Unlike fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, regular television audiences aren't used to always sticking around through the end of the credits, so in case you missed it — yes, the Westworld Season 1 finale had an after-credits scene. Although the episode proper ended with Dolores shooting into the crowd at the Delos board gala while Ford's robot army approached from afar, the second ending took us behind the scenes of the park once more to examine the aftermath of Maeve's escape. Although we assumed that both Hector and Armistice had been killed during the rebellion, it turned out, that assumption was incorrect on at least one count.
The scene picked up right where things had left off with Armistice after the warrior woman's arm had gotten stuck in the door while fending off the invading army of QA agents. Although Hector had told his partner in crime to "die well," Armistice didn't seem quite to ready to take her fate lying down. While continuing to pick off soldiers one by one, she also took a knife to her own arm in an effort to free herself. It's a good thing that Maeve turned down her accomplices' pain sensitivity, since Armistice had to go full-127 Hours to extricate herself from her trap.
With nothing but a surprisingly graphic stump remaining of her right arm, she turned to find another panicked soldier barring her path. But Armistice just grinned and presumably continued her path of slaughter. The scene didn't catch back up with Hector — who was last seen holding the soldiers off so Maeve could escape. Although we assumed the handsome outlaw went down with guns blazing, with the revelation that Armistice survived her own sticky situation, it's entirely possible that Hector isn't quite as dead as we thought, either.
Of course, the obvious payoff of this extra scene is the pleasant surprise that a well-liked if under-utilized supporting character that we thought was dead has been revealed to be alive. But on a deeper level, the finale's coda also teases at ongoing turmoil behind the scenes of the park when the show returns for Season 2. Although everything upstairs seems to be going exactly according to Dr. Ford's devious master plan — with his army of cold storage robot rejects massacring the unsuspecting Delos board members — there's no knowing what might happen underground. While Ford's revolution is controlled chaos, Maeve's is just chaos.
With the hint that Maeve's awakening was actually scripted by someone (whether Ford or another master manipulator entirely), it's unclear if Armistice's survival was also part of that mystery person's master plan… or if she's about to throw a major wrench in the works. We'll find out when Westworld returns for Season 2.
Image: John P. Johnson/HBO
