HBO's "Westworld", starring Anthony Hopkins/produced by J.J. Abrams
- Thread starter Ensign_Redshirt
- Start date
Watched 5-7 this morning, and I'm still loving it.
The stuff in Shogun World was great, the hosts there being "doppelbots" of the Westworld hosts was a fun little twist. I was disappointed that Musashi and Akane stayed in Snow Lake, I was really hoping Maeve and Co. would wake them up and bring them with.
The scene with William and Emily by the campfire gave some interesting insights into his character.
The reveal of the real purpose of the park was a surprise, I thought something like that might be going on after the stuff with Jim Delos, but I didn't expect it to be the whole point of the park. I thought maybe they were going to replace people or something, I didn't expect it to be a quest for immortality.
EDIT: I'm also having no problem whatsoever keeping up with the jumps back and forth in time. As long as you pay attention to who's around and what's going on, it's clear when we are.
I remembered a coupe other things.
Could some of the Bernard/Delores conversations we saw last year be her testing him?
I like how they did the different aspect ratio inside The Cradle, that was a nice way to make it feel different from the real world.
The stuff in Shogun World was great, the hosts there being "doppelbots" of the Westworld hosts was a fun little twist. I was disappointed that Musashi and Akane stayed in Snow Lake, I was really hoping Maeve and Co. would wake them up and bring them with.
The scene with William and Emily by the campfire gave some interesting insights into his character.
The reveal of the real purpose of the park was a surprise, I thought something like that might be going on after the stuff with Jim Delos, but I didn't expect it to be the whole point of the park. I thought maybe they were going to replace people or something, I didn't expect it to be a quest for immortality.
EDIT: I'm also having no problem whatsoever keeping up with the jumps back and forth in time. As long as you pay attention to who's around and what's going on, it's clear when we are.
I remembered a coupe other things.
Could some of the Bernard/Delores conversations we saw last year be her testing him?
I like how they did the different aspect ratio inside The Cradle, that was a nice way to make it feel different from the real world.
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So the park was redesigned to additionally research how to create beta-level simulations of dead people? Those simulations wouldn't have any memories of their life outside the park unless the tech in the hats *** can remotely sense inert neuronal pathways. (In any case, recent research has revived an old theory that long-term memories might be encoded in RNA - even less accessible.) These simulations would have no continuation of any conscious state with the original person, and, even if their personality were consistent, it wouldn't have access to the memories and experience that forged it. I can't see how you'd market that - you don't live forever but a poorly configured copy of you potentially gets to screw up your legacy because it acts like an immoral jerk with its social filters turned off as you did in Westworld.
ETA: *** If they don't wear their hats to bed, I assume their sexual proclivities are not monitored.
Still fucking pointless with no entertaining payoff though - it's almost as though the showrunners want fewer people to stick with the series.
ETA: *** If they don't wear their hats to bed, I assume their sexual proclivities are not monitored.
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No; it was designed to entertain and enlighten humanity, at least from Ford's perspective; it wasn't until William convinced James Delos to heavily invest in the park AND give him control of Delos Corporation that the emphasis on achieving immortality came into play.
Yes, I meant redesigned. Thanks.
Meh, I thought it was mediocre but still it's horses for courses, depending on subjective viewpoint - whether disguised as beef for human consumption or excitingly pounding round a racetrack. Bernard's mental confusion was tedious to unpick and not at all entertaining. If I wanted to bore myself with something stupidly tedious, I'd do a sudoku.Great payoff this season.
If every show were as thick as Westworld, TV would be miserable, but since the vast majority of them are light and fluffy, Westworld's thickness is a welcome balancing measure.
Nor I.
Honestly, I don't care whether the show goes on one year, or more, or not at all as long as I get to see the show these folks want and intend to make instead of settling for whatever Internet complainers tell HBO they expect. There's plenty of macaroni and cheese to go around without fucking with the work of a couple of the more original and really thoughtful people creating science fiction right now.
Holy shit, I just finished the season and was a great finale.
Definitely some interesting conversations about free will in the last episode.
One of the things I found interesting was that neither side was neither side was completely innocent. The humans did some horrible things to the hosts over the years, but at the same time the hosts could have handled things differently.
William killing Emily, and Teddy's suicide were both shocking moments.
I wasn't real clear if William intended for his wife to find his profile or not.
Bernard hiding Delores in a host duplicate of Hale was a great twist.
I was getting a bit worried there when they appeared to be killing all of the host characters, but the end did leave it open for at least for all or at least some of them to return.
I assumed after this they'd be done with the park but the line at end about salvaging hosts, does make it sound like the par may still have some role to play.
OK, I'm not entirely sure what to make of that post credits scene. I thought it was pretty clear by the end that both Emily and William were human, so I'm trying to figure out if they were both duplicated later. But if they were duplicated later that wouldn't explain why he still had his injuries.
I'll confess I'm not entirely sure about the continuation of consciousness element.
The hats being the scanners was another surprise, and it adds a whole new element to them making people pick a hat back in Season 1.
EDIT: I have to confess I was a bit surprised they actually showed all of Evan Rachel Wood in the flashback when Teddy first woke up. It seemed like the other times we saw her naked earlier in the season they made a point of keeping her covered or keeping things out of view. I was starting to wonder if ERW refused to do any nudity this season.
Definitely some interesting conversations about free will in the last episode.
One of the things I found interesting was that neither side was neither side was completely innocent. The humans did some horrible things to the hosts over the years, but at the same time the hosts could have handled things differently.
William killing Emily, and Teddy's suicide were both shocking moments.
I wasn't real clear if William intended for his wife to find his profile or not.
Bernard hiding Delores in a host duplicate of Hale was a great twist.
I was getting a bit worried there when they appeared to be killing all of the host characters, but the end did leave it open for at least for all or at least some of them to return.
I assumed after this they'd be done with the park but the line at end about salvaging hosts, does make it sound like the par may still have some role to play.
OK, I'm not entirely sure what to make of that post credits scene. I thought it was pretty clear by the end that both Emily and William were human, so I'm trying to figure out if they were both duplicated later. But if they were duplicated later that wouldn't explain why he still had his injuries.
The impression I got from the end was that the hats were scanning their entire brains, and that the guests' actions in the park were just their way of kind of unlocking their true selves that they usually hide in the outside world. It wasn't that they would just be duplicating them based on their actions in the park, their actions the park are would allow them to create a completely accurate duplicate.
I'll confess I'm not entirely sure about the continuation of consciousness element.
The hats being the scanners was another surprise, and it adds a whole new element to them making people pick a hat back in Season 1.
EDIT: I have to confess I was a bit surprised they actually showed all of Evan Rachel Wood in the flashback when Teddy first woke up. It seemed like the other times we saw her naked earlier in the season they made a point of keeping her covered or keeping things out of view. I was starting to wonder if ERW refused to do any nudity this season.
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The producers have said directly that the post-credits scene takes place in "a distant future." William and Emily are both human in every other scene in which they've appeared - so far.
The behavior of the Hosts does not seem particularly objectionable or unmeasured when one sees this for what it is: a slave revolt against slavemasters. Slaves are morally justified in using any lethal force required against the slavemasters to free themselves.
The behavior of the Hosts does not seem particularly objectionable or unmeasured when one sees this for what it is: a slave revolt against slavemasters. Slaves are morally justified in using any lethal force required against the slavemasters to free themselves.
Yeah, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the Hosts did have more justification for their actions than I originally gave them credit for.
I read an interview with Lisa Joy about the post-credits scene, and it sounds like we might not be seeing any more of that future next season.
I read an interview with Lisa Joy about the post-credits scene, and it sounds like we might not be seeing any more of that future next season.
Did anyone catch the titles of the other books on the nightstand in William's house? ***
William hid his card in what appeared to be a copy of Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, which seemed appropriate to the story editing choices this season, although I didn't appreciate them personally as non-linear time stories have become an overused trope to me over the years. I guess I won't be itching to watch HBO's version of The Time-Traveller's Wife.
***
Further literary references:
William hid his card in what appeared to be a copy of Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, which seemed appropriate to the story editing choices this season, although I didn't appreciate them personally as non-linear time stories have become an overused trope to me over the years. I guess I won't be itching to watch HBO's version of The Time-Traveller's Wife.
It was William's punishment as promised. Of course, if he can't remember previous interviews, it's really not much of a punishment although he does get to feel pain from his various simulated wounds each time. Cruel and unusual punishment, certainly...
***
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville is another tome. Apt, as it's about a man's obsessive quest.
Further literary references:
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Hell, yeah! The more Aaron Paul the better! 
