humans, too.

[Editor’s note: We want to give credit to Charlores for always responding when someone calls the name “Hale.” It doesn’t seem like much, but we all use fake names at Starbucks all the time and immediately forget what we said.]

This is another audio clue.

Later in Episode 7, while Charlores is still interrogating Bernard, she tells him to “open your eyes.” Again, it sounds like Charlotte and Dolores are saying the line at the same time.

Charlores then says: “I know it’s confusing.”

Uh, yeah. It is confusing. Like we said, all of Season 2 is confusing, but we probably could’ve picked up on the Charlotte-Dolores switch at this point. 

There’s a moment in Episode 7 when Charlores whispers something in Bernard’s ear while Delos man Strand and his team are loitering offscreen.

It was so clear that something weird was going on that we noted it in our “Westworld” recap that week, asking, “Did anyone notice Charlotte Hale kind of had a weird moment when she whispered to Bernard before the rest of the Delos team came in?”

Well, turns out there was something going on.

We don’t know exactly what she said to Bernard, and it doesn’t matter. She could’ve said, “Do you know what the hell is going on with the show?” and it wouldn’t have made a difference. It’s just another clue that something screwy was afoot with Charlotte.

The Season 2 finale of “Westworld” continued to foreshadow the coming Charlores twist. After Bernard starts sorting through his memories, he recalls that Hale killed Elsie and mutters, “You killed her.” 

Charlores is all like, “Did I, Bernard?” (Did she, Bernard? DID SHE?!) 

Nah. That was old Charlotte. Charlores is innocent.

Later, Bernard remembers that Charlotte is actually Dolores, and actress Tessa Thompson breaks out her best Evan Rachel Wood impression when she confirms her identity by muttering “in the flesh.” Charlores then kills a bunch of Delos employees, allows the hosts to escape to the virtual paradise, and leaves the park.

She also kills Bernard, but rebuilds him after she’s escaped, because ― well, there’s really no explaining this show, is there?

With all that foreshadowing, one Redditor actually figured out the twist a couple weeks ago, claiming Charlotte would be a perfect vehicle for Dolores to get out of the park.

The reasoning makes sense. But we still have questions:

1) How did Bernard have time to do all of this? After seeing Charlotte kill Elsie, he had to design his whole plan, print a new Charlotte, upload Dolores into her, scramble his brain and wake up on the beach in time to meet the Delos team in what appears to be fairly shortly after.

At the very least, that guy is super-efficient.

2) The first time we see Charlores, which seems to be in Season 2, Episode 3, at about the 14:15 mark, she asks Bernard if he knows where “Peter Abernathy” might have gone.

Shouldn’t she have asked Bernard if he knew where “Peter Abernathy’s control unit” might have gone? After all, the real Charlotte would have known at this point that Dolores ripped the control unit out of her father’s head. 

If you have answers to those questions, feel free to let us know.

It’s all confusing, but if it wasn’t, this wouldn’t be “Westworld.”

Read all of our “Westworld” coverage here.