HBO's "Westworld", starring Anthony Hopkins/produced by J.J. Abrams
- Thread starter Ensign_Redshirt
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Nope. If one applies any frame of reference at all other than "I only watch Star Trek and everything else is crap" there's clearly no resemblance at all between Trek and Westworld.
Westworld is making a really good and persistent attempt to be actual science fiction, and to be relevant.
Westworld is making a really good and persistent attempt to be actual science fiction, and to be relevant.
Eh, it's making an attempt at being very pretentious and high on its sense of profoundness. But it's just a robot rebellion story with some fluff.
Well people seem to have loved it. 8.6 on IMDB. Viewership was a season low by far though with only 0.90 million on HBO - previous series low was 1.11.
Last week's premiere was really good, but so was this episode.
Some observations/thoughts:
1) The show generally doesn't credit people who aren't involved in the episode, but apparently that's changed for this season because half the main cast got credited but didn't actually show up
2) I wonder why they downgraded Rodrigo Santoro to a recurring role this season when he'd been a Series Regular throughout much of Season 1 and all of Season 2
3) Simon Quarterman remains a Series Regular, so this isn't the last time we'll see Lee, even if the version of the character we met here wasn't actually "real"
4) Not everybody picked up on the fact that Stubbs was a Host at the end of last season, so it makes sense for the Nolans to make it explicit here, and I love that he's basically become Bernard's "enforced wingman", and it'll be interesting to see if, as happened with Teddy in Season 2 when Dolores basically did the same thing to him, this ends up becoming a catalyst for him waking up and gaining free will
5) After last week's premiere, I tried to find a preview for tonight's episode, but apparently I found the wrong one because what I found turns out to have been a preview for next week's episode
6) It was indicated last week that Serac is in control of Rohoboem, but, according to him, he's not, which means that there's something else going on and I can't wait to find out what it is
Some observations/thoughts:
1) The show generally doesn't credit people who aren't involved in the episode, but apparently that's changed for this season because half the main cast got credited but didn't actually show up
2) I wonder why they downgraded Rodrigo Santoro to a recurring role this season when he'd been a Series Regular throughout much of Season 1 and all of Season 2
3) Simon Quarterman remains a Series Regular, so this isn't the last time we'll see Lee, even if the version of the character we met here wasn't actually "real"
4) Not everybody picked up on the fact that Stubbs was a Host at the end of last season, so it makes sense for the Nolans to make it explicit here, and I love that he's basically become Bernard's "enforced wingman", and it'll be interesting to see if, as happened with Teddy in Season 2 when Dolores basically did the same thing to him, this ends up becoming a catalyst for him waking up and gaining free will
5) After last week's premiere, I tried to find a preview for tonight's episode, but apparently I found the wrong one because what I found turns out to have been a preview for next week's episode
6) It was indicated last week that Serac is in control of Rohoboem, but, according to him, he's not, which means that there's something else going on and I can't wait to find out what it is
I loved today’s episode. Was the point of the simulation to identify which host could defy the AI, because the AI already identified Dolores wins?
Stubbs being a robot explains why he didn’t out Dolores. It makes sense as part of Ford’s plan. Though it might have been more interesting in the story of a human took Dolores’ side.
I’m excited about seeing Maeve forcefully enlisted in a fight with her freedom staked. She’s really the only character I’m rooting for in the show.
I’m a little sad they didn’t get any Game of Thrones actors for this episode.
Stubbs being a robot explains why he didn’t out Dolores. It makes sense as part of Ford’s plan. Though it might have been more interesting in the story of a human took Dolores’ side.
I’m excited about seeing Maeve forcefully enlisted in a fight with her freedom staked. She’s really the only character I’m rooting for in the show.
I’m a little sad they didn’t get any Game of Thrones actors for this episode.
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Another great episode and I loved how Maeve sussed out that she was in a simulation and not revived in the real-world WestWorld. Good to see Felix, Sylvester, Hector, and surprisingly, Lee once again. I should've figured it out sooner when Felix coldly walked away from Maeve or even when Lee miraculously turned up alive, but it was still a fun reveal nonetheless. I especially loved how Maeve was able to work the simulation against itself, mocking the coders for their laziness, and then seized control of a real-world droid to rescue her. Now I remember why I'm Team Maeve! 
Meanwhile, Bernard returns to the real-world WestWorld and unsurprisingly (to me, at least) discovers that Stubbs is also a Host. Not much to their storyline in this episode, especially once it became clear that Maeve was long gone, but it was fun to watch the two of them interact. Oh, and confirm that Game of Thrones is in fact just a WestWorld park!
The whole time Lee was supposedly alive and before he started glitching, I was already planning my "Well, if Lee is alive, why not Elsie, too?!" campaign. Hell, I might still do it. Anything is possible on this show.
So...is NaziWorld only part of the simulation? Was that just Serac indulging himself or does it actually exist? Could go either way.
Meanwhile, Bernard returns to the real-world WestWorld and unsurprisingly (to me, at least) discovers that Stubbs is also a Host. Not much to their storyline in this episode, especially once it became clear that Maeve was long gone, but it was fun to watch the two of them interact. Oh, and confirm that Game of Thrones is in fact just a WestWorld park!
The whole time Lee was supposedly alive and before he started glitching, I was already planning my "Well, if Lee is alive, why not Elsie, too?!" campaign. Hell, I might still do it. Anything is possible on this show.
So...is NaziWorld only part of the simulation? Was that just Serac indulging himself or does it actually exist? Could go either way.
Yeah, same here, but I'll take a dragon any day!
If I remember the first two seasons correctly, I think the lead actors got credited no matter what, and then the other opening credits actors weren't billed if they weren't in the episode. Probably a payment-per-episode thing and/or contractual obligations.
Great episode with a nice pay off at the end. They didn't know which AIs were capable of sentience, until Maeve escaped it seems. So it was a "holodeck" episode but a pretty intriguing one.
I am forgetting the part where Dolores declared Bernard her "opponent"--was that at the end of last season? Maybe I should go back and watch that.
I am forgetting the part where Dolores declared Bernard her "opponent"--was that at the end of last season? Maybe I should go back and watch that.
I admit to some confusion about why Serac first suspected that Maeve - who had been damaged and was inactivated at the warehouse - was behind the anomalies now plaguing the Rehoboam strategy engine - or how any of her behavior in the simulation demonstrated that she was not behind them.
What she mainly demonstrated inside that game were ingenuity, her own initial belief that she could control other hosts (which she discarded and moved on from quickly), determination, ruthlessness and a little bit of compassion for SimSizemore.
So...what did I not understand?
I thought that the fact that SimHector was immersed in the game and was not having the same conversation with Maeve that she was having with him was pretty obviously telegraphed, for this show.
What she mainly demonstrated inside that game were ingenuity, her own initial belief that she could control other hosts (which she discarded and moved on from quickly), determination, ruthlessness and a little bit of compassion for SimSizemore.
So...what did I not understand?
I thought that the fact that SimHector was immersed in the game and was not having the same conversation with Maeve that she was having with him was pretty obviously telegraphed, for this show.
My interpretation was the point of the simulation was to figure out which hosts his AI was unable to predict and account for, because the AI currently says Dolores wins.
Serac knew how Maeve met her end in the park and that the Valley Beyond had been beamed somewhere for safe-keeping, but wasn't aware of the exact sequence of events or of Bernard's actions that caused the disappearance of the Valley Beyond, which led him to assume that Maeve was responsible and therefore the threat that had disrupted the system and caused Rohoboem to become uncontrolled.
He also clearly knew about Dolores and her activities as we saw in the premiere, but didn't know the circumstances surrounding her arrival in the real world, which is why he hadn't previously realized that she was the one with the info he was seeking.
So he has a contact inside Delos/the parks, but said contact doesn't have all the information about what happened to precipitate the events that unfolded inside the parks as depicted in Season 2.
He also clearly knew about Dolores and her activities as we saw in the premiere, but didn't know the circumstances surrounding her arrival in the real world, which is why he hadn't previously realized that she was the one with the info he was seeking.
So he has a contact inside Delos/the parks, but said contact doesn't have all the information about what happened to precipitate the events that unfolded inside the parks as depicted in Season 2.
So, Serac thinks initially that Maeve is causing the problems with the strategy engine...because she led the Hosts to the Gate?
His simulation has Sizemore ask her whether or not she has the coordinates to the "heaven" that the Hosts were sent to, and she tells him she never has had them.
Presumably that eliminates Maeve as the source of the problem.
Which suggests the possibility that rather than Delores running about eavesdropping on meetings and killing the occasional rich sadist, the real "anomaly" is somehow tied to the Hosts who've gone to the great digital paradise.
It'd be a trip if their hideaway were inside the strategy engine.
His simulation has Sizemore ask her whether or not she has the coordinates to the "heaven" that the Hosts were sent to, and she tells him she never has had them.
Presumably that eliminates Maeve as the source of the problem.
Which suggests the possibility that rather than Delores running about eavesdropping on meetings and killing the occasional rich sadist, the real "anomaly" is somehow tied to the Hosts who've gone to the great digital paradise.
It'd be a trip if their hideaway were inside the strategy engine.
