HBO's "Westworld", starring Anthony Hopkins/produced by J.J. Abrams

I can't really say why it didn't occur to me without it having to be pointed out by the Hosts of a WestWorld podcast I've been listening to, but there's actually a really simple (and therefore most likely to be correct) explanation for El Lazo and Lawrence being the same person: being the "master" of Pariah/El Lazo is Lawrence's normal "loop".

 

So since MiB killed him and left him hanging, he simply got repaired, reset and put back into circulation at Pariah? Makes sense.

 

My "explanation" was even simpler. I noticed too but thought - well, "twins" = same model perhaps. If they want to fool the audience there are lot's of options.

 

So why are two versions of the park logo depicted?

 

Sure, if you want to be unreasonable about the time frame required to retrieve, repair, transport, clean, dress, and change his coding from retired desperado in a cheap house to swanky crime boss with a palace. Oh, and ignoring all the other evidence about the two timelines, too, which makes it even more ridiculously unlikely. (But you don't do that, my bad.)

 

Hommage to the old movie?

 

We don't know how long it actually takes to repair a "host", but I would expect, given what we've seen, that it could be done within a few hours.

 

Ahem. "...retrieve, repair, transport, clean, dress, and change his coding from retired desperado in a cheap house [in a rundown dustbowl of a town] to swanky crime boss with a palace [in an infamous bordertown crime hub that in no way, shape, or form is a commuter distance away on horse from the dustbowl town]."

 

What was his function and place when MIB caught him? If it was just his loop he should have been that big boss too or not?

 

They did say Ford's changes cause a lot of continuity problems...

 

When the Man in Black rescued him, Lawrence was about to be hanged for some type of crime. Running a "crime haven" like Pariah would certainly qualify as a reason to be hanged, IMO, and there are any number of reasons why/ways that Lawrence/El Lazo could've been apprehended.

Re: transporting characters/hosts from place to place, we know that there are elevators that ascend from the "showrunner" level into any place within the park itself, so it really is not out of the question at all, in spite of what some people want to believe, for Lawrence/El Lazo to have been repaired and put back at the start of his loop in between when we saw him with the Man in Black and when Logan, William, and Dolores arrived at Pariah.

 

Annnnd yet again, his home (complete with wife and child) is nowhere near Pariah. Whereas El Lazo had a plush palace of a home in Pariah.

Or, what, his current loop is so long and involved that it includes being the leader of Pariah, working in cohoots with the Confederate mercenaries, betraying the Confederate mercenaries, going to war, getting captured, being imprisoned, sitting around in a prison cell hoping someone will rescue him and -- somewhere in all of that -- moving to a dustbowl town in a shitty house with a wife and daughter who did not act like they hadn't seen their husband/feather for a long time.

Sorry, but that's at least two completely separate and very involved storylines; one for guests to get involved in things like William and Logan did, and one for guests to hook up with Lawrence in a prison break.

(Oh, and be sure to keep "not ignoring" all the other things, too. No one'll notice you doing so.)

 

Wellll, that robot obviously has a double-life. There are catholic priests with wifes and children and nobody knows, maybe they gave his storyline a little twist...

... or maybe not.

 

@Kahless the Unforgettable We don't know what the distance between the town we saw and Pariah are, but "nice try".

 

Even if the multiple timeline thing is true I think Lawrence and El Lazo are meant to be the same character. At one point El Lazo even says "call me Lawrence".

And since MiB knew who Lawrence was, we may have seen how they first met

 

Perhaps the DVD/Blu-ray of the series will have the option to view the timeline in chronological order (c.f. Momento).

 

And again, if it was a single storyline, it's way too convoluted compared to -any- other host's active storyline that we've seen so far. He'd have to be simultaneously set up for an involved storyline in Pariah regarding the Confederate mercs, betraying them for the rebellion, and going to fight a large battle. He'd also have to be set up to involve the guests in an intricate prison break and everything that follows that, as well, which was interrupted by the Man in Black's kidnapping of him.

Just... no.

No one is debating that. This last episode even expanded that idea, telling Maeve (and thus the audience) that they rarely completely rewrite hosts; it's much easier just to change a few details.

Just keep on keeping on with the ignoring stuff. Again, no one's noticing. True story.

 

Yes, I admit, it was a joke, though it's funny to think he lets his wife and child life in a hut while he has a secret palace.

You don't have to convince me, I see the possibilty of two timelines though I'm not totally convinced yet. I'm also open for the idea that it's not two timelines. I only hope it won't turn out as bad writing.

 

Right now there's circumstantial evidence that there might be multiple timelines, and a lot of things that happen in the William/Login story which would require really roundabout explanations to not follow from things that happened in the 'Present'.

How do you explain Dolores' behavior in the past if it didn't happen after her software update?

Lawrence's strange contradictions *might* be evidence toward multiple timelines, but it also might be one of the things they're referring to when they talk about Ford's big project causing continuity errors.

So far we have mild evidence that suggests the possibility of multiple timelines, and a whole lot of things that would have to be heavily explained if that were the case. Frankly, if it does turn out to be multiple timelines, it will be crappy writing.

 

@Kahless the Unforgettable You s3em to think that everything we saw involving Lawrence/El Lazo, the Man in Black, William, and Logan would have to be part of Lawrence's "loop", which isn't what I'm saying. The only parts of Lawrence's normal "loop" that we saw would be the stuff in Pariah and the stuff with him in Sweetwater about to be hanged, which would be the end of his story before everything starts over. Everything else would be "off-loop".