Westworld premiered last night on HBO to just the sort of confusion and technological nefariousness weve come to expect. (At least things seem somewhat chronological at this point .. so far.) As for shifty Big Brother tech corporations, Delos seems to be the data collector of the past; in Delores crosshairs now is a company called "Incite," with a system titled Rehoboam.

Liam Dempsey, Jr. (the son of the companys founder and system creator, now dead) shows Delores Rehoboam, referring to it as the system throughout the episode.

Dempsey says that it took his father 15 years to build the system. The system itself looks as if Bjarke Ingles designed an apartment building to resemble a marble, or a robocop helmet: Its big and round and features circulating red lights. So basically a rotund Hal 9000.

Why is it called Rehoboam?

Like many features of the series (the valley beyond, the resurrections of the hosts, the hellish forge, etc) the system alludes to the Bible. Rehoboam was the first king of Judah and the son of Solomon, the archetypal wise king.

Rehoboams reign, however, was a bit less wise and godly. According to the book of Kings, Judah did what was evil in the sight of the Lord (1 Kings 14:22). Because: male prostitutes. Rehoboam also went to war with the Kingdom of Israel.

Rehoboam's significance in the context of Incite's system of Westworld is likely tied primarily to its being the successor (and apparent step down) from Solomon. The system in Westworld is also a successor to an earlier model. Dempsey mentions how Incite has "lost track" of how many "thoughts" the system now has. So if the biblical allusions persist, chances are Rehoboam wont be doing a whole lot of God-approved activities. Male prostitutes not yet confirmed.

What does Rehoboam do?

The systems basic function is assign order to the world by tracking and then planning paths for every individual. It essentially keep humans on their pre-designed loops. Westworld creators Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan wanted this season to foil Season 1 in that they wanted to show humans waking up, gong to work, playing out their own scripts the same way that the park hosts did in the first season. Rehoboam, then, is something of the Robert Ford of the real world. Dempsey explains: My dad thought the biggest problem in the world was unrealized potential. He thought that if you could chart a course for every single person, you could make the world a better place.

To this, Delores responds: A path for everyone. Or so was the premise of the Westworld park: to each his own loop.

It makes sense, then, that Delores would be very interested in Rehoboam. Whether thats to co-opt the system and control the human loops or to destroy it and set everyone free Khaleesi-stylethats yet to be determined.