Westworld: 7 Important Things to Remember Before Season 2

It's been more than a hot minute since we last visited the debauched guests and android hosts of Westworld, but with the HBO drama returning on Sunday, we're brushing up on everything that went down before Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) offed Ford (Anthony Hopkins) in front of a bunch of terrified humans in the Season 1 finale. And do you know what we found? There's a ton of important stuff fans probably forgot happened before the revolution began. Here's what you need to remember as the show gets ready to kick things off for Season 2.

1. Ford's plan was confusing, but we know some things

Ford was a weird dude. With his partner Arnold (Jeffrey Wright, who also plays the Arnold robot do-over Bernard), they helped push artificial intelligence to God-like levels, but they ended up disagreeing on whether or not their creations were conscious. Arnold believed they could become conscious -- hence all his chats with Dolores -- while Ford said they would never be. Eventually, after Arnold's death, Ford realized he was wrong and began constructing a plan to set the hosts free or at least give them the opportunity to determine their own fate instead of being controlled by humans. Well, probably. We still don't really know, and I'm not sure anyone knows what Ford's plan was exactly. But we think Ford set about freeing the hosts, as he began to believe they truly were conscious and possibly the next step in evolution.

2. Maeve exercised free will, wants her daughter

While Dolores got most of the attention about becoming a woke robot, Maeve (Thandie Newton) had her own -- and more nuanced and relatable -- awakening as she made a break for it. But remember, the idea in her head to try and leave the park wasn't actually her own idea as she (and we) thought it was! That was part of Ford's code, probably to incite even more chaos as he freed his bots. Her actual awakening came when she decided to turn around and stay in the park to search for the daughter she had in a past role. In Season 2, expect her to continue to look for her daughter by any means necessary.

3. Elsie was kidnapped and never seen again

The odds that anyone actually forgot Elsie (Shannon Woodward) was attacked in the middle of the season are probably pretty slim, but we have a feeling this will be important in Season 2, so we just felt like we needed to point it out again.

4. The Man in Black got shot, and he liked it

During the Season 1 finale's deadly gala, the rich folks in attendance were running around like scared little babies as the hosts rose up and started shooting everybody. Well, everyone but one person: The Man in Black (Ed Harris). After taking a bullet to the arm, he actually smiled. Why? Because he's a lunatic, for one, but really, we're assuming he was happy because he was bored with the "game" of Westworld because there were no consequences. Now that there's danger, the Man in Black is no longer in God Mode and he's now totally into it. The idea that the robots can now kill guests is frightening to most, but for the MIB, it's just upping the difficulty level of this MMO.

5. There are other parks!

Obviously you didn't forget this. We're just really excited about the idea of going to new places. One ticket to Shogun World, please!

6. Stubbs went missing, too

Ashley Stubbs, head of security and forgotten Hemsworth (he's Luke!), was last seen being snatched up by Ghost Nation, the mysterious warrior-like Native American tribe. Where is he now? We don't know!

7. Charlotte tried to steal some IP in Peter Abernathy

Charlotte's allegiance is to Delos' board of directors not the scientists achieving greatness, and as word came down that Ford may be going a little wacko, she was sent in to make sure all the hard work and technology didn't go to waste. Late in the season, we saw how that plan was to be enacted: she uploaded 35 years of tech into the host Peter Abernathy (Dolores' first father in the series and played by low-key acting MVP Louis Herthum), had Lee give him enough personality to pass as a human, and sent Peter off on a train out of Westworld to who knows where. The idea was that Peter would be a failsafe in case things went wrong in Westworld, and the valuable technology would not be lost. Well, things went wrong. So now he's more valuable than ever. We do not know if Peter ever made it to his destination.

Westworld returns for Season 2 Sunday, April 22 at 9/8c on HBO.