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Westworld’s latest Easter egg is a nod to a certain killer robot

Westworld’s latest Easter egg is a nod to a certain killer robot

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Bot out of hell

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HBO

The sixth episode of Westworld was a throwback to pulpy network dramas. Abandoning the philosophical debates and chronological confusion that have leadened recent episodes, the hour of television focused on its characters.

Ford has a family! Maeve has a mind of her own! The story director guy has a large bladder! How fitting the episode begin with a wink to the more straightforward and melodramatic film that inspired the series.

The Easter egg is hidden in plain sight. After Bernard learns of unmonitored hosts in the park, he travels to the mysterious lower levels of the facility to collect information.

Behind him lurks the outline of a cowboy.

His flashlight briefly illuminates a Yul Brynner doppelgänger.

In the 1973 Westworld film, Brynner played the role of the Gunslinger. Designed to instigate and lose daily duels in the Westworld park, the Gunslinger eventually goes rogue, and hunt the guests at the center of the film’s story. The Easter egg may foreshadow things to come, as a number of the television show’s bots have become increasingly self-aware and dangerous.

Did you spot any other Easter eggs in this week’s episode? Be sure to share them in the comments.