Our Latest Westworld Theory: No, Caleb Isn't A Host ... Yet

This story contains major spoilers for "Westworld" season 4.

We're almost at the halfway point of one of the internet's favorite mystery box shows, "Westworld." If the first episode of this season didn't convince everyone the show was back to basics, the second seemed to pull everyone back into the beautiful vibe of season 1. There's the potential for multiple timelines, hints of different realities, and all kinds of mysteries begging to be solved. A popular theory for this season involves season three newcomer, Caleb (Aaron Paul), and whether Caleb's body has been replaced by that of a host.

There's a lot of reasons to poke around wondering who is and isn't a host. The first season's biggest reveals were surprise twists about who was really a robot disguised as a human, and it flowed through the next two seasons mixing together reveals of hosts who have always been so, and humans who had been replaced by hosts. In fact, it was even already speculated whether Caleb was himself a host, since pieces of his backstory revealed he had been shot in the head and experimented on in the military. So it stands to reason that audiences would be picking apart hints and clues to see which character is next to be revealed as a pearl-run cyborg. But we just don't think it's Caleb.

The biggest piece of evidence that Caleb is no longer alive (in the human sense) comes from Maeve's (Thandie Newton) flashbacks. In one of her flashbacks (or that's what we assume they are, subject to some revelation that she is viewing Rehoboam's future simulations), Maeve is seen with Caleb during an explosion where he is injured. She's then shown carrying what appears to be a lifeless Caleb through a desert. This suggests, of course, that the human Caleb is dead and, therefore, he must have been resurrected as a host. While compelling, it would mean Maeve would have to be aware that Caleb had died and been replaced by a host, and we're just not convinced that's the case.

In the third episode, Maeve and Caleb return to a Delos park and break their way into the basement, assuming that's where the park is being controlled from. After realizing they're in the wrong place, Maeve notices that the basement is an extension of the park where Delos is allowing guests to relive the "Westworld Massacre," where Dolores/ Wyatt (Evan Rachel Wood) attacked and shot up that area of the building. As they dodge gunfire, Maeve notes that the guns aren't real and won't work on Caleb, because they, of course, don't work on humans. In the melee, Maeve is shot. For this interaction to make sense, Maeve would have to be unaware that Caleb had died and been replaced, but she seems very set that he's a human and invulnerable to the gunshots.

Next, there's Caleb's family. The Caleb of this season is seven years removed from the revolution with Maeve, and he has a partner and a seven-year-old daughter. Of course, this makes for a pretty tight timeline, but it seems only a human could father a child. It was initially possible that Caleb's family was his cornerstone (the false memories implanted in hosts to make them behave more human) when it seemed like they were interacting independently from others. However, since he hit the road with Maeve, Caleb's family has had independent scenes and interactions which wouldn't make much sense if they only existed in Caleb's mind. Later in the third episode, Caleb sees who he assumes to be his daughter, who turns out to be a host that launches Charlotte Hale's (Tessa Thompson), or, Haleoris, if you will, mind control flies at him. The assumption is she is a phony host who is just recognizable enough to trap Caleb, and not the real girl who we see fighting her potential captor in a flashback.

Replacing humans with host copies has thus far been impossible, as the hosts with ported memories have not been able to achieve fidelity. Seasons were spent on fidelity tests as Delos tried to achieve immortality through hosts and repeatedly failed. Sure, Hale has successfully been replacing humans with hosts, but the hosts are just convincing copies that are operating under her control, not humans who have had their consciousnesses successfully ported to an immortal frame.

So what does Charlotte want with Caleb? The answer to that question could support either side of the argument. Hale, thus far, seems to have treated Caleb as a human. Caleb was unable to hear the spooky (probably mind control) sound that Maeve could, and he seemed vulnerable to the flies which have been seen just to control human minds. If Hale wants Caleb, it's maybe because he is a successful human-to-host build with fidelity. But more likely, it's something to do with how Caleb was part of the Solomon reconditioning project and was successfully controlled by Rehoboam after being identified as an outlier.

Though the Caleb that's been bouncing around the season with Maeve doesn't appear to be a host, that doesn't mean we won't see a host Caleb this season. With the mysterious Christina and no clear timeline reveals just yet (and we know "Westworld" won't let us have a fourth season without a timeline twist, right?), we can only speculate. It's possible that Hale succeeded in her plans and has either infiltrated The Sublime to set up shop or to get the data needed to create a new world. If Christina is, in fact, a product of that success, she could be living in a real-world future controlled by Hale which would explain why she is so completely familiar and seems to be stuck in a loop reminiscent of both Westworld and Rehoboam's control. Maybe a host Caleb will arrive in the future which will address the questions raised about the character's possible death and prove the speculators right.

So if Caleb is still alive, what happened in "the lighthouse"? The simple answer is probably an intimate moment between our new favorite duo that changed their trajectory. Sure, there's a version of this story where Caleb is, in fact, a host and is some sort of next-generation version that achieves fidelity based on the Solomon experiments and whatever happened after the supposed fall of Rehoboam. But for now, let's conclude Caleb is just his same old likable human self and a stellar counterpart to Maeve, making them the most untouchable and loveable dynamic duo taking down big-bad-Hale.