WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Season 3, Episode 3 of Westworld, "The Absence of Field," which aired Sunday on HBO.
As Westworld ventured outside of the park at the beginning of its third season, audiences were introduced to Caleb Nichols. Unlike the hosts or rich visitors of the park, Caleb is presented as an everyman, blue collar worker and military veteran desperately seeking to improve his life. Stuck in his role as a construction worker, Caleb is forced to take up small crimes on the RICO app to pay for his mother's hospital bills. Completing another one of these small-time jobs, the premiere ended with Caleb stumbling across an injured Dolores, who collapsed in his arms.
After a brief detour in last week's episode, the most recent episode picks up with Caleb rushing to save Dolores' life. Unfortunately, this act of compassion has consequences, as he soon finds himself the latest target on his RICO app. Dolores soon returns the favor and saves Caleb, taking him on an overview of his life. From the diner where his mother abandoned him to the spot where he will take his life in 10-12 years, Dolores provides Caleb with the map of his entire life, courtesy of Rehoboam. However, this raises a question: Can Dolores actually save Caleb from himself?
To understand Caleb's current predicament with Dolores, it is important to turn to another figure from Dolores' past: William/The Man in Black. Just like with Caleb, who seeks to escape from the restraints of the machine that dictates the world of the future, William sought to escape from a similar machine. This machine was located within the Forge, which catalogued the actions and traits of every guest. As William put it, he wanted to know, "That no system can tell me who I am."
Both Caleb and William, when presented with technology's appraisals, are set on proving it wrong. For William, he believed destroying the Forge would allow him to move beyond the system's categorization of himself as irredeemable. Caleb finds his hope for escape in the revolution Dolores promises him. By fighting to destroy the machine dictating everyone's life, he can change his fate. These two men are trapped in the same manner as Dolores used to be within the park.
Comparing the journeys of Caleb and William, the show has connected these two individuals from their very first real encounter with Dolores. Although he met her at her designated spot in Sweetwater, William's first real moment with Dolores was when she came across his campsite and collapsed into his arms. For Caleb, he also found Dolores stumbling under a pass and, coming up to her, she fell into his arms. Just as with William, this symbolism implies Caleb's journey will be dictated by his relationship to Dolores.
Outside of this notion of escape, both William and Caleb have repeatedly talked about finding something real in this era of artificiality. This episode highlights the significance of that with Nathan Hale's desire to see a real elephant and his infatuation with the stranger's dog. On his initial trip to Westworld, William came from the world of business where he pretended he belonged. In the park, he believed his love for Dolores was real, which empowered him as the hero of his own narrative.
This desire for something real has already motivated Caleb to action. As hinted in his conversation with the A.I equivalent of Francis, his dead war buddy, Caleb worked with Francis on some mission that promised to free him from society's control. Unlike William, who only found this desire in Dolores, Caleb was already preoccupied with society's influence over him. In meeting Dolores, he finally has the power to do something about it.
Venturing into the park and following Dolores, it's made clear the Man in Black's worst tendencies were always within William. As Logan puts it, "this place showed you who you really are." As William came to discover, the park allowed him to contact his true self. The version of him that had been lurking underneath the shell of William was able to come out as a result of his initial connection to Dolores.
If Dolores is to save Caleb from his ultimate fate, they must discover why he commits suicide. If Caleb's suicide comes from society having written him off, he'd be in a similar role to Dolores. Before escaping, Dolores was defined in her cycle of abuse. This had nothing to do with Dolores, but with the role the operators had given to her. Yet, as Caleb is a human, (as far as viewers know), his path to escape is a much more complicated one.
During Dolores' visit to the Forge at the end of the last season, she was presented with the failings of human nature. Looking at the books that revealed every aspect of their character, she witnessed the difficulty, to near impossibility, for humans to change their behavior and code through James Delos. If change is truly possible for Caleb, it will be a path that will force him to break the internal "code" that leads him to his death. Yet, as Dolores made clear to William, she is "not a key." In this new world, Caleb will have to find himself to overcome the role assigned to him and reach true consciousness.
On the other hand, this end might just be integral to Caleb's nature. His time with Dolores may only reveal to Caleb his deepest self. Should that deepest self be destined for the fate laid out to him, Caleb will have only two options before him. He can accept his predetermined course, as Maeve accepted her programmed motherhood. Or, he can become his own form of the Man in Black that, in his fight to escape the writing of his book, only destroys himself in the process.