Season 2 of Westworld is proving that Delos’ clients want more than just a fantasy world: they want to relive the worst of colonization. Is that the real purpose of the parks? And worse: is that what we, as an audience, want to see?

Spoilers for season 2 of Westworld

Episode 2×03 of Westworld gave us so much more than we were expecting — we had our suspicions about the other parks, but we didn’t expect to be introduced to them like this. The episode threw us straight into one of them: The Raj, an imitation of British-occupied India, complete with Bengal Tigers, big fancy hotels for white hosts, and an uncomfortably realistic sidelining of characters of color. Then, at the end of the show, our first glimpse at S-world: a Samurai charging towards Maeve and her companions in a snowy-looking place.

Related: ‘Westworld’ 2×03: The stakes of the war have officially been raised

While The Raj wasn’t really what we were theorizing about when talking about other parks, the concept itself isn’t really surprising if you think about it enough. Of course the guests would be fantasizing about India’s occupation, when its resources could be freely appropriated by the white and powerful, and the suffering of the locals could be conveniently forgotten. After all, isn’t that what Westworld is really about, too?

While the first thing we’re lead to feel about Westworld is the oppression of the hosts to benefit the guests, there’s a lot more going on under the surface. The concept of the Wild West is adored for its sense of wild freedom, the opportunities for adventure, the battles against Native Americans… oh, there it is: don’t the guests of Westworld want a taste of the early days of colonization, too?

This is all made very uncomfortable by the current state of affairs in the show itself, particularly as it relates to Native American hosts and their treatment. So far, we’ve only seen them as dangerous, brutal people, skinning people alive and killing children. In season 1, this was somewhat understandable: the narratives were created for the enjoyment of the guests, which wouldn’t want a humanized Native American tribe, just ‘savages’ that they could kill without remorse.

But in season 2, as we’re getting to see the humanity in the hosts, it would be nice to see a different side of the Native Americans… to understand their plight, and to be a part of their liberation. A liberation which is just as important as Dolores’, or Maeve’s.

While it hasn’t quite explicitly delved into how race affects everything, it’s undeniable that prejudices exist in Westworld, especially towards Mexicans and Native Americans. And yet, most times, those prejudices do turn out to be correct: inevitably, the Mexicans turn out to be crooks and the Native Americans vicious. Although the Confederados are clearly portrayed as unworthy of our empathy, their nasty racist convictions are never explicitly addressed… perhaps it’s deemed too uncomfortable of a topic. But why is that the case, in a show that already deals with issues of freedom and oppression?

More importantly: much like the guests of Delos’ parks, are we as an audience being coddled because we don’t like thinking about race?

It’s an uncomfortable question to ask ourselves as we begin to learn more about places like The Raj and the mentalities that made such a park possible. It’s also an uncomfortable question to ask ourselves as we sort of, maybe, find ourselves wishing there was such a place: a place where you could ride elephants without guilt, kill Bengal tigers without guilt, profit off someone else’s culture without guilt… or a place where you can have a fun adventure on settled land, built over the blood of Native Americans.

The concept of the parks is even darker than it was at a first glance, and if it still seems seductive, that’s because that’s exactly what it’s meant to do.

Westworld is poised to touch on some very deep themes with this season, with a cast of well fleshed-out characters and many parks ready to surprise us with new worlds. But most of all, it has the perfect chance to make us question, just as much as in season 1, if not even more so: Is it justifiable to engineer societies solely for our own satisfaction? What makes someone human?

Ultimately, Westworld will decide what kind of story it wants to tell us. But as an audience, we’re already learning a lot about the parks’ guests, and about ourselves.