SPOILER WARNING (just to be safe)
Everyone catch the season finale?
I'm just wondering if it would have been more interesting for Maeve to escape out into the world. Maybe they are saving that for season 3 or 4?
I thought Ford's ending was incredible.
For me, Maeve's last-minute retreat cemented a point that they've made many times: that we're all in "our own little loops" and even when we're aware of it, even when we have a chance to break it, we'll usually just pick the safe solution and return to the loop we know.
Another ETA: upon rewatch, I remembered that she was programmed to "ESCAPE," so NOT doing so may actually be an assertion of her free will over her previous programming.
As for Ford, what I liked was the number of times our perception of his motivations changed through the season. First, he's the loving "father figure," then he's the uncaring and money-motivated park-pusher, then he's the evil maniac with unknown goals, then finally back to being the protecting "father figure."
ETA: I just also want to note that the name of the actor playing Sylvester is Ptolemy Slocum. If that isn't one of the coolest names I've ever heard...
A THIRD ETA: if anyone really wants to sink their teeth into the tin-hat theories behind a series like this one, or GoT, or Mr. Robot, or a dozen others: check out the podcasts by Bald Move. It's a couple guys who basically make a living by watching the series and sorting through all the fan-driven speculation and discussion on sites like Reddit and their own forums, then present the info in a podcast that comes out a couple days after each episode airs. It's pretty good stuff.